Page 117 of Gemini Hunted
The Horn wants to godown.
Wary, I aim my flashlight into the shaft. A few feet below, the beam dances over an expanse of dark water, black as ink.
Yay.
“Well, as you’ll recall, I’ve been in the Vault before. I went in the front door, from the cathedral crypt near the faculty offices.” Vasili levitates over the shaft and alights on the far side, then leans warily to peer in. “I can confirm thereisasort of underground spring in the Vault. Once you disarm the ossification spell on the front door, of course.”
“As you well know, my dear, I typically prefer not to be reminded of your hair-raising, Codex-skirting indiscretions,” Lucius murmurs, giving V a reproachful look. “But in this case, the fact that you’ve been in the Vault—albeit without my permission—is useful. Even I’ve never been allowed inside by the Dean.”
Vasili glances up at him with a smirk. “I do have my uses, darling. I’m so pleased to hear you admit it.”
Under his goatee, Lucius’ face turns ruddy. He clears his throat and glances self-consciously at the students he’snotfucking—Mal and her guys.
I’d normally enjoy the spectacle of V teasing our headmaster to make him blush. But right now? I’m kinda distracted.
I reallydon’t like what I’m thinking—like,at all—but the Horn is humming so loud in my head I can barely hear anything else. So I know what I need to do.
Now I just need to convince the others.
My gaze shifts past Lucius’ embarrassed face and Neo’s—blinking and myopic without his glasses, but still one hundred percent beside me—to assess the others.
Zephyr is clearly yearning for his dragon and our absent mates. So I can work with that, as long as he thinks I’m safe.
Seemingly recovered from his recent bout of mating fever, Mordred is sitting right on the edge of the shaft, heedless of the cobwebs and any creepy-crawly inhabitants, leaning way forward to peer into the hole with interest.
“Pretty deep in there, for real,” he comments, looking like he wants to hop right in. “And it’s seawater.”
He’ll do what V tells him, since he won’t have a choice, due to that whole summoning bond. Even if I’m not comfortable with the idea of compelling the guy.
A safe distance back from the edge, Mal is crouched and burrowing through the grimoires in her book-stuffed backpack, while Draco and Jae loom over her like gargoyles, both fiercely protective. They’ll go where she tells them, so she’s one of those I need to convince.
Along with my alphas.
They’ll be the ones who cause problems.
I clear my throat and summon my queen voice. “The front door of the Academy Vault is where Cleo and her Villa Tiberius goon squad gotta be lying in wait. They know we have the Horn, and they know we need to get in. But if we slip in the back, with the Horn, then this challenge is in the bag. We win, they lose, and Cleo’s whole ‘I’m the superior witch’claim is totally discredited.”
“I’m not at all certain I like where this is going,” Lucius mutters.
“C’mon, Teach. This is what you trained me for, remember?” I wink and pass the flashlight back to my worried headmaster, then circle around behind Neo to unzip his backpack.
This morning on the yacht, I thought it was overkill to pack a portable dive lung and mini scuba tank with our gear, and I said so. But our bookworm pointed out that Ronin and I already needed to dive once, and Cleo’s a sea dragon, and did we really want to give her the whole ocean uncontested.
When I pull out the skinny neon cylinder of the mini scuba tank, no longer than my forearm, Vasili’s eyes narrow dangerously. “I suppose you imagine you’re going into that shaft alone, little queen.”
“Ronin isn’t here to dive with me.” I know arguing with him is rarely a good idea, but this is one of those times when I gotta. “No one else here is a certified diver, so—”
“I’m one,” Draco volunteers unexpectedly, with a scowl. “But I will not leave Mallory.”
Mallory abandons her industrious beavering through her backpack and rises to her feet, with a spellbook clasped in her skinny arms and a determined expression stamped on her freckled face.
“I’m not carrying the Horn,” Mal says reasonably, “so I’m not the one in danger. Draco, if she has extra gear, I really think you should go with Zara. I mean, we are members of her harem, even if only temporarily, so—”
“I’m a member ofyourharem,” Draco growls at her, deep in his powerful chest, in a way that tells me he doesnotconsider himself to be also in my harem, no matter what Mal and I hastily agreed so we won’t get disqualified from the contest for working together.
Well, that makes two of us. I don’t consider Draco to be a member of my harem either.
I eye the Icelandic warlock—reportedly a made man in the Mars clan mafia and definitely psychotic, whatever else he might be. I imagine swimming through the dark tight confines of an underground tunnel with that sociopath lurking behind me. Then I try to think of a diplomatic excuse for sayinggosh thanks but no thanksto Mallory’s well-meant offer.
