Chapter 10

Sleeping without Vexer, without a warm, living person, wasn’t easy for me, not right now. I was so scared that I was going to wake up and start exorcising spirits in my sleep that I’d been staying on the couch. Trubble slept in the nearest chair and even though he was a total bum-hole and a complete weirdo, it was comforting. I liked the sound of his breath.

Elijah tried to convince me to come upstairs, but as much as I wanted to not sleep up there with him and Air, I was too tired from class and too scared that I’d end up falling asleep afterward and hurting someone.

Instead, I laid on the small couch, drifting in and out of strange dreams until I finally pulled myself up and dragged my tired butt over to the empty area in the front of the house. Carefully, I went over my mother’s drawing of the runes, recreating the circle Jas had made the other day from scratch. The silver ash sparkled in the low light of the gas lamp on the wall, the orange and yellow flames flickering in the darkness.

“Did you want some help?” Trubble asked from my left, standing there shirtless and dressed in some of Airmienan’s silk pj pants. He was a gorgeous, gorgeous man, this shadow fox. As he watched me, his thick purple tails swayed seductively.

“After the help you gave me today? No thank you.” I went over the runes in my head, drawing and redrawing each one until I felt like they were burned into the deepest recesses of my brain. Trubble waited a few moments and then came over to sit beside me, regardless of whether I wanted him there or not.

“I didn’t do that on my own,” he purred, but I ignored him. I was not looking for yet another love interest. Prince Air was my childhood sweetheart; Vexer was the strong sturdy man I needed now; Elijah was a ghost that I desperately wanted to bring back to life. And then there was Talon, my first kiss, trapped in the belly of a wolf.

I sighed and glanced over at the shadow. He looked just like Dyre now, like any other kitsune, but when I reached out with that dark magic inside of me, I could feel it. Trubble was a force to be reckoned with and now, he was mine. He was bound to me and as such, I could control him if I absolutely had to. It’d be a struggle of wills, that was for sure, but it could be done.

“There must be something wrong with me,” I said as I stood up and started to pace the edge of the circle, looking for any imperfections. “A sex whisperer on campus that hates me or something.”

“Maybe you’ve just opened up to the idea of having a harem? Once you’re receptive to something, it can manifest itself without you even realizing it.” Trubble stood up and followed along behind me, pausing abruptly at the top of the circle, in the direction Hellim’s five-pointed star was facing.

“That’s your excuse as for why I rubbed all over some random guy’s lap?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. Trubble’s mouth quirked at the edge and slowly, he lifted his gaze to meet mine.

“I’m not some random guy,” he told me with pure confidence. He was so certain about it that I almost believed him, too. “I’m your new shadow. At least until you resurrect my big brother, right? I could be around for quite some time, according to your estimates.”

“This isn’t exactly the easiest spell in the world to cast,” I snapped as Trubble bent down and touched his fingers to the silver ash, readjusting one of my runes. He sat back on his haunches and stared at the layout for a while. “As far as I know, it’s never been cast before.”

“The gods would’ve cast it,” he corrected me, “before sending the spell down to the world. They always do.” He rose to his feet again, moved another quarter of the way around, and did the same thing to another rune. “There, try that,” he announced, getting back up and swiping his hands down the front of those silky pj’s. As he did that, a bit of the dust rose up in the air and he sneezed.

As soon as he did that, I felt it, a surge of magic that whipped right out of me and into the shadow boy … turning him right back into a fox.

“This is an outrage,” Trubble said, sitting on the edge of the fancy windowsill and flicking his tails in irritation. The morning sunshine reflected off his purple fur while the white runes on his forehead gleamed with magic … and irritation. “I want my other form back.”

“Well, I want my wing color back!” I said, flexing my snow-white wings and wondering how in Hellim’s too tight leather pants that I was supposed to explain this to all of my professors—particularly Professor Tiukka, who I was supposed to meet with today.

I shrugged into my white Royal College jacket and buttoned it up over the tight camisole underneath it. I was wearing pants today because, really, with the wing issue, the last thing I wanted to worry about was a teeny little skirt. I’d tripped six times this week and skinned both of my knees to scabby lumps. Now, I was prepared for my clumsiness in black breeches with dark brown leather patches at the knees. Practical was the name of the game today.

“Surely, there’s some way to change me back,” Trubble pleaded, snarling at his brother when the spirit of poor Dyre of Ha stepped into the room. He seemed to be aware of the Amerin issue with bedrooms; this part of the house was our sacred place and we didn’t like strangers in it. “What do you want?”

“For you to stop acting like a fool and embarrassing me and yourself,” Dyre hissed, tapping his katana on the wood floor and giving the tiny purple fox a look. “You had more time in that form now than you’ve ever had before; be grateful for it and stop whining.”

