Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
Colson
She manages to look totally unconcerned other than a brief fidgeting with the hem of her gloves. I catch a glint of silver that tells me she’s wearing the bracelet Asher gave her, which eases my own concerns a little.
When the last of the other students leaves, she approaches my desk at a casual pace. I’m struck again by conflicting emotions: chagrin that I didn’t realize just how different she was from the first moment this Elodie arrived in my classroom, awe that she hides it so well no one else has suspected.
Something in this Elodie Devine’s original life taught her how to tamp down all her feelings and present only a disaffected front, an act that’s served her well.
How hard did she have it in her former reality that it prepared her to face mysterious factions out for her blood?
And how can I convince her that she doesn’t need to put on a front with me?
I’ve already done a stellar job of pushing her in the opposite direction. She stops a careful distance from my desk, her face blank and her voice neutral even though there’s no one left to observe us together. “Yes, sir?”
I shuffle the assignment papers in my hands, hers on the top now but excellently written.
If I’m going to make up for all my brutal blunders, it’s going to take more than I can accomplish within the academy’s walls. Cosgrave nearly got them caught with a five-minute cuddle.
First priorities first. “You didn’t run into any trouble during the combat seminar yesterday evening?”
If Professor Jovak has made one move toward harming her… Just the thought makes my gums itch and my bones twinge as if I’m on the verge of hunching over into wolf form.
I wouldn’t mind aiming several dire fates at that bastard.
Elodie offers a subtle shake of her head. “It was pretty straightforward. I wasn’t singled out at all.” A twitch of her mouth, a hint of a wry smile. “That actually makes me more nervous about what they’re planning next.”
“I suppose that’s a problem for next week.” I catch her gaze and hold it. “You’ll want to go to the Blossom and Bounty social tomorrow.”
Another twitch, this time closer to a frown. “Why?”
“Just make a brief appearance to keep up the guise that everything is normal. It’s important. All right?”
A slight furrow forms in her brow as she gazes back at me, but she shrugs. “All right. If you think it matters that much. I was going to go anyway before my friends started shunning me.”
The party isn’t what I think matters. I just need her there, an excuse to get her out of the house without the need for subterfuge. We’ll save her from the gossip-mongers quickly enough.
If there’s anything Elodie could use after all the chaos she’s been through, it’s a break.
During lunch period, I get a message from Cosgrave—presumably on a new phone he picked up after realizing his parents were tracking the other one.
Everything’s in motion. She’s going down.
He’ll mean Mr. Devine’s “consultant.” I exhale with a trickle of relief.
I don’t trust the syndicate kid not to go off the rails in most situations, but for getting something illicit done stealthily, who better?
I have to double-check. No new consequences from the interruption?
He’s smart enough to know I mean the condo.
All good, he replies, and another strand of the tension inside me unwinds.
Whatever we’re up against, it’s big enough to intimidate me. But with all of us on Elodie’s side, I have to believe we can get her through it.
I’m not letting the murderous pricks win.
Be ready for tomorrow, I tell him, and he answers with only a thumbs up. Typical.
I need subterfuge to put the rest of my scheme in order. Late Saturday afternoon, I arrive at the hotel where the socials are always held with an illusion cloaking my form, accept the key card under an assumed name, and head up to arrange everything for our night.
The sounds of the arriving party-goers don’t reach all the way to the penthouse windows. I peer at the street far below, watching the procession of posh cars let out senior students in designer suits and dresses.
The most elite of the elite in their generation, gathering together to gossip, get drunk, and grope each other through their gloves.
I recognize Elodie’s arrival before she steps out of the car. The tug travels from my palm to my heart, and then she’s emerging below, purple-tinted hair spilling in graceful waves across her shoulders, maroon satin hugging her figure.
The heads of several of her classmates turn toward her and then bow together. My jaw clenches at the thought of their spiteful whispers.
I definitely don’t want to leave her in their midst for long.
Stepping back from the window, I check the time.
Half an hour should be plenty for her presence to be noticed and for her peers to busy themselves with other things.
Worth will put his illusionary skills to use making sure the other students think they’ve caught glimpses of her throughout the night; the booze will take care of the rest.
