by Marie Mistry
“I didn’t know that…”
Honestly, I didn’t know much about Daron or Blaze. Since my showing, I’d been mostly concerned with my friends in Lust. As a result, I knew Aeron well enough to be comfortable around him. Daron and I hadn’t spoken since that first day, although we’d acknowledged each other a few times and I’d seen him in the library.
“First order of business should be getting to know everybody…although, I’m still not sure about Blaze. If his grandmother saw his death because of me…”
Aeron gave me an intense look. “The man has had fifteen years to think about that prophecy and decide what he wanted to do about it. If he’s chosen, I think you should respect that.”
“And that wouldn’t have anything to do with the other prophecy that I’ll die without all seven protectors, would it?”
Aeron shrugged. “If it did, would that make the words any less valid?”
“Don’t answer my questions with questions,” I objected, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed and standing with a stretch.
He gave me a guileless look as he disappeared into his bathroom. I searched out my clothes from yesterday, only to find a clean set hanging on the wardrobe door. I smiled at his thoughtfulness.
“And getting to know them can come second to finding the others. Plenty of time to get to know everyone once you’re safe,” he continued, as I finished pulling on my blazer.
“You’re jealous of Daron…” I had sensed the same thing last night. “It was an accident, Aeron. I’d always thought…” I’d always presumed that he would be the first.
“… Yeah, me too.” He opened his arms in invitation, and I ran into them without question. “Whenever you’re ready, Baby Girl. I’m yours.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said, kissing the top of my head.
The agreement was on the tip of my tongue when someone knocked on the door.
“Is Lilith in there?” Nelly’s voice drifted up the stairs.
I smiled ruefully at Aeron, who looked like he wanted to storm downstairs and rip Nelly’s head off. “Tonight,” I said, “Tonight, if things haven’t gone to shit, I’ll make you my mate.”
He frowned at me. “Are you sure?” he demanded. “You don’t need to feel pressured into it because of Daron.”
“I was holding back before because it was a big step,” I admitted. “But now that I have that bond with someone I barely know, it seems wrong to not have it with you.”
“Guys? There’s a guy from security at the door for her…” Nelly called through the door, interrupting us again.
Aeron’s smile was brighter than the sun as he kissed me one last time before leading the way down the stairs.
“Are you okay?” Nelly asked him as we appeared. “You never smile like …”
“Like what?” Aeron’s smile turned into his usual self-satisfied smirk.
“Like you’re genuinely happy.” She glanced behind him at me. “I guess it’s a good thing… Anyway, I came to tell you there’s a security guy outside the tower and he wants to speak to Lilith. Do we need to distract him? Are you in trouble?”
“Not like you’re thinking,” Aeron reassured her. “We’ll see you in the hall, Lilith.”
They disappeared down the stairs together, and I took a deep breath to steady myself before I followed.
Blaze was at the door, as promised, waiting patiently for me. I approached slowly, blushing when I thought of how I’d behaved the night before.
“I’m sorry about last night,” we said at the same time.
I burst into giggles, and he raised an eyebrow at me. “You first,” he insisted, closing the door behind me.
“I didn’t realise I was so low on power… I’m sorry if my powers started trying to draw you in… I can’t control it.”
“I know.” He smiled, boots crunching on the gravel path as we walked towards the castle. “And I’m sorry I didn’t realise it was happening sooner.”
“How could you have known?” I waved his apology away.
He frowned. “I studied up on Succubae when it became clear you could be a security risk. I should have known.” We were silent for a short while before he continued. “My apology was for my sister’s behaviour. We’ve spoken, and she will not interfere again.”
“Why do I get the impression what you really mean is that you laid down the law, and she’s now silently plotting my downfall?” I muttered, sarcastically.
“No, I’ve inducted both Daron and Rina into the Order of Shadows,” he said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world to have done.
“She hates me! How on earth did you get her to join?” A feeling of dread settled over me, imagining Rina’s motives.
“Our grandmother always impressed upon us the seriousness of respecting the Strange God,” Blaze informed me. “When Rina discovered the true meaning of your horns and the history behind them, her views shifted slightly. She still dislikes the prophecy, but she no longer holds you in such low esteem. Her vision also seems to have helped matters.”
I frowned. “What vision?”
Blaze shrugged. “Our family is full of seers. At one point or another we all get visions. Rina is less inclined to them than I, but she can still see the future with a near certainty that the events will come to pass. She saw something during the initiation that was enough to make her calm down.”
“How does that work?” I asked, curious. “She told me something about… entrails…” I made a face.
