Page 147 of Malcroix Bones Academy

He shook his head, but only rolled his eyes. “You’re hilarious like this,” he muttered, a hint of actual humor in his voice. “Droll as fuck.”

I nodded, but my mind had swerved, getting stuck on a different track.

“Why did you give me the cat?” I asked.

He tensed, his arms tightening around me.

“I thought you did it to be a prat,” I explained through my partially cooperative tongue. “To, you know…” I struggled for a word. “…To make fun of me. Call me a whore again. Make me the stupid one. Whatever.”

He turned his head without slowing his steps, staring at me.

Disbelief touched his eyes.

“It was a fuckingpresent,Shadow,” he growled.

“A present?” I frowned, trying to make sense of that.

“It was cute. It looked like you.” His jaw ticked again. He glared at me. “It was your birthday… Eye of Ra, why am I explaining this? Why did you keep it, if you didn’t like it?”

I blinked at him, surprised. “Idolike it. I bought it toys. And a little bed.” I used my hands to demonstrate the size of the bed. “It mostly sleeps with me, though. Or in my laundry basket. I named it Wraith.”

“Wraith?” He frowned at me. “It’s a girl cat.”

“There aregirlwraiths,” I informed him haughtily.

He stared at me a beat longer, then snorted.

“Right,” he muttered.

I slung my arms around his neck, without really thinking about it.

My eyes turned to look out over the field.

I could see the black waters of Vulcan Lake in the distance, now that we were drawing close to the large fountain that formed the centerpiece of the gardens in front of the Mansion. The Great Lawn was blurry with fog that wafted across the grass and water.

My magic was still getting in the way of my eyes.

Blinking a lot didn’t help.

“I don’t feel good,” I told him.

“I know,” he said, a hint of that growl back in his voice. “Feel like telling me who did it yet? Or are you really going to protect that piece of shit?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“You really don’t know?” he asked, pointed.

“I really don’t know,” I said truthfully.

There was a silence where he just looked at me, and I looked out over the field.

Then, slowly, he nodded. His jaw tightened again.

“We’ll find out,” he said.

It sounded closer to a threat than reassurance, but it didn’t bother me, maybe because the threat didn’t feel aimed at me. Cocooned in his magic, I could feel the worry coming off him. Now that I was so close, he felt a lot more worried than angry. I even wondered if most of his angerwasworry, which made me want to reassure him in some way.

I had no idea how, though, especially if he wouldn’t share his bed with me.