Witch Born - LJ Swallow Page 0,58
How many here are being groomed, ready for an offer from Marcus?
I glance at a couple of shifter guys resting against the wall outside the common room. Some of these kids killed and would again.
I could wait until tomorrow to speak to Ethan, but he needs to know some of his theories are true, and he’s more stable than Zeke currently. I’m unable to push the kiss out of my mind despite his insistence he’s no interest in touching me again, and I’m lying if this isn’t an excuse to see him.
I take a look outside, but he’s absent from his usual solitary spot still. Zeke isn’t around either, so I head to my room to digest Marcus’s words and calm my fear. I mechanically unlock the door and step into the only place in Ravenhold I see as a sanctuary.
“Shit, sorry,” I mumble at the sight greeting me.
Oriana and a guy I can’t identify are wrapped up in each other on her bed. Naked. There’s no hiding what they’re doing to each other—something I should not and do not want to see.
One glimpse of his naked backside and I look the other way.
Oriana laughs and cranes her head over his shoulder.
“I thought you were with your lovers this weekend. Sorry!” she calls as I back out the room twice as fast as I walked in.
Cheeks burning to match the vision now seared across my eyeballs, I stumble away. How long will they be? I won’t be able to look Oriana in the face again.
I wander around the academy debating whether to return to my room—I could bang on the door, and ask Oriana to finish what she’s doing, but I can’t imagine the words coming from my mouth. I’m stuck because I’m a prudish coward.
Defeated, I head back to the common room. I could always finish my jigsaw. Ha ha. As I approach, I spot Ethan leaving, holding a mug. He strides as purposefully as ever and he’s halfway along the hallway before I can catch him. I’m not shouting to him now, especially with people around. Oriana’s friends are already convinced that I’m his lover.
I should be so lucky.
My response to Ethan’s threatened darkness confuses me. I’ve experienced coercion from Ivan in the past and resorted to magic in retaliation, but something about Ethan’s behaviour adds a thrill. He almost feels the opposite—wanting to control himself and not me. There’s the danger he could go too far, and I’d risk him losing the restraint if I allow him to.
But the real problem is he won’t allow himself.
Now I understand why girls at the academy see him as a challenge.
Glancing around, I pick up my pace too and keep behind him far enough for him to not hear me. Ethan pauses outside a door and lifts his head. “Hot tip for you: don’t try to stalk shifters.”
“I’m not stalking you,” I protest.
He shifts to look down at me, leaning against the door. “What do you want?”
I’m put out by his gruff tone. “I have to speak to you.”
“Find me at breakfast tomorrow.” He pulls a key from his pocket. “I’m spending the day alone.”
“Ethan. This is important. Marcus dragged me into his office earlier and threatened me.”
He stiffens and he looks back to me with a dark expression. “He did what?”
I swallow. “I think you’re right about our powers and I know why. Ethan, if I don’t do what they ask, the Confederacy will take me to Nighthold.”
Ethan’s face shadows further. “What do they want you to do?”
“I can’t talk about this in the hallway, Ethan.”
He doesn’t react, merely stares at me and blows air into his cheeks before turning back to unlocking his door.
“Please,” I say, annoyed at how my voice cracks. “I need somebody to talk to and you’re the only one I trust.”
Making a soft, derisive sound, Ethan pushes open the unlocked door. “I warned you about trusting me.” I make to step after Ethan, and he blocks my way into the room. “What are you doing?”
“Talk to me!” I protest and fight back tears. I’m alone and facing something I can’t comprehend or cope with, more lost in this place than I ever was stuck in my non-life on my family estate. “I need you right now. Don’t be an arsehole.”
He blinks. “Find me at breakfast tomorrow. I don’t want you in my room.”
I switch tack and straighten, pissed off with his hot and cold attitude. “No.”
“You’re prepared to step into my room after what