Page 62 of Blood Oath
I’ll either throw up or, worse, try to do it again.
Given his track record, I knew it wouldn’t be easy to deter Baelfire, but it was worth a shot. Turning, I stride away. “Just drop it.”
I make it two halls over with him trailing along beside me like the most guilt-ridden person in existence before Kenzie’s voice sings, “May! There you are!”
She prowls up to us with a smile, flipping coils of pale hair from her face as she throws her arms around the shoulders of the two legacies beside her—Vivienne and Dirk, who are both perfectly polite. “Wanna join us for a late lunch, you two? You don’t have another class today, right, May?”
Damn her and her excellent memory of my class schedule.
“Fine.”
Inside the vaulted eating hall, while standing in one of the food lines with Kenzie’s quintet chattering happily and picking out the foods they want in front of us, Kenzie glances over her shoulder at me.
“I tried calling you, like, ten times. Seriously, you need to turn your phone off silent mode.”
“That will be hard to do, considering it’s at the bottom of a river.”
“What?” She smacks her forehead. “Girl! We go to school in a fucking maze, and you disappear all the time on me! You know it freaks me out when I can’t reach you, right? I mean, I think you’re a total queen, and I’m sure you can handle yourself if you had to, but this place is full of some crazy competitive legacies, and now that you’re matched with some of the strongest here?—”
“The strongest here,” Baelfire says smugly behind me.
“Whatever, Dragon Boy,” Kenzie rolls her eyes but gives me a pleading look. “My point is, I’m worried about you, okay, Maven? Promise me you’ll get a new phone ASAP so I can send you dirty memes and check in a couple of times per day to make sure my bestie is still breathing.”
She worries almost as much as Lillian. “Sure. I’ll get a new phone.”
“Get a cute case for it, too,” she adds, squinting at my outfit. “And not just a plain black one again, you prude little monk woman. Make it sexy.”
“Of course,” I nod sagely. “Because phones can be sexy.”
She grins. “Anything can be sexy with a little imagination.”
“Especially your imagination. Plenty of ammunition,” I smirk.
Kenzie throws her head back to laugh before sashaying to one of the tables with her quintet, leaving room for Baelfire and me to sit once we get our food. But when I turn to order, Baelfire is staring at my mouth with laser focus.
“Damn it, Boo. I want that.”
“A smile?”
“Your smile. I’ve decided that’s my new mission in life, so buckle up.”
I pick out whatever foods look the most bland while I try to come up with the bitchiest thing to say. Because as much as it isn’t sitting well with me, I have to make these guys decide I’m not worth all this hassle.
Before I can come up with a withering retort, he reaches beside me, carefully avoiding touching me, and piles more food on my plate, including a pile of hot wings. When I make a face at him, he winks.
“Gotta keep my mate well-fed. If you don’t want it, toss it to me. I’m always ravenous, especially around you. Oh, and heads up? Your other stalkers are waiting for us,” he adds, popping a mini roll into his mouth as he scoops up our plates.
Sure enough, Silas and Crypt are sitting at the table beside Kenzie’s quintet, who look like they’ve lost their appetites in the presence of the Nightmare Prince and the notoriously cutthroat Crane. Kenzie looks like she’s trying to lighten the mood as Baelfire approaches, but I can’t hear whatever they’re saying because a group of legacies passes by, cutting me off from them.
Someone taps on my shoulder, and my nerves go tight, but I calmly glance over my shoulder.
It’s Harlow, who has swapped her nose ring for a diamond stud and styled her short purple hair into an array of spikes today. She has one hand on her hip as she looks me over, popping the gum in her mouth.
“You know, I thought you looked like a weak-ass pushover when I first saw you at the Seeking.”
“Thanks.”
She guffaws. “What I meant is, I was clearly wrong. I hear you mangled Sierra during combat training.”
