Titus arched his brow at Juni.
"The witch distracted Crown." Juni glared at me, careful not to meet Lysander's gaze. How hard was it love him and know that she'd never have him? "The Princes lost the trials and tournaments, but Lysander's a good Prefect when it comes to guiding his team. Who'll replace him now that he's been reduced to Dunce? It was useful in class to have a whipping boy too."
Damelza shot her daughter an outraged glare. "Let's not discuss all our private academy business..."
"As patron, I say let's." Titus' gaze darkened. "Reinstate Lysander as Prefect and remove the Sleep Deprivation Hex. I rather hate wasted resources."
Damelza gaped at him. "But those are punishments..."
Titus' sharp teeth glinted in the light. "Are you deliberately attempting to shame my kingdom?"
"Why, how absurd," Damelza muttered.
When Damelza lifted her hand, Lysander and Midnight slumped at the same time as both punishments were lifted.
Bask whooped, and Mist danced in a circle. My mouth ached with smiling.
Lysander shot me a cocky smile over his shoulder that flushed warmth through me.
Did it also break ball etiquette to suck your clever lover's feathers…or dick?
I sauntered to stand next to Lysander, sneaking in a lick to his wing that made him shiver.
"How about I take control of Willoughby's cursed uniform?" I suggested, innocently. "After all, it's a useful leash to be used throughout the day, but you can't leave it in the hands of that little ears."
Darby blushed, and Titus lifted his eyebrow at me.
Damelza huffed. "Clearly, you believe me as crazy as you, if you think that I'd place a Prince in the care of an Immortal. Crown will of course take the control."
I mock gasped. The horror. Lysander fought to suppress his smile.
"I shall never hand over the magic to a fae," Darby snarled.
Ah, so naive.
Damelza ripped the crystals out of Darby's hair.
The crystals rolled along the icy dance floor like frozen teardrops. I'd expected Willoughby to stoop to pick them up, but he ignored them. Perhaps, they were in his past now like his brother.
"That's not the academy spirit,” Damelza chided. “Cooperate or earn ten punishment points in front of everyone."
Darby's eyes gleamed with humiliation. "I'm the king," he pleaded, but this time it sounded more like a question.
Titus kicked one of the crystals. "It doesn't look that way to me, little boy."
Defeated, Darby closed his eyes.
I shuddered, as dark magic snaked out of him and wound around Lysander. Midnight caught Lysander in his arms, as Lysander and Willoughby were bound and yet freed at the same time.
Flair and Echo cawed raucously, flapping around the hall.
I wrapped my arms around myself to contain the joy because all my Princes were now able to escape. There'd be no more sacrifices and nobody would be left behind.
Then Titus' hard gaze settled on me, and my guts churned. Titus wasn't here for his ward or as patron of the academy.
He was here for me.
Just like Robin, he'd waited over a hundred years for his second chance, but his wasn't love...it was hate.
Titus swept across the hall towards me: a dark Prince Charming. His golden wings rose behind him like raised scimitars.
Why did he have to be so achingly handsome? If Byron hadn’t allowed me to become friends with Robin as a child, and Titus had courted me before our wedding day, would I’ve fallen in love with his charm?
I shuddered. Was there a hex to scour out your brain…and other parts?
Yet I had a feeling that Henrietta had been tricking Titus as much as me. After all, her Husband Management included whipping and spelling a man’s lips silent.
Titus looked the type to be holding the whip, and he loved the sound of his voice far too much to be silenced.
Titus held out his hand. When he bared his teeth at me, I realized with a jolt that it was meant to be a smile.
“Would you do me the honor of the first dance?” His hand shook.
I took a step back. “My apologies, but I have a strict policy against dancing with bastard fae princes.”
Titus’ smile dropped from his face like it’d never been there. “There’s the witch who wrecked me.” What did he mean? “Don’t you owe even this bastard fae prince a single dance, since I missed out last time? Where’s the harm? After all, you were brave enough to stand me up at our wedding, don’t you have the courage for a single dance?”
I narrowed my eyes. Nobody dared this witch.
Lysander flapped his wings. “Don’t…”
I snatched Titus’ hand, dragging him closer with my mists; he let out a startled oomph.
“If you wished to become more intimate,” Titus said, drily, “you only needed to ask.”
I clenched my jaw. “Shall we?”
“Play something romantic,” Titus called imperiously to Sleipnir. “But without the caterwauling.”
Mist sat on his rump and gestured with his hooves in a manner that looked decidedly like the one Flair had taught me for wanker.
Sleipnir smirked at me, before strumming the sweet melody for the song all about fucking that he’d serenaded me with in the Rebel Café.
I bit my lip to keep in the laughter. The private joke hidden within the music wound around me, even as Titus swept me out onto the ice dance floor. I slipped, but he kept his arm around my waist. He certainly was an excellent dancer. But then, he was a prince at a Fae Court.
I glanced at Fox, who stood in the forest of ice trees with Bask’s hand curled protectively around his neck. Fox watched me with a concerned gaze.
I’d take Fox, who’d never attended a ball before just like Robin, over the suave fae. Of course, Fox was himself a wonderful dancer, although I’d never seen moves like his before.
Didn’t he call it Fox Funk?
I’d hadn’t been the same as the other witches, who’d thrilled at the thought of the balls and the husbands who’d they’d meet. I’d wanted my own adventures.
Well, I’d certainly achieved that.
When Titus’ wings curled around me, I shuddered.
“Why do I feel like I don’t have your full attention?” Titus’ gaze was uncomfortably intense. “It’s rather rude when you cursed me as much as this academy.”
“Do you piss snow? Do you melt in the sun?” I lowered my voice, glancing significantly down at his crotch; the bulge in his trousers told me that being blessed down there truly was a fae thing. “Did I turn your prick to ice?”
When I edged my hand to check because I was awfully impressed with my magic to create ice pricks, he batted away my hand with a snarl.
“For a moment, I forgot who I was speaking to. Let me be clearer.” He gripped me tighter around the waist, spinning me. “I was the eldest son and heir who was set to inherit the Unseelie kingdom. You’d have been my queen.”
He paused as if expecting a big reaction from me.
When I simply gazed at him steadily, his shoulders slumped.
Wait, had that been the big reveal? I’d never dreamed of power. I never wished to be his queen.
I attempted to smile. “Well, lucky escape there then. Crown’s are heavy, I hear.”