The Shadow Student (Wraithwood Academy #1) - Teresa Hann Page 0,45

day after I’d beaten him up. We were even, more or less. In a weird way, the blood we’d shed had bound us closer.

“I brought snacks,” said Acubens, producing an assortment of tiny chocolate-covered pastries. The cuffs of his shirt rode up as he set down the box, revealing purpling bruises on the fair skin of his forearms—the bruises I’d left yesterday while pinning him down. All his other visible injuries were gone, so he must have specifically left these ones untouched by magical healing.

That fucker, I thought, even as a rush of heat went through me. I took a pastry to distract myself, deciding not to wonder whether eating was allowed in the library. But I made a point of waiting for Acubens to take a bite of his pastry before I tried mine—just in case.

Aegis, I noted, didn’t even take one. Arcturus wasn’t the only paranoid chaperone in this room.

“These are really good,” said Darshan, raising his eyebrows, once he’d chewed and swallowed. I had to agree. The balance of sweet and salty, crunchy and smooth, was perfect.

Acubens looked smug. “I take care of everything that requires good taste in the family.”

“Oh,” I said blandly. “I assumed that Arcturus still picked out your clothes.”

Acubens practically swelled with indignation. “I pick out his clothes! I’ve been picking out his clothing since I was ten! His taste is trash and his only saving grace is that he usually knows it!” He shot a glare at Arcturus, who stared back in obvious displeasure. I hid a snicker as I wondered what unresolved wardrobe disputes they were dredging up.

But it did make me like Acubens more, to see that he had skills and interests beyond being awful. It impressed me further when he huffily cracked open his textbook and actually started to study, even if he fidgeted the whole time. Before today, I’d never seen him in a context other than violent, provocatively sexual, or both, and it was almost weird to see him acting like a normal student.

Frankly, I was having a harder time focusing on my textbook than he was.

Acubens’s talk of clothes had made me notice his. His dark silk shirt was perfectly fitted, clinging to his movements just a little too intimately, hinting at the muscles underneath. He’d left the top two buttons undone, revealing the pale, sculpted line of his throat.

I was staring. I was staring, and Arcturus had noticed, shooting me a look of pure murder that I determinedly ignored.

Then Acubens himself turned my way, about to ask me a question, when he caught me looking.

He looked delighted. “Oh, that was quick! I thought it would take some gratuitous stretching exercises. Maybe spilling something on my shirt. Cly Redbriar, will you grab dinner with me Friday after midterms?”

Darshan nearly choked on a pastry. Aegis stared at a fixed point in space. Arcturus’s glare somehow managed to intensify.

“I think I have whiplash right now,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose. “But, actually? Yes.”

Partly because he might not be completely irredeemable.

Partly because he was absurdly good-looking.

And partly to see the expression on Arcturus’s face.

Chapter 20

I spotted Acubens and Arcturus waiting for me outside the lecture hall as I walked out of my Lower Magic midterm on Friday.

“So that’s… really happening, huh,” said Darshan.

“Yep,” I said, surprised to find myself smiling. “I’ll fill you in on all the gory details tomorrow morning.”

Darshan pulled a face. “I can’t believe we’re working on that Higher Magic project. Right after midterms. On a Saturday. I’ve never felt like this much of a nerd in my life.”

“Hey, given we just won a duel against the Nightfelds using material related to our project topic, we might as well recycle the research while it’s fresh in our minds.” I grinned. “Besides, that way, I’ll suffer less if Arcturus challenges me to another duel for his brother’s honor before finals.”

“Oh god, don’t put me through that again,” groaned Darshan. “Unlike Acubens, I’m not into getting pummeled in front of a large audience.”

“I’ll make sure he keeps his pants on,” I promised, before making my way toward Acubens.

“About time!” said Acubens, hooking his arm into mine the moment I got within range. “Come on, I’m starving!” He wore a deep red waistcoat over his shirt this time, and pulled it off really, really well. I wondered if the color was a nod to my supposed family; if it was, I wondered what Arcturus thought of it.

Arcturus definitely didn’t look pleased to be here. “He almost