Page 112 of House of Lilith

He’s actually going to pause his training for this, I think to myself, excitement flooding me as I watch him approach, pulling his shirt on as he goes.

But when he comes to stand in front of me, there’s a frown on his face.

And there’s also a touch of coldness in his voice when he says, “Thought you said no spontaneous meetups.”

They throw me off, both the frown and the voice.

“That’snotwhat this is about,” I blurt out.

“Doesn’t matter,” he says, this low growl in his voice making my eyebrows pull down. “From now on, you won’t becoming to our trainings. Got it?”

For a second, I just keep frowning at him. “Um, yeah,” I drawl as I motion at the actual fuckingcrowdbehind him, “because they’re obviously suchprivateevents.”

He doesn’t bother to look back. He takes a step closer, making me take one back. “My fox,” he starts, still so serious, it’s leaving me dumbfounded, “he’s not good around noblewomen.” He pauses to lean in a little and drops his voice to a near whisper. “Likes to pick his teeth with their privileged bones.”

I can’t even tell if he’s being serious or if he’s fucking with me. But there’s this rough finality in his voice that forces me to spit out one little butthurt, “Alright.”

“Alright,what?” he demands.

What the…

“Alright,” I practically hiss, my hands balling into fists, “I won’t be coming to the trainings.”

For a second, he just looks at me. Then, as if nothing happened, his mouth cracks into a grin.

“Grand,” he says as he takes a step back, looking and sounding a lot more like himself all of a sudden.

“Yeah,grand,” I drawl, frowning and moving to getveryfar away,veryquickly.

“Hey, now thatthat’ssettled,” I hear him say before he blocks my way, casually sliding his hands into his pockets and tilting his head at me, “you still have to tell me what this visitisabout.”

It makes me frown. Is heactuallyplanning on ignoring the way he acted a fucking second ago?

Smiling, he raises his eyebrows at me. “I dare not think Lady Romanov would comein personto RSVP for the party tonight.”

Iwasinvited after all? Fuck. The form.

“Actually…” I make myself dismiss all this weirdness, I remind myself what I came here to do in the first place, and I raise the form I’ve been gripping in my hand this whole time. “I’m here to give youthis.”

And I hold it out for him with one quick, sharp swing of my hand.

He squints at me. Then he takes the paper from my hand and starts skimming the content.

“It’s the form you needed to filebeforeyou proceeded to throw a party,” I explain. Making sure not to get any closer, I point as I add, “You need to fill all this out, read the Grimm Academy event regulations and check this box right here, saying you’re responsible in case you breakanyof them. Got it?”

He looks up at me, that mouth curling into a lazy, smirking little smile. “Lemme guess, you know all theGrimm Academy event regulationsby heart.”

“And what if I do?” I protest, throwing him a nasty look in the process.

He blows out a little laugh and then frowns, throwing another glance at the form. “We’ve never had to do this before.”

“Only because the previous Student Leader wasn’t doing her job.” I fold my arms. Despite him making me feel so confused and stupid for even being here, I’m determined to stand my ground. “That’s not how it’s going to work withme.”

It makes blood rush to my cheeks, when he raises his eyebrows at me and lets out a mocking little wolf whistle.

But he doesn’t wait for a reaction. He cranes his neck and shouts, “Ricky.”

The power with which his voice booms across the field makes me lose my breath.

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