Page 155 of Gemini Queen
When my vision clears and the glowing spots stop dancing in my eyes, the bear is down, stunned and twitching, smoke rising from his fur.
Clearly I haven’t killed him, which I’m kind of glad to see since there’s actually a human in there. But I’m not wasting any time getting back upstairs either.
I give the twitching bear a wide berth and charge for the stairs.
I’m almost there when a robed figure floats gently from the second-floor hallway to settle before me, long silver hair whispering around broad shoulders. I scramble to a stop barely in time to avoid colliding with Bucephalus Zerxes.
“Sweet Jesus!” I yelp. “Is every warlock on this island in this fucking house?”
“Only the ones that matter.” He’s ditched his snazzy tux for the black robes slashed with sangoire that he teaches in. It’s a fashion choice that has an ominous effect in the dark under these circumstances. Especially when he bares his white teeth in a silken smile. “Only the members of your harem.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I exclaim in complete disgust. “This again?”
I’d normally go for more diplomacy, like I tried with him at the dance, for all the good that did. But my wilderness encounter just now took a lot out of me, and that bear’s still moving his great big huge paws and looking like he might try sitting up.
And, bear or no bear, Bucephalus freaking Zerxes absolutely shouldnotbe in our house.
I actually prefer the bear to him.
I give the bond with my guys another hard tug, and God knows my peal of thunder was enough to wake the dead. But I’m still not getting anything back, because—
“Oh, you needn’t bother calling your alphas, your fated mate, your courtiers, or anyone else who’s currently occupying your bed,” Zerxes purrs. “I’ve laid a common magic sleep spell over this entire house, yourself excepted, that will keep everyone well out of our way until dawn.”
Well, fuck. At least that explains why no one’s riding to the rescue.
A stillness settles over me. It’s the quiet place I go to when I’m planning a heist, when I need to rely on my wits and my foresight and my intel to keep me alive. I angle my body so I can keep an eye on the bear. The warlock shifts with me, keeping his body between me and the stairs.
I search my prof’s menacing frame for weapons and don’t see any, but his witchcraftishis weapon, and there’s nothing to see until he uses it. I study his face for clues to what he’s thinking, but he’s always been hard to read.
“Ah, you’d like to know what it is I’m thinking?” he breathes, which gives me a nasty jolt and reminds me to build my own psychic wall, which I hastily start doing. “All you ever need do when you desire something of me, my queen, is to ask.”
“Okay, I’ll bite.” I go for bravado and plant my hands on my hips. “For starters, why the hell are you here?”
“Why, to see you, my queen.” He gives me a secret smile, a private smile, the kind of smile a guy gives his lover. Which creeps me right out. “What else can I clarify for you?”
“Did you let that fucking bear in this house?” I eye the path to the front door, but I’m not really thinking about running.
Whatever this guy wants, I intend to deal with it right here.
“Unfortunately for all concerned, I did.” His big shoulders lift in an apologetic shrug. “I trust you’ll forgive me for wanting to witness firsthand a demonstration of your mighty power. Why didn’t you simply slay the beast? You have that strength within you.”
“Uh, because he’s human, and I’m not a murderer?” Duh. Now for the question I really want answered. “What do you want from me?”
“Tsk tsk, Ms. Gemini.” He purses his lips in playful reproach. “If you have to ask a question like that, you simply aren’t paying attention. I want what I’ve always wanted. To be ruling alpha to a strong queen, to preserve the four races from global extinction, and to promulgate my powerful genetic legacy for the next generation. All of this to be achieved by siring. The next. Queen.”
Looks like he hasn’t lost his knack for oratory.
I fold my arms across my chest and hug my elbows. This whole concept of having mutual offspring with Bucephalus Zerxes revolts me, but I might as well suss out all I can while he’s in this chatty mood.
“I don’t think Master Aries is on board with your grand plan,” I comment, because my headmaster seems like a sore spot for this guy.
“Hardly.” His eyes flash an irate neon in the shifting firelight. “Indeed, Lucius has been rather tiresome in his approach to this entire affair. He’s made my quest far more complicated and cumbersome than it needs to be. First he intervened with the Dean to secure the assignment of collecting you from Singapore, which I’d petitioned to undertake myself. Then he intervened once more to install you in his household rather than mine. He even rearranged your academic schedule to avoid placing you in my classes, but I addressed that little hiccup when I sidelined Agrippina.”
“Sidelined her? Don’t you mean you poisoned her?” This is bad, this is worse than I thought, if he’s actually hurt a member of the faculty to get at me. “Dude, you can’t just go around poisoning people. She’s an old woman. You could have killed her.”
“Oh, I suppose, but it would have been worth it.” Light as a stalking panther, he glides toward me. “To get at you.”
I shuffle back, definitely wishing I were wearing more than a robe and slippers, because this outfit isn’t very menacing (at all). “Well, too bad it was all for nothing. I’ve already said there isn’t a vacancy in my harem.”
