me as I saw Ethan swaying in his seat, holding an empty tankard.
He was drunk. I’d been gone for five minutes. How much ale had he had in that time?
Kiara seemed apologetic as I sat back down. “I’m sorry, Emma. We tried telling him to stop.”
“It’s okay.” I noticed people were staring. The reporters and paparazzi would notice him any minute— if they hadn’t already.
Alexei eyed Ethan. “Dude, you need to stop drinking.”
“I’ll be fine,” Ethan slurred. “I’m not even drunk.”
“Bullshit,” Alexei hissed. “You’re done.”
Alexei took the mug away. Ethan took a swing at him and missed. I was shocked. Ethan had never behaved in this way.
“And that’s your cue to go home,” Stefan said. He grabbed Ethan around the shoulders and held him back. “Come on, buddy.”
“Let me go!” Ethan tried to lunge away from Stefan, but I leapt up and wrapped my arms around him, so he didn’t make a scene. Ethan calmed at my touch, but the moment I let him go he started freaking out again.
Stefan jerked his head in the other direction. “I’m going to need your help.”
“Got it,” I breathed. I put one of Ethan’s arms around my shoulders— godsdamn, he was heavy. “See you guys later.”
“Sure you don’t need assistance?” Alexei asked.
“Keep the press busy,” Stefan quickly said. His eyes were hooked on a reporter on the other side of the tent, who had a camera and was covering the event. He hadn’t noticed us yet, but he would.
“No problem.” Delmare smiled. She stood up from her seat and began shouting loudly at Kiara. “Excuse me? What did you say to me, bitch?”
“Huh?” Kiara asked, bewildered. Before she could do anything, Delmare had picked her up. She literally threw Kiara across the table, into a group of sorceresses. They screamed— one spilled her ale on another’s dress, and the girl reacted by pushing her down.
Their mates got involved. Almost instantaneously, the tent changed from a party into a drunken brawl. Alexei turned into a griffin and pounced, to stand over Kiara and protect her from being stepped on. In moments, the Arcanea Alliance was in the middle of the fight, trying to sort things out. Stefan and I were able to slip Ethan out the back, but not before Elijah saw us leaving.
He smirked. He knew he was getting to Ethan.
Screw you, I hissed inside my head. Never had I hated him more, at that moment.
Stefan and I dragged Ethan to a carriage. Even with Stefan’s help, it was no easy effort. The guy was twice the size of me. Ethan moaned— he looked positively green. Before I got him into the carriage, he wretched and threw up ale all over the curb.
The carriage driver sneered, but I tossed him an extra coin, and he kept quiet. “I’ve got to get him back to Arcanea University.”
“I’m coming with you.” Stefan climbed inside.
The ride back to school felt like it took forever, and every bump in the road made Ethan gag. Thankfully, he didn’t puke again until we got him back to the university, after the carriage had stopped.
My nose wrinkled as I watched Ethan vomit into a collection of bushes. “By gods, how much did he drink?”
“More than I’ve ever seen before,” Stefan admitted. “He took it hard.”
I was going to kill Gabby and Elijah. “Help me get him to his room.”
Ethan was so sloppy on his feet, we more or less had to carry him. When we got to his dorm, I shoved Ethan on the bed. He fell like a sack of potatoes.
Stefan thumbed at the hallway. “I’m gonna give you two some space.” He closed the door behind him. I worked on yanking off my mate’s boots, though Ethan sloppily stood up and tried pushing me off.
“Get off me, miss. I’m mated,” Ethan slurred.
“Godsdammit, you stupid wolf, it’s me!” I said. I was about tired of this.
“No!” he cried. Again, he tried to push me off. “I love... Em... ma.”
“It’s very honorable you don’t want to cheat on me with myself.” Still, affection bloomed inside of me at his admission. He’d never said he loved me before. But I bet he’d forget he said that in the morning.
As stupid as this situation was right now, his actions were kind of sweet. Ethan was so drunk he couldn’t walk straight, and he was still intent on being faithful to me. Guess I didn’t have to worry about infidelity.
Ethan wretched. I ran to grab the trash can before he could hurl all