House of Imperial

by Jaymin Eve

  “I will not tolerate that bullshit in my house any longer,” Daniel snarled, and it almost looked like the marks on his head had started to glow, swirling red.

  It was also getting really hot in the hall.

  “What happened?” I whispered to Emma.

  She tightened her hold on me. “That’s a member of Daniel’s house.” I guessed as much from his shaved head and attitude problem. “I think he pushed Star. Imperial and Darken do not get along, not at all.”

  And yet Lexen and Daniel were best of friends. I was really glad that was the case, because I already thought of Emma and Star as friends. The guy against the wall was starting to turn purple. A pretty color, except it probably meant he was dying. Pulling away from Emma, I crossed to Daniel, moving cautiously when I got close. He was giving me “wild beast” vibes.

  “Dan,” I said slowly, hoping to draw his attention.

  Lexen moved to stand on the opposite side to me, close enough to intervene if he needed to. He seemed content to let this play out, though. Clearly it wasn’t a done thing to step in on another overlord while he was dealing with his people. But I didn’t want Daniel to kill anyone today.

  “Daniel,” I said more firmly.

  His head snapped to the side and swirling eyes locked on me. “This is not exactly discreet,” I murmured. “You’ve made your point. Can’t you deal with him back home … later?”

  The word home slipped out before I could stop it, and even though it was stupid for me to think of a place I’d only spent a few sporadic days in as home, it was the truth. I had bonded to the land of Imperial. To Daniel. My body had adjusted to that fact long before my mind.

  With a final rumble of anger, Daniel jerked his arm down, letting the Imperial fall in a heap to the floor. He scrambled up quickly, letting out a groan as he wrapped his hand across his throat. Hatred burned from dark eyes as he snarled at Daniel. “You won’t have followers for long. Laous knew what was right – he would never have tied a human to our world.”

  The hatred was directed at me, but I didn’t flinch. No need to be scared when I had an Imperial and Darken bodyguard on either side of me.

  “And on top of that, now you’re hanging around the Darkens?” This time the accusation was said in a shout. “No one will stand for this! You’re not going to be the overlord for much longer.”

  He stormed away then, pushing through crowds of students, scattering them across the hall.

  Calming myself using my favorite breathing techniques, I waited for someone to speak.

  Lexen finally did: “We knew there was going to be fallout from this, but I still believe the time is right for us to show unity between our houses. They will get used to it.”

  Daniel didn’t disagree, but his hard gaze remained on the end of the hall where the angry Imperial Daelighter had disappeared.

  “Xander and Chase are supposed to meet us at lunch,” Emma said, sounding unsure. “Should we maybe take it slower than that? I don’t want to be at war by last class.”

  Lexen wrapped her up in his arms. “It’s going to be fine. This is the best course for the future. Daniel’s house was always going to be the hardest. Laous left him a real mess.”

  “Lexen’s right.” Daniel words were clipped. “I have let this go on too long. Imperial will fall into line or I will make them.” Before I could blink, his arm wrapped around me and I was pulled closer to his side. “You’re with me this morning. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to try and punish me by hurting you.”

  I shook his arm off, needing to maintain my independence. “I accept that I’m batting out of my league here, but you don’t have to throw me around like a caveman.”

  Emma laughed. It was such an unexpected sound that whatever tension was riding our group dissipated. A semblance of a smile even quirked up the edges of Daniel’s lips.

  “I adore you already,” Emma said, between chuckles. “Let’s hope the last two secret keepers fit in just as well.”

  Lexen cupped her face, his lips pressing to hers. “I love your happiness,” I heard him murmur, “but I don’t want you to be disappointed if the four secret keepers don’t end up as one big happy family.”

  Emma looked a little drunk when he stepped back. Lexen’s hands slowly left her face, sliding down her body to capture her hands.

  She recovered enough to say, “I might read a lot of fantasy books, but I know how to live in reality as well. My hopes aren’t that high.” She paused and tilted her head to the side. “Still … it’s hard to deny that there’s something fate-like at play here. For the first time in your history, we have four overlords who are friends. Best friends. Brothers in arms from a young age. The four secret keepers are tied to each other as well, and to each of the houses they were born in, and therefore tying themselves to the overlords. Your dragon soul…” Her voice got very low. “Chose me as a mate. Daniel tied his soul to Callie’s without even knowing her, just because he couldn’t let her die. We’re all soulmates or soul bound, whatever you want to call it. The council said the last two secret keepers are female, and I also believe that somehow Xander and Chase will end up … connected … to the girls born in their houses. It’s fate.”

  I expected Daniel and Lexen to laugh and dismiss this perfect world she was painting, but the pair exchanged a glance and I was startled by the fact that they seemed to be seriously considering her theory. Was she on to something? Was there any possibility that I had been tied to Daniel long before Laous’ attempt to kill me? Was that why I’d just accepted this bond so readily? I’d thought it was because I craved the feeling of having someone in my life, someone at my back. But could it go even deeper than that?

  “And,” Star chimed in, “don’t forget that this is the first time in a long time that the overlord minors are all male.” Her voice had the same awestruck quality as Emma’s. “It’s very fate-like.”

