Page 17 of Zodiac Beasts

“So is that why you asked me to come in here with you? You wanted to know if I’d figured anything out about my bloodline?”

“Why else would I want to get you alone?” He spoke matter-of-factly, but I didn’t miss the unusually cheeky smirk he threw in for good measure.

Was that a joke? Adrian Karras tells jokes? Who is this guy?

“I definitely can’t think of any other reason.” Other than, I don’t know, maybe you wanted to see if I was paying attention when you taught me how to deep throat last month?

Quit thinking inappropriate thoughts.

He turned his back to me, like he was attempting to disguise his own amusement. “For someone who was a virgin a few months ago, you have a surprisingly dirty mind, Lila.”

Oh no. Did he hear that!? Has Adrian been able to read my mind just like Marcus this whole time?

He continued into the box maze, and I scurried to keep up.

“Wait, you can’t read my mind, too, can you? I thought that was just a vampire thing.” I asked, frantically and nervously. To be fair, I hadn’t read nearly enough on incubus magic, and none of my favorite books or movies used them enough to give me some hint on their lore.

“I don’t need to when you just confessed my assumptions were correct.” His eye roll was apt and justified.

Awkward. My expression flattened. “You probably used your incubus magic to plant those thoughts in my head.” I grumbled, crossing my arms as he led me around the surprisingly intricate circuit of hallways. The room didn’t look big enough for this maze to be so long and complicated.

“I do have that power.” Adrian mused. “But it only amplifies thoughts that are already there. I can’t plant those desires in someone who doesn’t have any.”

Annoying. “Then I guess we’re more similar than you want to admit, because you had to be imagining something dirty in order to assume I was.”

He just shook his head, “I feed off emotion, so for better or for worse, I know exactly what everyone is feeling all the time. I know when a student is bored, I know when they’re enjoying themselves. I know when you’re unfocused and anxious while sitting in my class.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “In most of my classes, I try to feed off of whoever shows up with the most enthusiasm for the subject. I can latch onto and easily mimic those emotions while I teach, which has been a great asset in the past. Students respond well to genuine excitement, even if it’s not technically my own.” Adrian shrugged.

Huh, maybe he really did feed off Linda then. He always seemed to be mirroring her energy, and suddenly that made sense. I didn’t know if that was something I should be jealous of or not, but it sounded more like a necessary and practical evil than something personal.

“Do you ever use my emotions for that?”

“No.” So blunt. “I avoid your emotions at all cost during class. You’re incredibly distracting.”

“Because I’m so hard to resist?” I poked, oddly enjoying how easy it was to talk to him. He didn’t feel so far away and above me when we were like this.

He raised a single brow in my general direction. “Because you stress me out.”

To his credit, I stress myself out, so I couldn’t reasonably be offended. “Am I stressing you out right now?”

“Yes, but for different reasons.” There was no bite to his tone. It was softer than I was used to, especially when we were alone together. He’d usually spend this time bending me over desks, twisting my arm, and threatening and manhandling me opposed to speaking to me like a peer. Or even just like someone he didn’t hate.

“Do you think there will ever be a day being around me isn’t stressful for you?” I played with my own fingers, not sure I was actually ready for his answer to that question.

Adrian remained silent for entirely too long. Once I’d gotten to the point that I felt adequately stupid for asking, he finally said: “Maybe.”

My eyes rounded. Before I could poke and prod him for what he meant by that, we rounded a bend, where there, in the center of the box maze fortress thing, was a large mechanical bull. An inflatable ring was folded at the base, while dust covered the velvet like coat.

“No one has used this thing in a while, it seems.” Adrian changed the subject adeptly, as he brushed his hand over the bull’s back to clear a prominent coat of grey dust particles. “The last Astrology Club teacher was a big fan, but it fell out of popularity over time. Not many people in Graves have any experience even riding horses these days—let alone bulls—but I think it’s about time we gave it a revival.”

“Do you need me to help carry it?”

Adrian snorted. He bent down and grabbed the inflatable ring and tossed it over. As I caught it, he grabbed the whole I-don’t-even-know-how-many-hundreds-of-pounds of metal and mechanics and leather, and he hoisted it over his shoulder like it was nothing.

“No.” He walked past me, with a playful shake of his head. “I asked you to come along for information. I promise I can handle the heavy lifting.” His short sleeve shirt showed off the flex of his biceps, and every single little visible muscle in his overly perfect build. I think I liked warm weather.

He continued back into the box maze, and I stared at the rubber ring in my hands. That might have been the least toxic interaction I’d ever had with Adrian, and I didn’t know what to make of that. He was much easier to read when he was being mean.

Weird.