Chapter 22 Unanswered Questions #2
I was already shaking my head. “He’s not hurting me, Draken.
Not like that. He barely touches me, honestly, other than to lob magic as part of one exercise or another, or to use magical throws while we’re sparring…
usually when he wants it to end.” I let out a humorless laugh.
“Honestly, he doesn’t need to hurt me. From the outside, I imagine it’s a bit like watching a mouse attack a wolf. ”
Jolie snorted, like she couldn’t help herself.
They asked a lot more questions, of course, whenever they got me talking, but I couldn’t offer up much else. Bones never did tell me how to describe our sessions to anyone who asked, including my friends, but I knew not to paint him in too flattering of a light.
I definitely couldn’t talk about him in Frumpy’s, where any one of the royals might be listening.
When I finally made it down to the dining room that morning, it hit me again why Bones didn’t bother making a show of abusing me in there.
He didn’t need to blacken my eyes to keep up appearances.
Just seeing the condition I was in, each and every morning after a session spent with my new “instructor,” filled his royals mates with undisguised glee.
“You alright there, half-breed?” Norrick Voltaire called out in a sneer.
I’d just walked my tray over from the buffet table.
The dining room, which was even more massive than the one in Grathrock, didn’t have the transparent ceiling that Grathrock’s had, only tall, narrow, stone-framed windows along one wall. As a result, it was much darker inside, even in the morning.
Decorated with iron and gold, and lit by torches that never seemed to go out, its grey stone walls displayed shields, swords, and other weaponry, along with coats of arms, tapestries, and mosaics of constellations.
Massive stone statues lined the walls in alcoves and by the two fireplaces: griffins, sphinxes, horses with half-fish bodies, satyrs, winged cats, dragons, and a gold and black statue of Anubis that stood nearly twenty feet tall.
Despite the odd collection of gods and magical creatures, Valarian itself, in all of its rooms, mostly reminded me of a medieval castle.
I looked over at Voltaire before I could stop myself. He leered at me openly, hanging over his plate loaded with sausages, eggs, potatoes, and fried mushrooms.
“You’re walking a bit funny there, Shadow,” Voltaire smirked. “Bones didn’t break anything off inside you this time, did he? He decide to ride you for a bit, after he got you down on the ground? Must get boring trying to teach a half-breed to do tricks.”
Elysia Warrington cackled, obviously finding that hilarious.
My face grew hot, mostly in anger.
I picked up my fork, but even that hurt. My fingers felt like they’d been bent backwards and hyperextended so that all of the joints were sore.
Norrick laughed again, joined by Pants and Scar, the other two of Bones’s flunkies.
“Maybe I’ll see if I can get you alone, too, Shadow,” Norrick called out. “I think I like you like this, all tenderized and meek. Finally knowing your place. Regular bruisings seem to have cured that smart mouth of yours, too. Like Bones, I can think of better uses for it.”
My jaw hardened, but I didn’t answer that, either.
Draken, who sat across from me, turned his head to glare at Voltaire, eyes blazing.
“You go near her, and I’ll––”
“You’ll what, Joran?” Bones thunked his own tray down on the wooden table on Panzen’s other side, voice bored.
Without looking at me, he sank his weight gracefully to the bench, set down his utensils, and adjusted his seat in front of the overloaded platter he’d brought back from the buffet.
He aimed a stare briefly at Draken, his gold eyes flat.
“…You planning to warn me off her, too, Hollywood?” he sneered. “Make your claim on her mongrel body formally? Or just regale us all with stories about how often you fucked the little mutt on the beach in California over the summer?”
I stiffened, mostly in disbelief.
Eye of Ra. I couldn’t tell him anything, could I? One mention of being in California last summer, and that’s what he took away from it?
Bones’s eyes flickered to mine, then returned to Draken.
Draken glanced at me, too, but only for a second before glaring at Bones. “I see we’re back to acting the adolescent prat,” he remarked coolly. “I suppose you feel pretty big these days, Bones, having the school sanction you beating up on a witch half your size.”
“And I see you’re just as jealous and possessive over your sweet little mongrel as ever,” Caelum shot back. “Don’t you ever get tired of white knighting, Joran?”
Draken barely seemed to hear him.
“I should’ve known it was too much to hope you might’ve matured over the summer,” he said in disgust. His voice grew an open threat.
“And yes, I will warn you, if you insist on making it necessary. You lay a hand on her, you hurt her in any way, and you’ll regret it, you little prick.
You might’ve fooled Forsooth, playing the good little prince, but outside these walls, you’re nothing but a rich, spoiled fuck with a daddy complex…
and I’m not the only one with that opinion.
I have friends who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, too, Bones. ”
I stiffened, looking at Draken, a little stunned.
Caelum scoffed at the threat openly.
“Gods you are tiresome,” he said, just as contemptuously. “No wonder you can’t keep hold of her.” Impatience reached his eyes as he gripped a fork and knife in either hand. “You really don’t like me touching your mongrel, do you? Is it me in particular, I wonder? Or is it anyone besides you?”
“It’s you, actually,” Draken retorted.
“You sure about that?” Bones shot back. “Why not let her speak for herself, then?”
When Draken only glared, Bones scoffed at him again.
“Right,” he said knowingly. “I’m sure it’s only me. And just when, exactly, did she agree to become your personal property? You sure she’s on board with that, Joran? Because it seems pretty desperate.”
I felt myself tense more.
What the hell was Bones doing, too?
I bit my lip, almost didn’t speak, then said it anyway.
“How about you both shut up, so the rest of us can eat?” I asked coolly.
When everyone at both tables looked at me, Jolie, Mir, Nyx, and Luc, along with Voltaire, Bones, Panzen, Maskey, and Warrington, I bit my lip. When I noticed Draken’s confused and slightly hurt look aimed in my direction, I exhaled.
I laid a hand on his arm. “I don’t need you to defend me,” I told him quietly.
“And it’s unnecessary, anyway. Bones isn’t going to touch me in there, not with Forsooth and Quicksilver breathing down his neck, and the entire school aware he’s stuck with me.
He’s just trying to wind you up.” I avoided looking at Bones.
“He’s probably just annoyed he has to breathe the same air as me.
I’m sure his father is furious. And like you said, that’s all he cares about. ”
Draken’s expression visibly relaxed.
“As long as you promise to tell me if that ever changes,” he said softly.
He took my hand in his and squeezed.
“I might vomit,” Bones muttered from the other table.
Before I could look over, the tall, platinum-haired mage had already regained his feet. I watched him, hiding my bewilderment, as he walked straight out of the dining hall, his broad shoulders squared under the embroidered black coat.
It wasn’t until he was already out the door that I realized he’d left behind the heaping plate of food he hadn’t touched.
It just sat there once he’d gone, steaming on the table.