by Meg Xuemei X
“How could you be so stupid, Selena, after serving me so long?” Lorcan asked in cold disgust. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You haven’t just betrayed me. You betrayed the whole Earth.”
“I did what I must do to secure the safe path for our kind,” Selena said. “I’m sorry, my lord, but please, try to see it from my perspective and you’ll understand. The God of Terror won’t go back on his word. He’ll preserve our species. All he wants is to take out the trash who thinks she deserves you.”
She couldn’t bring me down, couldn’t take Lorcan from me, so she used Phobos. It might be a smart plan if it concerned only me.
I stalked into the room. “You’ve gone too far this time, Selena.”
Alaric looked down at her, his brown eyes burning with murderous rage. “So, this is the traitor you found, Lorcan? You really need to clean your house thoroughly.”
Lorcan snarled at Alaric, but when his eyes lingered on me, they softened.
“Dulcis,” he acknowledged. “You returned.”
Sometimes he was still formal with me, particularly in public.
“Yes, I returned in one piece,” I said, “but I lost my energy drink, thanks to your mistress of the blood court.”
A dark light flashed by Lorcan’s eyes. I braced my hands on my hips. I was even more pissed than him.
Lorcan sniffed, his nostrils flaring, and his look darkened further. A jolt of jealousy slammed into our mating bond before it dissipated with a resigned sigh.
Selena also flared her nostrils. Her meek, pitiful demeanor before Lorcan had turned to icy hardness as soon as she saw me, and now a bright hope atop disdain lightened her face.
“My lord, your pet is screwing around,” she said. “She had sex with the demigod. She’s a low-class whore—”
The next moment, Alaric’s lightning lashed out and strung her up, her feet freezing toward the ceiling.
“Let me handle this, Alaric,” Lorcan said. “Please.”
Alaric let go of his lightning and Selena landed hard, her face hitting the ground.
“My lord, will you let the adulterers humble the mistress of your court?” she asked.
This vampiress had lost touch with reality. She still thought she was at the peak of her power. Xihin, my supporter, had filled me in the other day about her background.
No one had ever said no to her as mistress. Lorcan, who had zoned out of the scene for centuries in boredom and half-stasis, had just let her run things. She’d reigned over every aspect of Lorcan’s court while he hadn’t bothered with anything and anyone.
Only when the gods had returned and Lorcan had received a vision to retrieve me, did he become a bit more active. And then it had all changed when I’d made his heart beat.
He’d woken like a shark sensing blood—my blood.
“I’ve let you take the reins for too long, Selena,” Lorcan said softly, “and you’ve lost the capacity to learn and listen.” Selena flinched. “I warned you not to call my mate names, but you disrespected her again.” His voice turned ominous and icy, and even I stood at attention now. “Just for that, I won’t let you walk out of here alive. And you committed an even more unforgivable crime. You conspired with my enemy to take down my mate. There’s no coming back from that treachery. And I don’t have to explain to you or anyone that my mate also belongs to my brothers.”
“I fought beside you, my lord,” Selena said. “I may have a fault or two, but lack of loyalty isn’t one of them. All these centuries, I’ve been waiting for you, believing you loved me as I loved you, and that one day you’d acknowledge that.”
“You’re living in a poorly-written romance novel,” I said.
“Say no more, Selena,” Lorcan said. “I never gave my love to anyone but my mate. My heart only beats for my one and true mate, Cass Saélihn. You let your jealousy, pettiness, and vindictiveness cloud your judgment, just like your sister. I can’t allow anyone who tried to harm my mate or is a threat to my mate to keep breathing. I’ll give you a quick, clean death, because of your faithful services in the past.”
Selena turned to me, venom in her icy gray eyes. “You think you win, you dirty whore? The gods—the cruelest superior race—will come for you, and they’ll have no mercy for you. They’ll have your little head on a silver platter in Olympus and serve it with wine on the gold and diamond table. That’s the promise of the God of Terror….”
