“I can’t leave Talon up there all alone,” I said as the line shuffled forward yet again and Jas and I kicked our book stacks forward.
“Brynn, you’re not actually thinking of going into the mountains, are you?” Jasinda asked, and now she, too, was looking at me like I was insane. I pursed my lips because she was supposed to be the one person who was on my side. After last week, and Monday and Tuesday of this one, I was getting tired of being looked at like there was nothing between my ears but fluff.
Professor Tiukka had made the decision to treat me as more than just a normal student in her class—and she so clearly disliked most of those—but also to openly hate me. Every time she glanced my way, there was ire seething in those brown eyes of hers. It was lunch hour now, too, so that meant as soon as the bells chimed … I’d have to see her again. Other than Felixa, she’d easily become my least favorite part of the day.
“I can’t leave Talon,” I repeated for what felt like the hundredth time. “I just can’t do it. He’s all I can think about now. It’s been a whole week since he went missing. A week spent in the dark gullet of a carnivore.”
“It’s awful, I know,” Jas said, curling her hand around my wrist and trying to grab my attention. “But you almost died and … you-know-who did die. It was awful up there. We can’t willingly put ourselves into that situation, no matter how bad you feel for Talon.”
I squinched my face up and bit my lower lip.
I’d had my first kiss with that guy and … even though he’d stolen the queen’s underwear, he was a good man. I liked him. And I couldn’t stand the thought of him suffering for two hundred years because of me.
“Let’s talk about this later,” I said, watching as Felixa rose from her chair and got into the much shorter line for food at the little snack bar in the corner. I guess she felt confident that I’d be trapped in this line long enough for her to grab a hot cocoa—heavy cream stirred with fresh vanilla and cocoa powder.
“You don’t look at all like you’ve changed your mind,” Eli said as Trubble surged to his feet and sniffed the air in a way that was totally and completely embarrassing. “Brynn …”
“This isn’t the best place to talk freely,” I continued, keeping my wings folded close and hoping I didn’t break anything else on the way out of here today. Air had already bet Jasinda before we even left the house this morning that I would break or knock over five distinct items in the bookstore.
Within seconds of walking in, I’d accidentally shattered a decorative crystal vase filled with roses and sent a display of Whisperer Cards—cheat sheets of all the whisperer categories written out on thin parchment—crashing onto the floor. If you added in Student Number One that I’d sent flying backward with my wings, and Student Number Two that I’d sent stumbling forward, then I was already at four. Jasinda had guessed three, so at this point, the two bum-holes were both wrong, but also sort of tied. If I could stay at this number, it would keep them both from gloating.
“Have you two mated already?” Trubble asked suddenly, drawing my attention over to him and his flop of purple hair, his bronze eyes, and his stupid face. He always seemed to be smirking or grinning or doing some other equally annoying thing with that full mouth of his. “I keep getting mixed symbols.”
“As if that’s any of your business,” Eli drawled, bending down to retrieve the mouse from between my feet. He stood back up and tucked the tiny thing into his pocket alongside another. I was so tempted to exorcise them, but I figured if he really wanted it done, he could also do it himself. Or else maybe he was concerned about getting pulled the rest of the way to the Otherside?
“So that’s a yes then, good to know. I’m interested in scoping out all my potential compeers.”
“Wait, what?!” I squealed, and then accidentally kicked over the wicker basket with all my supplies in it. I bent down to gather them up and Trubble followed me. “What is with all of you idiots and making weird statements about mates and marriage and sex and compeers. I am single as of right now. You hear me? Single.”
“In that case, do you wanna fuck?” Trubble asked, grinning mischievously in my direction. I almost punched him in the face. But then, it really was a handsome face and I didn’t want to get blood all over my nice, new white Royal College jacket.
Although if I did happen to accidentally spill something on the skirt well then, wouldn’t that be a shame that I’d have to start wearing pants? There were just places on the body that didn’t need to see breezes … except well, maybe the guy three people ahead of me in line might argue that point since he seemed to have no trouble rocking the black pleats. He’d even folded his waistband up twice to make his skirt shorter.
Huh.
Braver than me.
“If you don’t get the flub out of my face,” I growled, poking him in his way-too-solid-for-his-own-good chest, “then I swear on my wings that I’ll spend day and night researching some way to turn you back into a fox—permanently. I’ll even see if I can throw in getting that whole one day a year thing removed while I’m at it.” I gestured with a hand in the direction of the cocoa cart. “Go get us a drink or something, would you?”
Trubble sniffed the air again and sighed.
“We don’t have much cocoa in Vaenn,” he said, but he didn’t bother to acknowledge my refusal of his advance. Nah, this guy was too confident in himself to bother with that. He knew he had a flat, muscular chest and long lashes, almond-shaped eyes, and full luscious lips.
Ugh.
“Make it three hot cocoas,” Jasinda said as we shuffled forward yet again. At this rate, the bells were going to ring and we’d up being late to Professor Tiukka’s class, basically the last thing I needed.
“Oh, a woman who knows what she wants,” Trubble said, licking his lower lip and winking theatrically. I ignored him and crossed my arms under my breasts, the crisp new fabric of my uniform wrinkling slightly with the motion. The fox boy moved away and Professor Cross took his place, looking over the gathered students with his red framed glasses perched on his nose.
“I haven’t been to the bookstore in years,” he said with a dreamy sigh, turquoise eyes sparkling as Elijah sat down on the ground next to us and concentrated until he was able to pull the razor wolf book back into his lap. So much for dropping that subject. The heavy tome fell right through and landed on the floor, startling several nearby students, but he ignored them concentrating on turning the pages with slow, careful precision. “I forgot how vibrant it is, all this fresh blood, new ideas, youthful optimism.”
I noticed Eli rolling his eyes, but even though I was still pretty ticked off at the professor for binding himself to me without my permission, I enjoyed his enthusiasm. He really did seem to love the idea of teaching others, fostering fresh discoveries, and helping urge a new generation of Amerins into greatness.
“Universities really are the breeding grounds for social change, aren’t they?” the Professor asked, his hair sparkling with silver spook dust as he nodded at a few of his fellow colleagues. Spook dust was rare as hell and highly regulated—even a Royal College professor wasn’t permitted to use it on a daily basis—but Professor Cross had argued that one day at the bookstore was worth a million pounds of the glimmering mineral and opted to use it anyway.