  Emma gasped. “Exactly. This is just how I would play it if I were fate. How better to protect secret keepers than to tie them to powerful overlords.” She clapped her hands together like it was all settled. When Lexen shook his head at her, she wrinkled her nose in his direction. “You’ll see, I’m rarely wrong about these things. I’ve read too many books.”

  It sounded like he let out a low grumble then, and in a flash, his arms were around her. My heart skipped a beat as his lips crashed into Emma’s, kissing her like he couldn’t help himself.

  I had to turn away, because one, it felt weird watching them, and two, I was a little envious of their perfect relationship. Emma didn’t seem to care that her bond to Lexen might have been set up by fate. I guess she went with the theory that our path was predetermined, and that meant Lexen was always hers. Did that mean Daniel was mine?

  I was fast coming to the realization that I would be more than okay if that was the truth.

  Emma was very flushed when she finally removed herself from Lexen. The hallway was completely empty now. We were officially beyond late for class.

  “I think we should all stick together today,” Star said, and her suggestion seemed to return focus to the group.

  No one disagreed, and I fell into a spot between Star and Emma. They led us to a moving walkway – which seemed weird for a school, but what did I know? When we reached the classroom door, Lexen made us stop, so he could go through first.

  Daniel remained behind us, protecting the back.

  “Overkill much?” I muttered, sort of wanting to laugh.

  Emma groaned, pink still high in her cheeks. “This is nothing. We’re literally going to have Daelighters all up in our business until this shit is resolved.”

  I gave her a side eye. “Seems to me you aren’t averse to one particular Daelighter ‘all up in your business.’” One side of her mouth pulled into a quirk as the pink darkened.

  “You have no idea, Callie,” she said quietly. “There’s nothing in either world which could compare to being loved by Lexen.”

  I had no doubt. I’d seen it with my
own two eyes.

  As we filed in as a group, the teacher’s expression didn’t change, remaining somewhat pleasant. Lexen started toward a back corner, but Emma stopped him with a hand on his forearm. She gestured toward a blond girl and lanky, curly-haired guy, who were waving to her from the front row.

  “I’m going to sit with Cara and Ben.” I heard her murmur. “I haven’t spent any time with them lately.”

  It looked like Lexen wanted to argue, but he just sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, it’s better that we don’t act out of character right now. Just … don’t leave the room without us, okay?”

  He phrased it like a question, but I was pretty sure it was a command.

  She returned his nod. “I promise.”

  “Do you want to meet my friends?” she asked me quietly as the other Daelighters started to move.

  I hesitated before deciding I’d rather stay with Daniel. “Thanks, but I’ll just stick with our group.”

  She squeezed my hand, before turning and hurrying over to the front where her friends were holding a desk for her. The rest of us took our seats, and I kept waiting for some sort of reprimand from the teacher, but she didn’t say a word. Once we were all sitting, she just picked her lesson back up and continued on, like there had not been an interruption at all. Well, okay, then.

  I followed enough of her lecture to know they were focusing on algebraic equations, but since I hadn’t made it past eighth grade math with homeschooling, the finer concepts were gibberish to me. With math, I knew enough to work out my groceries and pay someone for a job.

  My body remained in a semi-tense state as I waited to be singled out or called on to answer a question. But the teacher didn’t say a word. In fact, she never asked a single question of the class; she just taught her lesson. Wrote everything on the white board. Handed out a few pieces of paper. Then dismissed us early.

  As everyone filed out, I headed toward Emma. She was waiting by the door, her friends had already left the room. I had to ask: “Is this sort of class … normal? Shouldn’t she, I don’t know, ask some questions? Check to see if everyone understands the work?”

  Emma shook her head. “It’s weird as hell. I’ve never even had homework. Or anything more than a little pop quiz. Most of the classes involve frank discussions about life, and then when you get to one like math, which is more technical, they just hit you straight up with the facts but never check to see you’re actually learning it.” She took a deep breath. “I’m getting used to it now, but honestly, I’m getting straight A’s here, and I haven’t even had a real exam.” She swung her head around and glared at Lexen. “That’s nothing to do with you, right?”

  Her question was soft, but there was a ton of undercurrent there. Which Lexen definitely picked up on, if his somewhat amused expression was anything to go by. “Whatever grades you’re getting have nothing to do with me. There will be exams closer to December, and then again before we graduate. But for the most part, you’re getting the good grades because you participate. You take notes. You demonstrate your understanding throughout the class discussions. Teachers use their own judgment with that sort of thing.”

  She gave him an extra-long measured look, before nodding. “Another reason to love this school. That and the food.”

  My stomach growled then, despite the fact it hadn’t been that long since breakfast.

  “What time is lunch here?” I asked, suddenly starving.

  “It’s after the next class,” Daniel said. “But if you need to eat now, we can go grab something. I’ve made my appearance today. They won’t mark us off again until this afternoon.”

  Emma reached out, smacked him in the arm, and then yelped and shook her hand in the air. “I need to learn to never hit you overly muscled ali—" She cut herself off but continued to wave her hand.

