Pushing up, I rocked back on my bottom and spun around—looking up at the sight that stole everyone’s attention.
Him.
The same beautiful, evil stranger who stole my patch, and then my room and bed. He towered over me, eye-wateringly resplendent in black pants and a simple black linen shirt... if notfor the half a dozen knives sticking out of his chest, shoulders, and cheek.
I clapped my hand over my mouth, gasping at the thick, black ichor seeping from his wounds.
He looked down at the weapons riddling his chest—cocking his head like he was trying to understand how they came to be there. Then his eyes snapped up, and narrowed on the elephant demon.
“No,” the attacker barked. “No, Ronin, no! It wasn’t me, it was him!” He pointed straight at me. “He dared me to throw them. Fucking taunted me saying I didn’t have the balls to!”
My jaw dropped.
“He kept shouting throw them, throw them,” the liar plowed on, “because he knew you were behind the door! The cowardly fuck dropped at the last second because he wanted you to get hit and—”
The now-named Ronin didn’t blink, didn’t shout, didn’t so much as twitch a facial muscle. Lifting his hand, he snapped his fingers, and the demon exploded.
Bursting in a shower of guts, bones, and black blood that splattered the walls, ceiling, the food, everyone in the buffet line, and a shrieking me.
I howled like a banshee—frantically wiping at the foul-smelling blood splattered on my skin. I slapped something squishy away, and it bounced down beside my shoe. One look, and I saw it was a piece of his brain.
Pitching forward, I heaved—nothing—on the floor. An empty stomach wouldn’t let me vomit, but my body kept trying.
A hand hooked through my ruffles and collar, and started dragging me away.
“H-hey,” I croaked, twisting my neck around.
Ronin was pristine once again. While I was dry heaving, he obviously snapped away the knives and healed the wounds.There wasn’t a trace to say they were ever there—not even holes in his shirt. Unnaturally gorgeous once again, Ronin moved through a crowd that parted quickly for him, tugging me along the whole way.
“What are you doing?” I snapped. “Let me go! I did not tell that guy to throw those knives. I don’t have anything to do with him, or you!”
He didn’t even look down.
“Are you listening to me?” Outrage laced my voice. “Hello? Hello!”
Ronin walked up to a table of guys. They were up and vacating their seats before he even grabbed hold of a chair. Pulling it out, he lifted me up and plopped me blinking and stuttering on my backside.
I could only goggle at him in complete disbelief as he waved a hand, magically cleaned me of ichor and brains, pulled up a chair, stretched out, and dropped his head on my lap.
He was out and snoring within minutes, which was half as long as I stared at him—trying to make sense of the complete stranger who made me his pillow not once, but twice in the last twelve hours.
“Ummm...” I raised my head, looking around as if someone was going to help me.
Everyone, absolutely everyone, was staring at me—but no one made a move to help me. On the contrary, the tables nearest us emptied out quick—with all of the students moving to seats as far from us as they could get.
For the first time since I found myself in the company of demons, they were three things I never thought a demon could be—quiet, subdued, and behaved.
Everyone quietly filled up their plates, practically tiptoed to their seats, and then started eating in near silence. They weren’t messing on their phones anymore. They were even careful aboutscraping their forks across the plates. All of this they did while fixing their gaze on me and Ronin like we were a couple of bombs about to explode.
“Sabrina?” I whispered. “Sabrina, what’s going on? Why did everyone start freaking out when this guy walked in?”
She heaved a sigh from within the folds of fabric. “Whatguy, human?” She poked her head out of my ruffles. “Who are you referring—?” She looked down.
Flying out of my shirt so fast, Sabrina smacked me across the cheek with her tail.
“Hey!”
She hit the floor and kept moving, slithering away and out the door in the space of a breath.
