Page 126 of Shattered Stars

“One dances.”

“Yep.”

“Mingles.”

I pull a face.

“And drinks and be merry.”

“That I can do,” I say, “only not too much.” My first and only hangover is still acting as a very vivid and effective deterrent from drinking too much.

“You have to get wasted at a ball. It’s like the law.”

I pull a face at her but her attention is diverted by Trent who’s tapping her on the shoulder.

He passes Winnie a glass of champagne and then one to me before whispering into his girlfriend’s ear and making her giggle.

I take a gulp of my champagne and the bubbles fly up my nose, making it crinkle so much I sneeze.

“You’re meant to sip champagne,” Winnie says and I stick my tongue out at her. “You’re ruining the sophisticated look, Rhianna.”

“We both know I’m not sophisticated.”

Winnie leans in to whisper in my ear. “Says the woman who’s been having hot threesomes with two older guys.”

I can’t deny that, scanning the crowd again for those two older men. The man in black must still be outside which is probably just as well. The way he looked at me out there on the path had my blood heating. In fact, the way he looked, all dressed up in a suit that was straining at every seam – most definitely had my blood warming. We’re meant to be subtle tonight. I’m hoping at some point we’ll grab a moment together but if I’m seen hanging out with him the entire night people may get suspicious, and quite frankly hanging off the man, climbing him like a tree, is all I feel like doing right now.

It takes me a while to spot my other mate, too. He’s standing with a group of the teachers and he has his back to me.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so obvious if I went and spoke with him.

As if he knows I’m looking his way, I see his spine stiffen slightly and the man glances slightly over his shoulder.

It decides me. I’ll pretend I have a question on ancient magic that needs answering urgently.

I tell Winnie I’ll be back later and weave my way through the crowd. It’s a strange experience. People don’t dive out of the way to avoid me like they usually do, or turn away to ignore me. In fact, several of the girls from my gym class stop me to say how great I look and how amazing my dress is. And one guy – who I think is in my practical magic class and most probably laughed at me that day Summer turned my nose into a snout – grabs my arm and tries to persuade me to dance.

I wave him off and keep making my way towards Stone, stopping right behind him.

“Professor?” I say and his shoulders rise and fall as if he’s steeling himself, before he turns slowly to face me. His features remain completely neutral although his eyes smolder as his gaze snakes all over me.

“Miss Blackwaters,” he says, and I notice how tightly he’s gripping the stem of his glass.

“I’m sorry to interrupt but I had an urgent question for you about the assignment you set yesterday.”

Stone pats Professor Browne on the arm. “Excuse me, Jack,” he says.

Then he motions with his head and we step to one side away from the other teachers.

“The assignment, huh?” he asks, eyes swimming all over me with a hunger that’s making me dizzy. Maybe coming over to speak with him wasn’t such a great idea after all. “I’m guessing that, seeing as I set you no assignments this week, this is just an excuse to show me in close quarters just how good you look?”

I smile and tilt my head to one side. “I look good?”

“You look fucking incredible, Miss Blackwaters, and you know you do.”

I smile even more and lift my glass to my lips, remembering to sip this time.

Stone reaches out and takes the glass straight from my hands. “No drinking. We all remember what happened last time you drank.”