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I sit like a statue through the rest of class. As soon as DeWinter excuses us, I pull out my phone and text Lords.
I know who Jade’s other lover was. Come to Old Chapel 206 right now.
Controlling Crow: 3 minutes.
I’m usually one of the first out the door. Today, I take my time closing my laptop, stowing my things in my bag-o-many-pockets. There are several students gathered around DeWinter asking questions, so he’s not going anywhere straight away.
Once Lords fills the doorway with his big frame and bigger presence, DeWinter isn’t going anywhere at all.
DeWinter glances up and meets Lords’s Captain America blues. DeWinter’s own eyes are a hazy gray. They lack the arresting metal sheen of Darwin’s, but for the first time, I notice the similarity.
“The Mr. Black, is there something you need?” DeWinter asks.
“Just a word when you’re free,” Lords says. He walks over and stands next to my seat, crossing his arms over his chest. He must have been nearby because he’s not wearing a coat, just a pinstriped blue dress shirt and dark blue waistcoat over his suit pants. It’s much too bloody cold outside for anyone but a Fire-mage to be roaming around without a coat.
Speaking of the devils, Darwin strolls into the classroom, one hand in the pocket of his Tom Ford suit pants, the other holding his jacket slung over his shoulder. He looks fresh off the runway. Charlie, following a step behind him, looks like a poor relation even in his new leather jacket.
Gabe’s last-last class was in the Airey so it will take him a few more minutes to get here. Assuming he’s on the way. We’d planned to meet up in the campus café to get hot chocolates before heading back to the flat. I didn’t text the boys to change our plans, so Lords must have.
Or they were just coming to meet me, a thought that makes my stomach do a silly flutter over the sinking feeling of realizing who Jade’s other lover was.
DeWinter narrows his eyes at the interlopers in his classroom but goes back to the two students who are still asking questions.
Lords turns slightly so DeWinter can’t see his face as he whispers to me, “DeWinter?”
“Ask to see what’s in his right coat pocket,” I murmur back. “You’ll recognize it.”
Lords nods.
Darwin and Charlie edge through the empty seats until they flank me. Darwin drapes his jacket over the vacant chair next to me, drops his hands to my shoulders, and rubs gently. “You ready to go after this?”
I nod. We agreed last night to spend reading week in Faery after Darwin spoke to his father and Callan confirmed that no Fate had ever darkened Faery’s doors, nor would anyone but a fae be able to open a portal in Faery.
I’m sorry to leave our cozy flat. In a short time, it’s become home. But Lords says it will be weeks before he, Doctor Prince, and Madame Serpa will be ready to bind Klotho to her own realm. And if the alternative is Lords moving in with us and curtailing ourextra-curricularactivities, then Faery’s looking better by the minute.
When the last student thanks DeWinter and leaves, Lords strolls to the front of the classroom.
“What can I do for you, Evan?” DeWinter asks. “If it’s about Miss Nowak’s grades—”
Lords shakes his head. “Please take everything out of your jacket pockets and put it on the podium.”
DeWinter frowns. “What?”
“Do it, Robin. Don’t make me ask twice.”
DeWinter’s eyes shift right, then left, not fixing on anything. With a small twitch of his head, he sticks his hands in his pockets and dumps his handfuls on the podium’s slanted top before shoving his fists angrily back into his pockets.
I’m at the wrong angle to see what lands on the podium. But I can see Lords pick up the scroll.
“That’s private,” DeWinter grits out between his teeth.
Lords reads the note, then rerolls it. “Who was this intended for?” he asks.
“Again, that’s private. It’s no one’s concern but mine.”
“I wish that were true. Spit on your right hand, Robin, and swear on your blood and bone that you weren’t Jade Kalveri’s lover.”
DeWinter shoves his hands deeper into his pockets.
