Page 77 of Malcroix Bones Academy

She slid closer to all of us and lowered her voice.

“Does anyone have a theory as to why that wanker saved her?” Her eyes studied mine. “Do you know why, Leda?”

“No.” I shook my head. That much was true, at least. “Not a clue.”

“He saw it before any of us?” Jolie began.

“I don’t think we should assume he actuallywantedto save her,” Draken cut in darkly. “There’s no reason to believe his motives were benign in any of this.”

“Well, if he wanted her dead, he seriously botched it,” Darragh pointed out.

“G.O.R.E. questioned him for hours, though, didn’t they?” Jolie asked.

My eyebrows rose. “Did they?”

Miranda smiled wryly. “Shocking, isn’t it? But we saw them lead him out. Not quite in chains, but they weren’t being particularly deferential, either. I figure that’s got to be a first. The prince of Malcroix being interrogated like a commoner?”

“Not likely,” Draken remarked cynically. “Given who his father is, he could’ve told them anything and they’d let him go.”

“Doesn’t explain why he leapt over two tables to get to heraftershe went down,” Luc pointed out. “She was already on the ground. Remember?”

“He probably did it for cover,” Draken said, unpersuaded. “To make himself look innocent so no one could point a finger. He’s the obvious suspect, isn’t he?”

There was a silence after he spoke.

I glanced surreptitiously over my shoulder at where I’d last seen Bones and his minions. They’d gone, though. At some point in our whispered discussion, the dining room had emptied of Bones, Greythorne, Warrington, and whoever else. I frowned, even as a group of three witches set down trays on the empty stretch of table they’d vacated.

“So do all of us agree this is likely political?” Jolie asked.

Darragh shrugged. “Seems likely.” His light brown eyes returned to mine. “What do you think, Leda? Is there any chance this is something personal?”

I frowned. “I doubt it. It’s not like I know anyone here, apart from you lot.”

Darragh’s eyes shifted, focusing past me, over my shoulder. The table no longer housed the person who’d been there earlier, but it was clear who Darragh was thinking of.

“Well,” he said, a touch grimly. “That’s notentirelytrue, is it, love? You’ve clearly caught the attention of more’n just those of us sitting here.”

I grimaced at his words, but didn’t really have a good answer.

“Yeah, right,” I muttered. “Lucky me.”

18

Teacher

“Miss Shadow!” A delighted voice rang out from behind the lecture table. “How wonderful to see you in here… I had so hoped to have you in my classes this year!”

I blushed at the mage’s genuine warmth, even as my mouth tilted in a crooked smile. I tried to ignore all the eyes that swiveled to stare at me.

Professor Forsooth grinned back from behind his pointed beard and wild head of brown hair. He leaned over the lectern and motioned to the chairs right in front of him.

“Sit anywhere you like, my dear! Anywhere at all!”

“Thank you, Professor,” I said.

I made the mistake of glancing to my right, only to find Caelum Bones sprawled in a red velvet seat near me, miming a blowjob with his hand and a tongue stuck in his cheek. When I glowered at him, he grinned and winked back. I swore his damned bone dragon smirked at me from where it perched on his shoulder, making a chuffing, clicking sound that sounded a lot like laughter.

Stifling the urge to rip off my shoe and throw it at both of them, I gritted my teeth instead, and looked determinedly away from his side of the lecture hall. I resumed walking down the steep stairs and found a seat near the front where I’d have no reason to look at Caelum Bones at all.