Page 58 of Hellfire

“Business as usual for me.” He consumed a mouthful of yellow curry to shut that conversation down.

Luna’s gorgeous hazel eyes lifted to me. “And you?”

“I’m getting up to no good.” I didn’t lie to her, and I didn’t let on what the three of us were up to.

Talon chuckled and broke off a chunk of crusty bread and dipped it in curry sauce and ate it. He’d eat anything, and I was saving my roll for butter, not curry.

“What tech genius are you creating today?” Her ankles locked around mine and rubbed up and down my calves.

“A variant of a boomerang weapon I used against the serpents.” She already knew the story, so I didn’t rehash it. TheGuild wanted it for other applications, and I was more than happy to develop it.

“How’s your day, sweetness?” The flex of Blaze’s arm in his Gildron tunic suggested he squeezed her leg.

“Okay so far.” She reached down to take his hand, or at least that was what I assumed. She did the same to Talon, but his right hand was busy feeding her, and her arm stretched in his direction, probably resting her hand on his thigh. “This semester doesn’t feel as intense because I’m familiar with everything.”

“That’s good, Wildfire,” I said to her.

It killed me to watch her stress, skip meals, fuel herself with so much caffeine she couldn’t sleep to get assignments done, study completed, and caught up on the previous year’s curriculum. I never wanted her to undergo such intensity ever again.

“What’s everyone’s plans for the weekend?” Her question made us all prickle. “Can we do something together?”

Yeah, not going there. Operation L-U-N-A was underway, and she had no clue.

“Repainting my office,” Blaze went first with his excuse.

“Scouting out a potential Brotherhood hideaway.” Talon maintained the ruse, deepening our princess’ frown.

My turn, and I fucking hoped my voice didn’t give me away. “Sorry, baby. I’ve got to work overtime to get this latest project complete.”

Her shoulders sagged lower with each response. “Okay, I’ll see what Gable’s up to then. Maybe the three of us can hang out at night and go to dinner or something if you have time?”

“Sure, sweetness.” Blaze leaned over and kissed her cheek, and her eyes brightened.

Talon and I shared a look. We didn’t like hiding from her, but she couldn’t find out what we planned and ruin her surprise.

CHAPTER 20 - LUNA

The moment I spotted Talon at the head of the class with Blaze, both wearing strange, padded suits, I knew we were in for trouble. Good? Bad? I couldn’t tell. The devilish curl of my Frog Prince’s mouth and wink gave him away.

Oh, yeah. We were in for fun.

A fact supported by the arsenal of the Nerf guns lying sideways on a table set up for our next exercise. Defensive magick, here we come!

“What’s with ten gantii masks?” Astra whispered.

“We’re about to find out,” I replied.

Blaze launched right into the lesson when the last student fell into line in the courtyard. “Last semester, we started defensive spells, and this semester we’ll develop your offensive spells.”

Defensive spells were designed to repel or block an attack, but some crossed over into offensive spells, like weakening our opponent to reduce the effectiveness of their magick against us.

Talon lifted his chin in a cocky way that said the class was going to get blasted by Nerf darts again. Anticipation spread across my body. I really enjoyed that lesson and was equally excited about this class.

Blaze braced his palms together and walked the length of the outdoor table. “This lesson will rely on a combination of Defensive and Offensive spells to earn a pass. You’ll be sent into the forest to the rear of the Academy and be hunted by the Tollens. Your job is to repel Nerf darts and avoid being captured by the hunters, werewolf, vampire, dragon, griffin, and centaur.”

He gestured to Talon, who bit the air at me and picked up a wolf gantii mask from the table, then to the nine Tollens who marched out from behind the wall, four collecting masks, the rest grabbing guns.

Astra tugged my sleeve and whispered, “Oh, some primal play!”

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