Magic. I hate him. I hate his smug superiority. I hate that he wants to hold me accountable for Mathias’s evils. I hate him even more because he’s beautiful.
Urgh. I hate myself for noticing it, now of all times. This situation is intimidating, not arousing, but my body isn’t getting the message.
Maybe what happened with North screwed with my brain. Or perhaps I’m simply addicted to pretty men after so many years alone.
Those gunmetal grey eyes drop to my lips. Is he thinking about kissing me? What would that be like?
I shove him away, but it doesn’t work. He may as well be a boulder.
“Pierce.” My complaint just makes him smirk harder, and that pisses me off.
I’m about to jerk my knee upwards—and then whack him with a book for good measure—when an unexpected voice breaks the moment with the subtlety of a gunshot.
“You’ve got to be fecking kidding me.”
My head whips around, to the stairs where Leo glares accusingly down at us both. Eddy has a restraining hand on his arm, and my gut sinks.
Oh no. I’m not oblivious to what this must look like. Pierce and I are pressed against one another, and from Leo’s angle, he won’t have seen the fury on my face.
Just Pierce’s head dropping towards mine.
“I told you to leave them alone,” Eddy grumbles, pulling his arm. “Kyrith, there’s a letter for you on the desk.” Her eyes fall on the altar behind me, and the dagger there, with a wince. “But I’m sure it’ll keep.”
At least she understands.
“Like everything else, apparently.” Leo runs a hand through his hair before storming back up the stairs the way he came.
Pierce still hasn’t moved, and Eddy lingers, clearly unsure whether to stay or go.
I wrench myself into my ghost form, putting the altar between me and the Carlton heir as I struggle to regain my composure.
“I’ll admit I was remiss in protecting the dagger properly,” I finally say. “That will be corrected posthaste. But I will not stand here and let you or Leo lecture me on how I spend my time or my past mistakes. You have no idea what it’s like to betrapped in a building for five hundred years, unable to touch anyone. And I may not have stopped Mathias before, but I am working on it now.”
I run my hand over the place where he gripped me, convinced I can still feel it, even though I’m no longer physical. “And you’ve just excluded yourself from anything more, contract or no contract. I require respect from my lovers. I don’t think you know what that word means.”
The Arcanaeum helpfully drops a dictionary on the altar beside him, flipped open to the relevant definition.
“Are you going to use nullification?” Eddy asks, startling me, because I’d almost forgotten she was there. “Can I stay and watch? We’re studying it at the moment, but I learn so much more from you.”
It’s a flimsy excuse. She really should be upstairs in class, but I suspect my friend has caught on to the uncomfortable energy between Pierce and me and is asking to stay in case things get heated again. Either that, or she’s doing her best to avoid the arcane law exam.
“Fine.” I offer her a small grateful smile. “But please be quiet. I need to focus.”
“You got it!” she promises, taking a seat on the bottom step.
Without another word, I get to work. As much as I want to go up there and tell them all that I am not down here with Pierce for carnal purposes, I don’t trust him alone with the dagger.
An inkling that’s proven right as he silently starts trying to rip apart every shield that I create. On an intellectual level, I recognise this is just him testing the defences. Helping—in his own way.
After all, if my spells can’t withstand Pierce, they’ll be less than useless against Mathias.
Still, it becomes a battle of wills. I create; he destroys. Overand over. I win when he finally stops trying and retreats with a slump of his shoulders an hour later.
Good riddance, I think at his retreating back.
As if sensing the scornful thought, he glances back as he reaches the staircase, lifting one eyebrow in challenge as that steely gaze lands on my hand.
The one still clutching his contract.
