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Chapter Eighteen

B riony

By the end of the night, Fly and the redhead have disappeared altogether and the Princes are talking about taking me back to their tower.

Dray clearly wants to make good on his promises from earlier in the evening.

But I put my foot down, and no amount of flirtation, disapproving glares or outright threats are going to change my mind.

I’m walking my now exceedingly tipsy friend back to her room and then retiring to my own bed. Alone.

Beaufort might not believe in magic rocks but I’ve had one tugging at my gut all night. I’m desperate to return and check it.

“Okay,” Beaufort finally concedes, “but I’m walking with you.”

“It’s not necessary.”

Dray rolls his eyes at me – in clear imitation of my usual response to his crazy remarks. “It is when you look the way you look tonight, and most of the academy are wasted out of their minds.”

I tsk at him but I don’t argue when Beaufort walks along with Clare and I through the maze of the academy.

Dray may actually be right. There are students staggering around.

Some being pretty rowdy. We pass three different brawls, a pretty aggressive lovers’ tiff and a standoff over what looks like a bottle of alcohol.

All the joviality and downright horniness from early has dissolved into violence and I don’t exactly feel like being on the end of that.

I also have a strong suspicion that, while Madame Bardin may be untouchable at the academy, she wouldn’t dare attack me with one of the Princes around.

Beaufort waits outside the door like an actual gentleman, while I help Clare out of her dress, force her to drink a large amount of water and tuck her into bed.

“Can I help you out of your dress and into your bed tonight, sweetheart?” Beaufort asks as I close the door quietly behind me, already hearing Clare’s drink-induced snores.

“I’m quite capable of doing it myself, thank you,” I say, although with more flirtation and less snark than I usually would, taking a leaf out of Madame’s book.

She may be a mega bitch who tried to kill me – at least I think she would have if left to her own devices – but she does have the sultry seductress act down to a fine art.

He takes my hand in his, threading his fingers through mine and rubbing the pad of his thumb along my knuckles as we walk towards my tower.

“Last chance,” he says, when we reach the door to my room. “I’d be more than happy to help you out of this dress.” He smiles at me and the man really is damn charming when he wants to be. It makes it exceedingly difficult to say no.

“Another time.”

He slides his hand around the back of my neck, cupping my head in his large paw.

“I’m going to hold you to that promise, little thrall.”

Then he kisses me. It’s tender, gentle, slow. It’s designed to tease me and let me know exactly what I’m turning down.

But it’s more than that. All our kisses before have been fueled by anger and lust, want and longing. This kiss isn’t like that. There’s more intimacy to it, more emotion. It’s a kiss that could fool me into believing he actually cares for me.

“Good night,” I tell him, pulling away before I’m unable to resist him at all.

“Good night, Briony,” he tells me.

In my room, I lean against my closed door, shutting my eyes and catching my breath. When my head stops spinning and my knees are no longer close to buckling, I stride quickly to my cupboard and pull out the stone.

There are no new cracks but it’s as warm as ever and vibrating gently in my palms. I strip off the dress and climb into my pajamas, and then snuggle into my bed with the stone and my notebook.

It’s full of all the notes I’ve been keeping about my sister – scribbles mostly.

I’ve added bits and pieces we’ve learned from the library books.

Nothing is obviously related but I’ve made a note of anything unusual or out of the ordinary.

I don’t add any notes about my sister tonight though. Instead I turn the notebook over and open it from the back page.

I write down every bit of information I know about the Princes and everything I’ve discovered about firestones.

It’s a start, but I intend to add more.