Lorcan stepped forward, his flaming sword appearing in his hand, and he swept it toward Selena’s neck.
Just then, Reysalor and Pyrder rushed into the red room, their eyes burning in fury. They’d learned of Phobos’ escape and they heard Selena’s last words.
The mistress’s elegant, bloody head rolled and stopped before my feet.
I jumped back, my eyes going wild and wide. Reys pulled me back against his solid chest before Alaric and Pyrder could. My gaze flicked from Selena’s glassy, lifeless eyes to the High Lord’s icy ones.
“I might be a cold bastard,” said the High Lord of Night, holding my gaze, and his eyes warmed and softened toward me with fierce protectiveness. “But, dulcis, I’ll never be a cold bastard to you.”
“They call me a barbarian, they call me a monster, and they call me a bitch whore,” I murmured. “I’m worse than a cold bastard.”
When Lorcan and Reysalor had first met me, I was a scrawny, filthy, rude thing, and they’d accepted me.
I had no illusion that life with my mates would be easy because they were all battle-hardened, powerful, and ruthless males. They had scars I didn’t even know about and burdens and responsibilities I might not want to know.
But good, bad, or ugly, I’d take it all.
“You may be a cold bastard,” I said, “but you’re my bastard.”
Lorcan smiled, for the first time not predatorily.
My heart fluttered like wings in sudden sunlight.
10
“What do you think of attending a school, Cass baby?” Reysalor asked in his velvet voice.
My heart drummed in excitement. A dream was coming true.
I dulled the glint in my eyes, hoping none of my mates caught the twinkle.
The Gifted Academy was the one I wanted, but I wouldn’t just roll over and accept the offer from Reys. I needed to get more leverage if I could.
Moving me to the Academy was the logical next step. Originally, Lorcan had persuaded everyone that his court was the best place to hide me from the gods, but we’d blown our cover. Not that I blamed him.
The God of Terror would soon bring his god buddies and rain down his terror and revenge on us. The majority of the vampire army had migrated to ShadesStar, facing the fae army across the shining sea.
The Academy was at the brink of the mortal and immortal realms and the most protected place on Earth. One had to know the coordinates of the ley line to get into it. Only seven Council members and their trusted warriors could access the ley line.
I would ask for the key as well.
“Which school?” I asked, putting on my non-impressed expression.
“The Academy, Cass baby,” Pyrder said. “That’s where our commanders and best magical fighters are. We’ll keep you safe there.”
Yes! I kept a poker face as I asked, “What’s in it for me to go to this school?”
“You said you liked it,” Reysalor said. “You bugged me constantly to visit it.”
“I didn’t bug you on anything,” I said, bracing my hands on my hips. “I wanted to check on the campus to make sure of it. I can’t just charge in anywhere headfirst and blindly.”
I swallowed back my thoughts that neither vampire courts had turned out well. Just looking at Lorcan’s sour expression, I could tell it would rub salt into the wound. He hadn’t objected to our next move or strategy since he blamed himself for the recent failures.
The Academy was too sunny for his taste and in the afternoon, when the sun was too bright, he would have to slumber while I was up. But he wouldn’t leave me, so he w
ent along with the plan.
Only a few selected vampires and fae warriors would accompany my mates and me.
And all my mates and I would be together. That was the biggest comfort for me.
“All right, you don’t attend the school,” Reysalor said. “You can just hang out with the four of us and enjoy being our lovely housewife.”
I shot to my feet, my face burning. “That’s obnoxious! I’m not going to play housewife for you dudes. Fine, I’ll just go to Academy. However, I have a few conditions.”
“We’ve got to leave, now,” Alaric said, picking me up in his arms. “You can shoot me your demands on the way.”
I wrapped my legs around his waist to make myself comfortable as he moved toward the exit of Lorcan’s suite.
