Page 142 of Malcroix Bones Academy

“You’re definitely getting this,” he said, gripping both of my hands in his. “You really just need tofeelthis kind of music. The whole idea is to totally get out of your head.”

I laughed when he twirled me around unexpectedly, his hands and arms strong. It was definitely a lead-and-be-led kind of dance, and I found I sort of enjoyed handing over control. If Ididn’t look down, didn’t obsess too much on where I placed my feet, and trusted him, even a little, it all seemed to work out.

“Gods, you’re beautiful,” he blurted.

I tensed and stumbled, tripping over my own feet.

He yanked me forward with his hands to catch me, and wrapped an arm strongly around my waist. I found myself pressed up against the length of his body.

“You okay?” he asked, concerned.

I looked up, slightly mortified. I could feel people watching us. His face was only an inch from mine, and I grew conscious that I could feel the entire front of him.

“I’m fine,” I said, a little breathless.

“How about a short break?” he suggested, still not letting go of me. “We haven’t had a drink for a while, and I could use something.”

I nodded, still feeling my face burn under the layers of gold make-up.

He loosened his hold on me only then, without releasing me entirely. Using his bulk as a buffer in the crowd, he guided me by the waist with one muscular arm, weaving us skillfully between jumping and twirling couples.

He brought me over to the bar, and I leaned there, plucking a glass of water from a tray left out for anyone to grab. I pressed the chilled glass against my neck to try and cool down, drank some of it, then placed the glass on my pulse again.

I already felt better.

Gods, what a child I was, though.

I was acting like I was fourteen.

I looked out over the dance floor while Graham ordered more drinks. My eyes fell on a shirtless mage dancing with a witch wearing a topless negligee, with her breasts painted silver, along with her legs, arms and face. Her blonde hair was piled high on her head and she pressed into his body, smiling up at him.

The mage with her wore a gold mask with elaborate curved horns, etched with designs and inlaid with jewels. Below the V of his hips and waist, his legs appeared to be furred, his feet black and cloven. His skin had been painted gold, maybe to match the silver of his witch, but it was a much thicker layer of paint than what I wore. I could see no part of his face or hair through the form-fitting mask, which covered his entire head, but I found myself staring, jarred by the view of his broad shoulders, and lean, muscular abdomen and chest.

Whoever he was, he didn’t have an ounce of excess flesh on him anywhere. He looked like he’d been carved out of marble. Honestly, his body didn’t look real.

Maybe it was the gold paint.

“You might want to wipe that drool off your chin, Shadow,” a smirking voice said.

I jumped and turned, to find Miranda standing next to me at the bar, Draken in tow. Miranda had changed her hair color and irises to blood red that night, to match her costume. Despite looking nearly nude, the blood and viscera she’d worked into her hair and the bodystocking she wore made her look more terrifying than sexy.

Draken wore what looked like a gladiator outfit, with a bronze breastplate and a garland in his black hair. He also looked disturbingly statuesque in his red and white robes, with his bare arms and legs showing down to leather sandals. A silver eye-mask covered part of his face, but his strong jaw and mouth were distinct and visible. He was getting a lot of stares, too, even more than Graham. Like Miranda predicted all those weeks ago on the carriage ride, Draken now had what amounted to groupies among certain circles at Malcroix Bones.

He still got requests for autographs, a full three months into term.

When I glanced at his face, however, he wasn’t paying attention to any of the witches or mages staring at him. He gazed out at the dance floor instead, scowling in the direction of the gold-painted mage, whose fur-covered thigh was currently being dry-humped by the silver witch.

I tore my eyes off the corded muscle of those arms and shoulders when it occurred to me I was staring. Again.

I was being stupid. I had no idea who that was.

Anyway, he wasn’t speaking to me, even if he had come.

I looked at my friend, and grinned at her.

“What are you two up to?” I asked. “Did you catch me nearly face-planting on the dance floor just now? I wasever-so-graceful.”

Miranda laughed. “I thought you did really well,” she said, smirking past me at Graham. “That was your first time dancing here, wasn’t it?”