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voice came out amazingly calm. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would have been impressed.
    I saw Piaras’s jaw clench under a faint shadow of stubble. Jeez, the kid had stubble; when had that happened?
    “Would you have had us do nothing?” His voice was tight.
    “No, I would not have had you do nothing.” I took another breath and let it out slowly. I’d better say what I needed to say quickly, because calm and I were about to part ways. “That’s not what I mean—at least not entirely. You acted when no one else would and stood your ground when everyone ran. Both of you were very brave.” I paused and resisted the urge to grit my teeth. “You also had no idea what you were latching on to, but you grabbed it anyway, and neither one of you were trained to handle it.”
    Piaras drew breath to retort, and I quickly held up my hand. “I’m not saying what you did was wrong. You have the skill, but not the experience. It would—”
    Talon interrupted. “It would have been better if we’d just sat there, while that thing mauled its way around the Quad?”
    I turned on him. My calm was officially gone. I held my thumb and forefinger a hairbreadth apart in front of Talon’s face. “The two of you came this close to getting torn to shreds! Your father just found you, and he doesn’t want to lose you. Do you have any idea what he has been through to protect you since you got here?”
    The normally cocky Talon looked taken aback. You’d think I’d slapped him. A couple of the watchers were suddenly interested in our conversation. I glared at them until they found something else to do.
    “No.” Talon’s voice was subdued, but only slightly. Teenage defiance still seethed beneath the surface. “He didn’t tell me.”
    I leaned back in my chair, blew out my breath, and closed my eyes. “And he probably won’t.” Tired had surrendered to exhausted. “He wouldn’t want you to worry. Because he loves you.”
    When Talon didn’t respond, I opened one eye and looked at him. “He hasn’t told you that, either, has he?” I asked wearily.
    “Not exactly.”
    My elbow was resting on the chair arm, and I dropped my head onto my upraised hand. I snorted. “Not exactly.” I shook my head. “Men.” I didn’t lift my head off my hand; it felt too good to be resting on something. I turned it about an inch and I could see Piaras just fine.
    His face was a shade or two short of a full, blazing blush. “I know you do.” His words tumbled out in a rush. “You don’t have to tell me.”
    I grinned slowly. “What? You don’t want me saying the ‘L’ word in public?”
    “I’d rather you didn’t.” He looked around uncomfortably.
    “At least not here.”
    I sat back and crossed my arms. “Okay then, I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where and how you picked up what you did in the Quad, and I won’t yell ‘I love you!’ and plant a big, wet, sloppy kiss on your forehead in front of half the watchers on Mid.”
    “I told you; I read it in a spellsong book.”
    “Does Ronan Cayle know about your extracurricular reading?”
    Piaras hesitated, then in the span of two seconds, he winced, grimaced, and looked queasy, as though what he was about to tell me was the last thing he wanted to say.
    “Yes, he does. It was part of a lesson.”
    I blinked. “What?” My voice was quiet, the kind of quiet that said Ronan better be glad he wasn’t in the room with me right now.
    Piaras turned to face me and lowered his voice to a bare whisper. “Raine, I may be the age of a first-year student, but I’ve long known what they’re just now learning. Maestro Cayle did some testing with me to determine what level of study I should start at—”
    Now I was the one who felt queasy. “And what I saw today was it.”
    Piaras nodded. “I’ve been working on a confinement spellsong for the past two days in class. One of the things it works on is demons.”
    “And after only two lessons you used it today.”
    “When I