Chapter 27 Birthday #3
I still wasn’t entirely sure how the magic in that crystal worked.
Bones told me there were a number of chimaeric spells woven into the stone that made my magic difficult to see.
He said when he went lower in his magic, my aura looked strange, like I didn’t have much magic at all.
He said at other times, when he’d looked at me while I wore it, I’d actually looked like someone else, or even blended into my immediate environment.
I knew it didn’t block my magic entirely, as that would likely make me more conspicuous, not less. I also knew the effects were more variable than I’d initially thought, and that I didn’t look the same to everyone.
Bones thought the chimearic spells likely adjusted their masking properties depending on where I was, who was trying to look at me, how close they were to me in the physical, and even what their intentions were.
He also thought the crystal would likely make it impossible for most Magicals to read my mind, or even see me, particularly if I wore it in a fight.
He’d called the magic in it “uniquely beautiful.”
Bones himself could still read me, of course.
His strange magic meant the crystal was basically useless against him.
I pushed him out of my mind as I walked, crystal or no. It seemed to take a long time for me to cross the entire west wing to reach his tower.
By the time I finally saw the rounded bottom of the turret, and the narrow, dark corridor at its base, which I knew hid the only door inside, it was already half-ten.
Bones had told me the corridor and door were magicked in such a way that he’d know I was there, and he’d come down to fetch me once he felt me arrive.
For the same reason, I just stood in front of his door, waiting.
My hands clasped my arms as I shivered from the cold.
I should have worn a coat, or at least my cloak. I’d left both things upstairs, in that abandoned toilet, with the rest of my regular clothes.
I’d just started to fidget when the door opened abruptly in front of me.
Bones stood there, and I could only stare when I saw him, a little taken aback when I glanced down his body.
A collared shirt hung open on his shoulders, leaving the scars of his chest visible, along with the fainter hieroglyphs that formed a curved crescent below his neck.
His hair looked mussed as if he’d just woken up.
He stared back at me, his eyes strangely flat, holding a light I didn’t recognize.
I smiled, and started to walk forward, but he didn’t move.
He remained standing solidly in the door’s opening.
I came to a stop.
When I met his gaze again, puzzled, but undeniably blocked by his immovable stance, I caught him staring at my breasts in the low-cut top, then my legs below the short skirt.
He stopped on my high heels, then his eyes rose back to mine, and he quirked an eyebrow.
A faint smirk appeared at his mouth, right before he inclined his head with an odd grace.
“My, my. What have we here?” His eyes returned to my cleavage. “What a delicious little present you are. Did I order you on special delivery for the evening?” His smirk widened. “I do have good taste, don’t I?”
I frowned, studying his face. “Bones, it’s me.”
“Oh, I know it is, sweetling.” That smirk grew more prominent as his eyes rose to mine. “What a profound regret it is, that I am forced to turn you away this evening.”
“Turn me away?” I frowned, now puzzled for real. I glanced back the way I’d come, almost wondering if we were being overheard. Had he seen someone I’d missed? Had I been followed? I lowered my voice.
“Bones, what are you talking about?” I asked. “Let me in.”
His fingers made a shooing gesture where they gripped the black door.
“Fly away, little present,” he drawled lazily. “You’ll have to get on your knees for me on another night, I’m afraid. I’m not able to play with you this evening.”
I stared at him.
His face didn’t move.
His gold eyes, which could be cryptic at the best of times, were more like impenetrable mirrors now. They made his previous expressionless stares seem almost emotional and transparent. I’d never seen his eyes look quite like they did in that doorway, like he was completely dead inside.
My magic flickered upwards, looking for his primal. I honestly wondered, for that split second, if the person in front of me wasn’t Bones at all.
But the black crystal hung where it always did, its fire rippling in invisible wind. Curls of smoke plumed off the faceted stone around that dancing black fire.
I focused back on him warily.
“You might’ve told me before I came all the way over here.” I bit my lip, remembering Miranda, and my anger abruptly grew hotter. “You really are a piece of work, you know that? I canceled plans for this, Bones. Plans that actually mattered to me.”
He stared back, all trace of that indulgent amusement gone.
The eyes that met mine were cold, raptor-like.
“You certainly think quite a lot of yourself, don’t you, little present?” he observed. “Just who is it you think you’re speaking to, witch? Or is part of your foreplay to have that lovely mouth of yours broken prior to it being put to use?”
The words were so stripped of feeling, it took a second for them to penetrate. Once they had, I felt myself pale. Something about all of it, his words, that dead-eyed stare, his utter lack of inflection, made the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end.
I took a half-step back.
Instantly, I saw that fire in his eyes dim.
Almost like my fear had finally satisfied him.
“Run along now, little witch,” he said, back to sounding bored. “Your services are not required in this residence tonight, but I’m sure you can still put that tongue of yours to good use. There must be some other royal cock around here that needs cleaning.”
I opened my mouth, not even sure what I intended to say to that, but he was already closing the door. It slammed shut in my face, and I found myself standing there, in the narrow hallway outside his tower, utterly confused.