Because in my head, it was definitely already happening.
And I really, really needed it to stop so I could properly focus on whatever Ella was saying beside me. Something about the bloodline colors.
Despite everyone wearing casual clothes, they all seemed to be dressed in similar shades.
“The Malefic Bloods wear solid black all the time. They never wear color,” she said, nodding toward a group of Midnight Fae socializing on one side of the bonfire.
“Because we’re at the Academy?” I wondered out loud. I’d opted for one of the Academy-regulated black skirts and a plain white button-down top. Nothing too fancy, but appropriate for the school grounds. Ella had chosen jeans and a tank top. Most of the others were in their cloaks, the females in skirts, the guys in slacks.
Except for the Elite Bloods. They all seemed to be showing off their fashion sense with a variety of different colors. I’d recognized them almost immediately because of the power swirling around them—it reminded me of Kolstov.
“No. They wear black everywhere regardless of the event or occasion. It’s their signature color.” She shrugged. “All the bloodlines have one. Death Bloods are purple. Sangré Bloods are navy. Warrior Bloods prefer a deep green, like the color of the LethaForest that surrounds our campus. Elite Bloods wear dark red. And Malefic Bloods…” She nodded toward the same group, finishing her statement.
Wear black, I translated. “What’s a LethaForest?” I asked, glancing around the open meadow and searching for trees. We weren’t near the campus buildings anymore, but we weren’t in a woodsy area either.
“Beyond the walls,” she explained. “We’re still in Academy proper. But if you go past the gargoyle-guarded gates, you’ll quickly find the LethaForest. Don’t go in there alone. There’s a bunch of scary shit that lives in there, and it’s filled with wild thwomps.” She shivered with the statement, something that caused Trayton’s lips to curl down as he approached with two glasses of some sort of drink.
He handed her one. “Are you okay?”
“Just warning Aflora about the LethaForest.”
His frown disappeared into a knowing grin as he held out the other cup for me. I accepted it with a softly uttered “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. And yeah, Ella isn’t a fan of things that go bump in the night. When I mated her, I didn’t realize she was afraid of phantoms. Had I known…” He let that hang, and Ella elbowed him in the side.
“Shut it. You grew up in this world. I didn’t. And those phantoms are freaky as fuck.”
He lifted a shoulder. “That’s why I don’t go near them.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
“Nope.”
She rolled her eyes, refocusing on me. “I may have gone exploring my first year here. And I may have found myself surrounded by ghostly knights with swords that weren’t corporeal, but very real. They were not happy with me for disturbing their nest, or whatever they called it.”
“Haven,” Trayton corrected. “You totally slept through our Wild Creepers course last year, didn’t you?”
“No. But your world is full of so many make-believe critters that it’s hard to keep them all straight.”
“Uh-huh. I think—”
I dropped my cup as Shade appeared across the way, flanked by two male Midnight Fae. His gaze instantly met mine, his icy blue eyes smoldering from the embers of the flames separating us.
“Grr, I have things to say to you,” I growled, mostly to myself since Shade couldn’t hear me yet.
“What?” Ella’s forehead creased.
Trayton bent
to pick up my glass, the contents all over the obsidian grass below. I couldn’t even take a moment to consider how improper that color was for greenery. “Aflora?” he prompted, arching a brow.
I could see the pair watching me from my peripheral vision, their expressions ones of matching confusion. Until Trayton followed my stare. “Oh.”
Yeah. Oh. “Hold my flowers,” I said, taking off toward my now smirking Midnight Fae mate.
“Hold her flowers?” I overheard Ella repeat behind me. “Is that supposed to be like holding a beer?”
“Maybe?” Trayton replied.