Page 51 of House of Mages and Raven

I did a quick scan. Though the chaos prince was absent, Rock was here with a team. They were merged into the shadows, but I could make them out just fine. My gaze turned back to the heirs, especially Prince Cade as he stepped forward. He was my new boss now, so I jogged toward him with less attitude.

“I was just taking a nap in the forest, and I lost track of time,” I told him.

“Why did you nap in a dangerous forest? Didn’t you hear the beasts howling?” Cade frowned at me. “And you do have a house, don’t you, Barbie?”

“Yes, high sir.” I snapped to attention and saluted to show respect, so the mage prince would get me off the hook. He rolled his eyes. “But I didn’t remember which room was mine, and I didn’t want to inconvenience any mage.”

“Barbie is good at coming up with all sorts of excuses.” Louis laughed. “Don’t ever change, Barbie.”

I glared at him. “I won’t!”

He laughed some more.

“You’ll sleep in your own bed in my house every night from now on,” Cade ordered me with an exasperated sigh. “You’re like a steaming hot potato falling into the wrong hands.”

I blinked at him. What did he mean by that? But I was smart enough not to ask.

“Did Sy tell you that everyone was looking for you?” Rowan asked.

I shrugged a shoulder. “Kind of.”

“Where is she?” the fae prince added. “Why didn’t she come out with you?”

“Who is Sy?” Silas demanded. The shifter prince never liked to be left out.

Only a few supernaturals had seen her face, including Killian and his inner circle. It might be time for more people to see her here and there. No one would see us together. I just hoped none of them had strong power of observation like the fae prince. Sy and I needed to tread even more carefully.

“My girlfriend,” Rowan said.

Sy preened and thrust her chest out, beaming.

“You have a fucking girlfriend?” Silas blurted out.

Rowan growled. “Pay some fucking respect, asshole. It’s my woman you’re talking about.”

“When did it fucking happen?” Louis demanded.

Cade also eyed the fae heir with suspicion.

“Tell them, Barbie.” Rowan waved a hand at me. “And you got my diamond, didn’t you? Where is Sy?”

“She left.” I yawned, but covered my mouth to show the heirs the respect they deserved. “After she rudely woke me up.”

Sy protested, and I had to shove her down in case my eyes betrayed her golden glow.

“Underhill receives another?” Silas asked. “Is Underhill open for tourists now?”

A series of threatening snarls from the shadow beasts at the entry answered that stupid, entitled question.

“You’ve found me.” I nodded, wondering how to ditch all of them. “Now I need to pee and then go to class. I don’t want to be a delinquent, not even for your sirs’ sake. Ciao.”

I zoomed toward an opening with quick feet, leaving protests and demands and even amused, dark laughter behind me.

I zipped past the building of the House of Shifters. The vast fountains surrounding it indicated the shifters’ affinity with water. A team of patrolling shifters, some in their humanoid form and some in their animal forms, snapped their alarming attention in my direction, but I zoomed past them like the wind between maple trees, shot in a blur toward Clockwork, then leftthe black dome of classrooms behind. I slowed down crossing Trailblaze courtyard.

I wasn’t going to class yet, since I had a mission. I had to check out the Veil before the heirs’ minions tracked me down. I set out toward it with a nagging feeling that the Shriekers would be coming if they weren’t here already.

Usually, Pucker monitored the Veil for me, but he couldn’t be there twenty-four seven. He refused to follow my strong suggestion to take up residence in the grasslands by the Veil, claiming indignantly that he was still a respected guardian and not a rogue ghost.

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