Page 44 of House of Malice
He already had everything. But then again, there was no limit to witches’ greed.
From the inside pocket of his jacket, Blaze pulled out a tiny memory orb. Quickly, he muttered an activation charm, and the little orb whizzed to life.
Carefully, he hovered the orb along the perimeter of the glass box, making sure he was recording every single detail. Once he finished, he sealed the memory orb with another spell and shoved it back into his pocket.
Then he fished out a short and thick platinum rod; it fit perfectly in his palm. Murmuring an incantation under his breath, Blaze held the rod as close to the glass box as possible.
Slowly, making sure he wasn’t fucking up the chant, he tracked the perimeter of the box, trying to get as much of the magic protecting it as possible into the rod. He hoped it would be enough to find a counterspell that would remove it.
When he was done, he turned to Val, who was watching him intently.
“You really came prepared,” she said, like she was surprised and impressed.
Blaze bristled. “Do you think I’m an amateur?”
She got on her feet. “Don’t get prickly about my surprise. The image you present to the world isn’t the most promising and impressive, Blazy. Unless we talk about the field or the bedroom.”
Blaze rolled his eyes and opened the door. He waved for her to go first, and she did with a little chuckle.
The hallway was dark and quiet, but the voices of the crowd got louder the closer they got to the lounge.
Before Blaze entered the room, Val stopped him. “Wait a minute.” She ruffled his hair a bit and rubbed his lips not so gently with her hand. “There. It has to look like we actually did something.”
She walked up to the mirror on the wall and rubbed some of her lipstick off her lips, so it looked as if she had been making out or eating something.
Blaze hated the idea of Alecto seeing him like this. The thought that she might think something had happened between Val and him terrified him.
One wrong thing could set the world they’d started building together aflame.
But Blaze reminded himself that what he did was for them and their future. He could only hope Alecto believed him.
19
Alecto was one of the first to enter Professor Fallo’s classroom. Ignoring the other students, she walked over to the end of the room and took her usual seat.
From her satchel, she took out the textbook, her favorite notebook with the leather cover, and a pen. She’d already started working on her paper, and today she was going to ask the professor to write her a request for entering the archives.
Slowly, more and more students gathered in the classroom. Val walked in, Blaze in her wake. Before she took her seat, Val threw Alecto a meaningful glance. Alecto nodded. She knew what she needed to do. She was prepared.
To Alecto’s surprise, instead of taking his usual seat next to Val, Blaze strolled down to the back of the classroom and sat next to Alecto.
She looked at him. “What are you doing?”
Blaze tossed his notebook and a pen on the desk in front of him and settled more comfortably in his chair. He scratched the back of his head, and the muscles in his arm strained against his skin.
It gave Alecto butterflies.
“You always sit with Val.”
Blaze met her gaze. “And now I sit with you. Is there a problem, baby?”
Alecto glanced at Val and her desk. Rogue just entered the class and was about to sit down next to her.
It was such a small, meaningless thing, Alecto knew that. But it gave her so much satisfaction, to have Blaze choose to sit next to her.
And she hadn’t even have to ask. Hadn’t even had to mention it.
“I hope you’re interested in doing the work.” She smirked. “I won’t let you copy my notes.”
