in two, and the White Rose wavered. The cost of casting the spell hit her hard, and she fell to one knee.
She was tired. She breathed in heavy pants as I approached. She looked up— her brown hair splayed across her face as I advanced.
“I’m going to tear you to shreds.” I had every intention of doing so. This woman had foiled me twice. She wouldn’t again.
I ran, jaws extended toward her middle. The White Rose forced herself to stand and did a few complicated, hasty maneuvers with her hands. A portal opened beside her, spinning rapidly and shooting off sparks that hissed as they hit the snow.
She was getting away! I was within range— I changed back into a man and reached out my hand to grab her. The White Rose bolted. My fingers uselessly grazed her cloak as she jumped through the portal. It sealed shut behind her, leaving me alone in the meadow.
I screamed a cry of rage and kicked the snow. Why did the gods see fit to torture me like this? I wanted to follow, but I didn’t know where she had gone, and I was useless at portal magic. Couldn’t make a decent one if I tried.
I put a hand to the gash she’d given my chest. It was bleeding, but wasn’t deep. I wouldn’t even need stitches. I’d bandage it up when I got home. My shifter healing abilities would mend the wound by tomorrow.
Yet if she’d been a bit faster, she would’ve gotten my heart.
I huffed. I’d never get anywhere with my missions if this woman kept interfering. With her as a guard, the Black Claw would remain safe from my attacks. And that was something wholly unacceptable.
I was changing my strategy. The Black Claw would have to wait, because I needed to discover the identity of the White Rose.
February first was a freezing and dreary day in Malovia. Clouds had settled over the school, putting everything into a muddled shade of gray.
It didn’t help my mood. I knew I’d been in a bad way since my second confrontation with the White Rose. Something Stefan was quick to point out.
“Would you please pull the hockey stick out of your ass?” Stefan complained as we left the locker room together after practice. “If you need help, bend over.”
“Ha, ha,” I said sarcastically. The last thing on my mind was hockey at the moment— though I had to admit, my performance today had been rather poor.
“You nearly took out Yan with one of your shots,” Stefan countered. “You’re not on your game.”
It was true. I’d shot toward the goal, but wasn’t paying attention and hurtled the puck at one of my teammates, Yan. If he hadn’t ducked, the puck would have smashed into his face and knocked him out.
I gave a frustrated sigh. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t think I’m cut out for this. I’m going to quit the team.”
“What the Fuck? You’re our star player!” Stefan shouted.
“Not anymore.” On average, I usually scored two goals in our games against opposing teams. During the last three, I’d yet to sink one. I hadn’t managed to put anything on the scoreboard after the King’s Contest ended, and our roster was suffering horribly for it. “I should back out and give some other guy a spot on the team. Someone who can actually make points.”
“Dude, you can’t give up hockey,” Stefan said .
“It’s hardly fun anymore,” I said, though the comment hurt to say aloud. Elijah was on the team with us. I couldn’t even get away from him at the rink. We’d been playing hockey together since we were kids. On any given day I could put up with him and enjoy the sport, except in the last few weeks, he’d been intolerable to skate with. He acted like he owned the team now that he was to be crowned king. Lucien, who was our coach, constantly butted heads with him. Elijah thought he was the gods’ gift to hockey and insisted on creating all the plays, no matter how stupid or ineffective they were. The team spent more time standing around watching them argue than actually practicing.
It was getting old. I hoped when we had our next game, someone from the opposing team put him in his place. It’d be nice to see Elijah get clobbered into the wall by a brutal check, or better yet, get the shit beat out of him during an on-ice fight. It was the only legal way anyone