Page 31 of Heartflame

“By who?” Lysander scoffed. “The Dean?”

I didn’t answer.

“Was it a professor?” he pushed. “Did Aeron tell you not to say anything?”

I let out a long sigh. Lysander wasn’t going to give up. He never did.

“Aeron’s grandfather,” I said at last. “The Elder Council leader. He told me not to say anything because he doesn’t want people to panic about nothing. So stop asking me, okay?”

Lysander’s brow furrowed and for a split second, he looked far less carefree than I was used to. But it only lasted a second or two before he seemed to shake it off. With a shrug he flopped back on his bed, seemingly bored as usual.

“Whatever,” he grumbled. “But at least tell me about that dragon’s cock. I’m very curious about what it looks like.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Did it taste good?”

“Leave me alone.”

I threw a pillow at him, which he caught easily and tossed back. It hit me square in the face, and I couldn’t help but laugh despite my frustration. This was Lysander in a nutshell. He was annoying as hell, but somehow always able to pull me out of my own spiraling thoughts whether he meant to or not.

“Seriously though,” he said, his tone shifting back to something more curious than lewd. “Are you going to see him again? Like, is this a thing?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, staring back up at the ceiling. “Maybe? I probably shouldn’t though. He’s an asshole.”

“Well, you better figure it out soon,” Lysander said. “Because that dragon is absolutely going to expect you to. He’s not being casual with you. And you know how they love to hoard the things they cherish. And I have a feeling that you just became his new favorite toy.”

I wanted to argue with him, wanted to say that Aeron was exactly the type to do casual, to move from conquest to conquest without looking back. But the truth was, I didn’t know anything about him. Not really. I knew he was arrogant and possessive and made my skin prickle with heat whenever he looked at me. I knew he had a connection to the Elder Council and that his grandfather was very powerful. I knew he could taste my arousal in the air and that he’d run into a forest full of unknown creatures to save me without a second thought.

But I didn’t know if any of that added up to him actually caring about me as a person.

“I’m going to the cafeteria,” I said, standing up abruptly. “I need to eat.”

“I’ll go with you,” Lysander said, hopping up from his bed. “I’m starving.”

“Please, by all means, invade my privacy.”

“I’d rather invade your privates,” he grinned, giving me a nudge. “But I’ll settle for breakfast instead.”

“Can literally one less person try to get in my pants today?”

“What can I say, Quill?” he laughed. “You’re a hot commodity. And that dragon isn’t gonna share you with anyone.”

Out of all the things Lysander had said, that was the one I believed to be true. Aeron had already claimed me as his own. Even if he said he was joking, I knew he wasn’t. In his mind, I belonged to him.

And goddammit if that didn’t make my dick twitch.

Chapter 14

Quill

I’d spent the better part of the night lying awake in my bed, trying to figure out what the hell to do about my current situation. Professor Blackwood wanted me to spy on Aeron, but I didn’t feel right about that. Aeron wanted me to be his personal plaything, but that felt weird too. And Lysander wanted to live vicariously through me, it seemed, by asking me extremely personal details about my sex life, none of which I wanted to share with him. Top that off with the ward breaches that I’d been sworn to secrecy about and my life had basically become one giant pot of bullshit stew.

So I decided to break it down. There was nothing I could do about the ward breaches, so that subject got left alone. Lysander I could fend off easily enough. However, the issue with Professor Blackwood, Aeron, and Elder Thaddeus made things complicated. In the end however, I decided that Professor Blackwood would be the easiest to remove from the equation. She was a teacher asking a favor and willing to return one in kind, which I desperately wanted. But when it came right down to it, I didn’t feel right disobeying a direct order from the Elder Council. And while I would like nothing more than to tell Aeron to fuck off, the truth was… I wanted to see him again.

That made Professor Blackwood the weakest link. With that in mind, I figured I should sever those ties before things went too far. That’s why, when her office hours rolled around, I was standing outside her door. But the moment I lifted my hand to knock, I stopped. There were voices coming from inside and from the sounds of it, they were not happy.

“—completely irresponsible,” a male voice was saying, sharp and clipped in a way that made my stomach drop. “Thaddeus is trying to cover up the truth, even if it puts the students in danger.”