Page 195 of On Wings of Blood

Neville rolled over in his sleep and I rubbed his stomach. He let out a little grunt of happiness, then started snoring.

I grinned down at him. If only Pendragon was as simple as a flufifn.

But she wasn’t. She was a puzzle wrapped in a mystery with extra secrets sprinkled on top.

She was the most complicated person I’d ever met. And the most infuriating. Just when I thought I might have come close to cracking her code, she’d slap me in the face and shut me out again.

The Consort Games were coming up and, if I was right, she was in for a world of trouble. In some ways, I’d laid the groundwork for her as best I could.

But there was still more I could do to help her. The problem was, I knew she wouldn’t fucking let me.

She didn’t trust me. She wouldn’t let me near her.

And if I wanted to protect her in the best way I knew how, she’d have to let me get closer to her. A lot closer.

I frowned down at the fluffin as I stroked his fur.

She’d never accept my help willingly. She was too damn stubborn. But there was one way I might be able to get her to come to me.

It would mean taking a risk. A big one.

But if it worked, if she’d accept my protection, we’d both come out of the Games the stronger for it.

Not to mention I’d be a hell of a lot closer to getting what I really wanted.

CHAPTER 47 - MEDRA

I walked into Professor Rodriguez’s office, ready for our thrallguard lesson.

As soon as I entered, I knew something was off.

Rodriguez sat behind his desk, his dark brows drawn into a deep frown, his lips set in a thin, unforgiving line.

I froze in the doorway as I spotted the book that lay in front of him.The Dark Art of Eternal Bonds. The one I had “borrowed” weeks ago.

“Sit down, Miss Pendragon,” Rodriguez said, his voice terse. There was no trace of the warmth I’d grown used to in our recent lessons.

I did as he said, my palms growing clammy.

My mind was racing with excuses and possible explanations, but none of them seemed good enough.

The problem with Professor Rodriguez, I decided crankily, was that he was decidedlynotan idiot. He was the kind of teacher who always knew when a student had been bullshitting him. If anything, it was a miracle it had taken him this long to catch me out.

“So,” he said, fixing me with a piercing gaze. “How did you enjoy the book?”

I swallowed and tried to keep my voice even. There was no point in denying anything. “How did you know I took it? Why didn’t you ask me before?”

His eyes narrowed. “Are those really the questions you want to be asking me right now, Miss Pendragon?”

I squirmed in the hard wooden chair. There must have been some sort of an enchantment placed upon the book. Something that told him who had last read it. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? It was too late now to do anything about it, in any case.

“Why did you need the book?” Rodriguez’s voice was deceptively soft.

“I... I had a problem and I thought it might help me solve it.”

“Did it?” he asked sharply.

I shook my head. “Not in the way that I’d hoped.” That was basically the truth.

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