I shook my head.I’m sure that was done in protest against Professor Radu, but the same professor literally told them everything in that book was nonsense propaganda, so who exactly are they sticking it to?
“Men,” I muttered. “Playing pointless power games in all realms.”
“It’s only pointless if you lose.”
Ronin’s sudden voice in my ear spun me around. I narrowly avoided bonking my nose against his, but I didn’t avoid losing my notebook. Flipping through my notes, he ripped out the pages.
“Hey!”
Cool as ever, he crumpled the pages, tossed the ball up, and snapped his fingers. A flash of light and heat singed my cheeks.
I could only gape at him as the burning remnants floated down.
“I will not need notes for this class. That leech’s lies aren’t worth the effort of being put to paper, and you should’ve known that. I will forgive you this lapse just this once, but don’t let it happen again.”
“You—!” Slicing myself off, I took a deep breath before Sabrina squeezed it out of me. Meeting his eyes, I beamed in his face. “You’re right, of course you shouldn’t have to waste your time with his lies. But...” I heaved a sigh. “It’s a shame the leech will get the last laugh.”
Ronin paused turning away.
“Yep, yep, yep,” I said mournfully, “he’s going to make all us demons look a right damn fool.”
Eyes narrowing to slits, Ronin turned back. “Explain.”
“Well, every test and assignment is going to demand his lies as the correct answer. And if we refuse to give that answer, it gives him the perfect excuse to fail a class full of demons on the subject of their own history.” I shook my head. “Bet he’ll enjoy it too.”
Ronin’s lips peeled back from his teeth. Flicking off me, he glared at Radu who was kicking back in his desk chair with his hands behind his head—smoking his afterlife away.
Radu looked back at him... and winked.
“Rewrite it,” Ronin demanded, smacking my notebook against my chest. “Every word.”
“Of—”
Ronin strode away.
“—course.”
I dropped my smile the second he hit the door. “Jerk.”
Gathering my stuff, I glanced at the schedule I copied in the front of my book, and then glanced at my watch. As suspected, Radu let us out way early—which gave me some time to continue my search for Dora.
I touched my cheek. “Goodness, this smarts.” I drew my hand back. “And I’m still bleed—”
“Don’t!”
“—ing.”
“You fool!” Sabrina cried. “Say you’re not bleeding! Say you’re not—!”
Wham!
A force like a pickup truck slammed into me, blowing me off my feet.
I crashed spine-first into the table behind me and crumpled on the floor, my back singing with pain.Wha— What was—?
The force of Radu’s hit sent him tumbling head over heels over the desk and crashing into the chairs. Snarling, he thrashed against the wood and chair limbs—furiously tearing at the tangled cardigan that entrapped him. Through the chaos, our eyes met—
—and I screamed.
