“I thought we’d use the spellcasting chamber.”
Alaric rolled his eyes at Glynda’s suggestion. “The chamber is monitored. Do you really want Montgomery asking questions about what we’re doing in there?”
Glynda’s face fell. I scowled at the mage.
“How are we supposed to know that? We’re first-years!”
“Did you not read the student handbook?”
That threw me because, no, I hadn’t. I’d skimmed it but then fallen asleep somewhere around page ten and never bothered picking it up again.Talk about boring. Whoever wrote the stupid book ought to be locked up in the penitentiary for crimes against my sanity.
“Of course you didn’t.You have the attention span of a sun gnat,” Kenji piped up unhelpfully.
I ignored him.
Alaric sighed. “We can’t leave campus, so unless you have any bright ideas, I may as well start packing.”
Panic flooded my system as I thought about the vampire. If we didn’t find him soon, he might die.Oh my stars!
“Calm down, pet,” Zane said, his breath feathering my cheek. Then he grinned at Alaric. “I know a perfect place for private spellcasting.”
Glynda's lip curled as she gazed around the crypt. When she spotted the suspicious stains around what looked like an altar, distaste morphed into horror.
“Oh my goddess, are those…bloodstains?”
Zane shrugged before reaching for the bag he’d swiped from Maverick’s cabin.
“I can neither confirm nor deny what those stains are, but I suggest you never visit here with a black light.”
I fixed him with a hard stare. “Are you a serial killer?” That this suspicion didn’t disturb me was a concern. If I were human, someone would have locked me in a psych ward by now. Luckilyfor me, I was a witch, and mental health problems were usually blamed on magical quirks.
“Yes.” Zane ignored Glynda’s shocked gasp and grinned at me. “Ready to blow some shit up, pet?”
“I’m not blowing anything up,” I huffed.
Zane just laughed before kissing my cheek. “Of course not, pet.”
“Look, can we get the fuck on with it? I have shit to do. Like a funeral to attend.” Alaric threw Zane an irritated look.
“Someone needs to get laid.”
“I get laid on the regular,” Alaric hissed. “Daily.Twicedaily.”
Zane smirked. “Really? Not what I’ve heard.”
“Well unlike you, I keep my sex life private.”
“Funeral?” Other than the two shifters,RIP, who else had died?
“Kinara Blake passed,” Glynda told me. She cast a sympathetic look in Alaric’s direction, which had me wondering exactly who Kinara was to the mage.
“Vane’s fiancée,” Zane explained with zero tact. “Don’t feel bad for him, pet. He hated her.”
“Fiancée?” I almost choked on my spit.Why did he have a fiancée? Alaric was my…no. I refused to give space to that thought. He wasn’t my anything. He’d made that more than clear in the weeks since I’d arrived at Starfall.
“I didn’t hate her!” Alaric kicked a stone. It skidded across the room and bounced off the wall, sending a cloud of dust into the already murky air. If not for the candles burning in sconces, this horrible crypt would be creepy as hell.
“Did you love her?” I asked this through gritted teeth, not sure if I wanted an honest answer but equally certain I needed to show some empathy for the mage’s loss.