“No, that’s my grandmother’s favourite method. There are cleaner ways to go about channelling the sight: dreams, runes, cards, etc. Sometimes a strong vision strikes without warning, and you can’t help it. My father interprets the future through looking at stock boards. It’s why so many of his visions are finance based. Rina has always found it easiest through interpreting the clouds.”
“And you?”
His face darkened. “My visions come to me without warning. I don’t know the trigger.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“It can be.” He looked ahead at Vice. “Would you consider allowing me to walk you back to the Carnal Tower this evening?” His voice was slightly strained, as if he was expending effort to ask nicely and not demand it of me. “I know you usually walk with your friends…”
“Have you been stalking me?” I asked. “How do you know all these things about me?”
“I’ve been waiting for you for years,” Blaze reminded me, solemnly. “The moment I heard about the girl with horns, I tracked you down and learned everything about you.”
I looked at him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked. “If we walk together, we might…”
“Fall in love?” Blaze said the words with the grim seriousness of someone who had thought long and hard about an issue and come to one, inescapable conclusion. “The prophecy specified I’d have to tell you the words for me to die. I’ll never say them, so everything will be fine.”
“I’m not sure that will be enough…”
“It will be.” He sounded so certain that I wanted to believe him. “And if it isn’t, I’d still rather I’d died having known my mate than lived a long life wondering. That is my choice, please respect it.”
We reached the doors and said our goodbyes. It wasn’t till I was in line waiting for breakfast that I realised I’d never given him an answer, but I got the sense Blaze wouldn’t need one. His question was more of a statement of intent, but I found I didn’t mind that so much. I pondered how different my mates were as I sat down with my food. Daron was quiet, focused and introverted, he would have quietly asked me for the walk, not expecting anything in return. Aeron wouldn’t have asked, presuming I would walk with him anyway. Blaze commanded my presence, even though he had phrased it as a request. His bossy, serious demeanour made following his orders almost instinctive and I could easily see how he had become head of security so quickly.
I wondered what my other mates woul
d be like. There were four others still to be found, and I couldn’t see myself surviving in the middle of so many strong personalities like Blaze and Aeron.
I was surprised to get to Maddox’s lesson and find that the desks had been permanently rearranged into groups of two, with three chairs around each and a written note on the board. Maddox was only going to be there for the latter half of the lesson, and we should just get on with work till he arrived.
I sat down in a quiet corner just as Daron and Bane arrived, entering shoulder to shoulder and laughing at some inside joke. Together like that, casually smiling and joking, they were absolutely stunning, and I let out a small sigh of appreciation. It was as if Daron had forgotten his awkwardness in the humour of the moment and was standing straight at his full height, impressive shoulders making me feel small and feminine in comparison. When they both saw me, they headed over together, Daron taking the seat beside me whilst Bane stood over me, looking at the scribbles on my notebook.
“Are you stealing our ideas?” I asked, tone teasing.
“You’re welcome to read mine.” Bane held out his hand, covered in scribbles as usual, only today it went all the way up his forearm.
“If you like ink on your skin so much, you should get a tattoo,” I joked.
Bane’s cocky smile turned up a notch. “I already have,” he replied, with a cheeky wink before digging into his bag and handing me my demonic language textbook.
“How on earth do I forget all these things?” I wondered aloud, taking the book and shoving it down in my bag on the floor. When I resurfaced I caught the tail end of Daron giving a grinning Bane a single raised eyebrow.
“What?” I asked, wanting in on the joke.
“Doesn’t matter,” Bane said. “My group has arrived, I’d better go.” He looked over at the two Pride girls staring at him from a few tables away, the same dreamy expression on their faces that I imagined I must have had when the guys walked into the room.
“See you later,” I mumbled.
When he was gone, Daron barely looked at me, his shoulders slumping in again slightly.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I muttered, wondering if he was upset with me.
“I’m not,” he protested sharply, interrupting my carefully crafted apology speech. “Sorry, I don’t have good social skills. I should have said good morning, shouldn’t I? Or should I have kissed you? I’m not really sure what the social protocol is here… I spent the whole night researching, but the library’s information on mating was several hundred years out of date and severely lacking in substance… Sorry, that’s not the point… The point is I’m glad that yesterday happened and that we’re mated.”
I giggled. “I am too.”
“Really?!” he blurted, staring at me with wide eyes. Then he coughed and turned slightly, pushing his glasses up his nose in an attempt to regain composure that was adorable.
“Yes,” I reassured him. “I know we didn’t really talk after that first day, but I’ve seen you around helping the librarian, and I know people speak very highly of you.”
“Ah, you have? They do?”
I nodded. “Oh, Rina’s here.”
He grimaced. “Have you two worked out your differences yet?”
“We will work together,” Rina announced, coming up behind him. “But you two better not get all lovey-dovey in front of me, or I may vomit.”
