Page 40 of Malcroix Bones Academy (Bones and Shadow #1)

He snorted. “Working on it? How, exactly?”

“I am,” I repeated stubbornly. “And unless you’re offering to help, it’s none of your bloody business how I’m working on it…”

I got distracted when his familial primal, which happened to be a centaur, leapt up on the table.

It walked directly up to my monocerus, which already stood by my shoulder.

The centaur folded its arms over its chest while the monocerus pawed and stamped, likely picking up that I was annoyed, possibly more than a little hurt.

Then, as I watched, the centaur held up a hand, and conjured a bright green apple in its palm.

I watched, faintly amused in spite of my annoyance, as my monocerus sniffed the apple warily, then plucked the conjured gift out of the centaur’s hand with its lips. The monocerus continued to watch the centaur with one eye as it crunched the bright green apple with its back molars.

“I’m sorry I avoided you,” said Alaric, pulling my eyes back to him.

He looked genuinely contrite, and I felt some of my anger lose its bite.

“I really didn’t want to make things worse for you,” he added. “There are far too many people paying attention to you as it is.”

I frowned, my voice skeptical. “But over the entire summer, I had reporters trying to talk to me every time I left the hotel. You didn’t seem to mind going out with me then?”

“Not with me,” he said pointedly. “Didn’t you notice?

It didn’t happen when I was with you.” When I pondered that in surprise, realizing he was right, he added, “We could get away with it this summer. My father was in another part of the world, and I knew where to take you there, where no one was likely to spot us. I could also arrange distractions more easily. Bonescastle is too small. The eyes and ears are everywhere here.”

I grunted, and stole his goblet again, taking another sip of the frothy drink.

I decided maybe I did like it.

“You’re not wrong about that,” I muttered. I looked around the bar, frowning. “Why are you here alone, by the way? Where’s the rest of the gang? I didn’t think any of you traveled anywhere in public except as a pack.”

Alaric rolled his eyes. “You’re one to talk,” he said, glancing pointedly at the bar, where Draken not-very-subtly peered over his shoulder at the two of us. “And why are you so sloshed? Why take shots from that boy-man who’s obviously infatuated with you?”

I rolled my eyes back. “You’re going to police my drinking now? And my company? Really, Alaric? I could spend hours cataloguing all the things I’ve noticed about your little group of friends.”

“Please don’t,” Alaric said, grimacing. “Besides, maybe I’m slightly offended you’ve replaced me so quickly.

Brand new best drinking mates, seemingly the instant you walked off the carriage to Bonescastle.

” He made his lower lip into an exaggerated pout.

“And you’re drinking the hard stuff with them.

You never once let yourself get truly obliterated with me this summer. And not from my lack of trying.”

“You really only tried that one night,” I reminded him.

“Not true. I tried at least two nights. And here you are, drinking demon shots with our resident celebrity.” He squinted in Draken’s direction. “He really is quite beautiful. It’s too bad he’s no where near your equal in any other respect.”

I scoffed. “Snob. I’m only half La Fey, remember.”

“It’s not that.” He gave me an offended look. “It’s the internal qualities, darling. He’s just such a puppy. You’d have him on a leash the first time you consented to?”

“Alaric.” I gave him a warning look, stealing another sip of his goblet. “Should I leave you alone? Tell me the truth.”

He exhaled, and folded his arms over his chest.

The pose made him look faintly like the centaur.

“No,” he said decisively. “No, it’s too late now. And I’ve missed you, you sharp-tongued little harpy. No one else will argue with me like you do.” He smiled at me sadly, then sighed, glancing at my monocerus. “I see you worked that bit out, then?”

“Yeah.” My voice stiffened. “I had help.”

“Forsooth took you on as his little prodigy-slash-project, then?” Without waiting for an answer, Alaric smiled, raising his goblet in a toast. “I’m not surprised.

You’re obviously going to be our star pupil this year…

to everyone’s surprise but mine. And maybe Forsooth’s.

” Alaric met my gaze seriously. “As for why I’m alone tonight, the rest of my ‘gang,’ as you so venomously put it, is still on campus.

There’s a bonfire party out on the Skyhunt grounds. The nobility set is all there.”

“Oh.” Had that been what Caelum meant? He couldn’t come to Bonescastle because of some stupid party? Why hadn’t he just said that?

Did he think, if I knew about it, I would try to gate-crash?

What a delusional, self-important arse he was.

“Why aren’t you there?” I asked, puzzled. “And why would you be so worried about us being seen together, if everyone who might object isn’t even here?”

Alaric shrugged again.

“All reasonable questions,” he conceded, lifting the goblet.

“Are you going to answer them?”

“As we’ve already established, Malcroix Bones has eyes and ears everywhere, love,” Alaric said somberly. “Those eyes have definitely noticed you,” he added, taking another swallow of his drink. “And not just whichever one tried to end your life that night.”

He set the goblet back on the aged wood.

“Why didn’t you go to the party?” I pressed.

“I wasn’t in the mood.”

I studied his face. It occurred to me only then he looked more than just dramatically melancholy, or even genuinely sad. He looked depressed. I reached over and clasped his hand, a little alarmed at the expression I saw there.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, soft.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously not.”

“It’s family stuff, my beautiful little monocerus,” he said, removing his hand from under mine and patting my fingers affectionately.

