Page 22 of Eat. Prey. Love. (Apex Academy Capers #5)
“I don’t like it.”
My mate snorts as he lazes on top of a bookshelf, his tail flicking back and forth. “Shocker, mon ami. ”
Whipping around to glare at him, I blow a smoke ring. The dragon is unsettled because our girl is in a classroom with the twins’ shitty cousin—alone. He wants me to stomp over and force my way in like I did that time with the Nordic aquatic shifter, but I know I can’t do that. We’ve barely arrived, for one, and our connections in this land aren’t as strong as at home. Plus, Dolly needs to pave her own way and letting her stand up for herself from the beginning of our tenure here is a solid plan.
Doesn’t mean I’m not fighting the lizard tooth-and-nail to keep from flipping a table.
“You know our petit lapin can handle herself.” Rennie sits up, his expression far away for a moment before he continues. “ You may write me down in history/With your bitter, twisted lies,/You may trod me in the very dirt/But still, like dust, I’ll rise. ? 1 ”
Lips quirking, I give him an amused look. “Maya Angelou?”
He shrugs, leaning on one hand as he continues lounging on my library furniture in a way I wouldn’t allow anyone else to even dream of. “ Mais oui. Not a comparable situation, but the sentiment is universal. Those held down are capable of casting off the bindings of their past, despite the opposition.”
“You would be the one to practically sing ‘One More Day’ in support of Dolly.” I turn back to my Smackbook, too tickled by my reference to let him ruin it for me. “It’s the ooh-la-la in you, my love.”
“We are an hour from Paris, Lord Draconis. It’s entirely appropriate.”
The ding of an email catches my attention before I can get annoyed with his refusal to let me have a good brood. Frowning, I scan the contents, tilting my head. “Ren, get down from there and come over here.”
In a blink, he’s rolled off the high case, flipping to the floor with the Giselle of a cat. Gargoyles are the oddest creatures—half lithe cat and half enormous rock monsters depending on which form they’re in—and I’ll never get used to it, even after centuries of time together. “What’s the problem, Flames? You went from growly dragon to scowly librarian fast enough to give me whiplash. ”
“My contact from the Smithsonian has been looking over the pictures of all the artifacts and chambers from the schools I sent him. If you remember, I told you all that academics are as single-minded as that world-ending robot you made me watch. Aloysius just emailed about the connection to the prey exhibits Dolly’s raccoon friend suggested we examine.”
Grabbing a chair, my mate drags it over to look at the lengthy email from my walrus colleague. His brows furrow as he scrolls through it, his eyes scanning it quickly enough to make me grin. Renard’s love of books is similar to mine and he speed reads like no one else I’ve ever met, even me. “He seems to believe that the stories prior to the Treaty that exiled the magic users paint a more integrated society for prey and preds in many parts of the world. They had control of the government and some industries, as well as representation with humans.”
I sigh, thinking about it for a moment. He and I are the only ones here old enough to remember the times before the Treaty, but unfortunately, we’re both unreliable witnesses. I was exiled young and came to this land only to hole up in my hordes and rarely venture out. When Apex opened, I came here and stayed until our gorgeous bunny’s enemies blew it up. Ren grew up in Paris and then the mountains, but his kind are some of the most secretive, solitary shifter groups known to the world. His memories are probably faulty as well.
“Who are we going to get to talk to us about the time before? Everyone with families old enough to have personal records that might have avoided the cover-up is up to their neck in Council shit.” The gargoyle leans back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the table. “And there’s so much shit from those vaults, much of which is entirely useless for this purpose…”
He’s right; we’ve found some incriminating stuff, but a lot of it won’t help us with the Fae problem.
“True. Getting dirt on the Council to remove them from power is great, but until we can guarantee snack size’s safety, it’s not worth the paper it’s scribbled on.”
Ren crosses his arms over his chest, his face a mask of frustration. Something is brewing in his head that bothers him, so I wait for him to work through it. Hopefully, it’s not going to send him into another brooding jag like the damn vampire thing did. After a few minutes, he finally sighs heavily.
“We’ll need to put word out to the mythicals groups, and we have to find out what mythical is working or residing here. Whatever they are, they don’t advertise their presence. You know as well as I do that every one of the schools have one or two exiles from the rare species.”
“Damn it,” I grunt. Now I know why he’s so pouty—putting word out through the underground grapevine to dragon clashes, gargoyle clutches, griffin aeries, and all the other reclusive groups could go wrong in so many ways. “You know doing this might draw… the wrong eyes, right?”
His nose wrinkles and he makes a face so petulant that I lean in to kiss him lightly. “I do, and you can’t sweet talk me out of the funk that possibility will put me in.”
I can’t tell him how ridiculously adorable he is right now.