Daron blushed, practically diving under his desk to retrieve his book from his bag. “Are we still on for practice after lunch?” he asked, the words muffled by the desk.
“Of course,” Rina said, smoothly. “I can’t do anything after dinner this week though, I have to learn to distinguish the different sub-castes with a tester they’ve brought in from abroad to teach me.”
I shuddered, edging away from her slightly at the reminder of what Rina was learning to become and what I’d done to her predecessor. “Okay. Well, we’ll have to make do.”
Surprisingly, the lesson managed to be more productive than all our previous group meetings in the past week put together. With our mutual distaste for one another subdued for now, Rina and I worked incredibly well together. Daron contributed more without the fear of one of us biting his head off, and by lunchtime we had a full list of things to try out once we’d eaten.
Rina surprised us both by rejecting an offer from her friends to eat with them in the hall in favour of remaining with us, snacking in the library. But that led to the problem of finding a place for three people to sit. Eventually I spied an older student sleeping sprawled out across a settee large enough for all three of us.
“Lilith, don’t bother,” Daron warned as I approached the sleeping student.
“The place is packed, and he’s taking up three whole seats just to get a nap in,” I argued.
“Let her,” Rina countered. “I want to see her try to get Sharax to move.” She cast an assessing gaze over the sleeping man, eyes lingering on the arm he had slung over his face.
I frowned, moving over to the guy and gently tapping him on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”
The guy didn’t move, but his breast pocket did, wiggling until a small pink nose poked out. It sniffed once, whiskers twitching, before a white and grey streaked rat scurried out and up to where my hand was on Sharax’s shoulder. It sniffed my fingers once, then scurried up my sleeve.
I let go, gently shaking my sleeve and trying to dislodge the rat there. I looked at Daron. “A little help? It won’t come out.”
Daron shrugged. “Considering it usually just bites whoever tries to wake Sharax, I think that this is a good sign.”
The warm, soft presence in my sleeve turned around in a full circle before heading further up my arm. I yanked the right side of my blazer away and almost snorted at the small, cute face peeking out of my sleeve at me.
“You can’t stay in there, little one,” I crooned, holding my hand under his face. “Come out and I’ll put you back with your friend.”
But the little rat wouldn’t move, and the moment I put my hand up my sleeve to remove it, the tiny creature shuffled backwards, reappearing once I withdrew.
Baffled, I looked at Daron and Rina for advice. They just shrugged.
“Excuse me,” I repeated, louder, tapping the sleeping guy once more. “Your rat is in my sleeve and it won’t come out.”
His lips turned upwards at the corners slightly.
“Then you are either smuggling food in there, or you are an incredibly beautiful woman. Which is it?” His voice was smooth and velvety, with that hint of an Asian accent that slid over my senses like honey. I was so focused on it, that it took a while for me to notice exactly what he had said.
“Um, neither,” I replied. “But, whilst you’re awake, could you please move? It’s packed in here and we really need a seat.”
The man let out a sigh, moving his arm from across his face and revealing a sleepy expression which made my heart sigh slightly. There was just something about how boyish some men looked when they were sleeping or just waking up, and this guy, blinking up at me with his K-pop star looks, was definitely one of those men.
He blinked at me, eyes going up to my horns, then back to my face.
“Erm… Your rat…” I gestured to the small whiskers in my sleeve.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, I was blinded by your beauty. I’m going to need your name and room number for my insurance.”
I grinned, I couldn’t help it. “God, that line is awful. Does it actually get you anywhere?” I tried again to extract his rat from my clothing. “Sorry, but could you help?”
He beckoned with his fingers and I moved closer, holding my blazer open so he could get to his pet.
“Come here, Doughnut,” he murmured, gently encouraging his pet into his hand. Once I was free, I took a few steps back, watching as he gently stroked and coddled the animal.
“He’s sweet, how did you get a pet into Vice?” I asked.
“I have my ways. Maybe I’ll tell you sometime.�
� He stood, popping Doughnut into his pocket with an affectionate pat. “Thanks for waking me up to such a beautiful view, Pet. Feel free to do it again.”
He swaggered away, leaving me to gape after him.
“Is he for real?” I asked, sitting in the warm seat he’d just vacated.
“Very much so.” Rina rolled her eyes. “He’s a second year from Sloth, sub-caste Slumber. He’s always asleep in here, and that bloody rat bites anyone who tries to wake him up… usually.”
“And if you’re unlucky, it’s one of his cats, not the rat that does the biting.” Daron rubbed his wrist as if in memory. “Most people just leave him alone. He’s in advanced combat classes, so he spends a lot of time sleeping in the library to generate the power he needs.”
