Page 76 of Quiet Burn

“What? What’s going on?” Kit asks as he peers at the backside of his list. “I know I’m behind, but you guys can’t hold back like this.”

“Settle, KK,” Salem says as he leans forward, peeking around Slash’s bulk. “Anton will explain. He’s better at this shit than us big dudes.”

I roll my eyes at him, then turn back to the panicking new kid. “This list is mostly inane, but several of the spells on the back are classified by the crown as forbidden. I know that sounds weird because we’re demons.”

Kit snorts softly, leaning into my arm to look where I’m pointing on my paper. “Why are they forbidden?”

“Because they’re difficult to accomplish, require alotof power, and helped the current royals win the Games and the following war.”

Slash grunts, shifting in the chair with a disgruntled look. “Several of the court royals used them. My father is more… aggressive with his magic—up close and personal. He and the King were not so subtle in their actions in those events. Spells like this are intended for less physical demons.”

“So the other family heads, then?” Kit asks as he frowns. “Your parents, Anton?”

“Surely my mother. Probably X’s father. Salem’s parents would have been somewhere in between. Zav’s would have been focused on other things. Definitely Oriel’s folks,” I respond slowly. “But given that it was not chronicled—purposefully—it would take someone with very intimate knowledge of the coup to put these here.”

Like Lucian fucking Darkstar.

“What happens if people use them?”

I look at the nervous looking guy, squeezing his arm again. “It’s basically treason, but who the fuck knows what the King would do. His moods are mercurial and he hasn’t had anyone stupid enough to challenge the court in centuries.”

“My father would kill them after many, many,manyyears of torture.” Slash doesn’t elaborate, but I have no desire to ask him to. “And they would feed the pieces to the beasts in the Wastelands.”

“Well, that’s not terrifying,” Kit grumbles. “Thanks, big guy. I feel much better now.”

Slash gives him a toothy grin and surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to upset the kid. In fact, he looks pleased as hell and I have no idea why. Filing that away for future analysis, I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. “I don’t know what their game is, but we can assume we know who is behind shoving this shit into the curriculum.”

“That dickhead,” Salem mutters. “As if death games aren’t bad enough, he’s going to have all the wanna-be competitors using this shit to come at us. You know that’s why those spells are on here.”

Nodding, I turn to Slash. “You need to figure out how to counteract this shit. The only two people who can ask those questions without raising suspicion are you and Jasper.”

“He cannot.”

Kit looks at the shark shifter curiously. “Why?”

“Besides pissing his dad off at the ball, Jasper has never been known to accept his father’s advice or pay attention to his stories. It will raise eyebrows.” I give the kid a little smirk and he flushes bright red when he realizes he was part of that little issue.

“It was good for him. Do not be worried.”

“How was that good for him, Slash?” Kit Kat says softly. “It felt good at the time and I think Jasper was happy to stick a fork in the King, but now… It’s hampering our ability to gather information. Or, that’s what it sounds like to me.”

Salem chuckles, shaking his head. “That may be true, but I bet Prince Pissypants hasn’t enjoyed a party that much inyears.”

I can’t dispute that, but I’m not sure if it was worth it yet. Only time will tell.

Bad News

Kit/Kat

After the revelation in Curses & Hexes, I went to Mythology with Anton, Zav and X. Luckily, the Headmaster was too busy smirking about the shit that was announced in Curses to bother my caliphate. He started the unit on the Egyptians and the creatures that are tied to their mythos, dimming the room for a long ass slideshow that definitely would have put Salem to sleep. I ate it up because I’ve always loved this topic and without him taking aim at me, it was easy to get lost in the new spin on this culture. The guys let me soak it up, taking notes and occasionally whispering questions, which calmed me a great deal.

Jasper didn’t show for lunch—a bad sign in my opinion—and we filled Oriel in on the magic bullshit from the early classes. As is becoming our habit, Oriel and I headed for the library to have quiet time so I can balance myself by getting lost in books and studying. It’s been my escape for a long time and his willingness to let me silently hyper-focus on it rather than talk all the time is more helpful than I can express.

But all good things come to an end, and we’re on our way to the arena for Weapons class again. Since the Prince was absent at lunch, I assume this is going to be a shitshow—again. Whatever Darkstar is hoping to achieve in these Games is being very quietly woven into the pre-Games curricula and the physical classes are taking the brunt of that agenda. I don’t think the dragon will be in a good mood and I’m ready for it.

I think.

“You okay, KK? You’ve been super quiet, which I get because of the ‘forbidden spells’ thing, but…”

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