Page 84 of House of Lilith

No matter what I do, my mind keeps running in circles, going from the latest Schwarz incident and how concerned it’s making me feel about my pack, to the fact that she’sheresomewhere, with a fiance who’s lying to her and who could so easily be exposed.

It’s only once Ricky finishes talking about the O’Malleys’ tendency to jump the gun in combat and there’s a moment of silence that I snap out of it. And I find Ricky eyeing a group of professors to our left.

He must have given up on trying to have an actual conversation with me.

But heiswatching one of them a little too intently.

“What is it?” I ask him, making him turn around with his eyebrows raised.

I motion at the group he was sort of staring at.

“Oh,” he says, a smile lighting up his face as he takes a quick glance. “There’s Professor Siegert. I’ve been meaning to ask him something about Mind Magic, something that won’t stay out of my head.”

“Go,” I tell him.

He squints. “You sure?”

“I’ll be fine,” I say, rolling my eyes at him in an attempt to be less of a dud. “Five minutes won’t kill me.”

He gives me a smile and I turn back to my beer, thinking I might actually enjoy a moment of solitude. Ineedone, to come up with a plan to protect my pack and to talk myself out of going to confront Romanov about the asshole prince. The one shethinksbelieves in her.

It’s none of my business, I tell myself. It’s none of my fucking business.

But as soon as Ricky leaves, I spot her, walking by in a large group of people, all looking holier than thou, with her fiance at the front. Her jewelry sparkles in the dim lights of the Main Hall.

She sees me looking and I raise my bottle in some kind of face-saving greeting, and she slows down, returning the stare for a second. Then she leans to say something to the girl to her right and I breathe a sigh of relief, taking another sip of my beer.

But the next time I look up, she’s walking straight towards me, making all my muscles tense up.

*

“Is it any good?” she asks as she comes to stand next to me, the dress that’s gliding after her making a soft, caressing sound.

I look into her eyes, so big and so full of some secret life, and I forget what she’s just asked me.

She raises her eyebrows at me. “The drink you’re having,” she repeats. “Is it any good?”

I rush to clear my throat. “Yeah,” I say, my voice coming out all rough and low. “Want one?”

“Want?” she echoes with a frown, but her lips are almost curling into a smile, making my heart pound. “More likeneed.”

It’s at that very moment that I spot Ricky behind her back, frowning at me as he approaches. Nope, I think to myself as my eyes dart to her, standing there talking to me. As quickly and subtly as possible, I gesture for him to get away.

Romanov throws a glance over her shoulder and turns her eyes back onto me questioningly.

“Sorry,” I rush to say, “it was nothing. You were saying…”

And I call for a beer for her, urging myself to get it together.

“I won’t be long, don’t worry,” she says, a little tentatively once again, “I just realized I never actually congratulated you.”

The bartender slides her beer to her.

I shake my head, genuinely smiling for the first time tonight. “Nothing to congratulatemefor. It wasyouwho really knocked it out of the park.”

“Meh,” she says with a wave of her hand, making me let out a rough laugh. And then she smiles, albeit a little stiffly, and looks around, seemingly at a couple of women staring in our direction, saying, “Seems like you won’t want for victories either.”

It makes me frown, the very thought of her picturing me with other girls, but the very next second, her head is snapping to her left and my fox is letting out a low growl.

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