Page 13 of Baneful Magick

“That was so mean,” she managed when she was able to breathe again.

“What? Itisa bit chilly. I bet they show up just fine in a warm room,” I said with as much of a straight face as I could muster. But I couldn’t hold back a chuckle when Cassius muttered some not-so-nice things in my mind.

“What building are we supposed to go into?” I asked, shivering when a cool breeze whipped through us. “Think they assigned rooms?”

“Nope!” The loud voice behind us made us jump. We looked around to find a tall angel standing there with a bright amused gaze. “Claim your rooms before they’re all taken up. Two people to a room, four to a suite. You share a bathroom between the lot of you. Better go before the nice ones are taken.”

“Well, this should be fun.” A long arm wrapped around my shoulder at the same a shoulder gently bumped Zhara-Rose’s.

The incubi had caught up to us.

“Maybe we can show you a good time in the warmer indoors,” the one beside me whispered.

I arched an eyebrow in challenge. “I doubt it. You’re not really my type.”

“Who said we would room with?—”

“Co-ed rooming is fine,” the bright-eyed angel managed with only a slight cough. “Better hurry though. I think the first three floors are already claimed.”

Unwilling to argue more, I just glanced at Zhara-Rose. She shrugged, not seeming to care about the incubi claiming us as suite-mates or us being roommates.

“Which building?”

“They all look the same to me.”

“The one by the forest has the biggest rooms,” a familiar voice called out, making everyone around me freeze. The angel who’d been helping us blanched, all good humor drained away, as my “kidnapper” glided up with a smoke on his lips.

He looked different than before, but I would recognize his power anywhere. Illusion magick had been used to make him appear more human-esque, but he was still much taller than most high fae. While he had the same bone-white, iridescent hair, his eyes were covered up by a dark pair of sunglasses.Why is he wearing them in the dead of night?

“Is that so, Bones?” I tilted my head as I contemplated the man.

The incubi choked, and Zhara-Rose remained frozen. The other students around us scurried away, fear rolling off of them strong enough that I was glad I wasn’t a shifter. They probably smelled like fucking food right now.

“Sticking with that name, witchling?”

I shrugged. “You never told me anything else to call you. Guess we should check out the one by the forest then.”

Although I directed the statement at Zhara-Rose, it was Bones who acted on it. He took a long drag of his smoke before he closed the distance between us. The angel stumbled back a step, but Bones wasn’t coming for him. He stopped right in front of me. With a flick of his fingers, he pulled out a black metal card and held it out to me. I studied the offered item but didn’t move to take it. His sunglasses were too dark to make out his purple eyes behind the lenses so I couldn’t tell what he was up to.

“Fifth floor, seventh door on the right. Best room in the building.” His long fingers brushed the swell of my breast as he tucked the card into my top. “You may call me Bricriu, Isla Hallowes. I’ll be seeing you around.”

With that, he walked away. Even though everyone stared after him, he gave them none of his attention. Once he was gone from view, they switched those nosy eyes to me, staring with various stages of shock, disgust, and fear.

“Guess we have our room,” I declared flippantly, snagging the card he’d tucked into my camisole.

“How do you know him?” the incubus beside me hissed the moment we walked through the front door of Doyle Hall.

“He’s the one that brought me here,” I told him with a nonchalant shrug.

The inside of the building was pure chaos, which thankfully distracted the incubus from more questions.

High ceilings and large, oversized fireplaces warmed up the space. The bottom floor looked to be a huge lounge roomfilled with antique furniture. A bank of computers was set up along one side, the workspace also occupied by large tables for studying. The upper floors were open to the lounge, making it easy for students to see their dorms and the others socializing downstairs.

Up a large staircase, I could see students running to claim suites, calling out to other students. A few upperclassmen seemed to be in the crowd as well, directing people and calming down a few shouting matches that started further up. All kinds of supes were in the building—wolves, demons, and I thought I even spotted a vampire in the mix as well.

“Think we’re stuck with stairs?” I asked.

“Yes,” Zhara-Rose replied. The curious look she shot me promised that I hadn’t escaped the topic of Bones. “You seemed to get along with him pretty good considering he just kidnapped you.”

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