I would not go there. Ethan was off limits. The friend zone was where he was, and where he would stay.
Wally tapped my forearm. “You think they might keep us all here?”
I looked between them. “If the other houses have been hit, and they don’t want to send us home untrained, they only have one logical choice. The safest place is the one that wasn’t breached.”
Ethan’s jaw ticked. “The House of Wonder is set up to be a final standing ground should war ever come to our world—seeing as we are the strongest of all the houses.”
I rolled my eyes. “Shocking, you think you’re the best.”
He ignored me and went on. “Besides, we have sets of rooms for each of the houses because this is where the monthly games are held. But I doubt it will come to that. It’s probably not as bad as the other houses are making it sound. You’ll be gone by sundown.”
A tingle down my spine said otherwise, and I laughed in his face. “Wanna bet on that?”
He crossed his arms and tipped his head to the side. “You think that you’ll end up staying here? I know you want to stick close to me, Wild, but don’t get desperate. It’s not a good look on you.” He gave me a slow smile.
I put a fist on one hip. “You wanna bet on it? I think—based on what Wally and Orin heard—that there is nowhere to go to for the rest of us. And those contracts we signed before the Culling Trials? They aren’t sending anyone home.”
Ethan started to roll his eyes but then caught himself. I could almost see the gears turning in his head as he mulled this over. “A bet then. If you all go back to your own houses, I win.”
Another little flare of warning assured me something was up. “And if we get stuck here, I win.”
“What do you want?” That he’d offered me first pick should have cautioned me he was up to something.
“Lessons for me,” I said, and I knew he’d understand what I meant. I needed to learn how to use my wand and the magic that came with it, and I’d pick it up a hell of a lot faster with someone helping me.
His smile widened and of course he played it up. “Lessons, I thought you’d never ask. You don’t have to make a bet with me for that.”
Orin grunted as though gut punched, and I reached out and grabbed Ethan’s shirt to drag him bodily closer. “May I remind you that I am not one of your marshmallow fluff heads that follow you around?”
Because I was holding him up on his toes we were almost touching noses. He lowered his voice to a husky whisper. “You never have to remind me of that, Wild. I know exactly who you are.”
I dropped him and stepped back before he could try anything—because the look in his eyes said it all.
That kiss in the Culling Trials had not been an accident on his part.
“What about you, Ethan?” Wally asked, breaking up the tension. “The odds aren’t really in your favor. There have only been two instances where even one house stayed here for more than a day and a night outside of the monthly games. Those are pretty good odds—for Wild, that is.”
He didn’t even hesitate. “I agree with the bet,” he said, his eyes on me. “And when I win—which I will—I want you to go on a date with me. In that little black number you wore last night.”
Wally’s mouth opened into a perfect O. I narrowed my eyes at Ethan. What was this new game?
He grinned, a cat-getting-the-canary grin, but I was no delicate bird. More like a damn hawk that would peck his eyes out if he tried anything underhanded.
“Done,” I said, knowing in my gut I was not wrong—but also fearing that I would lose. A date with Ethan? That was a terrible, terrible idea, no matter how nice he was to look at.
He held his hand out, and I shook it hard, giving it an extra squeeze to make a point. I was not the soft and dainty girl he’d seen the night before in a dress and heels. I mean, even done up to the nines, I was not girly and meek—and I never would be.
At the ripe old age of eighteen and a half, I had hard and edgy written all over me. That’s what living hard on a farm in southern Texas, scratching in the dirt to find enough food to sustain your family, did to a girl. There was no way to maintain a delicate constitution with the life I’d lived up to that point.
Ethan stepped back and waited with us while the remaining kids from the House of Wonder slid into place, not speaking to anyone outside their house.
Wally tugged me a little apart from the boys. “His father would never let anything happen between you, Wild.”
I grinned at her. “Nothing would ever happen because I wouldn’t allow it.”
She bobbed her head. “Good. Because—”
The two guys crowded closer, and she closed her mouth on whatever she’d wanted to say. It didn’t really matter, because I understood. Ethan just wasn’t a possibility. He just wasn’t and that was that.
Looking around, I could easily see where the lines in the sand had been drawn between the students. House of Shade had gathered to one side, with the House of Night beside them but not mingling. House of Wonder stood closest to the base of the massive stairs that whirled up to the open arch of the second floor, with the exception of Ethan, who stood with us. Well, in front, with his back to us.
Despite our connection with him, I wondered how long it would last here in the house he would be trained in. Because Wally was right, Ethan’s father would never allow him to be with me—or the rest of our group for that matter. And I needed to remember that.
Ten minutes later, as the groups were starting to get restless, the House of Claw showed up. Pete hurried over to us, breathing hard, his body infinitesimally trimmer than when we’d started the Culling Trials. Which meant he still got winded easily even over a short distance. I was pretty sure I saw a Snickers wrapper sticking out of his pocket.
“Holy cats, did you hear? Looks like we’re all going to be rooming together again!” He did a fist pump in the air, aimed for Orin, who did not fist bump him back, instead letting him jump, miss, and stumble. I turned and lifted an eyebrow at Ethan, thinking he’d be scowling.
But he looked . . . pleased.
My stomach rolled. I was used to Ethan looking out for himself, so if he was glad to lose a bet to me so soon after making it, something was up. I just couldn’t figure out what. He’d flat out said no to training me before, so why would he be happy about it now?
What did he have to gain?
“I’ll find out when we can start,” Ethan said, still smiling. “Too bad I lost my end of the bet. Now you’ll have to put up with me on the daily. Private lessons work for you?”
I locked my jaw in place to keep it from falling out. Wally spoke softly. “Very sneaky, Ethan.”
He tipped his head to her.
“Daily lessons are fine by me,” I drawled out. “But if you can’t teach me, I’ll be sure to find someone who can. Maybe Colt.”
Ethan’s eyes flashed and he opened his mouth, but he was interrupted by the final house arriving with a clatter of hooves, stone and horns.
The students from the House of Unmentionables—the least human of us—billowed into the ridiculously beautiful space. Gargoyles, goblins, trolls, and anyone who couldn’t pass for human without a serious dose of magic. Of all the houses, the Unmentionables were probably the least welcome here in the House of Wonder. They were seen as lesser than, because House of Wonder was full of blowhards and elitists and couldn’t see past their own noses most days.