Page 85 of House of Vampires and Flame

“He’s unschooled,” Silas snarled. “I don’t know why I even assigned him to be my squire. The boy is a wild little beast waiting to be tamed.”

“Good luck taming him,” Louis snorted. “He was the worst squire in history. There isn’t a single service bone in his body. All he worried about was filling his belly and going wherever he wanted.” He shook his head. “He’s the most self-interested being I’ve ever met. His tiny mind can’t think any further than that.”

I pretended not to hear them badmouthing me, though my superior hearing had caught every word. Anxiety buzzing in my ears, I only prayed for the princes to shift their attention somewhere or to someone else. There were knockout noble ladies in the spectator seats, ogling the princes, screaming their names, and wanting a piece of their taut asses.

Don’t look at me. I’m a boring servant boy. Nothing to see here.

Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off the princes either, until I realized what I was looking at. I was staring at the princes’ hands, moving from one hand to the other as my mind automatically evaluated and compared their sizes. Damn Luna for saying that the size of a man’s hand indicated the size of his junk. Now I couldn’t unlearn the secret knowledge. I wasn’t even sure if it was true.

It's true, Sy offered smugly. I never made the connection until that honey badger pointed it out.

His stern alpha gaze alighting on me, Silas crooked two fingers, beckoning me to approach. Why did he even want me here? I was useless as a squire, as he frequently complained. The prince was all about hierarchy and status. I was the lowest shifter in his pack, and I hadn’t even shifted, not the way they would expect.

I studied the petty viciousness glinting in the shifter prince’s amber eyes, a realization striking me. He brought me here to parade in front of Louis to irk his nemesis before the game in the hopes of messing with the vampire prince’s head.

The heir of the House of Vampires would hate me even more. I’d be the one to suffer the fallout while the princes played their games.

I spread my arms, then pointed a finger at my foot, then spread my arms again to inquire silently how I was supposed to cross the ice to get to him without skates. He glared at me, and I widened my two-toned eyes with my signature innocent look while making another gesture that I was afraid of falling on my ass on the ice and thus embarrassing him as his squire.

Cade laughed, Killian smirked in amusement, Louis snickered, liking the show, and Rowan tilted his head to the side to study me some more. Damn it, I really hoped that the fae prince didn’t see through me. A dose of healthy fear flooding me, I urged Sy to stay put.

“Little Bob always strikes back,” Louis said. “He’ll make you a laughingstock, Silas. If you’re as smart as you try to show everyone, you should kick him out of your house now, before the little hellion brings chaos under your nose.”

“Nice try, Louis. He sprinted away from your house to mine, didn’t he?” Silas snorted. “You might have failed to rein him in, but I’ll make a model shifter out of him.”

Silas snapped his fingers and nodded toward a bulky shifter. The shifter sped toward me, a pair of new skates dangling from his hand. They were for me.

Why didn’t that prick prince just dismiss me?

“He isn’t a shifter,” Cade said.

“I second Cade,” Louis said. “No way is my former squire a shifter. My men made a mistake by joking about the boy being a chihuahua, so Silas took advantage of a bad joke and stole my squire. I won’t let this matter slide. He’ll be returned to my house eventually.”

“I didn’t steal him, Louis,” Silas snapped coldly. “And you aren’t taking him back. He might be an omega my house has been looking for.”

“No bloody way is he an omega.” Cade chuckled derisively. “Little Bob is the last person who will calm your wolves down.” He gave Louis a look. “Neither should you claim him back and drink from a supernatural like him. The boy looks meek and clueless to hide his rebellion. He can be dangerous. That squire has some powerful weird-ass magic. He understands advanced spells and wards. I have no doubt that he’s a mage, so he should be transferred to my house where he truly belongs.”

“Why are you all fighting over a servant boy?” Rowan said, but then his frown deepened. “On another note, though, I sense fae in him,” he mused. “Speaking of which, I believe that he should have his trials in my house and see if he fits in with other fae.”

Fuck, he could feel Sy’s essence in me, though he wasn’t entirely sure. So he also wanted to recruit me into his house to figure me out. Sy had left an impression on the fae prince.

A dark thought occurred to me.

Did you mark the fae? I asked Sy as I finished putting on the skates the shifter had brought me. Now I must go to Silas and serve the prick.

I left my scent on him, if you must know. Sy shrugged.

You don’t play with fire or food, Sy, I said furiously. The fae prince heir is one of the most powerful, dangerous beings in Mist of Cinder!

You think I don’t know that?

Then why did you do it?!

A spur-of-the moment lapse? she consulted me. Or something like a power struggle?

Sy was reckless and remorseless. She was primal and never understood my moral compass, not that it was very strong. She was forever drawn to power. Now that she’d finally met a powerful supernatural like her kind, she couldn’t help herself. Among the princes, she was most interested in Killian and the fae heir. Killian was forbidden fruit, spoken for already, and Sy was pragmatic. So, while she might drool over Killian, she’d definitely go for the fae prince.

I didn’t do it intentionally, if that makes you feel better, Sy added. It just happened.

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