Page 37 of Fatality on the Field

When we finally step through, the mood is a bit somber, with the siren, the bear, and my prince surrounding their mate quietly. The professor and I are more stoic, but that’s because we’re not in the inner circle yet. The damn thing dumps us out in a different place than before, and the first thing that hits me is the fucking freezing goddamn temperature. Winter has definitely arrived on the surface and none of us are dressed for this shit.

“Let’s get home quickly before we turn into blocks of ice,” Liam says as he looks around with a disgusted expression. “This is not my preferred season, and I’d rather not use magic so we don’t bring unwanted attention.”

Morgana chuckles as she nods, looking around with a grimace. “Yeah, I’m not a fan either. Come on, guys, we’re not that far. We can walk home and reset at my place.”

Liam and I will have to go back to our place to check-in with Faerie and grab things, but I can let that go until we’re back. Being out of contact with the court will have consequences, but it’s nothing we can’t handle if we’re afforded the time.

“Agreed. Who knows what the fuck has happened here while we spent time in the underworld?” Lucas says with a grin. “Maybe they’ve found another murder to pin on me. Wouldn’t be a surprise or anything at this point.”

The kid has a sense of humor, I’ll give him that, but fuck, I hope he’s wrong.

“Holy fuck, look at this pile of mail…” Iggy blinks as we enter the Dean’s house and are confronted with piles of packages and physical mail stacked around the entryway. It’s obvious that the two days we spent below were not two days here and Channing must have been cleaning this up while we were MIA.

I frown as the group moves beyond that nightmare into the main living room, shaking my head. “We won’t even be able to decipher that until tomorrow. And if this is the tangible shit, I shudder to think about what the fuck most of you will have electronically. We need to figure out how fucking long we were gone.”

Slade waves his phone at me. “It’s reset already. We were gone for a week and a half.”

That’s exactly when everyone’s devices catch up and the yelps of surprise as the cacophony of messages, alerts, and whatever else hits us. I pull my phone out and pitch it toward the back room where Morgana prefers to gather with a grunt of irritation. “Nope. Not doing that right now.”

Liam laughs, shaking his head. “Probably the best idea, actually. Everyone ditch that shit for now.”

“Gladly,” Morgana replies as she tosses hers as well. “Now, I’m going up to shower, change, and try to get myself settled. Everyone else should do that, too, and we can meet where the phones are chilling to order food.”

“We have to pop by my place to contact home and get some things,” I say carefully. “It’s important, and I’m not being contrary in saying so.”

“Oh, yeah,” Li groans. “We do; Kas is right. If anyone was looking for us and didn’t get a response for that long, we’re lucky there’s not a fucking armed force patrolling the campus looking for us.”

There might be anyway, but it wouldn’t be those sorts of soldiers—the King would send the Knaves.

“Do you need to go back to your apartment?” Morgana asks the prof and the siren. “If so, that’s fine. We can just gather here when everyone’s ready. Someone will have to call Channing, and she’ll need to call Jax and his crew.”

Iggy shakes his head. “No, we have enough here for now. We may need to address this whole living thing a bit more for Slade and me later, but that’s not important right now.”

Damn. He’s really feeling confident about his one-eighty, huh?

Surprisingly, the woman in charge just nods. “I believe you’re right, Iggy. The danger has gotten worse, and I’m not comfortable leaving some of the things we have dangling ripe for the plucking.”

I frown, cocking my head as I ask, “Such as?”

“Like getting the rest of this bullshit from Magnus out and into the hands of the archivists. Getting everyone into the same area so we know they’re safe and not being kidnapped or murdered during the night. Cleaning up this fucking mess of shit that accumulated in the hall and my office, so I can ditch all these suspicious assholes on campus.”

The gargoyle put her hands on her hips, her expression serious as she pins us each with a determined look. “I’m tired of being behind the eight-ball in so many places that it’s putting us in danger. I want to make room for my new friends and for doing things that have not one single fucking thing to do with my long-departed ex. Is that okay?”

Slade grins at Iggy, who does the same to Lucas, and it moves to Li before he arches a brow at me. I roll my eyes. “Why the hell would I be mad about that? It’s perfectly reasonable, and I think it’s a laudable goal. Whether we can accomplish it anytime soon is another story, but I’m behind that plan.”

“Okay, then,” the bear says as he steps into our circle of attention with a tired wave. “All decided. Fae and dragons, head to your place and do stuff. Come back when you’re done. We all go upstairs and get cleaned up. Regroup in the living room, call Chan Chan, order food, and try not to obsess over the fact that we’re deluged with shit that we need a shovel to get out of.”

When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound so hard… but our life isn’t that simple.

“How could you risk the life of my son and the heir to the Daybreak Court by doing such a reckless thing?!”

It takes a lot to deal with Li’s father, especially when he’s in full-on rant mode. I knew the King would be angry, and so would my father. However, I’m not really worried about it as much as I normally would be because there are much bigger problems on the horizon than Alwyn’s tantrums. His largesse has allowed the Hand to grow powerful enough to pair up with all those other losers in a villain consortium. The damn royals of Faerie have spent too long fighting one another over bullshit, and now traitors like Goldenash are working to fuck up all the realms, not just the one where the Courts reign.

It pisses my dragon off, and holding that in isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially because I’m exhausted as hell.

“Father, Kaspar protects me, but he does not rule my decisions. I chose to accompany my friends to Hell, and the responsibility for that trip falls on no one but me.”

“Nonsense!”