He was looking down at me with those deep, searching eyes of his, and I was acutely aware that one of his hands had still not let go of my waist. I suddenly couldn’t remember what I had been saying.
“Are you quite finished, Aurora?” His face was hard, but his eyes danced, and he looked like he was trying to suppress a smile.
“Yes, I think so,” I muttered, feeling a little stupid and embarrassed.
I should have been thanking him, but instead I was fighting with him. What was wrong with me? The truth was that I didn’t want him to know how much I liked him and how glad I was to see him, because he would probably laugh at me. I had suspected for quite a while that he was some sort of fugitive or outlaw, or something to that effect, but it didn’t matter. Every time he looked at me, smiled at me, or even showed up, my stomach did cartwheels and my heart fluttered like a hundred butterflies had taken up residence. I couldn’t understand why he had this effect on me, and it was starting to get most inconvenient.
“Good!” He finally let go of me and crossed his arms across his powerful chest.
When he withdrew and moved away from me, I felt a wrenching feeling in my chest, as though I would never be happy until Rafe put his arms around me again. I pulled my woolen cloak tightly around myself and shivered slightly.
“Firstly, I would like you to know that those are not the people I hang around with.” A hint of a smile curved on one side of his handsome face. “I am not friends with them. Fagren owes me a debt for sparing his life once. In any event, even if they were my friends, what I would like to know is what you, a mage and clearly an untrained one at that, were doing in Fagren’s den. It’s the most notorious clan of the underworld of Eldoren.”
I stared at him. Was he serious? Here I was, nearly killed, and he was interrogating me as if it were my fault. Well, it sort of was my fault for being so stupid and following Damien, but still. I suddenly realized that Rafe thought of me as nothing more than a spoiled child. My heart sank, and all my romantic fantasies went straight out the window.
I’d had enough of this. I spun on my heel, hoping dearly that I wouldn’t fall, and walked toward the academy. In a flash, he was beside me. Again he put his arm round my waist and half-dragged, half-carried me into a side street.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed. “Do you want to be caught by the night patrol?”
“The what?”
“No underage mage is allowed outside the academy after dark. You know the rules. If the night patrol catches you, they will have you expelled.” He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his dark hair. “Come on, Aurora. I’ll get you back into the school tonight, and you can tell me what happened on the way. I have heard that the Blackwaters take it upon themselves to harass and intimidate new mages. This is a silly game they have played before. But how they got you to agree to go willingly with them is quite a mystery.”
“I was trying to find out what Morgana and Lucian’s plans were,” I explained to Rafe. “Fagren gave them something in a small pouch, and they paid him for it.”
Rafe’s stormy eyes widened. “Did they discuss it or say anything?”
I shook my head. “No. All I saw was a small, brown leather pouch. They took it and left me there.”
Rafe cursed darkly under his breath as we resumed our walk through the now deserted streets of the sleeping city. “You should stay away from the Blackwaters. They are nothing but trouble. If you had been harmed . . .” He broke off, shaking his handsome head and muttering to himself. “When you are back in school, maybe you should tell the mastermage and have them expelled.”
“No.” I shook my head, a little calmer. “I have to learn to deal with this myself. If I get the Blackwaters expelled, they will come after me and start looking into who I really am.”
“You really need to stay away from them, Aurora.” He gave me a pointed look. “How do I make you understand that the Blackwaters are dangerous?”
“Don’t you want to know what they came all the way down here to get?”
“I will look into it,” said Rafe, and he gave me a warning look. “You just concentrate on staying out of trouble.”
“But I can help,” I insisted. “I can find out what’s in that pouch.”
Rafe shook his head. “No, Aurora. It’s too dangerous. If the Blackwaters find out that you have been spying on them, they won’t think twice about getting rid of you.”
“Don’t worry. Once they know I’m not going to say anything to the professors, they will leave me alone,” I said, trying to convince myself. “They think I am some insignificant ward of the Duke of Silverthorne. If I become friends with them, I can find out what Lucian’s plans are. Won’t Uncle Gabriel want to find out what they are up to? The pouch may contain some clue.” I sounded more confident than I felt.
“You may be right,” said Rafe, but he still didn’t look convinced. “Be friends with them, but I don’t want you looking for the pouch. I will handle it.”
I nodded and kept silent. Rafe didn’t think I was capable of doing anything, but I would show him. I would find out what was in that pouch, and then he would have to admit that I was not entirely useless.
He led me into a large house on a side street off the main avenue. The door
