Page 58 of Blood Oath
“Because she was?—”
“Boo?” Baelfire calls, slamming open the door to my office once again.
I guess it’s no surprise that they completely disregard the by-appointment-only sign hanging outside. He scowls at the two of us, though there’s an underlying layer of panic on his face, and he’s far more out of sorts than the Decimus’s proud youngest typically puts on display.
“Where’s that creepy stalking son of a bitch when you need him?”
Clearly, he means Crypt.
I roll my eyes. “You both lost our keeper? What are you two even—“ I pause when I see the huge bundle of dead flowers in Baelfire’s hands. “Why the hell are you carrying those around?”
“They’re for Maven.”
“Are you serious? You’re giving her dead flowers?”
Gods on high, no wonder I’m in the lead, even fictitiously. Anyone would think I was a playboy and these idiots had never had a real relationship in their life, even though the reverse is true.
“They’re her favorite because they look like—” Baelfire cuts off with a huff. “You know what? I don’t have to fucking explain it to you. And if you don’t know where she is, then…” He trails off, glancing sideways at Silas. “He’s about to attack your wall.”
I look over in time to see Silas dig the crystal into his hand, lifting it as he glares at the wall with a vengeance. What the fuck is wrong with him?
“Si. Hey. Focus,” Baelfire grunts, shoving Silas’s shoulder and taking a swift step back when Silas whips around, features twisted into a vicious snarl. “Remember what I said? I won’t, and the rest of us won’t either.”
I don’t know what he’s talking about, but that’s not surprising. Whenever we were forced to spend time together as children, I was typically the odd one out. They’ve never understood how my life—how my family—works, or that my snubbing them was for the best. I excluded myself whenever I could, and there was no point explaining my reasons for it when they were so quick to call me a stuck-up dickhead.
When I saw that they would be in my quintet, I actually hoped things might eventually change.
But if I want things to improve between us…then for now, I have to keep icing them out—at least until we’ve all bound our hearts to Maven. Until then, there are just too many things that could go terribly wrong.
Baelfire mutters something else to Silas that I don’t catch, and finally, the blood fae snaps out of it and drops his bloodied crystal onto my desk, ignoring the way I wrinkle my nose in disgust. He slumps into the chair across from mine, rubbing his face as if he’s exhausted.
“I’ll only ask one more time,” I say coldly, glaring between them. “Why would Maven need to be healed?”
“Some asshole burned her during combat training.” Baelfire looks down in regret and anger at the dead flowers in his hand…which I still don’t understand. “And then I went and made her day a hundred times shittier. Fuck, I just have to find her.”
Before I can ask what he’s talking about, yet another person knocks on my ajar door. But this time, it’s a faculty member asking me to cover for Professor Haagen, who is apparently too busy helping investigate the burning pyres to teach his afternoon class.
“Professor Haagen is in the House of Arcana. Why would I teach casters potion crafting when I don’t have that ability?” I point out dryly.
“I—it would be more to supervise than anything,” the mustached lurch says quickly, glancing nervously at the glaring legacies in my office. He’s equally uncomfortable with how I’m staring, judging by the sweat rolling down his forehead when he turns back to me. We’re not the most welcoming group. “It’s a lab day, so they’ll just be crafting potions from grimoires and getting ready for the First Placement…where, you know, they’re allowed to use anything they’ve crafted in class to try to survive?—“
“Other teachers from the House of Arcana could supervise.”
Besides, I didn’t come here to actually teach lessons. I don’t mind being a professor, but there were much bigger reasons to station myself at Everbound University. I don’t plan on building a rapport with other instructors, not when the majority of them followed me around asking for an autograph during my first week here, claiming to be huge fans of my modeling, with one going so far as to show me a photo reel of their favorite photoshoots of me.
It was cringey and awkward.
The lurch wilts, looking ready to retreat, but then Silas fixes him with a stare that makes the man shiver. I get it. All blood fae have unnerving red eyes, but his are somehow worse.
“You said potion crafting?” he asks, sounding far too calm in comparison to nearly losing his shit a few minutes ago.
“Y—yes.”
Silas glances at me. “Maven takes Haagen’s potion crafting class.”
I should still pass on it, but my mouth opens before I can control it. “Fine. I’ll cover for him. Now get out.”
The faculty member disappears, shutting the door gingerly behind him as if he’s afraid that breathing wrong will set one of us off. Which honestly might not be too far from the truth.
