My jaw dropped. “What?”
“There’s no time to explain. The Warrior Bloods are on their way to conduct a thorough search of the premises, and that cannot be here.” He pointed at the stonepecker.
“That’s ridiculous,” Zeph scoffed. “Kols was in my class during the explosion. There’s no way he did this.”
“While I agree, the scene reeks of source power. And Kols—”
“Is the one closest to the source,” Zeph finished for him, cursing under his breath.
Shade dipped his chin once in confirmation, his icy gaze holding a touch of unease. “He looks good for the setup, Zeph. Which means someone is trying to take down the future king.”
“Where’s Tray?” Zeph asked.
“With Kols. He’s the second potential suspect for obvious reasons.” Shade ran his fingers through his dark hair and blew out a breath. “I need to get back before they notice I’m gone. I came to warn you that the Warrior Bloods are on their way to conduct a search, authorized by the king himself. So I suggest you hide anything incriminating.” His expression flashed with meaning.
Then he vanished into a puff of smoke.
Zeph immediately pulled out his wand and uttered a spell that incinerated the evidence on the table. Then he uttered another one after it that caused the surface to shimmer. He spoke so quickly and efficiently that I couldn’t even decipher his words. When he focused on me next, I opened my mouth to stop him, but the magic was already working its way over my outfit and destroying all evidence of the creature from my lap.
I gaped at my pristine uniform.
“Well, that’s one way to do laundry,” Ella muttered, then shook her head. “Okay, there’s something I don’t understand.”
“Only one thing?” I asked, completely taken aback by the last few minutes of conversation and the revelations Shade had dropped on us.
“Well, many things. But what I really want to know is, why did Shade just come here to warn us? He hates Kols. I’d expect him to be gloating and celebrating the accusation, not”—she waved her hand around the space he’d just vacated—“you know.”
Zeph cleared his throat. “Well—”
A commotion at the door interrupted his ability to reply as three Warrior Bloods entered the suite with an irritated Sir Kristoff right behind them. “Fucking royals overriding royals,” the stone creature muttered. He waved at them and looked at Zeph. “I’m taking the night off.” His stone wings bristled and crunched, then he disappeared into a cloud of white chalk.
“They can do that?” I asked, shocked.
“Unfortunately,” Zeph muttered, standing up. At some point, he’d put his wand away, but I sensed his magic lingering in the air. “What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded, his attention on the three male fae in the foyer.
“We’re here on order of the king to search Prince Kolstov’s suite for anything related to the attack today,” the one with white-blond hair to his shoulders replied, his tone devoid of emotion.
“You can’t be fucking serious.” Zeph folded his arms. “What the hell could Kols have to do with any of this?”
“That’s Council business,” another of them replied, his chin notching upward in clear dismissal. “You’re no longer privy to that information, Headmaster.”
“Oh, fuck you, Danqris. I’m Guardian-bonded to Kolstov, which makes me your superior by default. A temporary demotion will never change that.”
Danqris’s lips pulled back into a snarl. “It will if I find anything that incriminates his ass.”
Zeph scoffed at that. “Yeah, be my guest, asshole. But when you don’t find anything, and Kols returns to see that you’ve destroyed all his shit, I’ll be sure to tell him who to thank.”
The Warrior Blood seemed to take that as more of a challenge than a threat and proceeded to rip apart the suite. When he reached my room, he demanded I unlock it.
And then began to destroy everything inside.
Including my new plant.
Zeph vibrated with anger by the end, but it was nothing compared to Ella. She actually slapped two of the Warrior Bloods after they rummaged through her personal items. Then she kicked the one called Danqris when he went for her underwear drawer.
I watched in amazement as they actually backed off, t
he blond one even looking a tad contrite as he sidestepped her to exit the bedroom.