Page 28

AVERY

T he next day I waited to see if Saint would withdraw again.

He was kind of quiet as we got dressed and I wondered if he was regretting our little make-out session the night before.

But when it came time to go up to the Dining Hall, he took me firmly by the hand, interlaced our fingers, and we walked to the Norm table together—even though none of now sitting there were Norms, but still, the name persisted.

I saw my Coven mates’ eyes widen, but nobody said anything as we sat down side by side, just as I had wanted.

“Um, good morning, Avery, Saint,” Megan said at last, after a moment of awkward silence. She and Griffin were sitting across from us and Griffin had his arm around her shoulders.

“Good morning, Princess Latimer,” I answered, smiling as Saint put one long, muscular arm around my shoulders and nodded a greeting at them both.

“You appear to be feeling much better than you were last night, Avery,” Griffin remarked.

“I am, as a matter of fact.” I smiled at Saint. “I’m going to go get some coffee. Care to come with?”

“Of course, mi Corazon .” Saint rose with me and took my hand again. We passed by the long tables that hosted the different groups of Others, and I couldn’t help noticing the other couples and thinking how I was one of them now—I was actually part of a couple!

Although honestly, some of the couples were more obvious about their status than others.

In particular, I noticed two Fae—Kalinda Mossworth and Darren Treeheart—who were making out in full view of the entire Dining Hall.

Which is frankly tacky, to my way of thinking.

I mean, a peck on the cheek or the lips is one thing but the kind of hot and heavy kissing and groping that was going on at the Fae table was kind of off-putting and not for public consumption.

So imagine my surprise when—just as we were opposite the Drake table—Saint stopped and turned to me. He took me by the shoulders and, ignoring, the disgusted looks and whispers from his fellow Drakes—drew me towards him and kissed me passionately on the mouth.

This drew boos and shouting from the Drake table.

“Fucking faggots,” Juan Gonzales snarled at us. “What the fuck is wrong with you, doing that mariposa shit in public?” He pointed a finger at us. “You won’t get away with that for long—you hear me?”

“Er…Saint, what are you doing?” I asked, breaking the kiss at last and ignoring Juan and his dire threats.

He frowned.

“You said to look for examples around me of how a ‘good boyfriend’ behaves.” He nodded at the Fae table where Darren appeared to be doing his best to give Kalinda a tonsillectomy with his tongue. “So that is what I am doing.”

“Okay, let me explain —” I began but just then I was interrupted by a large dark cloud which suddenly appeared right in the middle of the Dining Hall.

“What the hell is that?” “What is it?” I heard people muttering. It even stopped Darren and Kalinda’s tonsil hockey for a minute.

The cloud was huge and black, its surface swirling and roiling and little bolts of lightning were flashing through it with ominous rumbles of thunder to accompany them. It hovered there, about ten feet from the vaulted ceiling of the Hall for a long moment, and then it began to move.

My heart sank as I saw that it was moving towards me—towards us.

Saint saw it too, and he pushed me quickly behind him in a protective gesture that was both endearing and irritating. I can take care of myself sometimes , you know. Also, Saint was so tall, it was hard to see around him.

“What is that thing—do you recognize it?” I asked, peeping out at the approaching thundercloud around his broad shoulder.

“It is a messenger,” he said shortly and then added, “It is Dark Magic.”

Well, that didn’t sound too good—I had a bad feeling that my previously perfect morning was about to get ruined in a big way. And the messenger cloud didn’t disappoint.

The moment it reached us, it came down to eye-level and hovered there, rumbling ominously to itself for a moment.

“Who are you from and what do you want?” Saint demanded in a loud voice.

There was no immediate answer but slowly, the cloud began to form a shape. After a moment, I saw it was turning into a face—a big, angry face that was bigger than Saint was.

Now, I know people see shapes in the clouds all the time and they’re kind of nebulous and indistinct and you can’t really see the details, but not the messenger cloud—no, this cloud did a great job with the details.

The ten-foot-tall face staring at us was clearly a man—a man with a long mustache and a beard with an angry, disapproving frown between them.

His cloud eyebrows were drawn low over his cloud brow and his angry eyes were fixed on Saint.

“Father,” Saint said coolly, apparently not worried at all. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”

“Do not pretend you don’t know why I have come to you, Santiago!

” The cloud’s voice was like literal thunder in the now dead-silent Dining Hall.

“You are no longer my heir but you are still my son and I have heard rumors that you are bringing great shame on our house and on the entire Western Province of the Sky Lands. Is it true that you have become a lover of men?”

I held my breath, waiting for Saint’s reply. Just a day or two ago he had sat right in the Headmistress’s office and declared that he wasn’t a “lover of men.” Would he acknowledge me now or would he deny me at this critical juncture?

“As you see, I wear the Blood Mark of another male, father.” Saint brushed back the hair from his forehead, baring the softly glowing Mark my blood had left on him.

“And he wears mine as well.” He turned his head and nodded at me and I came out from behind him because the time for hiding was over.

“This is Avery,” Saint told the angry cloud face.

“My Drake has chosen him as our l’lorna. ”

“WHAT!” the cloud bellowed. Lightning flashed, lighting up the entire Dining Hall in a dazzling display and thunder cracked and rumbled deafeningly, making the students around us clap their hands over their ears.

But Saint stood firm.

“You heard me, Sire,” he said, lifting his chin. “My Drake has chosen him and, as is the way of our people, my heart has followed my Drake’s.” He took my hand in his and interlaced our fingers. “Avery is mine and I am his. In time, I will claim him completely and we will be Blood-Bonded forever.”

“Blasphemy! Sacrilege!” the cloud thundered at us. “I will not have it said that my son is a lover of men!”

“Nevertheless, I am,” Saint said calmly. “I know it is wrong, but I do not care anymore. I choose to be with Avery and to love him in a way that is unnatural—the way of a man with another man—and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Wait— what? I cast a quick glance at Saint. I was touched that he was standing up for me like this, but did he still think that what we were doing was unnatural and wrong? Did he?—

Then the big, dark eyes turned towards me and my brain seemed to freeze.

“You know that my son’s Drake is cursed, do you not?” Saint’s father demanded.

I lifted my chin.

“Yes, I know that,” I said calmly. “I love him anyway.”

“I do not think you understand, man-lover.” The cloud face’s scowl twisted into a sly smile.

“You think my son loves you—that his Drake loves you—but neither of them do, not really. The only reason my son’s Drake is drawn to you is that it is cursed.

The bruja who cursed my son before his birth made certain that no female would be able to tame his Drake—he would never even look at you otherwise. ”

I honestly didn’t know what to say to that. Unfortunately, it was kind of exactly what Saint had told me the night he had healed my wounds. My stomach twisted into a knot but I tried not to show it on my face.

“I love him,” I repeated, not knowing what else to say.

A disgusted look came over the enormous face.

“You and your kind are a disgrace—my son would never be with someone like you if the bruja had not cursed him! If the curse was broken, he would revile you as all right-thinking people do!” Saint’s father growled with another rumble of thunder.

He looked back at Saint. “If I hear any more about you consorting with this mariposa, I will recall you to the Sky Lands and exile you to the Southern Swamps. There you will live your days in sorrow and regret and you will never be allowed anywhere near another person again, lest you infect them with your evil!”

And then, before Saint or I could say anything else, the dark cloud suddenly sucked in on itself, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared with an audible pop that made my ears ring.

Apparently the audience with Saint’s father was over. Meeting the parents of my new boyfriend had gone exactly as badly as I had imagined it would.