by Chris Cannon
Valmont leaned back, draping one arm over Bryn’s shoulder. “Good afternoon, Jaxon. What’s got your knickers in a twist?”
Clint choked on his pizza.
Bryn bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing.
The temperature around them seemed to drop as Jaxon turned his ice-cold glare on Valmont. “I wasn’t speaking to you.”
“You weren’t speaking to Bryn, either. You were barking orders.” Valmont leaned forward. “You might want to try a more polite approach.”
Oh, hell. She did not need Jaxon and Valmont facing off in the dining hall.
“For Rhianna’s sake, why don’t you two dial back the testosterone?” Bryn spoke in a calm tone, even though she wanted to smack Jaxon.
“I’m not the one with the problem,” Jaxon bit out. “Meet me in Rhianna’s room after Proper Decorum. And leave your knight in the hall. He’s not invited inside.” With that parting shot, Jaxon stalked back to his table.
“He moves pretty fast for someone with a giant stick up his ass,” Clint observed.
Valmont laughed, and Bryn joined in.
“I don’t know why he has to be such a jerk,” Clint said.
“Maybe he’s jealous,” Ivy said.
The laughter stopped. “What?” Bryn and Valmont said at the same time.
“Officially, he might have to marry you,” Ivy said. “Maybe he doesn’t like watching you two together.”
“Or watching the whole campus watch you two together,” Clint said.
“Watching us do what?” It was ridiculous. So they held hands, and she’d kissed him on the cheek when he was sad. It wasn’t like they were doing the wild thing on the dining hall table.
“In Elemental Science this morning, the looks going back and forth between you two were pretty intense,” Ivy said.
“Half the campus thinks you’re an item,” Clint added.
“We could finish what we started in the library and confirm their suspicions.” Bryn leaned toward him.
Valmont looked down at his plate. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
Wham. His lack of interest punched her right in the gut. She sucked in a breath and turned away. This could not be happening again. Her face burned from embarrassment. He’d wanted to kiss her earlier when no one was around. Was she doomed to date guys who were ashamed to be seen with her?
“Bryn.” Valmont touched her arm. “It’s not what you—”
“Don’t.” She jerked away from him.
“Bryn, please. I promised your grandmother I’d be honorable. Doing what I want rather than what’s right isn’t honorable.”
Smoke shot from her nostrils. “And what do you want?”
“I gave up my entire life to come watch over you. I want to tuck you away somewhere safe, where no one can come after you. I want to be the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see at night before you fall asleep in my arms. I want us to be together in every sense of the word, and above all, I never want to hurt you… Ever.”
At his touching words, Bryn’s anger and the fire in her gut receded.
“Are we okay?” Valmont asked.
“I’m 90 percent sure I no longer want to shoot a fireball at your head.”
Chairs scraping across the floor and students talking signaled it was time to go to class.
“You’re in for a treat,” Ivy said. “Our next class is Algebra, and then it’s off to Proper Decorum.”
“Proper what?” Valmont asked.
“De-cor-um.” Bryn enunciated each syllable. “It’s the class where they teach us all the pointless social crap my grandmother believes so strongly in.”
“Like don’t chew with your mouth open?” Valmont asked.
“Wait and see,” Clint said. “We spent weeks memorizing different kinds of utensils. I never knew there were so many different kinds of forks.”
As they walked across campus, Valmont reached for Bryn’s hand and laced his fingers through hers. The warmth of his touch reassured her. She squeezed his hand and glanced over at him. “You still want to kiss me, right?”
“Yes. It’s the venue I objected to.” He checked his watch. “In exactly two hours, I will prove I’m telling the truth.”
“In two hours, I have my mandatory meeting with Jaxon.”
“He’ll have to wait.”
All through Algebra and Proper Decorum, Bryn fantasized about kissing Valmont. It was what she wanted. She was sure of it. But how much of it was due to the bond? Damn Mrs. Anderson for putting that thought into her head.
When class ended, a nervous frisson of excitement grew in her stomach.
“Call me later,” Ivy said. “I want to know what has Jaxon in such a fabulous mood.”
“Sure.”
Ivy and Clint headed for their dorm. She and Valmont headed up to her room.
Jaxon standing in the hall outside her door put a crimp in her romantic plans.
“Come on,” Jaxon said. “Let’s get this over with.”
“I’d like to drop my book bag off first.” Asshat, she mentally added.
“Give it to your knight,” Jaxon bit out the last word. “Isn’t that part of his job, to carry heavy things?”
“One of my jobs.” Valmont took the bag and gestured down the hall toward Rhianna’s room. “As he said, let’s get this over with. We have more important things to do.”
Valmont waited outside in the hall, while Bryn followed Jaxon into Rhianna’s room. Once the door shut, Jaxon paced the living room. Rhianna emerged from the bedroom with a frown on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Bryn asked.
“It’s your grandfather,” Jaxon said. “He’s managed to have you taken off the unfit to marry list.”
“Holy Hell.”
Jaxon snorted. “Wait. It gets worse. He also completed the lineage check to see if you and I would be compatible for a marriage contract.”
“And it came back negative, right?”
Jaxon didn’t respond.
