The councillor said nothing, standing and letting his silence speak of his disapproval.
“I understand that you did not raise the alarm yourself,” he said finally.
“No,” she snapped. “I was unconscious on the floor, bleeding out of my ears from the backlash. That dragon sounded the alarm and organised the students into an army like he had the authority to. He could have killed those students. You must expel him.”
Low growls sounded around Melody, and now it was her turn to sooth her familiars, bonded or not. For one thing had become very clear to her today. She could no longer leave them unbound, vulnerable to her aunt’s coven. They needed to stick together if they were ever going to have a chance at a normal life.
“Provost,” called a witch from the door. “The new students are here.”
The councillor flicked a hand, and the two guards stationed there stepped aside, letting a small group of people in. Five men in total, plus one of the women from the administrative office.
She got half way across the gymnasium before she saw Melody, and then she halted abruptly. The men, however, merely moved around her, striding forward and looking around with interest.
“What the fucking is she holding?” snarled the largest one in an odd accent.
The provost, however, smiled a feral smile. “Gentlemen,” she said in a saccharine voice. “The woman covered in blood and males is Melody Canticum. The female you have come here either to woo or bond. As I tried to warn you all, she is worthy neither of your time nor your attention. Now you can see for yourselves.”
The new shifter surged forward, trying to pull Leon’s body from on top of her, but Melody was too shocked and still gripped it tightly.
“Letting him go, little one, yes? He will hurt you no more. I promise. You are safe now,” he said, gently.
Oz pulled her arms away from Leon, and she gave a small cry of distress as his warm weight was tugged from her grasp.
“Leon!”
“Melody,” the councillor said, kneeling in the blood beside her, mindless of his clothing. “That’s not Leon anymore. You know that. He’s gone now. They can’t hurt him anymore.”
She knew that, she fucking knew it. He was long gone. She felt that darkness take the last of him, but letting go of him while he was still warm, felt wrong. It made it all too real. The first tear tracked down her face.
Mrs Hardinger was ushering the senior students off to the side, where the healers were waiting to check on them. Nick stepped in front of the shifter, earning a growl when he pulled her to her feet and into his arms.
“Back off, I’m hers and she’s mine,” Nick growled at him.
“So, it was all just for show this morning?” the provost said, scowling. “You refused to bond him when I asked, then bonded him later anyway? Do you think this is some kind of joke?”
It was the slap to her mental state that Melody needed.
“No, I refused to endorse your faulty opinion of someone I respect and trust. However, it was a trigger for his dragon and we decided to bond to help him out. I wasn’t forced, it was a mutual agreement.”
Nick gave her a strange look, and she felt his hurt through the bond. She sent a feeling of patience through to him. At least, she hoped that was what happened.
If you can hear me Nick, I’m playing to her tune. I can’t be too flippant. She has the power to order the bond broken, with all of you, she thought loudly.
I understand, Nick immediately replied.
Well, at least that was one crisis diverted. But the next one presented itself immediately.
“Melody,” one of the new students called her, stepping through the blood without care. “I’m Alexander Canticum. I am very pleased to make the acquaintance of such a talented and may I say, beautiful witch.”
She gaped at him. It probably wasn’t her most attractive look, judging by Ryan’s snickers, but what the hell else was she to do?
“I … uh …” This wasn’t working. “You know I’m covered in Leon’s blood right. You can see that, can’t you?”
“And yet your beauty shines through even the most horrible of masks,” he persisted. He bowed to her and stepped back, but his gaze never strayed from her own.
“Melody, if I may introduce myself …” began another of the men, but Councillor Argrum spoke over the top.
“Gentlemen, this is all very nice, but very poor timing. I’m afraid that matchmaking will have to wait, while we deal with the crisis at hand.”
They all turned to look at him. She shouldn’t have been surprised, the day had started off in chaos, it was now getting a little too close to insane. Why wouldn’t there be another crisis?
“Melody,” the councillor said. “I realise that this is a horrible position to put you in, but I need you to check all of these shifters to see if they have also been tainted by the same poison as Leon. If that is the case, then we ought to put them out of their misery now. I doubt we would be able to find an antidote in time.”
It took only a second for her overwrought brain to catch on to what he was doing. He was limiting the amount of damage that rumour could do. It would also mean fewer people to leak the news back to her aunt, because something told her that her aunt knew exactly what was going on in the academy. After all, she’d broached the wards in the place closest to Melody’s cottage and had come straight for her.
Somewhere on the grounds, someone was spying for her aunt.
36. Oz
He knew where he was, he knew what was happening around him, but somehow, it just didn’t feel real. He felt drunk. Well, until he realised what the male witches were there for, then he just
