Fox clapped his hands together. “One for all, yeah? But first, what’s our theme because I feel a wave of subversion coming on.”
He grinned at Lysander, who grinned back nervously. “Why are you…?”
“You’re a proper Rebel now.” I shrugged. “If you’re bonded to Magenta, then you’re bonded to me, Fox, and even Slippy. We’re all bonded. Just no poking me with swords from now on.”
Lysander’s elegant eyebrow arched. “I’ll try to resist poking you with my…sword.”
Result.
Fox hopped up and down on the spot.
Perhaps, he was also trying to resist wetting himself?
“Oh, oh, please let the theme be Wizard of Oz,” Fox pleaded.
Bad, bad foxy…
“Wicked witches and wizards.” I counted each off. “Plus, Damelza’s head exploding because she’s forced to pretend that everything’s perfect to her guests. We’re doing it, end of story.”
Magenta cocked her head. “Do you know, this little shiver runs down the back of my spine when you become commanding.”
Brilliant.
Sleipnir leaned against the wall. “Our Oz will need munchkins, right? We can bring in Snow, Emerick, Ambrose, and Ty, even the dragons…”
Wow, they’d be the biggest Munchkins ever.
“We can make sure that everybody is saved.” Fox’s fingers squeezed mine.
Why was Magenta’s gaze suddenly so guilty, as she ducked her head? “Sweet Hecate, but who will be left behind?”
I stiffened.
Andro.
All of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe. My chest was too tight.
Please, no…
Andro was my clone of Lysandro, who was sweetly submissive, when the dominant side of my nature that craved to take pleasure, as well as give it, needed feeding. The café had created him for me, but the love he felt for me was his own, just like my own love for him was real.
How could I escape and leave him behind? I’d be murdering him…
“I can’t.” I shot a panicked glance at Willoughby who marched to me, gently easing me into his arms. Fox and Midnight collapsed together onto the couch, but I hardly noticed around the thunder of the pulse in my ears and the dangerous burning of tears in my eyes. “I can’t, please don’t make me, I can’t…”
Crying was ugly. Nobody loved an ugly incubus. Why had I encouraged Andro to love me?
Willoughby’s expression was as grief-stricken as my own. “It’d be dishonorable to abandon them. It must be their decision.”
Sleipnir straightened, “Hey, I don’t think so. Who said that clones had rights?”
Magenta glowered at him. “I do.”
Willoughby kept hold of my hands, and we sank to our knees.
In front of us, a green mist formed, bleeding into the golden wings and emerald hair of Andro, who was also on his knees facing me. Unlike Lysander, he was naked and his expression was soft and open. His gaze was so adoring that I flinched.
Andro’s brow furrowed with confusion, and he dipped his head.
I stroked along his back, between his wings, before pulling his head to rest against my chest, and his relieved breath gusted along my collarbone. He peeked up at me from underneath his long eyelashes, licking his lips in a way that would’ve looked innocent if I didn’t know him better.
Flirt.
Lysander watched, as pale as snow.
Ruby sparkles lit up in front of Willoughby. Here’s the thing, it was freaky to see my own naked clone, Bas, materialize from the sparkles to straddle Willoughby in an excitable tangle. He was gorgeous (startling discovery), and I fought to stop staring at his arse.
Now I knew why mine was so pettable.
Bas was also definitely not submissive, unlike my Andro.
Bas kissed Willoughby like he’d die without the taste of him, before breathing against his mouth. “Pet me. I ache for you; I’ve missed you so badly it hurts deep inside.”
Willoughby soothed his hands down Bas’ shoulders, but his anguished gaze met mine.
How could we tell Andro and Bas?
I tucked a strand of hair behind Andro’s ear. “You know that I love you…?”
Andro mouthed at my neck. “I love you too.”
Because that made this so much easier…
“It’s like this, see, if we had a chance to leave the academy, would you wish us to take it?”
Andro shot up, resting his shaking hands on my knees, while curling his wing under my chin to force me to look at him. “Y-you’re l-leaving m-me?”
Bas’ shoulders slumped, and Willoughby held him even closer. “I’m an idiot. You called us to say goodbye, right?”
Willoughby shook his head, fiercely. “You have the choice.”
Bas laughed but it was actually a sob. “Wise up! That’s no choice. Of course, leave. If you love someone you always want them to be free, even if…”
So, that was what I looked like broken with tears. Except, Bas didn’t look ugly wrapped in Willoughby’s arms with tears chasing down his cheeks.
He looked beautiful.
It took clones to be the true heroes and show what love meant. The witches would never understand that.
“Where will we go without you? Will we fade away or cease to be?” Each of Andro’s desperate, whispered words branded my skin; I’d never be free of their mark.
It broke every incubus code to be honest. An old adage went that it was better to sooth with pretty lies, than hurt with ugly truths.
But then, I’d thought that crying was ugly and I’d been wrong.
“I don’t know.” I wrapped my fingers through Andro’s hair, gently pulling him back so that I could look into the glistening emerald pools of his eyes. I had to face him for this. “What do you desire me to do?”
Andro’s smile was the bravest thing that I’d ever seen; I wished that it never had to fade. “Live, be happy, and don’t forget me because if you remember me, then I’ll still exist, won’t I?”
Magenta rose from the ground, and her black mists whipped around her; she vibrated in full out wicked witch fury. “No more portraits of dead students on the walls, ghosts, or lost lovers,” she snarled. “After the Enchanted Ball, I’m ending Rebel Academy.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
MAGENTA
Outside Crow Hall, I rested my head against the stone. The arched wooden doors had been thrown open for the Enchanted Ball, and the hall was lit by stars, as if the night sky had fallen and laced itself over the academy.
Sweet Hecate, it was beautiful like Lysander had promised.
I’d learned that beauty could be dangerous, but that predators could be beautiful.
Also, that I loved my wicked Rebels, as they loved me.
They were already inside the hall; the buzz of laughter and roar of guitar music spilled out as brightly as the puddles of light. Yet I needed a moment longer in the shadows.
Over a hundred years ago, this had been the night that mother had tried to force me to marry a fae prince. But instead, I’d kissed an orphaned mage, sealing both our fates.
Perhaps, all of ours.
Now the evening of the Enchanted Ball was being repeated.
Although, I didn’t think that our imaginative committee had planned it quite the same. It was only a hunch, but Fox’s gleeful laughter every time that he’d suggested one more detail for his Wizard of Oz theme suggested that the evening wouldn’t be as elegant and refined as the professors hoped.