Zephyrus snorted, sliced a knife through the glob on Kolstov’s plate, and took half the meat pile for himself.
I shuddered. So gross.
Elemental Fae didn’t eat Human Realm animals. Their diets weren’t adequate enough for our tastes. I preferred a nice slab of medium-rare orc, or even a grizzly pink potpie.
My stomach growled at the thought.
Zephyrus’s gaze narrowed, those sharp green eyes seeming to peer right through me.
He patted his shirt, producing a wand from a pocket I couldn’t see, then waved it around with a few muttered words. A plate appeared a moment later with a shroom loaf on top of a bed of purple leaves. He swapped it for my dish without a word and dumped the bloody worms onto his own plate.
Kolstov smirked.
Zephyrus remained silent.
And I eyed the magical creation with strong skepticism. “What did you put in it?”
“Take a bite and find out, princess,” he replied with a wink.
I huffed. Well, it’s better than what they’re eating, I decided, taking my knife and fork to cut a sliver from the magically produced food.
Zephyrus ignored me, his focus on his own plate. Meanwhile, Kolstov’s brow furrowed as I brought the browned fluff to my lips and took a bite.
“What is it?” he asked, sounding appalled.
“Shroom loaf,” Zephyrus informed him. “Popular in their realm.”
“How the hell do you know that?” he demanded.
“You’re not the only one who took cultural courses, Your Highness.” Zephyrus gave him a look that resulted in a scowl from the Midnight Prince.
Such a strange dynamic.
Zephyrus struck me as older, not because of his title, but because of the experience underlining his features. Definitely not of Academy age, yet not too much older.
Headmaster.
Something told me that term didn’t mean the same in this world as it meant in others.
He wasn’t in charge of the Academy because he didn’t have the right air of authority for that. Too laid-back in his treatment of Kolstov. Not proper enough in my presence either.
But he could definitely pass for a professor.
“Do you teach?” I asked him while cutting off a large bite. It wasn’t the most amazing shroom loaf of my experience, but I liked the smoky flavor. It provided an exotic touch, as if Zephyrus had singed the ends himself with his Midnight Fae energy.
“That is what a headmaster does, yes.” He tapped his fork on the plate, staring at his food, and sighed. “Do you know anything about how Midnight Fae Academy is run? How our Houses of Magic work? The bloodlines that drive our course studies?”
My cheeks heated. “As I told Prince Kolstov, I haven’t taken a course on your political structure yet. It was on my calendar for this year, in addition to devoting my time to helping my fellow Earth Fae rebuild. Which I apparently won’t be doing now.”
Over half of my kind had perished in the last few decades due to a wicked abomination sucking the energy from our souls in an attempt to gain access to additional elemental sources. It left the Earth Fae in shambles. Something I expected to help nurture and fix over the next fifty or so years.
Then Shade bit me and turned my plans to dust.
“I’m aware of what happened in the Elemental Fae kingdom,” Kolstov murmured. “I supplied textbooks to Exos and Cyrus for—”
“Master Kolstov,” a gravelly voice interrupted as the gargoyle swooped in over our heads.
My eyes widened at the breadth of his stone wings. For such a tiny body, I expected a few inches at most. But no, the width was as long as my arm.