“Trubble?” I asked, glancing over at the purple-haired bum-hole with the attitude problem. “Nah, he’s alright, although he did blatantly ask me if we could fuck today.”
The look the big griffin man turned on Trubble would’ve had any sane person shaking in their academy issued boots—even if they were borrowed from Matz. He was also wearing his gold jacket, loose and sloppy, hanging off his shoulders in this slouchy, give no dung beetles sort of way. Trubble’s black slacks were undone at the button, and there was this horribly attractive bit of skin between his pants and the bottom of the jacket that I couldn’t stop staring at.
“What’s wrong with that? A spirit whisperer as powerful as Brynn of Haversey should have a nice, healthy harem with plenty of variety. All I’m asking is that she includes me in it. Or,” and here Trubble paused to hold up a single finger, “she at least considers my offer of a test run. I might’ve only spent a handful of days in this form in the past, but unlike my brother, I’m not a virgin. If I were a virgin—again, just like my brother—I’d probably be a hell of a lot nicer so people didn’t walk around wondering, ‘Gee, why is this guy still a virgin when he’s in his twenties? Is something wrong with him? Perhaps his penis is in miniature and maybe I should ask his brother about it?’”
Trubble stumbled and then let out a raucous laugh, Dyre’s ghostly slipping through his body as the prince tried to get ahold of him a second time. But, apparently, like a spirit whisperer, an actual living shadow could decide when and if they wanted to be touched by ghosts.
“Get out of here,” I hissed as we approached the classroom and I spotted Professor Tiukka standing outside the door. She liked to monitor students as they entered and then slam the door in the faces of anyone who dared to be ten seconds later.
Dyre gave his brother another shove that did absolutely nothing to keep him from laughing his bum off, and then disappeared, fading into the background of the stone buildings like any number of random ghosts. The campus was filled with them, all of them documented and monitored on a regular basis. I still had yet to speak to the queen about my new additions, but nobody else had said a word, and I did have the crown prince attached to me, so I figured everything was okay.
“This is where we part ways then,” Vex said, turning toward me as we neared the classroom. He didn’t hesitate to pull me into his arms or wrap me in his wings, brushing his fingers along my own. The sensation touched me in places low, made my belly muscles clench tight and my heart pound so loud that I failed to hear the footsteps on my right until Professor Tiukka was standing right flubbing there. “Can I help you?” Vexer growled, pulling me closer in this possessive male way that I loved. And I wasn’t generally one to enjoy that sort of thing. It just felt right when he did it, like we belonged to each other.
“May I see your visitor’s pass, please?” the professor asked, holding out her hand like she was part of the Royal Campus guard. How frustrating. We hadn’t been stopped by even one soldier on our way over here.
Vex pulled back slightly from me, keeping his right arm around my waist, and using his left to touch the gold metal nametag on his chest, pierced right through the fabric of his sleeveless black tunic.
Tiukka reached out and touched it, a little zing of magic tainting the air between the three of us before she pulled away. She was testing the authenticity of his badge, using a small spell to verify that the woman in the front office had, indeed, enchanted it and gifted it to Vex.
Of course, I was almost certain she was only picking on him because of me.
“I asked you to come to my office last week. Considering you failed to do so, I’m giving you a slash and a written decree to pay me a visit after classes let out this evening tomorrow.”
“Considering this is all on my account, I’ll be nullifying that slash,” Professor Cross said, stepping up on my right side and still glittering faintly with spook dust. I noticed he did his best to keep a safe distance from me at all times, like he had at least some idea of how flubbed-up his binding himself to me was.
And a slash … Well, damn. A slash was a non-permanent mark on a student’s record; they accumulated during each quarter and were washed away at the end of it provided no more than six were issued. At the seventh slash, a disciplinary council was called together to assess the situation.
Getting one slash on my second week was sort of terrifying, considering how much Tiukka disliked me. I’d probably end up with a dozen of them before the month was out. But if Professor Cross really could nullify it …
The way Professor Tiukka’s mouth pinched, I was guessing he really could.
“You understand that even if Brynn of Haversey claims your innocence, I can still fire you. It doesn’t matter if you two came to an agreement on your own terms or not. I might not be able to have you exorcised, but inappropriate relations with students is grounds for dismissal regardless.”
“This was simply a business agreement between a spirit whisperer and a desperate ghost, something neither the Royal College nor the law would have any problem with.” Spicer—because I totally should be calling him that considering our new living arrangement—gives me a desperate, pleading sort of look.
If I wanted to, I could get rid of him. I could send his turquoise rimmed eyes, tattoo covered chest, and spiky black hair to the Otherside with the blessing of the Royal College Dean of Faculty.
But I wasn’t going to.
Not only did I have at least some semblance of a heart inside my chest, but Spicer was actually coming in handy. His prophecies and premonitions, his mindreading abilities, and his general knowledge of the arcane made him useful. For now, he could stay. Besides, he was willing to be a test subject when the others weren’t—like with the female guard’s body, for example.
“Just an agreement,” I said with a small nod. “Professor Cross has a lot of knowledge to share, and as a member of the Royal College, I feel like the pursuit of knowledge is too important to ignore.” I lifted my chin, but Tiukka clearly wasn’t buying it.
“Here’s your decree,” she said simply, her brown eyes flicking from Spicer, past me, and over to Vexer. She turned and went into the shadowy doorway of the classroom, the air tainted and cool from the hordes of spirits and shadows trapped inside.
“Ignore her,” Elijah said, fading into view next to us. His sapphire eyes were locked on the building, his mouth twisted into a scowl. “She’s rude to anyone with power or promise.” He paused to push up the torn sleeve of his black Royal College jacket, his ebon dark hair falling across his forehead. “Just do your best to stay out of her way.”
“There are plenty of people just like that in the Travelers’ Guild,” Vex said, his voice low and warm and affectionate. When I looked over at him, his gray eyes locked onto mine and I felt like I was being reeled in.
As I stepped forward, hopeful for another kiss, Jas darted up to us. She’d been lagging behind, having this really serious looking conversation with Matz; I hadn’t wanted to interrupt them.
“We need to get inside,” she said, face red as the warning bell rang, its hollow sound echoing across the now nearly empty campus. I had a feeling that little conversation with Matz had been … interesting. I wanted to hear all about it later.
“I have to get back into the city,” Vex said with a long sigh, adjusting his wings in a reluctant sort of way, like that was the last thing he wanted to do. “I have a traveler that needs to get to Markt in time to set up his stall in the morning, so I won’t be back until late tomorrow. Dinner?”