“It came back positive? What kind of bullshit is that? We’re like oil and water. How could our lineage be compatible?”
Rhianna sniffled. Jaxon walked over and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and tucking her head under his chin. “It means nothing.”
There was a strange itchiness under Bryn’s skin, like it had become too tight. The results had to be a mistake. Was the Directorate on drugs? What did this mean, anyway? “Jaxon, what happens now?”
“Run off with your knight, and nothing happens.”
Dare to dream. “I can’t do that to my grandmother.”
“If you stay, your grandfather will file a petition for approval of marriage between our families which my father, being far more sane, will fight.”
She never thought she’d utter these words. “Please tell me your dad outranks my grandfather and can make this go away.”
Jaxon stepped away from Rhianna and rammed his hand back through his hair. “They are fairly evenly matched. I’m not sure how the vote will go when it hits the Directorate. I’m sure it would amuse some of my father’s enemies to handicap his son with an unsuitable wife.”
Unsuitable? That should piss her off, but he could call her whatever he wanted if it would stop this nightmare from becoming reality. Bryn shot across the room toward Jaxon. “This can’t happen. You need to talk to your father, have him bribe, threaten, or murder whoever he has to, in order to stop this insanity.”
“Are you calling my father a murderer?” Frost shot from Jaxon’s nose.
“Oh, grow the hell up. If my grandfather has had people killed, your father probably has, too. That’s not the point. The point is, I don’t care how your father does it. This,” she pointed back and forth between Jaxon and herself, “cannot happen.”
“On that we agree.” Jaxon slumped onto the couch and held his hand out to Rhianna. She joined him, curving against him like a comma, resting her head on his chest.
The sight of them l
ike that, gave Bryn another idea. “Don’t get mad at what I’m about to suggest.” Bryn took a deep breath and blew it out. “You and Rhianna seem to have,” good God, how do I say this, “an intimate relationship. What if after we graduate, and before we get married, Rhianna became pregnant. You’d have to marry her. Right?”
Jaxon went very still and then closed his eyes. “Sometimes I forget how absolutely ignorant you are. Pregnancy outside of marriage is an unforgivable betrayal in our Clan.”
She looked at Rhianna. “Do you agree with what he said?”
Rhianna gave a curt nod. “I would never bring such shame upon my Clan.”
They were both insane. “You’re worried about shaming the Clan. If the Clan has its way, I’ll have to marry Jaxon.” She laughed. “Clint’s turkey baster idea is sounding better and better.”
“What are you talking about?” Jaxon said.
She repeated Clint’s idea of a marriage in name only, which would allow Jaxon and Rhianna to be together while she and Valmont were together and how a child would be created through absolutely no bodily contact.
Jaxon sat up. “That’s not a bad idea. Except for the part about you carrying on with Valmont. I wouldn’t allow that.”
Fire roared through Bryn’s body. Sparks shot from her lips when she spoke. “What makes you think you’re allowed to tell me what I can and cannot do? And why would I agree to you carrying on with Rhianna while I had no one?”
“That’s the way it works,” Jaxon said.
She wanted to bludgeon him with a chair. “You are not going to dictate how I live my life in some sham of a marriage.”
“She’s right,” Rhianna said. “If you and I continue our relationship, she deserves to have someone, too.”
“Are you insane?” Jaxon snapped.
The door to Rhianna’s room sprung open and smacked back against the wall. Valmont strode into the room, grabbed Bryn’s arm, and spun her around.
Off balance, Bryn clutched at him. He solved the problem by wrapping his arms around her and pressing his mouth against hers. And just like that, the rest of the world vanished. His mouth moved against hers. Magic and heat flowed through their bond, setting off various nerve endings in her body. She growled deep in her chest.
Valmont pulled back. “Did you just growl at me?”
She nodded. “But in a good way.”
He grinned and rubbed his nose against hers. “You’re mine. I’m not giving you up no matter what the Directorate says.”
She melted against him. “Agreed.”
Rhianna giggled.
Right, they had an audience. Bryn turned toward the couch.
Rhianna wore a huge grin. Jaxon looked like he wanted to eviscerate someone.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Valmont said. “Deal with it.”
Frost shot from Jaxon’s nostrils. “If Bryn and I are forced to marry, no one can know about your relationship. It would make me appear weak.”
“Why are appearances so important to you?” Bryn didn’t get it. And then something occurred to her. “If you’re so concerned about how things look, then you shouldn’t carry on in public with Rhianna, either.”
“Double standard.” Jaxon smirked. “No one cares what I do.”
The urge to shoot a fireball at his head consumed her. She took a deep breath and counted to ten. Didn’t help. She still wanted to fry him.
“If,” Rhianna said, “worse comes to worse, then all four of us will carry on discreetly. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Valmont answered. “How long do we have until we start playing our parts?”
“What do you mean?” Rhianna asked.
“If you’re approved for marriage,” Valmont cringed as he spoke the words, “do you two pretend to break things off while I pretend to be nothing more than friends with Bryn?”
“Not necessarily,” Jaxon said. “We could agree to see other people until we graduate. That’s not uncommon.”
That was a relief.
