Page 108 of Shattered Stars

“Winnie, it was freaking amazing!”

She sighs with relief. “Thank God, you’d have shattered a hell of a lot of my fantasies if you’d said it sucked.”

I shiver remembering just how good it did feel and Winnie shakes her head.

“I should be really, really jealous of you, Rhianna Blackwaters, but you’re just too darn cute so I can’t be.”

“Me? Cute?”

Winnie rolls her eyes. “Here we go again. You’ve just had one super-hot threesome with two of the sexiest men on the planet and you’ve been asked to the ball by the hottest guy at the academy, but, noooo, there’s no way you might consider you’re actually cute.”

I shrug and Pip snorts. I tug the duvet more firmly around my shoulders.

“Talking of Tristan Kennedy–”

“Oh, so you do concede he’s hot then?”

“Winnie, I’m not blind. I know he’s hot.” I can feel just how hot he is every time I’m near him. “That isn’t the point.”

“What did he want this time?”

I consider this question. “I don’t really know. To check I wasn’t blabbing to the chancellor I guess.”

“Probably just an excuse to talk to you.” I snort. “Rhi, I’m serious about him. He’s never acted this way before about a girl. He thinks you’re his fated mate. He’s not going to give up that easily.”

My shoulders slump and Winnie changes the subject.

“Well, seeing as you aren’t going to accept Tristan’s invitation to the ball. Who are you going to go with?”

“You?” I say hopefully.

Winnie grins. “Yeah, you can come with me and Trent. Although, no telling him about your threesome antics. I don’t want him getting any ideas. I am far too jealous to share that boy with another girl. In fact, I don’t know how those two big, growly men of yours do it. They both seem really, really … possessive.”

“Yeah,” I say. Another reason why accepting Tristan as my fated mate – accepting anyone else as my fated mate – would most definitely not work. Stone and the man in black are friends – the best of friends – linked by destiny herself. Their willingness to share I am pretty certain is reserved to themselves and themselves alone, no matter what they might say about the matter.

“Have you thought about your dress?” Winnie asks, pointing to her desktop which is covered in cut-out pictures from magazines. “Nonny is going to make me one. She sent me all these clippings so I could get some ideas.” I wheel my chair closer and pick a few of the clippings up. One is a sleek sophisticated-looking dress; the other poofy and princess-like. “I’m sure she’d make you one too if you wanted.”

“Is there enough time?” I ask. The ball is less than a week away. I’m surprised Winnie has left the dress-making so late.

“Rhi,” Winnie laughs, knocking my shoulder, “magic, remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” I say grinning at her. I guess despite all my time here and all the magic I’ve used, it still feels unnatural to use it so freely and so often. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to it.

“Then again,” Winnie says with a cunning smile, “you could ask the man in black to buy you a dress. I bet he’d buyyou something truly amazing and eye-wateringly expensive – something to rival even Summer’s dress.”

“She would most definitely kill me if I turned up in a dress better than hers.”

“Oh do it, Rhi,” Winnie says, clapping her hands together. “It’s so clear she thinks she is going to be the most beautiful girl at that ball. I’d love for you to turn up and knock her off her throne.”

“Me?”

Pip squeaks at me and Winnie thumps me harder on the shoulder this time. “Why do you think that girl hates you so much, Rhi? I bet you turned up at the academy and her magic mirror told her she was no longer the fairest in the academy.”

“I love you, Winnie, but I think your mind has warped.”

Winnie scoffs. “So will you ask him?”

I shake my head. “If I turn up in a really expensive dress, everyone will want to know how I got my hands on it and then …”