When we came out of the golden mansion, the place was nearly vacant. The vampires were efficient, especially when they knew the gods would be on their vampire asses if they didn’t act fast. The fae twins teleported the few of us to the deck of the Brooklyn Bridge, where Alaric concealed us with his invisible spell.
Then we stepped through the veil into the land of Academy. Like a swirl of wind, we stood right in front of Reysalor’s mansion encased in lush forest and garden.
A couple of figures shuffled at the perimeter. I bet the fae guards were reacting to the vampires among us. Well, if a fight broke out, I wouldn’t get behind the vampires—except for Lorcan, or maybe Xihin.
Boone waited at the door, his gaze falling on the vampire lord and the demigod and some of their assistants, their long suit coats flapping in the wind.
“Boone,” I shouted at him with a grin. “Do you have a cake for me?”
“Yes, Cass,” he said with a smile. “I made a fresh one with five layers of toppings as soon as I learned you were returning.”
It was too bad we lost Phobos. If we had brought the god along, Boone and his excellent chief could have figured out a way to infuse Phobos’ godly energy into the recipe and make the world’s best energy cake for me. My mates could try it as well. I craved to share everything with them. I almost kicked myself for not thinking of that earlier while I had Phobos in the Court of Blood and Void.
“A cake? What kind of cake?” Alaric asked, his eyes sparkling in delight as he strode toward the house. It seemed that he was no stranger to this place, and he loved cakes as much as I did.
I shot him a worried look before glancing at the others. I hoped that they understood that I’d staked a claim on the cake since Boone mentioned that he’d made it only for me. Nevertheless, I raced into the house before anyone else, wind in my wake, and Boone chuckled behind me.
11
Reysalor enrolled me in the Academy. He was one of the seven Council members, so he had a lot of leverage in the school. I was beyond myself in excitement for two days. But on the third day, before I had to report to class, I started to worry.
I knew nothing about schools.
I’d declared in the vampires’ court that I wouldn’t obey any rules, but school was a different case. I didn’t want to be kicked out of the Academy and become a laughingstock because I was ignorant of the school regulations.
“Shouldn’t I live on campus, like other students?” I asked. “Shouldn’t all students stay together, like in a dormitory?”
“We’re your roommates,” Pyrder said. “You’ll live with us here for better protection.”
I bit my nail, all nervous again. “I don’t know if they’ll allow it.”
“Don’t worry, Cass baby.” Pyrder grinned. “I’m also a Council member, though I seldom go to their meetings. We’ll soon open two more positions in the Council since Lorcan and Alaric both have great sway behind them. Reys has sent the proposal into every Council member’s hand. The four of us will take over and decide everything.”
At my glare, he added, “The five of us, you included.”
“But I still want my own space,” I said.
Pyrder frowned. “You don’t want to stay with us?”
“It’s not that,” I said. “I can stay with all of you half of the time, but I don’t want to be your shadow. I must show my independence for the other students to respect me.”
“We can be your shadows,” he said. “We’ll depend on you.”
“That’s worse,” I said with exasperation. “I want to strike out on my own, just like everyone else. I want to earn something for myself. I want to see how far I can go by relying only on myself. I don’t want special treatment. I don’t want anyone to look at me differently because I’m living in a power house. And I want to have my own social reach.”
“You have a broad social reach,” Pyrder said. “Us, the guards, Boone, and many others.”
“I want to make friends my own age in the Academy!” I said. “I’ll never make a friend with you four towering over me and scaring everyone away.”
I remembered the first day I’d walked with them on campus. Everyone had given them a wide berth.
Pyrder blinked. “I thought you scared them away.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, cute.”
After days of debating, persuasion, seduction, and threats, the four overprotective males finally caved in and decided to give my independence a trial. But they all laid out their own rules and I compromised on some.
“You won’t reveal who you really are,” Lorcan said.
I didn’t even know who I really was, except that they half-agreed that I might be a daughter of Hades. That theory would need to be tested.
