Page 30 of Mistake of Magic
No one moves or speaks. None of us can.
Elidyr snaps his fingers.
The air loosens, River releasing me immediately to grab Coal, while a few others form a line between us and Malikai’s quint. Not that anyone seems inclined to fight anymore. Or speak. The dining hall now holds its collective breath while the council elder shakes his head.
“Malikai,” Elidyr says, waiting until the male has risen painfully to his feet. “I walked in to what appeared to be a single first trial pummeling your whole third-trial quint into a spineless pancake. Would you agree with that assessment?”
Malikai bows.
River’s jaw tightens, a muscle ticking on the side of his face.
“Report to the infirmary, Malikai, and then wait in my office.” Elidyr turns to River, the elder’s eyes kind as he spreads his palms. “I’m sorry, River. I imagine you are aware of what happens next?”
“Yes, sir.” River’s answer sends a shiver down my spine. “Would next bell be acceptable?”
Elidyr nods, turning toward the door.
“Malikai.” Coal’s soft voice carries the promise of murder, stopping the injured male in his tracks. “It’s fortunate that the trials need not be taken in order. I look forward to... facing you in the arena.”
All the color drains out of Malikai’s face.
19
Tye
“I’m fine, Shade,” Tye said, trying and failing to pull his shoulder from the male’s grasp. The bite was deeper than Tye had expected and the flesh was still weeping. “You already saw to it this morning.”
“Take off your shirt or I’ll tear it off.” Shade pushed Tye down onto the couch’s armrest. “It’s a bite. You don’t know where the wolf’s mouth has been.”
“Youknow where it’s been,” Tye said, throwing up his hands. “It was your bloody mouth.”
Shade flashed his canines. “Which lends weight to my insistence that we keep a close eye on the wound.”
Tye pulled his shirt off. “I hope you were more charming when you talked Lera out of her clothes.”
Shade flinched, but it was much too late for that. Despite the whole morning apart, Leralynn’s lilac scent drifted from the shifter in waves. For once, however, Tye little minded. He’d had enough females over the years and would have the lass when she wanted him for more than curiosity or instinct—if she ever did.
Females, in Tye’s experience, saw through him all too easily. He was the kind of male they tumbled with for fun, not the kind they wished to share a life with. The lowest in the quint’s hierarchy, Tye had nothing. No rank, no title, no property that he’d not stolen. He was a short-lived amusement in females’ lives—the one Lera had gone to for instruction,not emotion. For the first time in his life, Tye little wanted to bethatmale. He wanted a bond. Love. Tye wanted to mate.
The very high probability of this never happening...ThatTye did mind. Very much.
He also very much minded the jar of green medical goo Shade was reaching for. The stuff stung like a lash. “Touch me with that and I’ll roll in Lera’s underclothes and stay outside your door all night. See how well you sleep with that bonny bouquet filling your nose.”
“I imagine I’ll have to get used to it sooner rather than later. Though it was almost worth it just to see River’s face when we left for lunch.” Shade cracked open the jar and lathered the hell-in-liquid-form over the punctures, sending a healing pulse along with the salve. For such a deadly predator, he truly did hate watching others in pain. Most of the time. “I don’t recall seeing him quite so afraid before.”
“I counted all limbs present when we passed them,” Tye said through clenched teeth. “But with some luck, we’ll still catch some sparks between them this evening.”
Shade tried for a smile and failed miserably. “What the bloody hell am I going to do?”
“What the bloody helldidyou do?” asked a familiar feminine voice from the doorway as River’s sister, Autumn, let herself into the suite. Dressed in sapphire silk trousers and a top that stopped at her ribcage, the female shimmered with an energy as brilliant as the emerald-and-diamond stud piercing her navel. Her hair, braided along her scalp in many silver-blond strands, sparkled with golden thread. Her sharp gray gaze narrowed on Tye’s shoulder. “If those are teeth marks, I do hope it was Lera who left them.”
Tye felt a grin taking over his face. “When Lera bites me, she won’t be aiming for my shoulder, Sparkle,” he said, rising to spin the petite female in the air.
A second female voice—this one still outside—dissolved into a coughing fit.
“You can bite me too, Kora, if you’d like,” Tye called as he set Autumn back on the floor. “It seems to be the day for it.”
“I wouldn’t be biting your shoulder either,” Kora called back in a way that made Tye close his legs. Walking inside, the female set down the pile of books that accompanied Autumn everywhere she went and backed away. Her gaze—which, in a just and righteous world, would be brushing Tye’s shirtless torso—was instead working very hard to avoid Autumn’s curves. “She came out of the Gloominsidethe Citadel somehow,” Kora said. “And asked for you when my patrol challenged her.”
