“You knew who I was. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”
“I’m not one of your idiotic royal friends,” I snapped. “Iknowyou’re not that. You wouldn’t have been so offended that I called you a bigot if you were, and anyway, I’ve known for a while thatyou’re not who or what you pretend to be. Only Alaric seems to actuallyseeyou, apart from?”
“Apart from you?” he jeered, eyes cold. “We have quite the high opinion of ourselves, don’t we, mongrel?” His voice lowered back to a threat. “And shut the fuck up aboutGreythorne,will you? You don’t know the first thing about me and him.”
I wrapped my arms around my torso.
Taking a shuddering breath inside my freezing cold limbs, I fought to think. I honestly couldn’t handle fighting with his mask right then, not after everything else. I could feel the hard warning in his magic to back off, but I needed him to actuallytalkto me. I needed him to help me understand. I needed, for the love of the gods, for us to actuallycommunicatefor once, really communicate, without all the walls and masks and just… bullshit.
“Why did you even come, if it was so dangerous to you?” I asked finally, my voice more controlled. “And don’t tell me it was for me. Or my brother. There must’ve been some reason. Something besides?”
“Maybe I just don’t like people fucking with what’s mine.” His gold eyes had returned to that flat, metallic emptiness I couldn’t read at all. “Take it how you want, mongrel. I find your presence in my life… convenient.” His jaw ticked. “Would you let someone killyourdog?”
I let out a scoff, but half-choked on it.
Still, I was more frustrated than anything. For the same reason, I refused to rise.
“What about my brother?” I asked. “What will happen to him?”
“He must’ve been drugged, to sleep through that.” Caelum’s eyes didn’t move. “He won’t know anything.” When I could only stare at him, he shrugged. “Someone will take him. He’s notyours,Shadow. Neither is he your problem.”
“But what willhappento him?” I asked. “He’s only thirteen?”
“That’s hardly a child,” Caelum said.
“It’s the literaldefinitionof a child,” I snapped back.
“There’s someone there with him, right now.” His jaw hardened as he shook his head. “Again, it’s not your problem. It certainly isn’t mine.”
I stared at him, teeth chattering, and he stared back, immovable. I fought to think, but a million more questions only came crashing down on me.
“They’ll trace our magic,” I said, feeling that sick, panicked feeling roil my gut.
He shook his head, his eyes a few shades colder. “No.”
“What about fingerprints?” I asked. “DNA?”
“I don’t even know what the fuck that is, Shadow.”
I looked up. I opened my mouth, then closed it, biting my lip.
I wanted to tell him it was wishful thinking, that the Praecuri wouldn’t trace this back to us, but somehow, I couldn’t. The truth was, I didn’t doubt him, not really. Particularly after I’d seen what he could do, and not only in terms of Ankha. Moreover, looking into those strange, metallic eyes, for the first time, it occurred to me that he was afraid. Despite all his bluster and feigned indifference, he was actually, genuinely afraid.
He might even be more afraid than I was.
“You can’t tell anyone,” he growled.
“How will I explain this?” I looked down at myself. “How do I explain being out all night? Disappearing? What if someone sees me like?”
“Tell them you got too drunk,” he cut in. “Tell them you felt sick. Tell them you met someone from another college and the two of you stayed out all night.” His voice grew more of a threat. “If you have to, tell them we shagged. Say we ran into one another, wasted, and I took you to one of the ExperimentalMagic sheds. Tell them I was drunk enough to sully my pureblooded cock in your cunt, and you were drunk enough to let me.”
His eyes and mouth grew a sneer as he looked me over.
“My father won’t like it, but he’s seen your photo in the papers. He’ll understand it, even if he pretends he doesn’t?”
“Your father?” I began, numbly.
“Shadow.” He walked up to me. He stopped when he was scarcely a foot away, chest heaving. He stared into my face, his gold eyes once more swirling with fire-like light. “You owe me. You fuckingoweme. You called, and I came. Keep your fucking mouth shut about this, or I’ll kill you myself.”
