Page 98 of Malcroix Bones Academy

He wasn’t going to slither away from methistime.

No, he absolutely would not.

I didn’t sayanything to warn him, or even fall into his visual range until the last possible second. I just plunked my bum down in the leather booth across from him, and quirked an eyebrow at his startled face.

“Well, hello there,Alaric,”I said sweetly.

Alaric Greythorne blinked at me, then paled.

He glanced around at the rest of the dimly-lit bar with obvious unease, especially the couch-filled area beside the large fireplace. He looked at a few faces watching us, then leaned closer to me over the table.

“As much as I adore seeing you, Leda dear… it’s really not wise to let anyone see us together in public like this.”

I scoffed at him, and picked up his drink, an ornate, silver goblet filled nearly to the brim with a bright blue liquid that bubbled. Even brighter smoke curls wafted off the lip and into the already murky air, sparking and forming delicate rings.

I took a sip, grimaced, and handed it back to him.

“Blech,” I commented.

It grew fruitier-tasting as it went down my throat, and less bitter. Surprisingly, the drink was ice-cold, not hot, like I’d expected.

In the end, I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not.

“There,” I said, annoyed, plunking my arms down on the wood. “They can all see I got mymongrelgerms all over your lovely highborn drink and goblet. If you need to salvage your Magical pride, I assume you can now make a scene, stomp off in a huff over to the bartender, and demand a new drink that doesn’t have my disgusting, half-blood slobber all over it.”

Alaric’s half-panicked stare turned into a confused frown.

Then, rolling his eyes at me dramatically, he lifted the goblet and sucked down a long series of swallows. He plunked it down and leveled his stare on mine.

“That’s not the problem, sweetie,” he said, smiling, eyes flat.

I frowned back, genuinely confused. “Then whatisthe problem, Alaric? Why’ve you acted like you don’t know me forweeks,as if we didn’t spend the entire summer together? I assumed it was to save face with your bigoted, arsehole friends.”

Alaric winced. Then, fingers toying with the sides of the silver goblet, he leaned back in the green leather of the booth.

“Someone tried to kill you,” he said, his voice worried.

“Yes? And?” I continued to frown at him. “That was a month ago. Anyway, I’m working on that.”

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 businesshowI’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.