Chapter 27 Antonia
Antonia
Ithought, for some crazy reason, that when we left Forsooth’s office and tower, Bones would want to go somewhere so the two of us could be alone.
We’d barely been allowed to touch one another since the last night of Yule.
That didn’t even get into everything we’d said to one another in that study, which still made my stomach clench whenever I thought about it.
Bones clearly had no interest in getting into those things with me today, however.
He had other plans, and whatever they were, they didn’t include me.
When we reached the bottom of Forsooth’s Tower, he gave me a peck on the cheek, tugged my hair briefly but gently with his fingers, his jaw flexed, then informed me and Alaric that he’d be “occupied” for the rest of the day.
Before he left, he bowed to me, with a formality I found deeply bizarre.
“We’re still on for tomorrow night?” he asked politely.
I blinked up at him as he straightened. “What?”
Alaric nudged me with an elbow. “New Year’s,” he whispered, as if Bones wasn’t standing right there and couldn’t hear every word. “You made a date for New Year’s Eve. Remember? You did it right in front of me, darling. It was quite adorable.”
I gave Alaric a slightly exasperated glance, then looked back at Bones.
Folding my arms, I didn’t hide my puzzlement.
“Yes,” I said, my voice sounding more than a little doubtful. “We’re still on for tomorrow. As far as I know.”
“Good.” If he noticed the way I’d said it, or the way I was staring at him, he chose not to acknowledge it. “I thought we could make a day of it.” He glanced at Alaric. “Him, too, if not for dinner.”
“Him, too?” Alaric asked, his voice holding deep offense.
“…and your friends. If you want.” Bones ignored Alaric’s offense, speaking only to me.
He still wore that strangely formal tone.
“Mocking, Minh… anyone else you’d like to bring who might be around.
I thought we’d all go to Bonescastle. It would be safer for everyone if we went as a group, and disguised, so it wasn’t clear who anyone was. ”
I frowned, staring at him for real.
“Bones,” I said, at a loss. “We can’t go to Bonescastle.”
“Not as ourselves,” he corrected. “I was suggesting we go not as ourselves. And that everyone in our group go not as themselves.” He glanced at Alaric.
“You, too,” he said to his childhood friend.
“We all change how we look. We change our primals, our magical signatures, our auras. We all leave Malcroix together, as a group. Later, you and I can go to dinner alone. We can meet up with everyone else after and rejoin the festival. If we leave the grounds together and return together it will be safe enough for all of us. Bonescastle will be mad that day. We’ll blend into the crowd.
Leave when the crowd leaves, after the fireworks. ”
I folded my arms, looking at him.
I was still puzzled, although I struggled to decide why, exactly.
He was acting strange, definitely. Was it about the date? Or did it have to do with what Forsooth and Bones had just been power-struggling over?
It occurred to me that he might be inviting the others not only for security reasons, but also for me.
He would certainly expect me to appreciate that more than himself.
He wasn’t really the type to go out with mates because he liked to be in a crowd.
This felt like something close to a peace offering, or maybe an attempt to compromise.
Or maybe just an attempt to make me happy?
I didn’t know how to interpret it, frankly. I could see the security benefits, like he said, so maybe it made more sense to focus on that.
“Sure,” I said. “That sounds fine. Should I ask Nyx and Luc, then? Or were you going to talk to them sometime today?”
Bones nodded, still not quite meeting my gaze.
“Yes. Yes, of course,” he said, seeming to answer my first question, while more or less blowing past my second.
He glanced at me, but not long enough to really hold eye contact.
“What about eleven? No need to eat much beforehand. There’ll be loads to eat and drink in town.
There’s a festival in the middle of the city, plus a winter fair and market. ”
“Oh.” That did sound kind of lovely. I’d never been to anything like that before, not in Magique. Last year I’d been too depressed to do much of anything for New Year’s––
I cut the thought off, feeling myself flush.
“That sounds nice,” I said, a little lamely.
I bit my tongue, but Bones only gave me another oddly-formal bow. When I didn’t say anything else, he turned and swept off down the corridor in the direction of his tower.
It wasn’t until he was halfway down the hall that I realized he hadn’t said a thing about what he’d be doing that day, or why he needed to do it alone.
When I glanced at Alaric, his eyebrows had risen higher than mine, until they nearly kissed his hairline. He looked at me, not hiding his astonishment. He opened his mouth, but I held up a finger before he could speak.
