She dips her chin and hops onto the stool, looking sprier than yesterday. That pleases me, and I add a bit more Cantù berry and cream to the pile of pancakes for her. “That’s not the woo-woo stuff, right?”
I chuckle and shake my head. “No, it isn’t. We reserve that treat for times when you are safely surrounded by us, so nothing bad can happen. Also, I vow to make sure you know how strong the concoction is before I hand it to you. I’m still really fucking sorry about that, by the way.”
Kat pushes her hair out of her eyes, and I notice that for once, she doesn’t have bags under them. “Salem, you didn’t mean to do that. It was like a bad comedy of errors, man. And… I really haven’t discussed the whole bad times thing, and that makes it hard for you guys to dance around it without sometimes hitting a landmine. We’re fine; I promise.”
Wrinkling my nose, I fill her plate with the fluffy stack, the beast meat sausage and the Stygian eggs scrambled with sweet cheese and Fae berries. It’s a fancy-ass meal with expensive ingredients, but I doubt Jasper will bitch about my food budgetnow. “Eat. You’re still getting your strength and your magic back. You’ll need to up your food intake with shifting practice, and even more if Jas is really going to privately train you for battle. He reverts to the training he had sometimes and forgets that not everyone is a goddamn dragon.”
“Do they have really good stamina or something?” Kat asks as she takes a bite and groans happily.
“Interesting that you would ask that today,” I reply with a smirk. To be honest, I’m not upset about KK getting closer with the rest of the guys in the slightest, only allowing my panda to feel his ‘mine’ feelings in a non-aggressive way by snarking. He’s a little possessive of our girl, especially since he’s never given a red, randy shit about anyone before.
Her eyes fly open as she flushes, the next bite stopping on the way to her mouth. “Salem!Stop being… flirty in front of people all the time. You and Oriel are going to out me before I’m ready for the others. One night with Jasper behaving like a decent person isn’t enough to… I need more time.”
I walk over and lean on the counter, looking at her with my head in my palm. “You realize that there’s only three of us left that don’t know, right? We’re getting close to having no ‘big secret’ to be afraid of, and that means we can be affectionate whenever we want. Are you always going to turn intoa tomato?”
Kat huffs and shoves the bite in her mouth, but can’t hide the groan as she tastes the food again. Once she’s swallowed, she gives me a dirty look. “I can’t be mad at you when this food is like a fucking party in my mouth. I’m with Oriel… you’re a big, fluffy cheater, Salem Stryker.”
Hearing my full name on her lips makes me grin, and I shrug shamelessly. “Never claimed to play fair when the others have so many tricks up their sleeves, Firecracker.”
“Tricks?” she asks curiously. “What tricks?”
This time, I’m the one who huffs. “Oriel with his damn gifts from the secret hoards. Xerxes makes you fabulous clothes. Zav let you hide in his cutesy tails. Slash and his protective big-guy thing. Hell, even Jasper and the whole wounded rich boy past. I’m just a cook with a poofy tail, KK. I can’t compete.”
“It isnot, nor will it ever be, a competition.” Her fork clatters as she leans on her elbows and looks at me over her half-gobbled plate, expression serious. “Salem, you were the first person to really accept me here. Everyone said you’d be mean and kick me out, but you taught me to cook and did all sorts of things that said I was welcome when no one else was saying it. You have something they don’t and can’t replicate.”
Now I’m feeling all mushy inside, and I don’t think she’s ready for that just yet, so I mutter, “Thank you for saying that, Firecracker.”
Once she’s smiling again, I stand, walk over to press a kiss to her temple, and then I get to cleaning up the kitchen. If I don’t, I’ll be too involved to grab my stuff and leave with the guys, class be damned.
And I definitely can’t be randomly absent with Darkstar as the professor this morning—that wouldn’t go over well at all.
“And thereasonwe’ve allowed that false information to persist, of course, is to keep the surface-dwelling humans in line,” Darkstar says as he looks around the room. “They’re far too weak-minded to be let in on the secrets of the realms or even those beings in their own space. In fact, many of those so-called ‘lost ones’ that the Society is so eager to scoop up and train end up being guests of their own prisons because they’ve been far too damaged by their time living with those meat sacks.”
Ouch. He’son a roll today—I wonder why?
“If he believes that, why did he bring KK from the surface?” I whisper to Oriel and Slash.
“Don’t be dense, bro,” Oriel mutters. “Even Darkstar has to obey the seers when they tell him someone is supposed to be here. He fucking hates it, but those guys are appointed by the court. All the heads of the schools have to listen when they tell admissions to send letters.”
“Indeed, they do. Denying the seers would be tantamount to saying the King is wrong. Darkstar wouldn’t risk it.” Slash folds his arms over his chest, eyes forward as he replies in a low tone. “The little demon lucked out by having the doctor be assigned to fetch him, though. That was very fortunate.”
“How he wrapped that terrifying fucker around his finger, I’ll never know.” Oriel draws a flaming skull on his notes, and I smother a chuckle.
Biting my lip, I consider what I’m going to say before I ask, “Do you think the doc knew thesecretthe minute he picked KK up?”
Slash snorts and shakes his head. “No. I do not.”
“I think KK is pretty easy to like, and he doesn’t treat the doc like a freak. That’s how he ingratiated himself with the old birdman.” Oriel looks at me and shrugs. “Doc probably knows by now, though. Jas will flip when he realizes that tidbit. I hope he doesn’t fuck everything up being mad at everyone.”
“The likelihood of his fury is far greater than his calm,” Slash says in a sigh. “I agree Kit should not tell him until they are much more settled in this detente.”
“Duh.”
The crow and the shark glare at me, and I hold my hands up. “I mean, I’m not wrong! I was a bit surprised it went so well last night, especially after the snafu I created with the berries. But I’m all in on getting the two stubborn people in our group to stop pretending they hate each other. I don’t want to screw it uporfor them to screw it up because we didn’t help.”
“I think Zavida’s support will mitigate that.” Slash tilts his head and frowns. “Are Darkstar’s speeches suddenly much more… pointed today?”
Oriel snorts as he flips a coin over his free hand like an old-timey poker player—but faster in a freakily skilled show of dexterity. “His mask is slipping, and I don’t know what would make him bolder about his hatred ofthose in other realms. The Major made him look stupid, so he should be in snivel-y-mode. Why is he so confident in showing his ugly side?”
