Page 17 of Taste of Thorns (The Firestone Academy #3)

Chapter Fifteen

B eaufort

I pull the golden collar from my pocket, where it’s been burning a long-worn hole these last few months, and lay it flat out on my desk. Then I stare at it, my thoughts as usual occupied with the woman who drives me to distraction.

“She’s really fucking annoyed with you,” Dray says from the doorway observing me. “Can’t you just swallow your damn pride, Beau, and go say sorry? My balls are about to fucking explode!”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I mumble, running my forefinger along the soft material of the collar.

“You were an asshole.”

“That’s just who I am.”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t like it.”

“Because she’s being stubborn and she can’t accept the truth,” I say, picking the collar up and stuffing it back into my pocket. Dray and I have had this same conversation at least three times already. It’s clear he isn’t going to leave me in peace to mope.

“ She’s being stubborn?” he scoffs.

“Yes.”

“The way I see it, you’re both as stubborn as each other.”

“There are unseen forces moving in the academy, forces moving against Briony in order to get to us. She should be taking more precautions. That includes being careful with Tudor. Don’t pretend you disagree with me about this, Dray.”

“Yeah, but Tudor’s her fated mate. She was never going to agree to staying away from him.”

I rake my hand through my hair.

“Yeah, then I need to know whose side he is on.”

I jump up from my desk and storm down the staircase.

“Are you going to make it up to her?” Dray calls after me eagerly.

I don’t answer him. I grab my jacket and plunge out into the cold, dark night.

Fox isn’t lurking down in his dungeon of a classroom like usual and for a moment I’m at a loss as to where he could be. Then it dawns on me. There’s one other place I’ve seen him.

I walk back across the campus, crashing through the door of the deserted gymnasium and find him smacking his fists into one of the hanging punch bags.

Just like last time he doesn’t seem surprised to see me.

“We have to stop meeting like this, Lincoln,” he says, catching the swinging bag between his bare hands, “people will talk.”

“Are you sleeping with Bardin?” I bark at him, firing a volley of shadows his way.

He lifts his arm to deflect my shots.

“That isn’t what I was expecting you to ask me.”

“Are you?”

“No,” he says, frowning like he’s genuinely insulted by the idea.

“But you two used to be a thing.”

“A long time ago.”

“And how about now?”

He huffs and smacks a one-two into the belly of the bag. “No.”

I peer into his glowing eyes. “I need to know whose side you’re on, Tudor. If you have our girl’s best interests at heart.”

“You know that I do.” He smacks the bag some more and despite the effort he isn’t panting and no sweat rolls down his face. “You’re also showing your immaturity. The realm is far more complicated than that. There are more than two sides in this game.”

“Are there? Bardin attacked her. In the maze. That suggests to me she’s on the fucking wrong side. It was only Thorne who saved her.”

That’s obviously news to the professor, because he stumbles away from the swinging bag. “He did?”

“Yes. But what I want to know is, why the hell didn’t you save her? Weren’t you the one who was meant to be watching the students that day, fishing them out if needed? So why didn’t you? Or was it all part of the plan?”

He scrubs his fingers through his beard and all of a sudden he looks older, tired.

“Stars, Lincoln. What exactly are you accusing me of here?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But something isn’t right.”

Odessa. Bardin. The Hardies. The professor.

I don’t know how all this fits together. I’m missing something.

And I’m sounding more and more like Briony.

The professor rolls his shoulders back. His hands form even tighter fists by his sides. “When I heard what she did to Briony – when I saw what she did – I wanted to kill her.” His eyes flash red. “I nearly did.”

“Then why didn’t you?” I take another step forward. If I’d known it was Bardin that day, I wouldn’t have been able to help myself. I would have torn the woman to pieces.

“Because I’m a selfish bastard. If I killed Veronica, then they’d have locked me away. Fuck, maybe they’d even have banished me.”

“And you don’t want to die?” I sneer.

“I don’t want to be away from Briony. I don’t want to be without her.

” Suddenly, the mask falls away from the professor’s face and for a moment I catch a glimpse of the desperation and obsession that is eating away at him.

“I love her. She means the world to me. And, yes, Lincoln, I’m very aware that I don’t deserve her, that I’m not worthy of her, that I should have done better by her. ”

“Why didn’t you save her that day?”

“Because Veronica manipulated the trial. She hid what she was doing – not just from me but from everyone.”

The wind howls somewhere outside and the gymnasium door rattles on its hinges. The punch bag swings to and fro, the rusty chain creaking.

“But why go after Briony in the first place?” I ask. “What has the girl ever done to her?”

“At first I thought it was because of me. Veronica knew I had feelings for Briony. I thought she was jealous.”

“Do you still think that?”

“Briony can wield light. Her sister was a shadow weaver.” He opens his mouth as if to say more. Then closes it. “She’s our fated mate. I don’t know what to think anymore. I also can’t think of another reason why Veronica would want to hurt Briony.”

“To get at us.”

“And why would the deputy headmistress want to hurt you, Beaufort Lincoln?”

“Because she’s working for someone else.”

“The only person Veronica works for is herself.”

“Are you sure about that, Professor?” I say. “Have you ever had the suspicion she could be working with someone else?”

“Who?”

“There are shadow weavers who want the Empress gone …”

“The Empress and Veronica are thick as thieves. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“I’m not,” I tell him. And I’m determined to prove it.