led to the third floor, and I couldn’t see any more of the upstairs beyond the halls leading to separate wings of the house. Past the giant staircase, a massive three-story great room flowed into a kitchen. I stared at the group of chefs, and one in a tall white hat barked orders at the others, making me avert my gaze. This party was catered?
Yum.
“Stop gawking,” Nell said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the wall of windows on the other side.
Music blared from outside, and it was only as we approached that I noticed the wall of windows was a set of sliding doors, all pushed to the side and opened fully. We stepped through the opening and onto the back patio.
“You know this place?” I asked, still freaked by the sound of my voice. If I knew no one would know, I’d be tempted to sing.
Hello, it’s me…
She nodded. “The Midnight princes grew up here before they moved into the dorms. They hosted the party here last year too.”
Of course they did. I rolled my eyes heavenward and then looked around with increased scrutiny. The virtues grew up here? Pretty posh. Not that I expected anything less of the alpha king's children. Or nephews. Or whatever. Heirs.
Nell led us outside and down a set of patio stairs, through a garden pathway lit by ground lanterns. When the walkway opened up into a large clearing, I gasped.
I don’t know what I’d been expecting but … not this. This was absolutely magical.
“I heard their mom, the headmistress, does all the decorating,” Kaja whispered.
Mom … headmistress? That’s where I recognized her! The woman who gave the concluding speech had the same dark hair as her boys, and those green eyes were a dead ringer for Justice and Rage.
“The king’s wife?” My brow furrowed in confusion. “Wouldn’t that be their aunt?”
Nell shook her head. “Their father, the king’s brother, died. So when the alpha king took over, he took her and the boys in. Married her and made them his heirs.”
Whoa. That was actually kind of sweet for a total douchebag psycho who screamed abusively at them. King A-hole had to be sterile, or maybe their mom wouldn’t sleep with him. Before I could ask any more questions, my gaze was pulled to the party.
The back yard, if you could call it that, was like a mini forest, at least an acre of manicured green land with thick canopy trees with glowing purple flowers.
I pointed to the flowering tree. “My dad told me about those.” These were all over the island, not just the academy grounds, so my father was able to talk about them. Too bad everything else about this school was a mystery.
Kaja nodded. “Those flowers make a powerful sedative.”
I knew that too. The extract was distilled and sold both in the mortal and magic world. The exclusive location of the flower accounted for a large portion of the werewolves’ wealth. Well, most werewolves’ wealth, the ones who weren’t excommunicated.
My gaze ran over the white silk tents set up on the lawn and the swimming pool, glowing blue to green to purple. The most amazing part was the fireballs suspended in mid-air, illuminating the magical space.
“Like what you see, ladies?” a man asked, his deep voice unfamiliar.
I spun to see a large muscular guy in a black tuxedo and black mask grinning at us like a fool.
Hmm. Nolan? Rage? Justice? Could be anyone. All the males were huge and probably said douchy things like “Like what you see, ladies?”
“You live here?” I hedged to him.
The dude scoffed. “Breaking the rules. You must be a newbie.”
I crossed my arms. “Second year actually.”
Hey, if I was going to be someone else tonight, I might as well go all out and full-blown lie.
The guy looked from me to Kaja to Nell, who’d just joined us, and the music slowed to a soft and sexy beat.
“Dance with me?” He extended his arm to Nell, who grinned.
“I’d be delighted.” She took it, and the two of them strolled over to where two other couples swayed to the beat.
Kaja eyed a food tent and yanked me toward it. “Let’s grub. I heard they serve mage wine at this thing.”
Mage wine. My dad let me have some once. A trader had brought it in with our usual haul. I’d laughed hysterically at everything Lona had said and then started crying and told my dad I wished I’d grown up with a mother. Suffice it to say,