“Stop being a virgin for fuck’s sake!” Trubble snarled at him, raising his butt in the air and lowering his front half. He looked fierce as Hellim like that, with all those razor-sharp teeth. “You’re virgin-ness is starting to drive me insane!”

“Your self-centered rudeness is driving me insane!” Dyre yelled right back, copper eyes blazing. For a moment there, I could see the color in his irises, the anger and frustration toward his brother making his body corporeal for a brief time. When he stepped back and slicked his fingers through his not-quite-as-lavender-as-it-should-be hair, he was just a blue-white shimmer again. “Get out of Brynn’s bedroom and come downstairs.”

“I’ll do as I please,” Trubble said, sitting back down and narrowing his eyes at his brother. “You are no longer my keeper.” Both boys fluff and flick their silly tails around in irritation at the same time they flatten their fuzzy ears against their skulls. “If you weren’t such a virgin all the time, you’d be nicer to me.”

“Stop wielding my virginity like a weapon,” Dyre snapped back, turning and storming … right through the wall of my bedroom. New ghosts. I sighed and stuffed my feet into boots, tapping the toes against the floor to readjust them.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a virgin,” I said as Trubble rolled his eyes and followed me out the door and down the stairs. Even though he was back in fox form, I couldn’t stop thinking about sitting on his lap in class yesterday. None of the guys had mentioned it, but they knew. And now, tonight, when I was supposed to be having dinner with Vex, I’d have to tell him all about it.

Ugh.

And this is why I’d never been big on having a harem.

The embarrassment was going to end up killing me.

“If there’s nothing wrong with being a virgin, then why aren’t you one?” Trubble asked, just as we hit the bottom of the stairs and I found Airmienan standing there waiting for me. His sea green eyes bored into mine as the word virgin settled in the air around us.

Why wasn’t I a virgin?

Because of Air. Because I loved him. Because I’d have done anything to get closer to him and sex just seemed like the perfect way to do that.

“I want to speak to my mother this weekend,” he said, his voice low and sad. He must’ve felt this gap growing between us. I felt it, too, and I didn’t like it, but there was always this natural barrier between the living and the dead. This is exactly what I’d been so afraid of. It didn’t help that Air had to stay hidden all day either. He couldn’t stand beside me in the lunch line like Professor Cross or help me out in class like Elijah. “On Sunday, we need to go see her.”

“Okay,” I told him and then paused. Before I could overthink, I curled my arms around his waist and pulled him close. At first, he was ice-cold, but the longer I held him, the tighter I held him, the warmer he became. When he put his palm on the back of my head, I almost died. “I love you,” I whispered, just because I couldn’t say it enough. No matter what happened, that would never change.

Airmienan of Hekkett, he had my love forever.

We pulled apart and I rose up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.

It was meant to be sensual, but soft, loving, affectionate … and instead, I smacked my face into Air’s and made us both grunt.

“Ship,” I cursed as I rubbed my knuckles along my bloody lip. Figures. I’d be the one to hurt myself on an incorporeal spirit. Air just laughed and flashed that big, sharp, shark grin with all those slightly pointed teeth of his. He had that handsome, princely Air about him in that moment that I hadn’t been seeing a lot of lately.

“We need to get going,” Jas said, her footsteps sounding across the floor as she made her way over from the spell circle to stand beside us. As soon as Air glanced away, she raised her dark brows at me and winked with a horrible amount of exaggeration.

I ignored her and grabbed a few fresh rolls from the kitchen, heading out for our hour one class with Professor Cross. He always seemed happiest at this time of day, like sharing knowledge was a serious turn-on for him. I was still dying to know how he …well, how he died, but I guess he’d tell me in his own time.

Jasinda opened the door and ushered us all out, Elijah’s sapphire eyes catching on mine as he slipped past. I stepped out behind him with the little fox trotting after my heels, ridiculously self-conscious of my white wings. Nobody stared or leered like I was imagining in my head, but that’s only because they didn’t know me. As soon as I stumbled on someone who—

“Oh, flub.”

“What in Haversey’s Heaven have you done to yourself?” Felixa asked, waiting for me around the corner with her handler in tow. She spread her butter-yellow wings wide and gaped at me as I folded my own close and continued walking, breezing right past her. I hadn’t done anything illegal or immoral or against Royal college, and frankly, it wasn’t any of her business anyway. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re up to something weird in that house,” she growled out at me, her perfect little pleated skirt folded and wrinkle free, her red second-year jacket pressed and polished.

“I’m not in the mood today,” I told her, moving across the cobblestones as quickly as I could. Since Spicer was the teacher for my hour one class, and he was attached to me on an eighty foot tether, I couldn’t exactly be late, now could I?

