Page 34

Chapter Thirty

B eaufort

I open the door to find our little thrall scowling up at me as usual. I assume I’ve done something to irritate her, but what the hell that is, I have no fucking idea.

Not that it bothers me. Those scowls are hotter than the sun. The sun in Onyx Quarter. Because here at the academy we hardly ever see it.

“Nice to see you too,” I mutter, striding away down to the kitchen.

The front door shuts behind me and I hear her scurry to catch up. At the kitchen door, I pause and she comes to stand alongside me. She looks at me in puzzlement, then into the kitchen.

The table has been laid for two, with a tablecloth, the finest porcelain dishes and candlelight. More candles flicker all around the kitchen, and strings of burgundy flowers decorate the room, their fragrant aroma filling the space.

“Oh,” she says, blinking at the spectacle.

“Come on.” I take her hand and lead her inside.

The first course, scallops, lays waiting on the plates. I pull back her chair and wait for her to take her seat. Then pour her a glass of wine before taking the seat opposite.

“Is it only the two of us?” she asks.

“Yes,” I say, lifting my wine glass to take a sip.

“Why?”

I lower my glass. Her question annoys me.

She spent Wednesday evening with Thorne.

She spent most of the ball with Dray. I’ve had fleeting glimpses of her attention and frankly I want more.

Yeah, I know we’re meant to share. Yeah, that’s hot.

But I also want her to myself. Her eyes on me , her mouth kissing my lips, her body entwined with my body.

I try to suppress my annoyance but it escapes in a pissy little sigh.

“It’s the full moon.” I point to the window where the large silver disc hovers, framed by the window.

“Is that meant to be an explanation or …” she says fiddling with her cutlery.

“Dray is a shifter. The full moon sends him, and all his other little buddies, half-crazed. They’ll be off rampaging through the forest, terrorizing squirrels most probably.”

Dray was pissed he was missing this meal.

Especially as we’re leaving for the training assignment tomorrow.

Extra pissed because usually he crashes after a full moon and takes a full twenty-four hours to recover.

He’ll be slinking in after the moon sets and we’ll be out the door again in a matter of hours .

I twist my glass in my fingers. I haven’t told her about the leaving bit yet.

“Is Thorne affected by the full moon too?” she says.

“No, Thorne’s just fucking anti-social.”

“He’s not–” she starts to protest.

“You spend one evening with the dude and you think you know him better than me – his bond brother.”

She takes a sip of wine. “I guess not.”

I take a gulp of wine from myself. This isn’t going how I want it to.

I gesture to the food on her plate. “It’s scallops. I thought you might not have tried it before and I thought you might like it. Also,” I say, picking up my cutlery, “it’s good for you.”

“Clare was exaggerating. The food in the canteen is perfectly fine.” Although as she lifts a piece of scallop between her lips and starts to chew, I’m guessing the food in her mouth is a hell of a lot better than the food in the canteen.

She actually swoons. “Oh my gosh, that is so good,” she moans.

I smile to myself. “I thought you’d like it.”

“If you’re trying to seduce me with food–”

“I already tried that,” I say. “I don’t think it was particularly effective.”

“You didn’t feed me this before,” she says, placing another piece in her mouth and making a face so reminiscent of how she looks when she comes, I’m stiffening in my pants.

“Actually,” I say, “I am trying to butter you up. I have some news you aren’t going to like.” Or maybe she will like it. Who the fuck knows with this one.

“Oh,” she says, with suspicion, chewing .

“We’re going away from the academy for a short period of time.”

A cacophony of expressions flicker over her face and it’s impossible to read if she is or isn’t pleased with this news. “All of you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“There’s been an infraction through the usual protections out of the East,” I say, playing down what I suspect has happened because I don’t want her to worry. “They want to use it as a training exercise for some of the shadow weavers at the academy.”

“Is it going to be dangerous?”

“No,” I lie.

“And … how long will you be gone for?”

“Most likely, four weeks.”

She nods. “Okay.”

That’s it? Just an okay?

I’m disappointed. I wanted her to be a little more pained by the separation. Because I am. I don’t want to leave her. Especially in this damn place.

“You could be a little more disappointed, sweetheart,” I snipe.

“Why? You’re coming back, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I say, even though that’s not guaranteed. Nothing is, after all. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you while we’re away.” And miss you. Fuck, I’m going to miss you.

“I can look after–”

“Yeah, I think we’ve established that you can’t.” She scowls at me, but doesn’t argue. The evidence is stacked against her and she knows it. “Promise you won’t do anything stupid while we’re away. ”

“I didn’t do anything stupid before. It’s not my fault people want to kill me.”