“No, but I can remind you that unlike my parents, yours are almost never dialed into the world. The gargoyles are damn near invisible, except for the ones working on the shifter resorts. The likelihood that they’ll find out you’re on this continent again is very slim.”
Nodding, he looks over at the email again, then up at the ceiling, and then over at me. “Fine. But only because it might help our future mate and if it brings the roaches out from under the cupboard, you have to help me deal with it.”
“Always,” I say softly before leaning in to kiss his temple. “Now help me with this blasted High Fae while you’re here so we can keep our minds off parents and our woman in class with an evil Khan.”
“Deal, mon amour. ”
“So far, this is a bust,” Ren mutters as he shakes his head. “It’s fascinating history, and something tragically hidden from the shifter world, but I’m not seeing anything in the text that will help. It’s much earlier than the Treaty and focuses on their royal succession.”
I hold up a set of maps with gloved hands. “These are more telling. Notice all the territory boundaries and where they overlap… then look at the next set. See how certain borders are shrinking over time?”
He frowns, taking them gingerly and tilting his head. “ Oui . It appears the Fae lose land each time they’re re-drawn. I wonder if there’s some correlation to human politics or business…”
That’s it—it has to be tied to major shifts in governments.
When he gives them back, I take the first map and pull up both a screen on the PredNet and the human internet done in the same time period. Slowly, I send both maps to the printer across the room, then move on to the next era. Once I’ve finished gathering all the dates for the maps at hand, Ren runs over to grab the print-outs and brings them to me. It only takes a few moments to confirm the humans don’t have anything to do with this.
“You might try printing out the prey maps as well,” my lover murmurs from behind me. “Raina wouldn’t have mentioned that if it wasn’t important.”
I nod. “That’s true. But even the pred maps don’t seem to show a political gain other than more territory. ”
The gargoyle scratches his forehead, then snaps his fingers. “Timelines. Look up timelines, Flames. The border changes might have to do with resources, not governing bodies.”
Frowning, I use the library’s access to the Preynet to print hard copies of the maps he suggested. They don’t appear to be hugely different for the first couple of periods, but the ones since the Treaty are vastly different. There’s definitely something to this theory, and I’m beginning to realize it has nothing to do with dangerous species. That propels me to search the historical timelines for all three, making sure to check boxes for events, innovations, and other notable moments.
“This is going to take a while,” Rennie says as he watches the screens scroll by. “Going through centuries of history from all three species and ferreting out what might affect the land will be a grueling task.”
“We need help.”
“I believe so, mon ami . Perhaps Chester? He’s not working in the office after twelve today. If we each tackle a group and highlight things around the times to go over together, we might even be able to finish today.”
Taking off my glasses, I rub my eyes. “I’ve never been so grateful that it seems like no one in this damn college comes to my library.”
“It’s been two days, Flames.” Rennie chuckles, his eyes dancing with humor. “Have you made a judgment about the entire student body in that time?”
“The books are so dusty Betsy had an allergy attack in the first hour,” I retort. “And that was in the current fiction section. She had to don a dust mask to start the archives.”
He laughs, shrugging as he grabs the shifter maps. “They focus on the arts pretty heavily here. I’ve never had students at Apex focus on poetry as intensely as my class yesterday. I was shocked to find they actually gave a damn about hidden meanings and literary devices. I’m sure you’ll at least get the writing majors soon enough.”
“Love, literacy and reading comprehension have been on the decline for decades. I know I bitch about PredNet and social media, but people just don’t love books anymore.” My expression is sad as I sigh. “As if that wasn’t bad enough, research skills are abysmal. We’re becoming even more outdated by the day—even at work.”
The room is quiet for a moment, and then it fills with belly laughs. I blink at him, my jaw dropping as he continues to clutch his stomach and roll around in his chair. He wipes his eyes, shaking his head as I just stare at him. He finally takes a breath, trying to gather himself and I roll my eyes.
What the hell is so goddamn funny?
“What a sad sack declaration,” he says when he’s gotten control of himself. “We’ve lived far too long to worry about that kind of shit, Flames. Our kind both have extended life spans and that’s not a new revelation. We’re destined to watch other species and the world evolve—and it’s not always for the better. No need to mope about because our passions aren’t in vogue at any given moment.”
“Well, I…”
He smirks at me as I bluster. “Plus, unlike most creatures that are damn close to immortal, you found two mates.”
Flushing as I consider that, I make a face at him. “You’re annoyingly accurate for someone I have to spend eternity with.”
“It’s a blessing and a curse.” He pulls his phone out, winking before he texts Chess. “And you love me regardless… don’t pretend otherwise. ”
I pinch the bridge of my nose as I watch him. “You’re damned lucky I do, you pain in the ass.”
“That’s your job, big man. Now shut up and let me translate.”
Ra save me from mouthy mates and their determination to drive me to drink.