“Not a word, Greythorne,” I warned.
“But what in the realms of the gods––”
“I have absolutely no idea.” I shook my head. “He probably wants a break from both of us. He’s been stuck in his familial manor with us for the entire winter break.” At Alaric’s skeptical look, I added, “Anyway, it’s really none of my business, is it?”
“Isn’t it?” Alaric looked skeptical.
“It’s really not,” I said.
Alaric scoffed.
“You have to know he’s been climbing the walls all week,” he said, still not hiding his skepticism.
“I’ve never seen him argue with Varya like that before.
He came close to threatening her when she wouldn’t take the curses off your doors.
I thought for certain he’d drag you back to his cave the second we got back here, and––”
“Alaric, please.” I grimaced. “I don’t want to talk about this. I really don’t.”
Alaric closed his mouth, still staring at me skeptically.
I saw something else in his expression, too, something a lot more subtle that I suspected reflected more of his real reaction.
His hazel irises glimmered with a barely-visible hint of delight.
He obviously had his own opinions about Bones’s strangeness, opinions he was positively bursting to share, opinions I really didn’t want to hear.
I felt completely exhausted suddenly. Even if some part of me did want to know Alaric’s take on the whole thing, I knew it would be a mistake.
I wasn’t up to dealing with it, whatever it was.
I just wanted a bath, my cat, and a book.
Without saying another word to Alaric, or even looking for his reaction to my silence, I headed for the glass doors that would take us out of the east wing.
Reaching the first one, I pushed it open into a small patch of ice.
A rush of cold air hit me. The wind made my teeth clench, despite the sunshine reflecting on the snow that covered the path, gardens, statues, and trees.
It must have snowed the night before at Malcroix, too, like it had in Exmoor. The paths were covered with a fresh blanket of white, with only a few sets of footprints leading from the colleges down to the Mansion, and even fewer leading the other direction.
I looked up the hill to where I could just see the top of Valarian.
Then, glancing at Alaric, I wrapped my scarf more tightly around my neck and face, and shivered.
Alaric stepped closer to me in the door’s opening.
He buttoned his coat up over his suit before sliding his arm through mine, and hugging me close to his side.
Honestly, I should have been relieved to have a bit of time to myself.
Or even just a relaxing afternoon and evening with Wraith and Alaric.
Somehow, I wasn’t, though.
Luckily, I didn’t have to tell Alaric I needed some time alone. He seemed to have the same thoughts, and after kissing me on the cheek when we paused on the staircase landing below mine in Valarian, he walked down the long corridor where his own dorm room lived.
“Supper?” I called after him. “Frumpy’s at six?”
He raised a hand in silent acknowledgement without turning to look at me.
Satisfied, I ascended the last section of stairs alone.
The second I got back to my dorm, I shucked off my coat and hung in our coat closet, lit a fire to warm my very cold room, picked up Wraith for a quick snuggle and checked her bowls, then turned on the shower.
After I’d taken a hot shower and changed, I raised the flames in the grate with magic, and put the kettle on.
My room was still freezing.
Wraith made sure to voice her complaints in detail about the terrible conditions.
She was only slightly mollified when I gave her Alaric’s Christmas present, which promptly transformed into the poking gnome when she batted it with a paw.
The gnome, giggling maniacally, led her on a chase through every room and corner of our dorm.
It was clear that either Luc or Nyx or both of them had been looking after Wraith, as both of her bowls were full and someone had piled magically-heated blankets around her bed, presumably to keep her warm at night.
I really should have told them to keep the fire burning, too, at least partway.
I sat on the couch, wrapped in the fuzziest blanket in our dormitory collection. It was hard to step out of that long enough to make coffee, but a few minutes later, I did that, too.
Wraith came back to sleep on me while I drank coffee and read.
I was still working my way through the books Forsooth recommended. I’d mostly abandoned the list after that first caelum ignis book, as Bones and I decided it would be better to focus on the ritual for the time being, at least while we were at the Tower.
I was halfway through the first chapter in the next book on Forsooth’s list, eating a few bites of a raspberry tart I’d ordered from the dormitory kitchen, and drinking more of the strong coffee I’d made, when my eyes stumbled over a group of words.
I put down the tart and my coffee.