Page 55 of Monster's Mystery

“Yes? What else is there to do?” I asked, surprised.

“There are appetizers and mingling with the Bellamie team. It shouldn’t take them too long to come up to the castle,” Lilia explained. “How did you not notice these events in previous years?”

“I was really focused on my books,” I said, blushing.

“And Aiden,” Bruce teased. He glanced toward the statue standing in front of the school, a forlorn expression on his face. “I can understand that.”

“I didn’t know you felt that way about me, dude,” Aiden said with a chuckle, draping his arm across Bruce’s shoulders.

Bruce blushed. “Not what I meant. Well, not in the same way. Idomiss having you around. You haven’t slept in your own bed at all this year.”

Aiden sobered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you felt that way. I’ll make more of an effort to hang out with you.”

“You should sleep in your bed tonight,” I said, swallowing back my possessiveness. “I can handle one night alone.”

“You won’t be alone,” Lilia said, tucking her arm in mine. “I’ll stay with you.”

Brom raised an eyebrow in a silent question.

“No, you stay in your own room tonight. I think we should do a girl’s night sleepover,” Lilia said.

I laughed. “Almost as if we were roommates.”

Lilia joined in the laughter. “Who’d a thought, huh?”

“It’s a date,” I said. “After the dance, say around eleven, we’ll meet in our room and sleep in our own beds. That should give Aiden and I more than enough time to test out my new spell.”

“I thought I was going to help?” Bruce said with a pout.

“You really want to help when there are pretty girls who are experts at ridingdragons, if you know what I mean, ready and willing to dance with you?” I asked, channeling Una.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “This is more important. Besides, those girls have enough willing fellows chasing after them. Unless you wanted alone time with Aiden...” he trailed off.

I did want alone time with Aiden, but in the middle, or even the border, of the dark forest was not the best place for that. “No, we’ll steal some time alone before bed, I think,” I said. “You’re more than welcome.”

“I forgot to ask,” Aiden began. “How were your office hours today?”

“Oh, they were fine for the most part,” I said. “There are a couple first year boys who think they know everything. I handled them.”

“How?” Lilia asked.

“I told them if they were so certain of their answer, then they didn’t need me and they were more than welcome to leave.” I sighed. “Having Professor Akhtar as my thesis supervisor is a dream, but dealing with first years is unpleasant.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Bruce snorted.

“You dealt with that very well,” Aiden said, dropping a kiss on the top of my head. “It’ll get better.”

“I suppose.”

“We should go get changed into something more suited for the dance,” Lilia said, pulling me into the castle. “You men look fine, but we need dresses, I think.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Not sure how I feel about trekking out to the forest border in a dress.”

“Just change it,” she twiddled her fingers, indicating magic. “Come on, I know exactly what dress you should wear!”

“How? You haven’t seen my wardrobe since we got here!”

“It’s one of mine, silly.”

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