Page 27 of Blood Oath
As with the first time I met my matches, I pick up on a slight edge between them as Baelfire and Silas have a silent conversation I don’t understand. Though whatever tension is between them seems mild compared to how obviously Silas disdained Crypt—or the way Everett and Baelfire made jabs at each other.
Fine by me. If they’re not friends, that makes breaking up our quintet easier.
Silas gestures for me to come to him. He picked out a good table, away from the bulk of other legacies chatting as they chow down. If I’m honest, it’s my favorite place to sit in the dining hall. But instead of going to him, I turn and walk to a table in the opposite corner.
Bael follows with a quiet laugh. “You’re so damn cute.”
“No. I’m not.”
“You’re like an adorable little raincloud. I get the feeling you’d be cuddly, too, if you just gave me a chance and lifted the no-touching rule.”
I sit at the table and fix him with a look. “If you try to cuddle me, I'll hex you so that you shit thunder for a month.”
It’s a bluff. Casting the limp dick hex on Luka was already barely inside my magical powerhouse since I’m running low on my ability to cast at the moment. I’ll have to remedy that soon.
Bael sits directly beside me and winks. “We'll get there, Boo.”
It doesn’t take long for Silas to come to us, sitting across from me and studying me as intensely as he did when we were in the greenhouse. It’s seriously inconvenient how gorgeous all my matches are, but all in their own way. Silas? His dark curly hair is mussed, and something about his shifting red irises makes him look ill at ease, but he emanates dangerous intelligence. Like he knows every possible way someone might try him at any given moment, and he’s already calculated what weaknesses to take advantage of.
“How was your class, Maven?”
“You need to leash your dragon. He won’t stop following me around.”
Baelfire makes a sound of indignation. “Leash? Fuck that. Leashes are for dogs. I’m a damn dragon.”
I ignore him. “Between the Decimus and the DeLune, I get the impression you three don’t know how to handle rejection. That’s going to have to change.”
Silas frowns slightly, ignoring the latter part. “You mean, you can sense Crypt nearby?”
“Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been tailing us all day, that creep,” Baelfire grunts.
I glance over my shoulder. Sure enough, the air ripples to reveal the Nightmare Prince leaning against the nearest wall. His lips curl up into a pleased smirk as if he’s flattered that I can sense his presence.
“What a keen keeper I have,” he murmurs.
I’ve had enough of this. Looking at them each in turn, I spell it out. “I. Am. Not. Your. Keeper. So fuck off.”
Crypt and Silas both look mildly amused, and Baelfire openly grins. “I love hearing you swear with that pretty little mouth.”
Oh, my gods, these assholes are exhausting. Why can’t a bitch just ditch her god-selected soulmates and move on? I can’t complete my mission with them constantly hanging around, and my time is going to start running out. The winter solstice is less than two weeks away.
And I can’t let them figure out my secret, or they’ll kill me themselves.
Fine. I’ll have to use the strongest tactic on the Make Them Hate Me list. Skipping right past annoying, clingy, mean, and a bunch of others I’d written, I settle on play head games.
But first, I need to pick a candidate they all hate. Discreetly, I glance around the dining hall to see if there’s anyone here I could stomach cozying up to for a week or two.
My attention is arrested by the strikingly handsome elemental sitting several tables away with a group of professors. He’s in academic attire, but he makes the others look bad since he may as well just have walked straight out of a modeling shoot. All women and several guys within a hundred-foot radius of him are openly drooling, including one of the faculty members sitting across from him with stars in her eyes.
Merciless jawline. Icy white hair. Glacial eyes that sweep over to me before looking away just as quickly.
Everett Frost.
That’s not a bad idea.
Silas notices where I’m looking, and although he speaks matter-of-factly, his voice has an edge. “He should be getting to know you too.”
Baelfire looks equally annoyed at the sight of the professor. “Nah, she’s better off not dealing with that frozen prick until she has no other choice.”
