Yet he could be.
Should I simply trap Willoughby to undo the wards, using his love to free all the Rebels? It was a worthy cause. I'd discovered a rival's weakness that would save Fox. It could end my own curse.
Yet I’d never play with anyone's emotions in such a way.
I leaned closer to Bask, and he pushed towards me to hear my answer. I trembled at the choice.
All of a sudden, the Privilege and Punishment Board blazed on fire.
Crack my broomstick and call me a witch, is that what happened when you broke too many rules in the Princes' bedrooms? Had we literally burned the rule book?
At least Bask and I were lying on a bed made out of ice. Wait, did Willoughby keep it that way for protection against his own spontaneously combusting room? Since I'd already experienced being burned alive, I believed that sensible. The ability to battle fire was an underrated talent in a man.
Bask scrambled out of the sheets, dragging me off the bed. I eyed the window and the door. If I was alone, I could've simply done my mist thing and escaped as easily as a bird. But I wasn't, and I'd never leave Bask behind to face...
Wait, what precisely? The burning board wasn't turning to ash. The fire must be magical, but what had triggered it?
Then all at once, the wall melted in on itself to reveal a hidden passageway behind.
Sweet Hecate, how many secrets were there in this castle?
When a professor stalked out of the passageway with a scowl on her sharp pointy features, Bask gasped and straightened his shoulders. He edged even further in front of me.
The witches of the House of Crows liked to make an entrance.
Juni, the Prince's Tutor, Professor of Divination and Damelza's daughter, who was alike to her mother, apart from the shortness of her hair that was trapped beneath a woven cap of feathers, hesitated at Lysander's bed, staring down at the sheets with a grimace. Then she scanned the rest of the room; her eyes danced with malice.
I wrapped my arms around Bask's waist. "Fancy seeing you here. Nice weather we're having."
Juni's cheek twitched. "It's the same weather that we've been having for over a hundred years. I believe that it can be counted to the day that you cursed the academy. Are you so fond of snow?"
I reached out, running my hand along the column of Willoughby's bed. "I'm finding myself growing fond of ice."
Juni's eyes flashed, before they narrowed. She was dangerous and she'd discovered Bask and me. On Hecate's breath, I wouldn't forget that again. "Music. Unmade beds. Evidence of immoral acts." She scrunched up her nose. "The Princes have earned themselves three Punishment Points each and a Shame Hex."
"Not a chance. It was us who played the music, messed up the beds, and had wicked fun with the immorality," Bask insisted.
Juni shrugged. "This is their room and so their responsibility. I'd suggest that you should have thought of the consequences of your actions before you acted but then, that would be unfair without casting a Self-Restraint Spell." When her gaze darted to Lysander's bed, it lit up with as much curiosity as disgust. "If these were Crown’s stains then he'd lose his Privacy Privileges for a month."
I winced. Why did I have to feel sympathy for the fae prince again? But the thought of him here, where even privacy was a privilege that could be lost, was agonizing.
Even a haughty prick of a prince didn't deserve that.
Juni swept around to Bask. "But they're not Crown's, are they?"
Bask smirked. "Guilty."
Juni tilted her head, assessing Bask. "Of course you are. I'm just wondering what creature my mother shall turn you into. I can't wait for you Immortals to be tripped up on your own overconfidence. She's been practicing slugs. They leave slimy trails behind as well, so it'd be fitting."
Bask paled.
I glared at her, imagining her transformed into a dung beetle with a heightened sense of smell.
Ah, happy dreams.
She stared at me. "Why are you smiling? You've been caught."
"Have I?"
Juni’s cheek twitched again. "You don't understand how furious mother is." I shivered. I had an idea. She glanced at Bask. "I haven't seen her this angry since the time Crave refused to go on his first mission, and she was forced to hang another Rebel.” Bask paled further. “The way that her eyes are blazing is almost as scary as the way Bacchus’ went all swirly, when Sleipnir delighted us all by pissing Loki Rules in the snow." When she strolled towards the counter, grasping the stallion teapot, I tensed. "Do you see the pattern? Immortals have no self-restraint."
"Still," I rested my head on Bask's shoulder, nibbling on his ear until he sighed, "they make up for it with bonus rebellion and high jinks. Wouldn't you rather we were in human form, rather than slugs? Otherwise, who will you be able to act superior to?"
When Bask snickered, Juni ignored him. She wrapped her hands around the pot, before pouring the now steaming tea into a cup. She'd warmed it with her magic, which was impressive. Although, I was less impressed with her tea making etiquette. She poured the milk in from the porcelain jug after the tea. I tutted, tapping my foot.
Quite appalling.
"Oh, how kind." I sauntered closer, holding out my hand, hopefully. "One for me…?"
Juni appeared to consider it for a moment, holding out the cup. I grinned. The Princes' luxury beverages here I come...
Then she snatched it back, sipping on the drink with a satisfied sigh. "If you'd only heeded my warnings about how to behave, then we could've taken tea together like sisters every day."
I gaped at her. Was ever there such a mean trick?
"Is that your Divination talking? I truly hate how those who know the future pretend that they, well, know the future," I retorted.
Juni's fingers tightened around the cup. "Just call me Cassandra because nobody listened to her either."
I grasped Bask's hand, sweeping to Juni. "I listened, which is why I snatched my Immortal away from your mother. When I first lived in this academy, I might not have understood its cruelties but I do now. I'm a Prefect." I deserved a little boast, surely? "It's my duty to look out for them, just like you look out for the Princes."
Black cats, that was a stretch, unless looking out for included obsessive regulation of bathroom breaks, revoking Food Privileges, and checking sizes of pricks. She was at least dedicated.
When Juni slammed down the cup with a sharp crack, I flinched.
Don't let it break.
Somehow, it felt like if it did, then Bask would too, and right now, I could still feel him alive and unbroken at my shoulder. My heart sped up, and I clutched my arms around my middle to hide how my hands shook.
"You're a Prefect, and I'm a Professor," Juni hissed.
I raised my eyebrow. "Yet which one of us takes better care of our boys?"
"Hmm, certainly not the witch who's risked their Immortals in the Rebel Cup, where the stakes are either their whipping boy's life or my one's wings to be decided tomorrow on Torment Thursday." Juni pointed at herself and then me. "Which one of us was that again?"
I wound my black mists around her finger, and my eyes sparked pink. "The Immortals are mine, and the Principal set those stakes and not me."
Juni stared down at her finger, dispassionately. "If Bacchus hears you claiming her Rebels, then she'll turn you into a—"