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Saint took a deep breath and I saw that he was struggling with his Drake.When he spoke again, his voice was his, not his Drake’s.

“You already have yourl’lorna,”he said, nodding at Kaitlyn.“Give Avery to me.Ineedhim.”

“Well, they can’t justgivehim to you, Saint!I mean, he’s a person, not a thing, after all!”Megan looked worried.

As well she should be, I thought.If Saint’s Drake came out again and this time right in the middle of the crowded Dining Hall…well, it wouldn’t be a good scene.

“It’s all right—I’ll go with him,” I said.

To my relief, Saint’s words seemed to have gotten through to my bespelled Coven mates—maybe the Drakes inside them recognized Saint’s prior claim on me.But for whatever reason, they had both stepped back and let go of me.

“All right,” I said to Saint, as soon as I was free of them.“Where do you want to go?”

“Someplace we can talk in private,” he growled.

Then he spun around and headed for the far end of the Dining Hall.After a moment, I realized he was going to the trapdoor in the floor that led down into the dungeons, where the Norm Dorm was located.

For a moment, I hesitated.Was it really safe to follow him?What would he—or more likely his Drake—do to me after seeing me in the embrace of two other Drakes?Would it be jealous?Would it feel like I had been cheating on it and want to barbeque me with one blast of flame?

I didn’t know.But Ididknow that if I didn’t follow Saint and at least try to calm down his Drake, the entire Dining Hall might become a fiery inferno.

There really was no choice.

Squaring my shoulders, I followed my roommate.

18

AVERY

We took the spiral staircase down to the Norm Dorm which opened out into the Common Area.But Saint didn’t stop there—he stalked into the bedroom we shared and I, reluctantly, followed him.

I could hear Megan and Griffin right behind us, clattering down the stairs.

“I’m going to break the spell now!”she was shouting, even as I closed the door behind myself and Saint.He had asked for privacy and this was as private as we could get while still on campus.

When he turned to me, his eyes were blazing and his fists were clenched but he was still in control.Barely, I thought, but it was still Saint and not his Drake staring at me.

“Avery,” he said, speaking in the low, ragged voice of the damned.“Avery, I need to hold you—please!”

I looked at him uncertainly, not sure how to respond.I hadn’t really known what to expect.I knew his Drake was obsessed with me but I was sure that Saint himself hated me after what we’d done the night before.Was he acting this way because of Megan’s spell?Would he hate himself later for it?

“Saint,” I said, putting out a hand to keep him from approaching.“Look, I know you probably feel compelled to do…all kinds of things right now.But it’s just because of a spell that Megan worked.She?—”

“Spell’s broken!”Megan called through the door, interrupting me.“I destroyed the implements I used completely this time.It’s definitely done.”

“I can confirm that,” Griffin’s deep voice added.“All the implements have been destroyed and the magic is dissipated.”He paused for a moment and I heard whispering on the other side of the door.Then I heard him say, “Avery, are you all right?Megan wants me to come in and check on you.”

“No, no—stay out there—I’m fine!”I said hastily.I appreciated that my friends wanted to protect me from Saint’s cursed Drake, but since I seemed to be the only one who could calm him down, I thought I was probably safer alone with him than if other people were there, riling him up.

“Well…all right.”Griffin still sounded doubtful and then I heard Megan say something and he answered, “We must trust that Avery knows what he’s doing, sweetheart.If he tells us to stay out, we must believe him.”

There was more whispering for a moment—and I could imagine the two of them arguing under their breath just outside the door.Then there was the clicking sound of feet climbing back up the spiral staircase and I knew that Saint and I—and his Drake—were now all alone in the Norm Dorm.

“See?”I said, looking at Saint and trying to speak soothingly.“The spell is broken now.So I’m sure you don’t need to?—”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with any fucking spell!”Saint snarled.His face was tense with effort and I realized he was still wrestling internally with the cursed beast that inhabited him.“Please, Avery—I just need to hold you!”

It was a cry of desperation and I realized that whatever had been bothering him probably wasn’t connected to the now defunct Good Manners spell at all.