Page 72 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

“What are you doing?” I shrieked. “Put me down!”

“You’re in no state to walk with that thing sticking out of your leg. I’m going to take you somewhere I can treat it properly,” he said, voice hard and arrogant, just like usual. It was as though he went around bridal-carrying me every day.

“No, I don’t want your help.”

“Tough.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I squirmed, but the fact was, I couldn’t walk right now. I closed my eyes and concentrated. When Seb grunted and came to a stop, I opened my eyes again and grinned in triumph. His eyes were wide as his arms tightened and he looked up and down my body.

“You really can go invisible,” he said.

“I don’t want anyone to see you carrying me around. Rumors will spread, Flora will find out, and that’ll be the end of me,” I said.

Seb opened his mouth, then closed it again. He scowled as he continued to walk. I had to keep concentrating on holding the invisibility, determined I wasn’t going to let it slip away. As such, I didn’t pay attention to where we were going until after we passed under an arch and I realized I’d never seen this part of the Academy before.

“Where are we?” I asked. As I spoke, I felt the ripple of my invisibility fading.

Seb grunted, shook his head, then walked through a set of double doors into a lush, green room filled with plants of all sorts. He set me down on a velvet couch and arranged my leg so it was propped up on a pillow.

“This is Court Laurel’s room.”

He’d taken me to his court’s room. I had to stifle both confusion and wariness as I looked around. The ceiling was tall and had a glass ceiling, letting in lots of sunlight. Potted trees lined the walls, with shelves of various other flowers and greenery scattered throughout the room. With the furniture all in green velvet, they reminded me of moss-covered rocks.

“I didn’t expect it to be so … uh…” I trailed off.

“Did you think I’d have the skeletons of my enemies mounted to display?” Seb asked sarcastically as he went to a nearby shelf, on which stood several vials of potions.

If I ever thought about coming here, that would have been what I expected, but I wisely didn’t say so. “Green. I thought black was your favorite color.”

“It is. But I also like plants. I prefer to be in the forest rather than indoors, and this is the next best thing.” Seb returned with a few potions. He pulled a chair up next to me and reached for my leg.

“Whoa!” My hands flew forward, stopping him. “What are you doing? Don’t touch me.”

Seb lifted one of his sculpted eyebrows. “Do you want to keep that in your leg?”

I hesitated. My body felt on edge, too alert to his closeness. After how intense things had been with our last mentorship session and how far I’d let him go, was he expecting the same thing to happen here?

“Relax. I’m not going to do anything you say no to,” he said.

“You brought me here after I said no.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He glared a moment longer before he focused on my leg again. He carefully undid the handkerchief. “I’ll have to cut your trousers. I’ll take it off at the knee and cut it lengthwise to remove it so I can see how bad the damage is.”

“I don’t think I like that idea,” I muttered.

Seb gave me an ironic smile. “Miss Azriel, I believe I can withstand the eroticism of your knee.”

“Just take me to the hospital wing. The nurses will take care of me,” I pleaded.

“Will they? Or will you just sit and wait for a few hours until they yank it out and tell you to deal with whatever infection develops on your own?” Seb lifted his eyes to mine again before he drew a knife from his pocket and carefully started to cut away the fabric of my pant leg. “Besides, if you’re in the hospital wing, it will leave me bored out of my wits.”

I leaned back. He was probably right about the nurses. Besides that, if I insisted, he would carry me again. That would put us right through the main Academy. The risk of being seen was too great. “What, isn’t there anyone else for you to fight with or pick on?”

He laughed softly, almost sounding pained. “Not anymore.”

Chapter 32 - Azriel

My chest warmed at his words, and I couldn’t stop from smiling. I knew it was only a line. It had to be, because I wasn’t anything special. That didn’t stop me from liking how it sounded. I rested my head on the back of the couch, watching him as he worked. He quickly removed the pant leg from around my calf, then took some time to study the stick in it.