I send messages to the men first. Asher arrives discreetly in a cab. Cosgrave and Worth reach the suite door within minutes of each other, Cosgrave already loosening the collar of his button-up and Worth tossing aside his suit jacket.
Both of them discard their gloves on the side table by the door. My fingers curl inside my own.
Technically, there’s no risk now that my glim’s awake. But the layer of leather feels like a necessary shield against impulses I shouldn’t give in to.
“Is she on her way?” Cosgrave asks.
I pull out my phone. “I’ll get her now.”
It takes five torturous minutes after I’ve sent the room number for a final knock to sound on the door. I answer to find Elodie standing outside, her head cocked and eyebrows arched. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain…” I usher her in so we don’t have to worry about being overheard.
Elodie notices the other men waiting in the expansive room beyond, and a shadow crosses her expression. “Is everything okay? Has something—”
I hold up my hands to stop her, wincing inwardly that I’ve already caused her more distress.
“No. Nothing like that. You actually have less to worry about than before. Mr. Cosgrave has arranged for certain doctored evidence against your father’s consultant to be sent to the government…
We can’t expose the entire group she’s part of yet, but we can at least get her out of her position of power. ”
“Really?” Elodie’s voice brightens. She glances at Cosgrave, and he nods with a satisfied smirk.
I clear my throat to bring her attention back to me.
“Right now… This is just for you. After everything that’s happened, I wanted to arrange some time for you to relax without having to be on your guard.
And with all of us. Because it’s also important that you know how much we’re all committed to being with you. ”
Elodie blinks, taking in the whole room with its opulent furnishings. “I… Here?”
“It was convenient.”
I motion her farther into the room. Her gown murmurs around her legs tantalizingly, but this escape is for her benefit, not mine.
I point to a stack of clothes I’ve set on the coffee table. “You can change into something more comfortable, as I suspect you’d prefer. They should be the right size, and I picked out the softest fabrics I could find.”
Elodie picks up the sweatshirt and leggings and pauses over the undershirt folded next to a pair of socks. Her gaze darts to me with a glimmer of panic, but I keep my expression what I hope is reassuringly mild.
I couldn’t help picking up on some of the ephemera wound around her when I held her in the car the other night. There’s something that unsettles her about her upper body, that she wants to keep covered up.
I don’t need to know more until she’s ready to tell us of her own accord. I just want her to feel as at ease as possible tonight.
With that goal in mind, I nod toward the bathroom. “You can take a shower or even a bath if you want, as long as you like. The suite came with a wide variety of salts and oils and that sort of thing. We don’t mind waiting while you take your time.”
“Or joining you!” Cosgrave pipes up with a salacious grin. When I glower at him, he makes a zipping motion across his mouth. “Please continue, Professor.”
The others are contributing to making tonight possible, but they know I’m trying to atone for my own behavior. That it’s important she realizes this was my idea, that I pulled everything together for her.
I gesture to the kitchenette next. “I brought a range of snacks based on what I’ve seen you picking in the cafeteria, from a couple of different shops known for healthy alternatives that still taste great.
Beyond that, it’ll be up to you how we spend the evening.
We can simply talk, or watch TV or a movie, or I can see what else we can have ordered in or sent up…
Whatever makes you feel like we’re a real union. Because we are.”
Elodie stares at me for several anxious thuds of my heart before her gaze sweeps over the room once more. “I… I wouldn’t have expected—I know how tight things have usually been for you, financially—”
“Don’t worry about that. I arranged tonight mostly with magic rather than money.”
Cosgrave clicks his tongue. “Look at the professor thumbing his nose at the law.”
I scowl at him. “If you’re allowed to murder people on her behalf, I think I can justify a little light fraud.”
It’s far from the worst thing I’ve done in my life.
Worth looks vaguely chagrinned, as if it never occurred to him that my bank account is only a fraction the size of his and now he’s second-guessing his involvement in this scheme. But he keeps his mouth shut.
“You did all this for me,” Elodie says, and her disbelieving emphasis on that first word almost kills me.
I meet her gaze and answer as earnestly as I’m capable of. “I have a lot to make up for. You deserve this. You have to believe that we’re all here for you, and that we can have your back together. You’re never alone, not now, not ever again.”