Page 79 of Her Rabid Beasts

My head whips around to stare at him. The words sink in and silence stretches out between us.

He leans forward infinitesimally, amber eyes intent. “We won’t do it if you do not consent,” he says gently, as if to a frightened deer. “But I need you to consider that we do not have many other options.”

The world is quiet as Lyle and I stare at each other. Something flickers in his amber irises. Something that’s not entirely cold.

“For now, we will proceed with Plan B,” Celeste says, breaking the spell between the lion and me, “and ask for an extension. That’s the best we can do.”

Relief pours through me, a wash of warm summer rain. I almost sag in my seat. My secret canneverbe out in the world. Not for any reason.

I clear my throat. “The other phoenixes will agree?”

“They are aware of the… delicacy of this situation.”

Cool relief. So I have time. There’s time yet.

“So, what do I do?” I look between her and Lyle and am surprised to find Celeste waiting for him to respond.

He looks at me with eyes that search my own. Like he’s trying to look for something very particular within me. I’m afraid he won’t find what he’s looking for. I’m afraid the only thing he’ll find is a girl who got herself off on his bed for revenge. A girl with a death sentence hanging like a waiting noose. Does he see me as a lost cause?

His jaw clenches. “We’ll do what we can, Aurelia.”

Disappointment floods me. I don’t know why I was expecting a declaration of love or something similar. Seeing into his past and thinking that he might find some kindred spirit in me was delusional thinking. Savage, I can believe might love me, or try to. Butthislion? He’s fighting his animus and winning each battle.

But I know all about fighting. Especially fighting invisible forces.

“We leave now,” Lyle says. “Celeste and I will attend the meeting with the Council and we’ll do what we can.”

“Great,” I say tightly, glancing quickly at Lyle and then away again. “Thank you.”

“Hm.” Celeste makes a sound that’s somewhere between interest and disappointment. But when I look at her, she’s smiling at me.

And I get the feeling that it’s notmeshe’s disappointed in.

Chapter 32

Lyle

Terror. Sheer, raw-boned terror is what I saw in Aurelia’s stunning blue eyes. Pupils dilated, trembling with adrenaline. I’ve never in my life seen terror so profound in the eyes of another. I almost reached a hand out to her.

I swear under my breath. I almost touched her bare skin. Sure, it’s all I crave every time she comes within my line of sight, but to do that would be a terrible mistake.

As Celeste and I silently walk out of her office to head to the academy’s underground garage, I sense her disapproval. She’s been my mentor for long enough for me to know what she thought of me without her saying so.

I send my awareness out in a newfound skill.

“Scythe?”

“Yes, Lyle,”comes the cool, but faint reply. He’s not in the academy, I realise. As much as that would irritate me about any other student blatantly leaving my school, Scythe has never really been a student here. I’m man enough to admit that.

“She was not willing to declare herself openly.”

“I thought as much. She has been taught silence and discretion since the cradle. That is the way of the Serpent Court. You know that.”

I do. We all do. But the fact that it sat so… primal in her. That need to keep away. To keep quiet. I’m sure it’s part of the reason she succumbed to that strange rabidity.

“She seemed to think it would put a target on her back.”

“It will.”

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