“I did not!”
“Yes, you did!” He threw up his hands. “You know she’s volatile and you pushed all her buttons!”
I winced at his description. Volatile.
“She shouldn’t even be here anyway! Or have you forgotten what her whore of a mother did? You wait until my daddy hears about this. He will not be happy.” She folded her arms, her expression haughty as she stared down her nose at me. “Your days here are numbered, Halfling. Mark my words.”
Exos’s arm tightened around me. “Is that a threat, Fire Fae? Because as you already pointed out, violence on the Academy premises is frowned upon. I would hate to have to report your behavior to your father, who happens to sit on the Council. With me.”
Her face paled. “He’ll never believe you.”
“I think you’ll find that I am quite convincing,” Exos replied, all arrogance. His hold loosened, his hand falling to my hip. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need to escort Claire to her sleeping quarters.”
“Exos—”
“I think you’ve done enough for the day, Titus,” he said, cutting him off. “I’ll follow up with you later.” His dismissive tone pissed me off before, but right now, it was what I needed. I wasn’t ready to talk to Titus, not after everything Ignis had said.
He was with her right before he met me.
It wasn’t fair to hold that against him, but I couldn’t help it. The woman was an utter bitch, and he’d slept with her.
Right after someone named Mae.
Did he just sleep with all the females on campus?
Was I just a conquest to him? Something new?
No, a part of me whispered.
But what did I really even know about him? He’d almost fucked me last night. Exos was the one who stopped him. Clearly, Titus had a control problem when it came to sex.
Part of me knew the assessment was unfair.
The other part was too exhausted to care.
“Take me to the dorm,” I said, voice low, my gaze falling to the ground. I didn’t want to see Titus’s expression, didn’t want to know what he thought. I just wanted to lie down. Fighting those flames had taken a lot out of me. So had this entire morning, or day, or however long it’d been. Actually, no, this whole fucking week had exhausted me.
Exos pulled me with him, away from a sputtering Ignis and her two insipid friends.
Away from the warmth of Titus.
“I don’t know what happened,” I mumbled, Exos’s palm a brand against my hip as he led me through yet another courtyard. The fae really like being outside. Except this one was vacant save for a few heads poking out of windows, all eyes on me. When I glanced at a few, they ducked. Afraid.
They all hate me.
“Your emotions created an inferno,” Exos murmured. “But you were able to contain it.”
“Why did it burn me? It’s never done that before.” Sure, it singed my clothes to ash, but it didn’t hurt.
“I don’t know,” he replied, taking me through a set of black gates lined in fire. The buildings took a drastic architectural turn, the landscape black and charred, all signs of flowers and trees gone. But it wasn’t so much barren as it was intriguing, the fountains in the yard flowing fire instead of wate
r. And little flickers that reminded me of lightning bugs buzzed about.
“Wow,” I whispered, awed by the sight. “This is…” I had no words.
“Fire,” he supplied. “I’m heeding Titus’s point that you need to be near the students, and have procured you a dorm here. I’ll be staying with you.” I missed a step at his proclamation, but he caught me with ease, his lips curling. “Surprised, princess?”
“Y-you’re staying with me?” I stuttered.