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L ucian was both hard to read and easy to read. Sometimes, it was easy and sometimes, he had an impenetrable mask on. I wasn’t sure if he was feeling what I was feeling. Liam and Khalid knew how to navigate, set up our shelter, and feed us now that the food was gone. Lucian had a lot of cool magic show up that could help and so did I, but this was really our time to shine.

Puzzles were my thing. It was considered an unoffensive pastime, so no one had any problems with me doing them to pass the time. Lucian said he just liked figuring out how things worked and how they went together. That was probably the most he’d revealed about himself besides being a prince. Thankfully, Liam didn’t poke him about it.

Liam left after we set to working on the magic puzzles. He wanted to get more information from the animals about Lola’s team. We didn’t know if they tried to kill her because of how she felt or they were just violent people who were planning on taking us all out.

Khalid went with him to forage so we could eat and because it wasn’t really safe for any of us to be out there alone, Liam promised Lucian he knew how to make a shiv out of a stick and a banana and wood through the heart was supposed to kill a vampire, so I’d better not even get a splinter from these puzzles.

“Liam is a little irrational when it comes to me, but I don’t think he’d really stake you.”

“He’s a violent moron, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to you. I’m also pretty sure that your original life was Celtic and connected with Liam’s. Either that, or your reincarnations have met several times and formed some kind of bond. You’re also somehow connected to the original vampire and an Egyptian death god. We’re connected. I don’t find you stupid or annoying.”

“Um, thanks?”

“That came out wrong. The circles I’m forced to be in are mostly sycophants who squandered an education plenty of people would kill for because they had inheritances and nepotism hires to fall back on. Their degree was just a piece of paper to hang on the wall. They don’t like me. They find me unpleasant because I’m not interested in those games and I’m vocal about it.

“They pretend, though. They kiss my ass and fawn over me because landing me as a husband comes with money, which they don’t need, and a title that they want. They don’t bother finding out what I’m actually interested in, so they do a brief web search for things I mention in passing and talk endlessly about it.

“There are different strains of bananas with slightly different tastes. I read about one that tastes like it has a hint of berries that I ordered because I wanted to try it. This girl thought I was a weirdo who was obsessed with bananas. She proceeded to spend the entire night listing random banana facts, and all I wanted to do was see if it would make my smoothie a little better. You don’t do that and I don’t think you really care about my title.”

“I’m not really all that interested in banana facts, but we also don’t have titles like that in America. Like, you say you’re a prince, but it doesn’t really process. And I don’t want to be a princess any more than I want to be a pastor’s wife. That might be a dream for some people, but it’s not for me. They tried to force that on me. I felt like a prisoner growing up. I don’t really know what I want, but I want the complete freedom to do it.”

“I figured out part of the puzzle. If you can get to the thread, it’s much easier to unravel it. And I respect that about you. I also understand it. The palace was also a prison. I went to the best university and earned my degree, but it was the one my parents chose. I was only ever allowed to be friends with approved people. Most of the women who kept throwing themselves at me were sent by my parents. I’m fairly certain the only reason they allowed me to be kidnapped and come here is because they were planning to use whatever magic I ended up with.”

I just chuckled. Lucian was right. If you could get to the thread, you could unravel the puzzle without getting hexed.

“I’m pretty sure we all ended up with awful parents except Khalid. Mine were bad, but I think Liam had it worse.”

Lucian just shrugged. I didn’t think Lucian and Liam would ever like each other, no matter how much I tried. That didn’t mean I was going to stop.

“We’re going to the last two traps. Unless there are more surprises, we’ve got our first crystal.”

Of course, there was another surprise.

Bears came running at us. I could tell they weren’t Liam’s bears. They were shifters. I didn’t know the first thing about bears and I could just sense that if Lucian tried to fight them, they’d hurt him enough to get us both kicked off the trials.

His speed healing probably had limits, and those limits were blood related. He’d have to feed off me to heal, and he’d probably need too much. Lucian was prickly, but he was a good guy. He’d get me back to the healers with his speed and we’d both be out.

We couldn’t run because we were almost finished. I had an idea, and it was probably really stupid. I jumped in front of Lucian as the biggest bear reared back and roared. I thrust the magical trap I hadn’t disarmed yet at the bear.

“You know what this does more than we do. I have a theory if it breaks, whatever gets out is going to do something nasty to whomever it’s touching. I’ll bet I could throw it at you before you could get us.”

The bear shifted back and there was an enormous, dark-skinned man standing there completely naked. He looked amused.

“Touché, little one, and very smart,” he said, winking. Lucian let out a little growl because I was pretty sure he was flirting…naked. “There’s something nasty out here with us. If I had no training and was just getting used to having magic, I’d find a way to use what a mostly trained supernatural made for a weapon. I hope to see you at the academy. A redhead who will throw down with a shifted bear is every bear’s dream.”

He shifted, and the bears left. What I felt earlier and whoever beat Lola probably had the seniors more worried than stopping us from getting crystals.

We’d probably be getting more help from them than hindrances once they realized we weren’t the ones giving people bad feelings.