“There’s nothing to be done about it. My father is a sadistic, cold-hearted, dark-magic-loving bastard and will never not be thus.

Suffice it to say, I wasn’t in the mood for a party tonight.

I thought I’d lick my wounds in relative privacy. ”

I felt the last of my anger at my friend ebb away.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

I didn’t add the trite, At least you have a father to be angry at.

I knew having a family wasn’t always better.

“Thank you, love,” he said, smiling back at me. “And thank you for coming to me. I really have missed you, and feel a bit foolish for letting my paranoia influence whether we spoke. It’s idiotic. And cowardly.”

I frowned, opening my mouth to ask.

He went on before I could.

“Bright lights attract darkness, unfortunately,” he mused. “Nothing to be done about that. It’s always been that way, in magic and in life. Anyway,” he shrugged. “It’s not like they’ll simply ignore you if I continue to pretend I’m not fond of you.”

I opened my mouth again, puzzled.

Again, he beat me to it.

“…Anyone who might object to you and I being friends will simply have to get over it,” Alaric declared.

“In that regard, your optimistic friend at the bar likely did me a favor. Not that he isn’t utterly adorable,” he repeated wistfully, his eyes taking in the length of Draken where he sprawled over a barstool.

“I don’t like his chances once Cal hears about tonight, though.

On the plus side for me, I’m likely to be the least of his complaints?”

“Cal?” I stared at him in disbelief. “Cal, as in Caelum? You can’t possibly mean that bloody Bones menace?”

Alaric rolled his eyes. “Of course I mean the menace.”

“You’ve been avoiding me because of Caelum Bones? Why?” I demanded.

“Because we grew up together,” Alaric said with a sigh, taking another drink from the smoking silver goblet. “And he understands the risks as well as I do. Better, really.”

“That’s not an answer,” I said, a touch more coldly.

“It is, though,” Alaric said. A smile toyed at his lips. “Why did you punch him, by the way? I think you quite shocked him with that right-hook of yours. He’s been muttering about it ever since. At least where Elysia and the three trolls can’t hear it.”

I bit my lip.

I considered not pursuing it, but, given I’d had no one to ask these questions of for the past month, apart from that blond wanker, I couldn’t help myself.

“The three trolls?” I queried.

“You must have seen them.” Alaric lifted his cup, and drank down the dregs of the blue concoction.

“Caelum’s bodyguards. He can’t go anywhere without them lumbering after him like stray hellhounds with a bad case of distemper.

” At my frown, he added, “Nicolai Panzen, who goes by the inglorious moniker, ‘Pants.’ Scarpen Maskey, whom everyone simply calls ‘Scar.’ And their sort-of leader, Norrick Voltaire.”

I frowned. “Voltaire? You mean, like?”

“Exactly like,” Alaric affirmed. He motioned with a finger at the bar’s one cocktail waitress, who saw and began making her way towards us. Alaric looked back at me. “He’s the nephew of our illustrious headmaster, Darica Voltaire.”

“Lovely,” I said, remembering the mean-eyed stares from Caelum’s table. “So why do they follow Bones around? Lesser royalty, hoping to get in with the Prince Prick?”

Alaric snorted out a laugh, and covered his mouth.

“Not far off,” he said, smirking. “But I suspect it’s the King Prick they want to get in with, not the prince. They may be stupid, but they understand power.”

I rolled my eyes, remembering our first real conversation, in front of the fireplace of my suite at the Dragon’s Keep, after procuring wine, beer, and snacks from the wall.

“I forgot you all call him ‘King,’” I muttered, shaking my head.

“Sad King Bones, was it?” I scoffed. “He doesn’t strike me as particularly sad.

Just obscenely arrogant, rude, condescending, and so smug it should be illegal.

Calling him ‘king’ is positively vomit-inducing, by the way.

Not to mention a horrid means of reinforcing the insanely inflated, and wholly undeserved opinion he has of himself already. ”

Alaric didn’t answer. When I glanced at him, he had an odd look on his face. His mouth opened slightly, like he was about to speak, but stopped himself. His eyes focused on the base of my neck.

“What?” I asked.

He reached tentatively for where he’d been staring, and before I’d figured it out, he was fingering the green crystal pendant that hung there.

“Well, this is quite a pretty trinket,” he said, his voice unconvincingly light. “It’s family jewelry. Isn’t it? La Fey?”

I looked down in surprise. Then, taking the green crystal from his fingers, I tucked it back inside my gauzy blouse. I hadn’t realized it had fallen out. Really, I shouldn’t have worn it out at all, especially when I knew I’d be drinking.

“It was my mother’s,” I admitted. “She was always a bit secretive about it.”

“Was she?” Alaric deadpanned. “How interesting.”

He continued to stare at the place where my necklace lay, despite it being hidden. He looked about to say something more, but before he could, the cocktail waitress reached us. Alaric’s mouth went from pursed to widening to his most dazzling smile.

“I think we need more drinks over here,” he told the thirty-something woman with bright red hair piled up on her head. He smiled wider, more disarmingly. “We’re renewing our long-lost bonds of friendship. Bring us both goblin-bangers. Best scotch you have.”

I laughed, partly at his words, partly at the absurd name of the drink, and partly from the realization I’d apparently be getting truly hammered that night.

What the hell, I figured.

I’d survived a whole month in this place, and only one person had tried to kill me so far.

I supposed that warranted celebrating.