Page 128 of Malcroix Bones Academy

His upper body leaned against the fireplace mantle, the pose casual. He wasn’t looking at me. To the ordinary, sane observer, he had no idea I was even in the room, much less any awareness of who I’d been talking to, or what we’d been talking about.So why did I strongly get the feeling he’d caught my entire interaction with Strangemore, anyway?

Even as I thought it, his eyes shifted subtly towards mine.

It was barely a look, but the fury I saw there startled me.

A few seconds later, it angered me. How dare he?

Then it confused me.

What the hell was wrong with him? And why on Earth would he take issue withStrangemore?Strangemore might not be old money, but Caelum Bones didn’t think I was good enough for old money, anyway, so that shouldn’t bother him. Graham was hardly an intellectual threat. He even played Skyhunt, and just about every mage and witch at school seemed to worship that sport, and adore Graham for being good at it.

As an additional bonus, he wasn’t Draken, whose very existence seemed to offend Bones at some deep, molecular level.

Why would he even care who I went out with? It’s not like he’d deign to so much as look at me, much less talk to me, if he hadn’t decided I was useful to him. Like Draken said, Alaric was notably different from the rest of them, not only by being my friend, but by allowing the other royals to hear about it. Bones made it crystal clear from the beginning of our “deal” that his bigoted friends could never know he felt anything towards me but revulsion.

Did he really not want me touching anyone in Magique at all?

Would he only be happy ifeveryoneshunned me?

The gold eyes shifted away.

I didn’t miss the tick in his jaw, or the cold look in his eyes as he nodded to something one of the other royals said.

I should be happy.

Let him be mad. It was a good reminder that any warmer, fuzzier thoughts I might have about him were completely delusional. And Ineededthat reminder, clearly, given my stupid, masochistic dreams. How I could harbor some kind of twistedcrush on someone who’d wiped their hands in disgust after touching me was next-level idiocy.

Yet I struggled to let it go, anyway.

He always had to be such a judgmentalpratabout everything. He had no personal boundaries, no self-control, no ability to stay out of my business no matter what aspect of my life he stumbled upon.

Again, I should behappyabout this. Wasn’t the whole point tostopthinking about him? To purge him from my thoughts by giving my over-active mind a better distraction? If my going on one stupid date with some random guy from Flying class was enough to get him to ignore me, I should have done itweeksago.

Feeling his eyes on me again, I clenched my jaw.

Without looking at him, I adjusted the shoulder strap of my satchel, then walked out through the nearest exit into the main corridor.

I’d planned to go to the library after dinner, or even back to Frumpy’s, but I no longer wanted to do either. It was stupid to care what Bones might do; most days and nights he ignored me entirely, unless we had a research session scheduled. He occasionally yanked me into closets to dump his magic into me, or took the time to jeer at me and make disgusting comments with his friends, but apart from that, I may as well not exist while we were in public together.

Even so, I couldn’t help remembering my dream.

My mortification at the thought of having to deal with him in close quarters tonight, especially if he felt the need to interrogate me about a lot of nonsense that wasn’t even his business, was enough to change my mind about going out.

Turning on my heel, I walked back to the college’s main stairs and began to climb.

I had a perfectly serviceable desk and chair in my room.

Jolie likely wouldn’t be there, so I’d have the place to myself. I had all the books I needed, so I didn’thaveto be in the library.

I even had a brand new box of herbal teas.

I walked up to the seventh floor, then all the way down to our room. I unlocked and pushed open the door without glancing up, then came to a dead stop when I heard Jolie laugh. I found her sitting on my bed, beaming at me.

In her arms, she cradled?

“I hope you don’t mind,” Jolie said apologetically. “I couldn’t help myself. The box was making noises and when I opened it up, I just couldn’t stand it. Ihadto pick her up and boop her little nose. Silly thing,” she added fondly, staring down at the face of the creature in her arms.

It was a cat.