by Layla Heart
The third guy is the smallest of the four of them, though he’s probably still taller than I am. He exudes sex and sexual energy, the smirk he’s flashing, his full lips, his smouldering eyes. He’s slimmer than the others, but what I can see of his arms, since he’s rolled up his sleeves, is that he’s all slim muscle, slender but solid.
He says something and the second guy lets out a low, rolling laugh, which makes the third guy chuckle and I squeeze my legs together, suddenly being filled with heat in my core, my whole body thrumming with lust. I can imagine him whispering dirty things in my ear as he roams his nimble fingers over me, slipping under my shirt and touching my skin, his touch scorching me wherever he goes.
Okay, moving on, because this is definitely not something I should be thinking about right in the middle of the main hall. Especially not when I’m surrounded by so many people.
The final guy at the table looks more reserved, his long black hair pulled back tightly, his shoulders straight, his hands flat on the table in front of him. He doesn’t really seem to fit in with the other guys, too different from them, more like ice in comparison to the warmth of the rest.
Then he moves his head and meets my eyes straight on, and a shiver goes down my spine, pooling more heat at my core, making me squirm in my seat.
His eyes are green like summer leaves, which becomes even more obvious as they widen when they connect to mine, something akin to a faint blush spreading over his pale skin, and his tongue flicks out to wet his lips.
Out of nowhere, I want to kiss him. I want to try if his lips are as cool as they look, or if they’re warm like his eyes. I want to try if he smells like the forest that his eyes remind me of, a forest at the end of a summer day, still warm from the sun during the day, the scent of the trees and plants all around me as the temperature slowly starts to drop.
When he looks away, the spell breaks, and I feel my skin heat up, a blush spreading all over me and I touch my hands to my cheeks, trying to cool them down. I can’t believe I just stared at them so openly. They look like celebrities or something, and here I am, the new girl, gaping at them and gettign turned on like some silly fangirl or something.
Luckily, the man at the front stops talking and the doors open, people carrying trays of food and drinks crowd into the hall, letting me hide my embarrassment.
And right as I dare to look up, the scent of black magic reaches me. Black magic as in coffee, I mean, the nectar of the gods. Though, in this place... I don’t know if that sentence would mean something else.
I’ve got so much to learn...
As I walk out of the hall, the sexy guys having left shortly after the food arrived, probably much too good for the food us commoners have to eat, I’m finally feeling a little more human, or should that be like a witch?
The coffee here is good, I have to admit that, and the croissants and eggs were done to perfection. But there was a little too much meat for my taste on the table, and most of it was raw. Only, after seeing some of my table mates eat... I guess that tastes really do differ here.
“Hi.” The girl with red eyes from before walks up next to me, she looks perkier now. “I saw you stare at the princes. They’re sexy, right?” There is almost an element of swooning in her voice. “Of course, apart from that fae.” The last words is near a growl.
“Princes?” What?
“You’re really not from around here, eh?” She takes my elbow, and we step out of the stream of people, off the cobblestone path, onto some fields. All around us are students, chatting excitedly with each other, probably catching up on their summer fun or something. “I’m Aideen. I’m a first year. You?”
“Litha. Also first year. Go back, what do you mean, princes? Not like, real princes, right? Just celebrities?”
Aideen laughs, a rumbling sound, like a volcano about to erupt. “No, I mean real princes. There are four of them. Bane, crown prince to the werewolves, he’s the one with the dreamy eyes. Then there is Rune, crown prince to the dragons, he’s like... their guardian or something. Then you have Kit, the incubus crown prince, he’s great in bed, I can attest to that, and so can most people on this campus, boys, girls and others alike.” Then her face darkens. “And then there is Finn, crown prince to the fae, he’s... You better stay away from him.”
“Why?” She seems really enthusiastic about the others, but not about Finn.
“His family, they...” This time, the growl she lets out is almost like a dangerous animal, a strong and dangerous animal. Scary. “They’re not good. But you’ll learn about that soon enough. First, tell me about yourself. Where are you really from, that you don’t even know about the princes?”
“Ehh...” Right.
How am I going to explain this? How do I know what to tell her and what would be too strange? A guide from someone would have been nice right about now...
5
I growl, my muscles straining as I push with all my might.
How could one look from her rip away my whole sanity? How could I turn so flustered just from her gaze? It was like she had the power of a hundred succubi, just in a single glance. And having gone to school with succubi for years, I know what it’s like when they try their powers on you... This was even worse. I don’t fluster, I don’t do the whole blushing thing. I’m prince of the fae, we don’t do these things. Why did it have to be her?
Suddenly, I’m on my back, staring up at the blue sky, the wisps of clouds passing by overhead, and Rune is gazing down at me, frowning.
“Where is your head at? I thought you wanted to spar. But this way, it’s no fun.” He pulls me up by my shoulders, putting me back on my feet. “Either you focus seriously, or we’re not doing this.” He shrugs. “Your choice.”