On the way back to her room, Bryn prayed to any higher power that might be listening. Please don’t let the Directorate approve our marriage contract. Because no matter how good the plan sounded in theory, in real life it would suck. Sure, behind closed doors, she and Jaxon might live apart, but they’d have to go to all the stupid balls and charity events as a couple. She’d have to put up with his stellar personality, and sooner or later, she might snap and kill him.
“What are you thinking about?” Valmont held the door to her dorm room open so she could enter. He dropped her book bag on the floor and turned so he was staring into her eyes. “Bryn, you’re not having second thoughts about us, are you?”
“No.” She threw her arms around him and pressed her face against his chest, breathing in his warm sunshine and soap smell. “You’re the only thing that makes sense in my life right now.”
He took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling beneath her cheek. “Thank God. I worried that I might have scared you.”
She squeezed him tighter. “Nope. You’re stuck with me.”
“Till death do us part?”
Chill bumps raced down her spine. “You aren’t allowed to die.”
“Hey,” he smoothed his hand up and down her spine, “it was a joke. That’s the last line of a wedding ceremony.”
“I know.” God, what was wrong with her? Her emotions were all over the place lately. “The thought of losing you and being stuck with Jaxon would make any girl a little clingy.”
He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “True. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”
…
Tuesday morning, Bryn shared the news of her possible marriage with Clint and Ivy.
“So, my turkey baster idea wasn’t so bad, after all,” Clint said.
“Can we please refer to it as ‘the sham marriage idea?’” Bryn said. “The whole idea of a turkey baster makes me queasy.”
“Better than the idea of naked-time with Jaxon,” Clint said.
Valmont focused his entire attention on Clint. “Do not utter those words again.”
“Do they make you queasy?” Clint said.
“No,” Valmont said. “They piss me off.”
“Told you.” Clint grinned at Ivy. “It’s my special skill set.”
“I’m so proud.” Ivy rolled her eyes. “Now let’s change the subject. Did you hear about the students who were arrested for being out after curfew?”
What the hell? “No. How do you know about it?”
“You’re not plugged into the Black Clan’s grape vine.” Ivy leaned in and spoke in a quiet voice. “The Directorate had the students arrested, for real. They said anyone out after curfew will be considered a criminal.”
“So they’ll be suspended?”
“No.” Clint glanced around like he was worried someone might overhear. “Rumor has it they’re reverting to old laws.”
That sounded bad. “They’re kids. What can the Directorate do to them?”
“Incarcerate them without food or water for twenty-four hours, for starters. There’s talk of worse.”
“Worse?” What did that mean? “Are they going to put students in stockades in the middle of campus or something?” Clint didn’t laugh like she thought he would. “Are you kidding me?”
Ivy shook her head. “It could get bad. The best plan is to stick to the curfew and not push the Directorate. I bet they’re dying to make an example of someone to keep the rest of us in line.”
Great. Ferrin drunk with power… That’s all she needed.
…
That night in her room, Bryn sat on the couch reading her Proper Decorum assignment until her eyes glazed over.
“Is it that boring?” Valmont asked.
Bryn’s head snapped up. “Boring enough to render me unconscious.” She yawned and stretched. Was Valmont staring at her? “What, did I drool on myself?”
“No.” He plucked the book from her hands, scooted close and wrapped his arm around her back
so she leaned against his shoulder. “There we go. That’s better.” He propped his feet up on the coffee table, leaned his head back against the top of the couch, and closed his eyes.
His body heat warmed her, which would have relaxed her except for the fact that he was a hot guy. He would kiss her, right? She waited. The only sound she heard was Valmont breathing. Seriously? They hadn’t discussed the kiss they’d shared last night. She assumed it would be the first of many. Maybe not.
She wiggled against him, trying to get comfortable.
Valmont’s left eye opened. “That’s distracting.”
He seemed amused.
“Sorry, just trying to get comfortable.” Her nearness didn’t appear to have the same effect on him that his had on her. Damn it.
She sighed and cuddled against him. A nap. That’s what she needed. Not.
“You have two choices,” Valmont said. “Lie still and we’ll take a nap, or keep wiggling around and we’ll do something else.”
“Like what?” She wanted him to say he wanted to kiss her.
“I don’t know. Play cards. Memorize china patterns.” He opened his eyes. “Or I could kiss you senseless.”
“I vote for option C.”
“Are you sure? Because I was thinking about brushing up on my poker skills.”
She smacked him on the chest. He laughed, catching her hand and pulling her close.
Her heart sped up as his lips touched hers. Magic flared through the bond, increasing their connection. His mouth moved against hers and suddenly, it felt like she was flying.
Valmont jerked away from her. “What was that?”
It took a minute for her brain to adjust to the no longer flying/kissing sensation. “What was what?”
“You didn’t feel that?”
“Are you talking about the cold vacuum of air that rushed in when you stopped kissing me? Because that’s what I’m feeling right now.”
“No. It felt like we were flying.”
“That’s not a bad thing.” Why was he freaking out about this? She leaned toward him.
He scooted backward, putting distance between them. “That’s not normal.”
“Maybe it’s normal for us.” Why did he care, and why didn’t he want to kiss her anymore?