“Is that a glamour?” Felixa continued while I continued to ignore her. “It must be,” she murmured to herself, blue eyes flashing. “And a powerful one, too. I don’t see what else could erase the sign of a god’s blessing …”

“Are you done yet?” I demanded, pausing next to the soft trickling of a fountain. The warning bell chimed in the tower as Professor Cross waited on the edge of the building’s stepped and looked back at us, anxious to go inside. He was a tad kooky, a bit strange, but he also hated being late. “Why are you so obsessed with me and everything I do?”

Felixa narrowed her eyes at me and spun away in a huff, smacking me in the face with her long, blonde hair. In my darkest fantasies, I reached out and snatched a handful of it, yanking her back and then elbowing her right in the boob.

Bitch.

A white feather drifted off and floated on the breeze. Trubble raised his head to give it a sniff as it passed, and it slide along the length of his nose. As soon as that happened, I could feel it; we were in for some trouble. The little purple and white fox twitched his tails—and his nose, once, twice, three times … and then he sneezed.

Once again, magic rippled out around us, causing Felixa and her handler to stop dead in their tracks. They gaped at me and my motley crew as Trubble went up in a swirl of smoke and lights … and then sat naked on the cobblestone pathway.

“Oh,” he mused, not at all concerned by the fact that his … balls were sitting on cold rock. “That’s how it works? A sneeze?” Trubble pushed to his feet and even though I couldn’t see him, I could feel Dyre watching us.

Jasinda reached out and poked lightly at the edge of one of my feathers.

“You’re back,” she said as I shifted my wings so I could get a look for myself.

Oh.

Ebony feathers drifted in an easy breeze as I blinked stupidly and tried to get a grip on the situation.

“A sneeze?” Elijah asked, shifting his own beautiful white wings in confusion and tucking his hands in his pockets. He was so good at playing the lazy slouch that I almost believed it sometimes. But there was this sense of cunning intelligence in his blues eyes that never quite went away. “How in the fuck did that happen?”

“Well, the rune for rebirth is awfully close to the rune for sneeze,” Trubble said, and he was grinning so wide that I couldn’t tell if he was joking or just seriously gods-damned excited. Feather, pop.

“There’s an ancient rune written by the gods that means … sneeze?” Elijah asked as Felixa stormed over to us, eyes flashing. She clutched at the Haversey steel hanging around her neck like she was all of ten seconds away from exorcising someone, anyone, if she could only get her hands on them.

“What in Heaven is this?” she asked, pointing at Trubble’s naked body … and his half-erect cock standing at attention in the cool air. “You’ve got a shapeshifting shadow that you carry around now?”

“None of your business,” I told her yet again, reaching out for Trubble’s hand … and touching his penis on accident. Oh flub. Oh, flub, flub, flub. I snatched my hand back and held it against my chest while Trubble threw his head back and laughed, holding his arms out on either side of his body and gazing up at the sky as it began to rain again.

“I’m free,” he whispered, and then with a satisfied, male chuckle decided to add, “and Brynn of Haversey is so excited she can’t keep her hands off my cock. This,” he continued, dropping his chin down to look at us, “is a cause for celebration.”

“It’s a cause to get you some clothing,” I said, trying again and successfully grabbing his hand this time. I hated to admit it, but his fingers were warm and felt so dang good against my own. Plus, that lotus blossom scent of his was driving me almost literally insane.

“If I don’t show up for class,” Spicer said, appearing beside us and completely and utterly ignoring Felixa and her handler, “then I’ll be fired for sure.” He gave me an apologetic sort of look as I shrugged out of my white jacket, cursing under my breath as I tied it around Trubble’s waist and let the dangling sleeves hide his dangling … well, you know. His dick.

“You are such an angel,” he said as he glanced down at his makeshift outfit. “Nudity is not the end of the world.” It wasn’t, no, and it wasn’t exactly illegal in Amerin, but nobody in their right mind walked around nude. Still, it wasn’t that part of the equation that was bothering me so much. No, it was the fact that I was attracted to all of that nudity that I was seeing. Not good.

“You can’t ignore me forever!” Felixa screamed as I dragged Trubble across the cobblestones and into the big building where Professor Cross had spent too many years of his life. I shoved the naked boy into a chair and then flopped down next to him, covered in sweat and flushed from head to toe.

A sneeze.

A flubbing sneeze turned a boy into a fox, and vice versa, turned my wings a different shade, and just generally flubbed my whole flubbing life around.

A smile curved my lips as I sat there, but I quickly pushed it back. It wouldn’t do to let anyone that I was actually enjoying this chaos. But if something as silly as a sneeze could cause a man to shift forms … then why couldn’t a spell sent by the gods bring one back to life?