“I want to do this. There is nothing going on. Come, get your ass kicked.” I get back in the grappling stance, clearing my head. I need to do this, I need to keep my strength up, I can’t slack, I need to be strong. “You in?” I need to get this summer out of my system.
Rune sighs and with a short nod of his head, he’s right up against me again, trying to fight me to the ground, trying to get me under him. We’ve been doing this for years, to let off steam, to practice, just to fool around, boys being boys...
And with a flash, an image pops into my head, the look my father will give me if he finds out that I don’t want to be the one to marry Litha, that I don’t want to continue his legacy of terror. When he finds out that I’m willing to throw away everything, just to make sure that I won’t be the ‘fated ruler’ so that he won’t be able to get more power through me. When he finds out that I don’t want to validate him and his ideas by becoming the ‘chosen prince’. When he finds out I will do everything in my power to not get close to Litha, that I will fight every instinct I have to make sure that she ends up with one of the other guys. Because I can’t risk it being me, no matter how I respond to just a single look from her. I can’t risk it, not if I want to make sure that the rest of the races won’t be wiped out.
With a grunt, I find myself on my back again, and Rune sits down next to me, letting out a deep sigh. “Need to talk?”
“With you?” I try to sound gruff, but it comes out softer than I mean to, almost like I’d consider it.
“I don’t know. I’m here, you obviously aren’t.” He lies down on his back, his breathing even. When he does this ‘meditative’ breathing thing, de-escalating the situation, it’s like hearing a mountain breathe, not the whistling of the wind through the cracks, but the sound of calmly moving air deep in a tunnel. I don’t like tunnels, on principle, but Rune still calms me down. “Is it your father?”
I let out a sound, not confirming or denying his guess.
“Was it that bad?”
Every time I come back from my family, those first days back, I’m humbled by how easy Rune can be around me. He should hate me, he should hate my family, he should hate every last part of me. But it’s always Rune who will put up with my crap moods and who will listen to me rant.
We almost wiped out his whole race, the few dragon shifters who still live on their land have been forced into slavery. I know what they’ve done to their bodies, broken and abused, just to make sure they can’t fight back. The ends of their wings cut, membranes punctured so they can’t fly, poison so they can’t shift to either their full human or their full dragon form, always on the edge of discomfort. Rune knows what has been done to his race, and he’ll still talk to me. I don’t get it. “You should stay away from me. You should hate me.” The words slip out, like they do every year after I come back.
“That bad, eh?” He’s quiet for a while. “You know that I won’t let you send me away. I know that you don’t want me to leave either.”
“You should...” Flashes of the horrible things I’ve seen this summer, of the farms, of the factories, of the things Dad is so proud of, the things which made me hurl out every dinner every night, go through my head. Farming the scales of young fire dragons’ backs for their ability to withstand extreme heats, experimenting with earth dragons’ ability to control emotions, drowning water dragons to improve our own diving equipment. This summer has been the worst I’ve ever seen. My father thought that I should see the ‘real’ legacy, now I was old enough. “You don’t understand. You’ve not—” I nearly hurl again, just remembering it.
“I’ve seen it.” The tone in Rune’s voice sets all the hairs on my arms on end, chilling my insides, it’s like rocks moving all on their own, against nature. I’ve not heard this hatred in his voice often, it scares me every time. “I’ve seen what you don’t want to speak of. Just because I’m not living on our lands doesn’t mean that I don’t know what’s happening to my people. Do not take me for a fool. I know what happens to them. I’ve seen it. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.”
I jolt up, staring down at Rune, blinking, my heart heavy, my head hurting. Fuck, no! “What?” He wouldn’t, right? Why would he? How could he put himself in such danger? “You’ve been to the lands, the factories? How could you? You can’t do that! Promise me you’ll never do that again! Don’t—” He can’t risk himself like that!
Rune slowly reaches up, putting his fingers to my lips. “I saw you, at his side. I’ve seen you many times. Many summers. I had to make sure you were safe. I couldn’t let him put you in danger.” Then he gets up and walks off, leaving me behind, stunned. My mind going over my worst nightmares, the things I don’t want to think about, losing Rune, or any of the others.
Why would he? How could he?
Many summers? It wasn’t the first time?
Why didn’t he tell me before? Why did he keep this a secret? Was he spying on me?
‘I couldn’t let him put you in danger.’ The gratefulness fights with the absolute terror inside me.
Do I really know Rune so little? Did I really not see this coming? Have I been so blind?
Or did I prefer not to think about how Rune would still try to protect us, even away from school? Like his friendship and his need to protect us would end at the edges of the school grounds...
I’ve been so blind.
For a while, I try to find Rune again, talk to him, ask him things, explain things. But it seems that he has made himself scarce, and when he doesn’t want to be found, you can’t find him. It really is that simple, never made playing hide and seek with him any fun.
Instead, I find Kit in the upstairs ‘common room’, not that you can really call the room ‘common’, it’s just one of our shared rooms upstairs, and it has a great view of the rest of the campus, of all the people walking around, not knowing that we’re up here, looking down at them.