  Daniel smirked, and my eyes went to his dimple. Stupid perfect dimple. “Lexen needs to toughen you up,” he said to Emma. “Got to keep your badass title.” She flipped him off and he full-on laughed. “That’s more like it.”

  Ignoring that, Emma turned to me. “You can’t leave until we try this experiment with the four houses sitting together at lunch. We need to get that ball rolling.”

  I agreed with that. “No worries. I think I can last another class before expiring from hunger. I’ve never been a huge eater, but the last few days I feel like I’m starving all the time.”

  As I said that, I caught sight of Lexen and Daniel exchanging a look, and I let out a huge sigh. “What?”

  “Your body is adjusting to the new bond,” Daniel told me. “It’s using a lot of energy, especially while you’re not in House of Imperial. You’ll need to keep your food intake up. I should have thought of that and brought you some snacks.”

  Emma quickly grabbed her leather satchel, opened it, and pulled out two bars. “It’s not much, but hopefully they help.” She held them out to me and I shook my head.

  “Wait, no, I can’t take your food.”

  She laughed. “Don’t even stress about it. I was hungry a lot before I met Lexen.” She took a really deep breath and her eyes grew haunted, shadows dancing over her face. “My parents … they were killed in a fire set by Laous. I had to move in with old family friends, and we never had much money.” She hugged herself closer to the massive guy at her side. “But everything is different now. Firstly, Lexen feeds me all freaking day. And secondly, my guardians, Michael and Sara, work for House of Darken now. We have plenty of money and lots of food at home. It’s great.”

  She went on to explain why her guardians used to move all the time, chasing rumors of Daelighters. But since they’d found out the truth – and almost died because of it – they were happy to give that lifestyle up. By the time she finished her story, I’d eaten the first bar, and we had arrived at the next class.

  I knew that not all of us were supposed to be in art class, but again the teacher did not ask a single question when we filed in. It was becoming very clear who ran this school, and it definitely wasn’t the humans.

  I had no experience with art. Supplies were expensive, and my mom had never been interested. Today the class was on pottery, but it wasn’t hands-on yet, just learning about the property of the clay, temperatures, movement to shape, setup of the kiln, and more information like that. It was much easier for me to follow than math, and I was surprised when the bell rang.

  Nerves had my stomach jumping. It was lunchtime. We were about to try the great overlord minor experiment. Maybe we would start a riot. Or maybe, just maybe, this would be the beginning of something better for Overworld.

  Change was coming no matter what. It was time to see which way the dice rolled.

  10

  The cafeteria was unbelievable, bigger, brighter, and more luxurious than I would have ever expected. There was a long buffet on the ground level, and the line of kids moving through it was almost mesmerizing. They had it down to a fine art, hundreds of students moving through and collecting food without any issue.

  I started to head in that direction until I realized Lexen was leading us away from it, toward a set of stairs in the center of the room. Stairs that led up to the first level. As I stepped out onto this landing, my eyes got very wide. Holy fancy pants.

  It was a six-star restaurant up here: black and white linen tablecloths, wine glasses, cutlery. There were no waiters I could see, but there was another long buffet. Their own private buffet.

  “They call them the elites,” Emma said to me. “The humans think all Daelighters are from the families of the “founding fathers,” because their last names are the houses’ names. There are about fifty of them in the school, and they all get special treatment.”

  “Your friends don’t eat up here with you?” I asked, wondering if this new life she had with Lexen had caused issue for her.

  Emma shook her head. “No, this is elite only.” Her face screwed up, eyes sad. “It caused a lot of problems at first, with my human friends. The words “traitor” and
“stuck-up-bitch” might have gotten thrown around a few times, but eventually we sorted it all out. I try and spend time with them in class, but they know Lex is my priority. Neither of them blames me, they both think he’s hot as hell.”

  Lexan’s lips twitched, but he refrained from saying anything.

  We were not the first ones on the elite level. There were a few small groups already eating. It was immediately clear that they had split themselves into houses. In one corner they were almost all blond, tanned, and broad shouldered, just like Xander.

  “House of Royale,” Emma confirmed.

  In the opposite corner were the brown-skinned, brown-haired individuals. High cheekbones and lots of pretty eyes were a common trait there. I mean, they had unique and individual looks, but you could tell they were from the same house.

  “House of Leights,” Emma said, following my line of sight.

  Which left House of Imperial and House of Darken in their own respective corners. Imperials were glaring absolute daggers in my direction, and I realized that this was the first time I would come face to face with a group of Daniel’s people.

  Outside of passing through the egg room.

  So far, it was going as well as expected.

  My dreary thoughts were cut off as we arrived at the start of the buffet. I wiped at my mouth, just in case any drool escaped while I stared at the array of dishes artfully displayed in stainless steel trays. Normally I had simple tastes in food. As I’d told Daniel, grilled cheese was my favorite, but I was more than a little impressed with their selection here.

  “Daelighters don’t eat much meat,” Emma told me. “But they make fruit and vegetables into the most delicious meals.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve never been a huge fan of meat. Especially red meat.”