“Who wants to kill you?” I growl.

“It’s just a figure of speech,” she dismisses.

“Just … don’t go poking into stuff about your sister while we’re not here.”

“Why?” she says, eyes narrowing.

“Because it could be dangerous.”

“And why, Beaufort Lincoln, would it be dangerous? Her death was an accident, remember?”

I look her right in the eye. “And if it wasn’t, if you are right and someone deliberately killed your sister, then who’s to say they won’t come for you too.”

Her mouth falls open and she stares back at me in disbelief. “You believe me.”

“I’m saying it could be a possibility. One I will help you look into. When we return.”

She smiles at me, her entire face brightening. It’s been a long while since she last smiled at me. She looks so damn pretty when she smiles. I prefer it to the scowls.

“I can’t promise you,” she says. “If something comes up, I won’t be able to help but–”

“How did I know you’d say that,” I mutter, shaking my head. The girl is damn infuriating. Whenever I’m with her, it’s like being inside a whirlwind, rattled and shaken so hard your brain bounces around inside your skull. I hold her gaze. “I guess I know you well.”

She takes the final bite of scallop, licking her lips when she finishes it.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have to worry about your safety, if you just wore this.” I pull the golden collar from my pocket, lay it on the tabletop and slide it towards her.

She examines it with a mixture of disgust and interest .

“You know I’m never going to wear it.”

“And you know I’ll never understand why. It will protect you, Briony. Keep you safe.”

She reaches out and strokes her finger along the fine silk.

“If it’s the color,” I say, “if it’s too showy. If it’s not showy enough–”

“It’s what it represents.” She turns it over in her hands. “Couldn’t it be a bracelet or a belt or something?”

“It wouldn’t be as visible. It wouldn’t act as a deterrent.”

“Deterrent?” She tosses the choker back on the table. “Do they even work?”

“Yes.”

“Funny, because Odessa was wearing hers when I punched her in the throat.”

I nearly choke on my food. “You what?”

“Punched her in the throat,” she says, with more than a little bit of satisfaction. “She was bad-mouthing my friends.”

“So you just walked up to her and punched her in the throat.” I tut. “This is what I mean by taking risks.”

This girl!

“No, I asked her very nicely to stop and in response she stabbed her knife into my hand. Then I punched her in the throat.”

“What the fuck! She is going to wish she was never born!”

“You don’t need to do anything. I already dealt with it. Despite her wearing that collar.”

“The collar works,” I say. “It will protect you.”

“Odessa’s didn’t.”

I stroke my chin. I shaved for her. The places I plan to kiss her tonight, I wanted to be smooth for her .

Why didn’t Odessa’s collar stop Briony from hurting her? It’s strange. And I will be looking into it.

“It’s just a necklace, Briony.” She shakes her head. “Is it so bad if people know you belong to us?”

“I don’t belong to anyone.”

“Sweetheart, you’re ours.”

“You mean the mate thing.” Her forehead crinkles.

Dray.

I’m going to fucking kill him.

“Who told you about that?”

“Dray keeps calling me that. Thorne said I’m your mate. But I don’t know why you’d think that. If it’s laughable that someone like me could be your thrall, it’s the biggest joke in the realm that I could be your mate.”

“It’s not laughable. It’s not a joke.” I peer into her eyes. “Don’t you feel it, Briony? This attraction between us? It’s like a magnet pulling us together. It’s fucking irresistible.”

“That’s just sex, Beaufort.”

“No, it’s not. You ever felt anything like this before?”

She hesitates, then shakes her head, biting at her lip. “But I haven’t exactly had much experience.”

“This is different. This is fate.”

“But how do you–”

“I saw it.”

“You saw it?” she says, looking even more confused.

I lean back in my chair and scrub my hands over my face. Time to come clean. Time to tell her the truth. It may be the only way to protect her. To keep her safe.

“I have visions, Briony. If you can call them that. More flashes of the future. Fleeting and vague.” I frown.

“But always correct. Always true.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes, trying to yank that vision back in front of my eyes.

“I’ve had them for as long as I can remember. But only Dray and Thorne know.”

“It’s a secret?”

“Yes.”

“But why?”

“I don’t want anyone else to know. It could be … dangerous.”

She studies me, obviously unsettled by that answer.

“And you saw a vision about us?”

“Yes. And in that vision, the four of us were together. Bonded by fate.”

“What does that mean ‘bonded by fate’?”

“You are our fated mate, Briony Storm.”