Dane glances over his shoulder at me. “If any of you look at or lay a finger on her, your body will be unrecognizable by the time I’m done with it.”
That shouldn’t set my pulse into a frenzy, but it does. Dane threatening someone on my behalf is almost…hot.
None of the guards approach me for a moment, but then one curses under his breath and points a sword in my face. “Stand.”
I clutch at the blanket and do as he orders, making sure all of my private areas are hidden.
“Are you armed?”
I raise a brow and look down at myself . “Where am I supposed to keep a weapon?”
Dane tugs at the magical handcuffs he’s in as the guard steps towards me with a sneer. “Careful, or I’ll have you arrested for aiding a murderer. I could think of a number of ways you’d find yourself useful down in the dungeons.”
As soon as the words are out, a snake of a shadow wraps around his throat, and I nearly drop the blanket covering me as he’s hauled out of one of the windows with a parting scream.
Another deep chuckle comes from the shadow prince as the remaining guards pull him out of the room.
His voice is in my head a few seconds later.I’ll send the twins for you. Don’t you dare leave the room alone.
Staring at the empty space of the room, I try to fathom the last hour. My heart is beating too fast to be healthy, with a mix of emotions choking me.
I press my palm to my forehead and walk over and sit on top of his bed, trying to breathe, to come to terms with everything thatjust happened. We were seconds from screwing, and now he’s been arrested.
And how exactly will you send the twins when you’re being dragged to the dungeons for murder?
Who did he kill?
He must be too far away to hear me or respond, so I toss the blanket aside, quickly wipe myself down with a cloth, and pull on a pair of his briefs and a black shirt that smells exactly like him.
The shadows are all still here, not with Dane. They usually follow him around, but they’re gathering on the walls with the ones that usually keep me company in my own room.
A knock sounds twice, and Mel pushes the door open. “Oh, great. I was fully expecting you to be chained to the bed.”
I grimace. “Why would I be?”
She hesitates then shrugs. “It’s Dane.”
A spike of jealousy stabs into my chest at the thought of him with others. I glare at the four-poster bed then back to my friend. “Nice to know.”
She inspects me with wide eyes. “Dane said he found you in the forest. Are you injured? We tried to look for you, but it was like you’d vanished off the island.”
“I’m unscathed, but I have no memory. We need to go to the headmistress—she must not know Dane has been apprehended.”
“She knows. The notice that a student was found in pieces has been all over the school. They’ve been hunting for the killer, and when they found evidence, Dane admitted to his crime. His mother gave him a few hours to speak with you before they came for him.”
That must have been when he came in and said I was a headache. He spent his time left in freedom with me?
Dane hates me. Why the hell would he do that?
And who the hell did he kill and why?
I make his bed, flattening the wrinkles in his blankets. “Speak with me about what?” I ask, fluffing his pillows.
“Did he not mention anything when he came back?”
I shake my head, and she hums, looking me up and down. “You smell like him. Please tell me you didn’t fuck Dane while he was covered in someone else’s blood?”
“We didn’t have sex,” I say, popping my hip out as I cross my arms. “Do you know who he killed?”