How convenient. I managed to not say the words aloud but it was a struggle. So I turned to Legacy who was making googly eyes at Aric from across the room. I noted that he wasn’t looking at her though. I didn’t know why but I felt like she should keep it cool, slow, with him for now. We really didn’t know anything about him, and that skull mark on his wrist disturbed me, even if he was polite and a gentleman thus far.
“We’re meeting tonight,” she said with a stupid grin.
“When?”
“After dish duty,” she said, pushing food around on her plate. “He only had dish duty yesterday, unlike us.”
“Have you asked him about the mark?”
She glared at me as if I was suggesting something terrible. “No.”
“Don’t fall too hard for him just yet,” I said quietly.
Narrowing her eyes, she shifted slightly away from me. “Are you jealous or something?” She asked a little too sharp for my liking. “You’ve always wanted to meet him and now he likes me.”
My cheeks flushed and I set my glass down. “No, it has nothing to do with that. Do whatever you want.” I pushed away from the table and stamped out the side door into the warm evening air. The red sun drenched the sky in pinks and purple as it lowered toward the horizon. With no destination in mind, I walked along a red-brown dirt pathway. The crickets chirped and evening birds sang in the treetops.
I didn’t understand why Legacy would suddenly get snappy with me. If she liked the prince I wouldn’t go near him in that way even if I found him charming. She was my best friend and I would never hurt her feelings or risk our friendship over a boy.
Lost in thought, I was near the end of the property before I knew it and came up on the lake. Have I really walked over two miles already? The sun was almost down; darkness and the cool crispness of night lingered in the air.
I became hyperaware that I was utterly alone, even the birds and bugs had gone silent. The hairs on my arms stood on end as a feeling of icy dread crept under my skin. Or was I alone? Rustling in the trees nearby drew my eyes but nothing appeared. I had my practice sword, not my real one I realized, but I had daggers and magic.
“Is someone there?” My quiet voice loud in the silence.
A feral noise unlike any animal I’d ever heard before, ripped from the shadows of the trees. Something wild—lethal, a creature not of this land. I took a step back, drawing the dagger from my boot. It was thirteen inches and sharp enough to slice through bone.
Maybe it was the creature that killed the horse. Sweat beaded on my back as my eyes searched the darkness. My magic surged under my skin, reacting to my pounding pulse.
“What are you doing out here alone?”
My heart nearly seized and I whipped around, slashing at whoever stalked me.
Zyacus jumped back, but my blade sliced through his top, exposed his skin and a thin red line developed from his sculpted chest to millimeters above his navel. He sucked in air through his teeth which sounded like a cat hissing.
“Prince,” I breathed. I waited for the blood to pour down his—ugh, totally perfect body, but it didn’t. We both stared at the cut, me shocked and him assessing the damage. “What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?” I demanded my chest heaving up and down. “I could have killed you.”
Touching his chiseled abs—er, stomach, his fingers came away bloodied. “I came to—” the softness of his face hardened. “What are you doing attacking me with that dagger?”
“I didn’t know it was you!” I still gripped it tightly. “There’s something…” I looked into the trees where I’d heard that growl. “I heard something—thought there was something deadly out here. That’s why I struck without looking.”
His eyes lifted to the shadows several yards away but he was more concerned with the slice I’d given him. With his palm glowing, he slowly moved it over the wound and I watched it close up. Magic-born do not do this type of healing often. It takes too much energy to heal a wound which is why we have potions and salves but his magic stone made it easier for him. With it, spells didn’t drain the user’s energy, the stone had a power of its own. It had its limitations; some stones were stronger than others.
With his body healed, he turned his attention to me. “There could be something dangerous which is exactly why you shouldn’t be out here alone.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you’d suddenly become Bindy.” I put a hand on my hip. “How did you even know where I was?”
He sneered at me, and even that was beautiful. “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who saw you storm out of the dining hall pissed off.”
“I didn’t storm out,” I said, slamming my dagger back into the sheath in my boot.
“And Bindy should be the one out here,” he said, his eyes flicking toward the academy. “But I didn’t see her in the dining hall.” His voice was soft, lovely.
It hit me that Zyacus might actually care about me. I arched an eyebrow. “Is that concern I hear in your voice?”
His mask of calm and arrogance returned. “It sure would be shitty if the Princess of Delhoon got herself killed on day two and this place was shut down. My people wouldn’t get the training they need. We don’t have enough magic professors.”
I guess I’d been mistaken about his caring. “Oh, that’s right,” I drawled. “Because your kingdom murdered most of their magic-born.”
Anger flashed in his too-blue eyes and then it disappeared. “Not most, and that was before my time. You can’t hold that against me.”
His father