“Hey.” I sit on the couch next to him. He’s sitting sideways, lazily looking out the window, his arm over the back of the couch, his head leaning on top of it.
“Hey.” He glances at me and then looks back out the window. “Done sparring with Rune?”
I shrug. “He up and left. Can’t find him.”
“He’ll be back. You two fight?” Kit’s eyebrow rises as he really looks at me now, curious.
For two people from races who are on such bad terms, fighting between Rune and me is rare. It doesn’t happen. “I don’t know. He said something and then up and left. I have no idea what’s going through his head sometimes.” A slight growl escapes me.
“Want to share with the class what he said?” Bane’s voice startles me, and I catch sight of him standing in the double sliding doors to his room. His eyes are darker than I remember them being before the summer, he looks older, especially with the look he is giving me. He looks so much like his dad like this, which is probably why I can’t keep it to myself.
I shrug. How do I even explain what happened? We didn’t use many words, but we both knew exactly what the other meant. “He...” I start over. “He said that he’s seen what happens to his people, what my family does to them. He said that he’s followed me around this summer, and before too. To protect me.” My heart is heavy, pain going through me. Pain at what has happened, pain at how much worse it must have been for Rune to see his people like that.
“Ah.” Kit shrugs, almost nonchalant. “Yeah, that.”
“You knew?” What? I stare at Kit and then at Bane, who shrugs too, looking awkward. “You both knew?” A tingly feeling is spreading over my skin, danger. Danger at my friends keeping things from me, important things.
Bane closes the door to his room behind him, stepping closer. “He would never come out and admit it. But, I guessed as much. I know his shadow as well as mine, his scent, they’re as familiar to me as my own, it’s hard to fully hide. I noticed it the summer after he’d been... “ Bane looks away, averting his eyes, the pain flashing through them. The summer Rune had been attacked, and we’d protected him.
“He does it to all of us.” Kit’s voice is soft, somber, totally at odds with his normally bubbly and lax personality. “He follows all of us.” He’s not looking our way, instead, his eyes focused on the people outside.
“You’ve seen him?” That even surprises Bane, who usually knows about these kinds of things.
Kit nods. “I’ve...” He sighs. “He won’t like me telling this, but fuck him and his dragon’s need to protect everything and everyone. I’ve met him a few times over the summer, when I was...” He squeezes his lips together, before taking another breath. “Not just this summer, but previous summers too. He does it with each one of us. He just usually doesn’t show himself.”
What? I have to think that over for a moment. Rune does it to every one of us? He guards us from the shadows? Trying to make sure we’re safe? He’s been following us everywhere? Away from the safety of his own people, his own home? Putting himself in danger the whole time?
“What about his own safety? Can’t that asshole worry about his own safety for even a moment? If they catch him on fae land, he’s done for. Fucking hell.” The electricity buzzing over my arms from before is back, stronger this time, the air around me filling with static. My mind buzzing, crowding out my thoughts but the most important one. Rune has been putting himself in danger, for us, for me. “If they catch him, they’ll...” If they catch him, they’ll publicly execute him. They’ll kill him. Dad will probably force me to do it, to kill my best friend, as a show of support for him, for our family. As a show that I’m one of them. He’d force me to kill Rune, breaking me. Losing Rune... No!
A loud bang makes me jump, and then the sound of glass falling on the floor makes me wince.
“Hell, Finn.” Bane growls, and I smell blood in the air. “You’re replacing those bulbs yourself.” When I finally open my eyes, I catch him walk off to the stairs, his arm curled against his chest, leaving a trail of drops of blood behind him. “If anyone’s looking for me, I’ll be in the infirmary.”
Fuck. Fucking fuck.
As I glance at Kit, he just looks back sadly. This hasn’t been the first time I’ve accidentally exploded things when I’m upset... But it’s been a long time since this last happened...
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this messed up in my head.
Fucking fuck.
6
I lean against the wall, looking out over one of the courtyards, keeping my eye on the girl who has everyone on edge. Every year, when we come back, everyone is messed up, trying to disentangle from whatever happened at their houses, in their families. I always try to get everyone grounded as soon as possible, get us back into this safe space, everyone together, becoming a unit again. And now she’s here, messing everything up.
I didn’t need Bane pointing her out to me to know that she’d arrived. The moment she stepped into this world I could sense her, I could sense her as strongly as I can feel any of the guys. I knew she was here, lost, confused, even a little scared. But she was here. From the moment she stepped into this world, I knew where she was and, on a level, I knew how she was feeling. If this is what being fated mates is like... I don’t know what to do with it, how to make it work.
Right now, she’s talking to Aideen, a dragon shifter from our year. She’s a fire-dragon, a bit of a loner, and her family is in hiding, just like mine. But she’ll make sure nothing happens to Litha, she’ll protect her. Not for who she is, but simply for existing, for being friends.
I can’t keep my eyes off Litha, I need to see her, watch her. I’m being a total creep, especially since she has no idea who I am, and I’m hiding here, staring at her, hiding in the shadows of one of the buildings, trying not to get caught.