“You can’t show anyone any of your powers except your air magic,” Lorcan stated as the second condition. He regarded himself as a lawmaker.
“You don’t want me to be too cool because of your insecurity,” I said with a shrug. “Which is fine.”
Pyrder chuckled.
“We don’t require you to perform well in the regular classes,” Lorcan continued. “They won’t help you anyway, since you’re already more advanced in your power than anyone else in the Academy. I objected to the foolish idea of displaying you, but I was outvoted. So now I’m only indulging your fancy.”
I gave him a glare. I was only glad my other three mates had more sense.
“The four of us will be the only ones to train your true power, in secret,” he said. “There must be more latent powers in you, and one of them can kill the gods. We need to bring it out.”
Great, he was still obsessed with me killing the gods. I’d thought he’d abandoned his mission and passion after we mated.
Through our mating bond, he perceived my sarcastic thoughts.
“Dulcis, we’ll be the defense line between the gods and you,” he said. “But we need to prepare you in case we all go down. I can’t bear the thought of them getting their hands on you. And now they know you’re the only one who can take them down, they’ll come hunt you.”
The High Lord of Night was unable to sugarcoat anything.
So far, we knew, the Olympian gods hadn’t led their minions to stomp the Court of Blood and Void. But a team of Lorcan’s vampires, who were left in Portland to watch the area, had spotted a few suspicious mages and humans checking out the vacant court.
The gods might have designed a different move, or Phobos was carefully planning his own revenge instead of informing the entire Olympus race.
“Cass can’t be a secret weapon anymore,” Reysalor chimed in. “Eventually, we’ll need to let the Council know her existence and get the whole army behind her.”
“Wow, wow,” I called out. “Wait a second. I don’t need the pressure. I don’t need the whole dark force behind me. Just you guys shadowing me is a tough pill to swallow on a daily basis.”
“That hurt my feelings, Cass baby,” Pyrder said.
“Eventually, but not now,” Alaric said. “I agree with Lorcan. Cass needs to remain anonymous.” He gave me a wink. “Let her blend in with the other students and see how she fares.”
School was a huge deal for me but not for them.
“I’m not sure Cass can
ever blend in with any group,” Reysalor said.
“What?” I shouted as I gave him a stink eye. “I thought you’d always be in my corner.”
Reysalor spread his arms as if to say, “I’m just telling the truth.”
“I strongly object to presenting Cass to the Council,” Lorcan said. “I made one mistake trusting my own people and I almost cost our mate her life. We don’t know who we can really rely on when the gods’ spies are everywhere. If Phobos could infiltrate the massively warded fae club in the mortal realm, who can say some of them, or their spies, aren’t already in the Academy? What if a major god is one of the Council members?”
“You’re now paranoid, vampire,” Pyrder said. “No god can be in the Council. We’ve taken enhancive security measures.”
“Usually I don’t take sides when you guys fight,” I said, disliking the way he was setting boundaries around me. “But you did sound paranoid, Lorcan.”
“We thought we could detect a god’s presence, but we failed to detect Phobos initially, and he was only a second-tier god,” Alaric said with a brooding expression. “The fuckers have upgraded this time. They have new spells that can disguise their godly essence.”
My mates shared a dismayed look.
“We must design something that can spot the gods and flush them out,” Reysalor said. “That’s the second priority next to Cass.”
“If any of them is already in Academy, we’re screwed,” Pyrder said.
Alaric nodded. “Sooner or later the Olympians will all know about Cass, if they don’t already. They won’t accept the blow that they aren’t at the top of the food chain for the first time in history. Zeus and his siblings killed their father for that. They won’t allow anyone to turn them into food and they’ll do anything in their power to root out the threat.”
And from there, the conversation got even grimmer.
“Guys, thanks for reminding me the gods will soon bear down on my ass until they erase me from the face of the planet,” I said. “That’s very comforting. So I’m going to bed now. Inform me tomorrow morning of your final decisions and I’ll review them and see if I approve any.”
