Page 67 of Faerie Marked

“I’ve never been in here,” I murmured.

Melia nodded. “This is the common room for my dorm. Nice, right? I forget this is the first time you’ve seen it. You always want to study in the library, you never hang out with me here.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied automatically.

We made ourselves comfortable, a pair of upperclassmen pressing drinks into our hands before moving off to the rest of the party.Talk about service. Taking a sip, I welcomed the little rush of heat from the spiked punch while I kept an eye out for familiar faces. Well, two familiar faces.

Mike and Roman were not among the crowd.

My brows drew down and I took a long sip. Was it wrong to be bothered that Mike wasn’t here? I really thought he’d want to celebrate the achievements of our class, not be petulant and standoffish. He’d made it through the lottery the same as the rest of us.

I guess it irked him how I’d done better than him. More than I thought it would. Orshould.

Still, I was determined to have fun with or without him. I followed Melia deeper into the room, stopping to say hello to several people I knew from my class.

I did have fun. One drink turned into two. There were lots of people to speak to, more than just the perfunctory congratulatory conversation. For the first time since arriving at the school, I was included. The feeling of fitting in warmed a knot of ice inside of me I hadn’t known I was carrying around.

Standing in the center of the conglomeration of fellow halflings, I was at ease.

Even with Dawn and the rest of my shifter mates back at home, I’d never felt like I really belonged. I’d always been on guard against the chance someone would pry too deeply into my past. That they would look at me and see something wrong with me.

Here, no one saw anything. Yes, I still had things to hide, and yes, if someone looked too closely they would discover darkness and lies, but…

I clung to thebut.

Melia and I danced together until my legs burned and sweat beaded along my brow. She took a break long before I did, seeing a boy she liked and dipping out to flirt with him while I continued to move, to sway.She deserves it, I thought to myself, turning in a smooth circle. She deserved to find a guy to flirt with, to snuggle with, because she was an amazing person.

Hell, I was an amazing person too! Soon I would find my own guy to flirt with, someone appropriate. My brain conjured a picture of Mike and effectively soured the rest of my good feelings toward dancing. Mike didn’twantto flirt with me. He didn’t even want to be around me.

Finally, I got too hot, my head swimming and my vision fuzzy, and decided to take a break of my own. I stumbled toward the door to the balcony, still holding my drink. There were several balconies jutting off this floor of the castle and this one was more decorative than functional, only large enough to hold a handful of people at one time.

I craved the fresh air. I wasn’t sure how it felt to be drunk, never having indulged this much in the past, but from the delicious warmth curling in my stomach to the fuzz between my ears, I thought I might be close to it tonight.Safe, though. The party continued to rage behind me and there were people everywhere. People who would watch my back and make sure nothing happened to me.

I leaned against the cool railing, letting some of the heat from my body drain away with a sigh. I deserved this, I thought drowsily. I deserved a night of fun where I didn’t have to worry about mirrors, or garlic, or crystal balls. Where I didn’t have to worry about Mike and his bad attitude, or hooded killers chasing me down the halls.

I didn’t have to worry about dead students or wolves on the hunt tracking me down in the service of Kendrick Grimaldi.

My face melted down into a scowl at the appearance of his name in my head. He didn’t belong there. Not tonight, not ever. There was no way he could find me, not even if he put his best trackers on my scent. I was long gone. A ghost in the wind.

I felt someone move up behind me and smiled. “How’s it going with Barry?” I asked Melia. “Are you making any headway yet or is he still being stubbornly resistant to your charms?” My words slurred slightly. I didn’t care.

But I certainlystartedto care when I turned around and the face I saw wasn’t Melia’s. It wasn’t a face at all but a black hood and mask covering the man’s features.

The killer had found me.

25

Ireacted without thinking—pure adrenaline—moving to the side and slamming my fist into the man’s throat. I kicked out with my leg and hooked his right knee with my left.

The guy went down. I had the element of surprise on my side because he hadn’t expected me to retaliate with any physical force. Scream, probably, but not try to break his nose off his face.

Before he hit the floor, I spun around, going for the doors now closed behind us. My fingers clamped onto the metal handle and jerked it forward.

It cost me seconds I didn’t have, not with the space too small to maneuver. Especially when the doors wouldn’t open.

Locked.

The man caught me around the ankle and jerked. Instead of giving in to the motion, I stubbornly planted my left leg and mule-kicked with the one he held, hammering my foot into whatever part of him I could reach. His chest, as it turned out. He tried to pitch forward, to adjust his weight and balance to avoid the kick. Then swung his arms up to grab me around the midsection.

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