Page 84 of Blood on the Ice

I arch a brow. “You want that in Council reports?”

“Fuck no,” she mumbles as she deflates. “They need nothing else to bug me about. This shit is going to make my budget even more disastrous.”

The professor clears his throat and waves his hand in the air. “Perhaps we tell them the ‘almost’ truth? We say Kaspar was out flying—which he’s allowed to do—and encountered the drake. He contacted me for help and since you’re the Dean, I invited you along.”

Morgana thinks about it for a moment. “Naturally Slade would come with you since he’s your roommate and Dickface McScalyAss would reach out to the Prince. How do we explain Lucas?”

“You’ll have to hop out of his grasp, but you can say you were meeting with him about the legal case,” I whisper. “Our visit to the police station earlier may have been reported to the Society.”

“Okay. That’s what we’re going with, as well as we have no fucking clue why these assholes are here.”

Thank fuck, we agree.

I can feel the approach of other supes, so I nod. “Time to put on innocent faces. They’re almost here.”

“Well,what the bloody feck is this shit?”

Pixie… mixed with something. Interesting.

The crew behind her is just as fascinating as the purple-haired woman standing with her hands on her hips as she glares at the stone dragon. There’s a rainbow-haired woman who gives off a familiar vibe to Morgana, an enormous dude who is definitely some kind of dragon, and finally, a lithe amused looking fellow who reeks of the sea. I’ve seen a few Guardian ‘fixer teams’ in my lifetime, but this one is so oddly close to our own makeup that it makes me shiver.

“This is the fire drake and its companions that Fraü Wolfberg reported,” I reply smoothly. With the others struggling, my ingrained diplomacy takes charge. “I am Prince Liam Spéirgheal, first heir to The Daybreak Court, keeper of the Veil. Who, may I ask, are you?”

“Oh, shit,” the aquatic guy says as he gives the pixie a reproving look. “Please excuse my companion’s enthusiasm, Your Highness. Saoirse wasn’t raised in your lands, only here. I am Zasha Fydor Petrov, and this is my school.”

“Your school?” the shifter snorts and shakes his head, his beard vibrating as he laughs. “More like my clutch, minnow. Allow me to introduce myself, Prince Liam. I am Tharin Drakos of the ice wyverns.”

Kaspar’s eyes widen, and he gives me a slight frown. I don’t know what quarrel the ice wyverns have with the storm dragons, but it must be over dishonesty. Otherwise he wouldn’t have weighed in so publicly. I smile politely, turning to the ladies. “They overpowered you, I’m afraid. Rubbish manners for such noble mythical shifters.”

The pixie lets out a peal of laughter and I see the hint I needed—she’s also a veela. “Naw, don’t be worried, Your Highness. My best friend Jolene always says men are never more in the waythan when they’re not even needed in the equation. Zasha and Tharin love to throw their weight around, but Julia and I are the brains out of the outfit.”

Morgana walks over, holding her hand out with a grin. “Your friend sounds delightful and quite wise. I am Morgana LeCiel, Dean of State U. The Prince introduced himself, but going clockwise, this is Professor Ignatius Briarton, Slade, Lucas Wolfberg, and the jackass over there is Liam’s bodyguard. You can call him jackass, too, or I guess Kaspar.”

I have to hide my chuckles behind my hand, coughing as the Guardians all laugh at her bluntness. Once it dies down, I tilt my head. “You know all of us, but I didn’t catch your names, ladies. At least, not all of them.”

“Julia Ricci, actual commander of this unit, and this is my slithermate, Saoirse O’ Flanagan. We’re fairly informal, which is why everyone is claiming they're in charge when that’s not the case.”

Nodding, I jerk my chin at the mess nearby. “Kaspar came out to stretch his wings, which I’m sure Tharin can relate to. He was attacked by the fire drake—which we had no idea was living in this area—and the other species on the ground joined it. We had to subdue it before it wreaked havoc on the entire college.”

Saoirse walks over to the stone beast, kicking it gently. “Yep, the woman is one of yours, J. This is living stone.”

Julia whips her head around to squint at Morgana, and my hackles raise. “Holy fuck, you’rethatMorgana.”

Our girl stiffens, immediately frosting over as she looks at the Guardians. “I am not out of my radius without warning. There’snothing to report. I didn’t start this shit, either. I only contained it.”

The wyvern walks away from the group with the water shifter, leaving us with the two women. Now that they know who my mate is, I find myself on edge whether they’re going to believe us. But the flashy pixie gives her a brilliant grin and slow claps. “You are a hero, lady. Even my charge—the bestie I mentioned—thinks so. Socking it to a cheating crooked lizard is fucking epic. And you may not know it, but many people think you got the wrong end of the dildo with that trial.”

Iggy snickers at her words, then Lucas, and before long, only Julia and Morgana are left assessing one another seriously. I suppose it’s because their kind is rare and they’re trying to figure each other out, but we can’t stand here all evening while they play ‘who has the thicker snakes.’ Kaspar is still standing there glaring and not talking, so I sigh and take over again.

No wonder Saaladir and my old friend hate one another so much—they could be twins.

“Fae aren’t much bothered by multiple species of our kind in small areas, but I know various dragons and gorgons are. To get this moving so everyone gets to sleep tonight, we should dispense with the bluster.”

All the women look at me and I almost shrink back—that wall of ice is chilly as fuck.

“The Prince is right, of course,” Morgana says when she recovers. “What do you need to know?”

“You said this drake wasn’t expected. Did you check the registry?” Julia asks in a no-nonsense tone. “It’s not a formality in the States.”

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