Page 68 of House of Mages and Raven

Fuck, he was sharp.

Fuck,Sy parroted, moving closer to the surface to study the mage prince.He’s hot. Too bad he has baggage. That Fury has been preventing him from fucking anyone. Whoever sleeps with him will be cursed to be frozen to death, except us. Let’s challenge her.

“I heard gossip,” I said. I had to offer him another lie to get him off my back. “Everyone was speculating about where you disappeared to for those days, but they should mind their own business.”

“As should you,” he said. “You should spend more time studying and bettering yourself rather than listening to gossip. You have a habit of turning every house you’re in upside down. It stops right here, Barbie.”

“But—” I started to protest.

He waved his wand at me dismissively and strolled toward the lanai.

Shit, he was going to get super pissed. I followed him, ready to offer more lies and excuses, and the house magic bounced after us giddily.

“Care to explain this, Barbie?” he asked as he stood at the railing of the lanai, looking around and peering down. “Your room now has a view fit for royalty!”

With the extended lanai, the room overlooked the misty valley and the green acres of Sun Harbor, the private club for the heirs.

“What if I’m a royalty, like a lost princess?” I decided to test the waters, mixing the truth with a private joke.

Cade snapped his head toward me, the breeze tousling his wine-red hair. My heart fluttered. I was playing with fire. But then, eventually, there’d be no hiding what I was when Ruin came calling.

I had to brace for all sorts of scenarios.

“Are youthelost princess?” Cade studied me. “There are rumors about her, and you seem to fit the profile.”

“Suppose I am?” I smirked at him to throw him off the track, though I didn’t feel like smiling inside, as icy fear grabbed me at just my thinking of my father coming for me. “Would you still allow me to stay in your house? I’ve wanted to be a member ofyour house since the beginning, as I know that I’ll be safer here. You took me in and sheltered me even when I was on trial for murder.”

“You’ll always have a place in my house,” he said. “You’re a mage, and we take care of our own. But watch it. Times are changing. We’ll have to prepare and adapt when magic fades from this last patch of the magical realm.”

I’d make sure it wouldn’t come to that.

“I’ll shed my blood to defend the realm,” I said. “I’ll defend your house—and mine, now.”

“I know you will.” He smiled, waving his wand in a full circle. The mage house magic joined the prince’s wand, and two became one. “We all have our responsibilities and duties. For now, you need to go to class. Skipping classes is unacceptable on most occasions, and tardiness won’t be tolerated in my house. You understand?”

I winced. “Those teachers bitch a lot. They should mind their own business.”

“Students attending class is their business,” he snapped. “Don’t make a habit of being late. I want to hear no more complaints about you. Time to turn over a new leaf.”

I nodded, knowing not to push my luck. Cade wouldn’t let me push his buttons like the other princes, since he was the only prince who held no agenda toward me.

I peeked at the mist in the valley. Even the sunrise couldn’t penetrate the mist that guarded the leylines.

Cade waved his wand and shooed me as if I were a goose. “Get going, Barbie.”

Backlit by the first rays of dawn, he looked lighter, as he always tried to appear, always trying to lift others up while such a black curse lurked deep within him, while he knew he could never love. He’d never find a mate as long as the Fury haunted him.

Empathy brewing in my middle, I stepped toward him.

The Fury surfaced, snarling maliciously and poising to strike. If I touched Cade, she’d curse me and I’d turn into a frozen corpse. That was her plan. That had happened before, as I saw through the depths of the curse.

She doesn’t scare us!Sy snarled.

I didn’t know what the deal was between her and Cade or what he’d done to her that she had cursed him so terribly. Or had it been because of jealousy?

I didn’t have a shiny resume myself, and I wasn’t proud of a lot of things Sy and I had done to survive. But I knew this: Cade had taken me in while I was vulnerable.

“Now, chop-chop,” he ordered me when he saw me freeze on the spot.

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