Page 34 of Blood on the Ice

“Slade, you look like someone pinched you very hard,” Iggy says as he opens the door. “I suggest you clear whatever thoughts you’re having about your dad out of your head before we get to Morgana’s.”

How does healwaysknow?

“It’s spooky how you do that, man.”

He grins and shrugs. “You have a specific expression that gives it away. Whenever you think about home, you look like a crab climbed in your ass and started pinching you. It’s a cross between pain and anger that is a dead giveaway.”

“You waited this long to tell me that? What the hell, man?” I grumble as I pull out of the driveway.

Iggy shrugs, the look on his face telling me everything I need to know. “I enjoy you believing I’m more powerful than I am. Reading micro-expressions is far less impressive than looking like a mind reader.”

“As if you’re not impressive enough without being psychic,” I retort, turning off of our street and onto the main drag of the campus. “Your ego does not need more fluffing.”

“Everyone needs to be fluffed every once in a while.”

This. This is what I fucking mean!

“Do we need to pick up Zuzanne?” I change the subject as I grumble internally at his erratic flirting. It has to be a reflex; Ignatius Briarton has never been shy about sex. He rather enjoys detailing his various adventures, so I doubt he’d be shy if he was really interested in me that way.

“No. She’s going to work in her lab and call us if she finds anything pertinent. You know how she gets when she finds a mystery,” Iggy chuckles. “The woman wouldlivein that lab if she could.”

“Okay, so it’s going to be Channing, Lucas, Morgana, and us?”

He looks over at me with a rueful look. “You know, I seem to have forgotten to invite Channing. Do you think she’ll mind?”

Ignatiusneverforgets.

“Uh-huh. Well, we’re going to have to remember her invitation because Morgana left her office without any of her things when Lucas got sick. At least, that’s what you told me. All her necessities are there, and she’ll want them. Give Channing a call while we’re making our way through the dinner crowds in the square.”

With so many dorms on campus, dinnertime is a flood of students coming from facilities, classes, and other areas of the green to either their dorms or to cars to leave campus. The admin housing is opposite us, so we must navigate through the middle mess to reach Morgana’s house. Usually, we’d avoid going anywhere at this time that required traveling across the quad, but with rush hour traffic outside of campus, we can’t cut around it, either.

“Fine. I’ll call her.” Iggy rolls his eyes and pulls out his phone, dialing my favorite icewoman. “Channing, love! How are you this evening?”

My lips quirk as he lays on the charm. He deserves to have to make excuses; he’s the one who tried to exclude her.

The real question is… why?

Before today,I’ve never cared to find out what the houses in the elite staff housing block looked like. The arts program isn’t one that garnered a lot of attention for the school—at least not tothe level sports or high-profile research does. No invites for parties at the Dean’s house or high teas at other homes here.

Honestly, I have no idea who the hell lives in the other three houses on Chancellor Row.

“Who else lives back here?” I whisper to Iggy as we unload the car. “I thought only the Dean had special quarters.”

My roommate chuckles, his eyes dancing as he points at the houses. “Private Royal Residence, Visiting Society Member Lodging, and housing for visiting families of high-profile sports recruits. Mostly, they sit empty.”

That irritates the hell out of me because they’re larger homes, kept in pristine condition with no one even living in them to keep watch. So many scholarship students would readily accept a work study in one of these and make certain they stay clean even after visitors. With the opportunity to stay in the houses, I can think of twenty grad students who would be thrilled to have that offer. Instead, they sit wastefully empty as shrines to the wealthy.

Fucking bullshit.

“Slade, stop obsessing about unfair housing practices and pay attention.” Iggy pokes me in the arm, handing me two more shopping bags. “We have to help cure this beefcake—he’s important to Morgana, and his grandmother has immense power and sway. There is no room to fuck this up.”

I narrow my eyes at him, unsurprised by his singular focus, but disapproving of his callousness. “Iggy, we also don’t want this shifter to die. That’s kind of important, too.”

He finishes getting the rest of the food out and nods. “That’s true. Lucas seems like an okay kid and he might not even be as dumb as most jocks. Plus, I’m curious how Morgana is going to deal with accidentally mating with the Wolfenberg heir.“

Something about that makes my chest tighten, and I shake my head. “She will face considerable negative publicity when the truth emerges, especially given the incident at the rink.”

“I don’t want the board to give her the boot. She’s beautiful, but beyond that, I think she may be good for the university. Morgana will work hard to fix Magnus’ messes, but she’ll also work to rebalance this place.”

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