King of Swords (Stormcloud Academy 1)

Amelia would pass the evening in her quiet room, logging test scores, averaging grades, and quaffing sweet local wine. Gail and I would have the run of her office.

What we were looking for was a mystery. We knew it would be old. From the time of Peter Williams, Douglas Monfort, Harry Quinn, and the rest of the vying, violent kings of yesteryear. If Amelia was a student when my father was, she had seen the power struggle that followed. If Zephyr’s dad wanted her back at the school, she must know something about the machinations that had brought Gail and me here, too.

I’d promised Zephyr that I was his all night. So, I had to find a reason to break away from him during the party. I also had to coordinate with Gail so we could meet at Amelia’s door at the same time.

By half-past-nine, my feet were already sore. Zephyr and I had been dancing to Drake, Kendrick, and Lorde all night. He was knocking back vintage Bollinger straight from the bottle. When he handed it to me, I plugged the top with my thumb as I pretended to drink. I needed a clear head.

Even without the booze, I was exhausted. As an end-of-year gift, Zephyr gave me a scandalous robin’s egg Et Ochs jumpsuit with a diving V-neck and positively nothing covering my back. I looked hot as hell in it and thank goodness! It probably cost as much as all my other clothes combined.

“I’ll be right back,” I said obliquely, but Zephyr just pulled me tighter.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he drawled, then planted a deep, half-soused kiss on me.

“I need to pee, lover.”

“Can I come, too?”

I giggled girlishly, running a flirty fingernail down the exposed chest peeking from his half-unbuttoned shirt. “Tell you what, sexy. Give me … forty-five minutes to wash up and get comfy in my room. You use that time to sober up. You’ll find me on all fours, ready for your attention.”

That sold him. He let me go and gave me a firm pat on the rump as I walked away.

As soon as I was around the corner, I started jogging on the Prada spike heels—another absurdly pricy present—that were killing my feet. It was about sixty yards and one flight of stairs to Amelia’s office, but I was late. Hopefully, Gail wouldn’t be pissed.

I clambered down the stairs, gaming out what needed to happen once we were inside. Thirty minutes should be plenty of time if Gail and I worked together. I’d need to budget ten minutes to get back to my room, strip down, take a whore’s bath, and—

At the bottom of the stairs, I froze. Theo was standing in front of Amelia’s door. In his black knit polo and gray trousers, he looked like an undercover cop. He was waiting for me. I knew it.

“Theo,” I murmured, “what are you—”

“That’s not the question,” he said flatly. “The question is what are you—”

Then it happened. As I stood frozen in the hallway, staring at Theo, a black-gloved hand came from behind me, clasped my mouth. A burly arm wrapped around my ribs. Suddenly, I was off my feet, being pulled backward. I tried to shout, but I couldn’t.

For that first terrified millisecond, I thought Theo had betrayed me. I assumed he was in league with whoever just grabbed me. Yet his reaction belied that. His eyes went wide, and he shouted my name. In an instant, he was bolting toward us.

Then, he stopped cold. I felt a steel blade against my throat.

“Don’t fucking move,” a choked American-accented voice growled. “I will gut this bitch right here.”

“It’s okay,” Theo answered, raising a calming hand and looking into my eyes.

“Lie face down on the carpet,” my abductor demanded.

Theo slowly obliged, first going to his knees, then lying forward.

We were moving again, my captor and me, backward down the hall and into a service stairwell. He was pulling me off the main hallways to avoid the partying students.

“Keep quiet, cunt,” he demanded. “We’re leaving this place, nice and easy.”

With creeping steps, we descended to ground level, but just as we were about to leave the building, a piercing screech surprised us. There was a half-naked couple necking under the steps. The girl saw us and screamed.

I felt my attacker’s grip loosen slightly on my mouth. As fast and as hard as I could, I clamped my teeth around his hand and chomped down. I felt the leather of his glove give way, then the skin of his hand. Then, I felt blood stream down my chin.

“Goddammit!” he cried, letting me go and grabbing his wounded hand.

The barely clothed couple fled up the stairs. I was about to follow them when I saw Theo leap from the landing one flight up and come down hard on my attacker. The second they were on the floor, he started punching the guy hard and fast.