Page 122 of Serpent and Shadow

Bones stood there, his face dyed red with firelight, Wraith clutched up against his chest with one arm. He managed to stroke her where he cradled her, but his eyes never left mine, and Wraith never stopped meowing at him, lecturing him with much longer, more expressive wails, caterwauls, and growls than anything she’d done to Miranda or Draken. She clung to his black jacket with her claws, swishing her tail to emphasize every sound she made.

His black uniform was coated in ash and blood.

“I thought they’d never fucking leave,” he spat coldly.

Wraith let out another low growl, but rubbed her face against his chest when he adjusted his hand to rub the back of her neck. I couldn’t help staring at his long fingers and knuckles, watching as they dug into the muscle behind her ears.

Wraith made a purring sound, still interspersed with annoyed grumbles.

He tossed something to the rug by the fire, something I hadn’t noticed he held in his free hand until it left his fingers.

It was a gold mask.

26

Husband

Ijust stood there, silent, as he shouldered off the black, ash-covered coat. He managed to do it without letting go of my cat, instead switching which arm he held her with so he could shrug out of the nearly floor-length garment.

It landed on the floor not far from the mask.

“Well?” he asked, his voice just as cold. “Don’t I warrant a hello… wife?”

He said the last word like it was a knife he’d stabbed into my chest.

“I thought you wanted me here,” he said, still staring at me. “Didn’t you keep saying I needed to come with you? That you were going to whisk me away, back to our shared rooms?” His expression didn’t move. “Do you imagine I’ll restart my classes then, once the weekend’s up? Maybe re-join the Skyhunt team?”

I watched him warily, following his steps towards me as he brought the cat over to the couch, and placed her back down on it. Wraith gave an indignant series of growls and huffs, sitting down on her favorite pillow of his and staring up at both of us with almond-shaped green eyes. She looked at both of us like she was trying to decide which one of us was at fault for him putting her down.

I barely glanced at her, though.

My eyes remained on Bones, more specifically, on his magic.

I recognized what I was looking at by now.

I’d never seen it this bad before, but I found myself able to categorize it with broad brush-strokes, well enough to know where to look. The black crystal flaming over his head looked three times the size I remembered. It shone nearly purple with the firelight behind it, and I saw his magical aura sparking around him like a dense cloud filled with lightning.

“Still nothing to say to me, wife?” he asked, colder. “Not so sure you want me here, then? I suppose it’s not so much fun when it’s for real.”

I bit my tongue, but still didn’t speak.

Anyway, I doubted he would hear me, even if I tried.

He took a step nearer to me, and his eyes closed briefly, longer than a blink, the instant the edges of his magical aura reached mine. I saw him flinch as the contact jolted him, right before his long jaw clenched, his throat muscles tightening.

Despite his near-gritted teeth, and the things he’d said, nothing in his magic matched any of it. His jaw loosened gradually as he looked at me, and I couldn’t help but see the pain that rose to his eyes as his gaze slowly made its way from my face down to my bare feet.

I’d flinched when I felt him there, too.

My fists clenched by my sides, my breath caught, but somehow, I found words. I’m not sure how much I thought them through in the end. I had my own mind and magic to deal with as they changed voltage and frequency when they reacted to the proximity of his.

“Give me some of it.” I held out a hand, and my voice sounded impatient to my ears, even annoyed. “Give me some of it, before you have a heart attack.”

He blinked, staring at me almost like I’d slapped him.

His jaw hardened again, right before his eyes changed. Now he looked at me like I was the most frustrating person in the world. He also looked half-tempted to leave.

“More like drag you out of here with me,” he growled.