by Abbie Lyons
The day ended, another one started. Food materialized—bread, cheese, and wine—with regularity on the writing desk, and I picked at it. I felt lost, even though I knew exactly where I was. Without my friends, without all the things that made Hades Hades, I wasn’t really anything. Anyone. Not Nova, or a seduction demon, or a duchess, or anything.
I was alone.
And then, I wasn’t.
I was lying on my bed, face up, staring at the ceiling which was so distant above me that it basically receded into shadow, when I heard it. A crackling sound, coming from the windowpane. Thinking it was a bird or something, and grateful for at least a little bit of companionship, I got up slowly to investigate. But before I reached the window, a piercing plume of glass shattered inward, a bright column a flame firing nearly across the entire room, singeing the back wall.
“Shit!” I jumped back, although there wasn’t far to jump, as fragments of glass tinkled to the stone ground. And then, following the flame, flew a dark-haired, broad shouldered figure.
Raines.
“Raines!” I forgot everything, forgot any reason that I shouldn’t just throw myself at him and see if he was okay, hold him and let him hold me.
“Get back,” he said sternly. “I’m still alive.”
His wings were out. Of course. There was no other way to get up the outside except by flying. And his wings were damaged now, feathers the size of my forearm fluttering to the ground, dirty and charred.
“You’re...you’re hurt,” I stuttered.
Raines threw his head back to clear his hair out of his face and stared at me. His eyes were glowing, not red, but gold, as if its natural color had intensified and taken over.
He crouched, and the wings receded. Then he stood and I got a better look at him.
The sleeve of his black T-shirt was ripped down to the end of the seam, a massive, bloody gash slicing its way through his shoulder. It was fresh.
“Oh my God,” I breathed. Raines glanced at it.
“It’s nothing.” He looked back at me, his glowing gaze abating.
The air between us felt charged, still hot from the flame and hot from something else.
“What are you doing here?” I said. “How the fuck did you...”
“I flew,” Raines said. “I thought that would be obvious.”
“Shut up,” I said, forgetting not to be sassy. “I mean...Jesus, Raines, you’re bleeding like crazy.”
“I told you, it’s—”
This was everything I had feared. I was manifestly a danger to everyone, not just Raines, not just my friends, but all of Hades. And he’d still come to see me. He’d still taken the stupid fucking risk, exposed his wings, blasted through a window God knows how many stories high, and launched in here.
“You can’t be here,” I said. “You’ll—”
“I won’t stay if you don’t want me to,” he said. “I can go.”
Guilt tugged at me. “Not like that you can’t,” I said. “You’ll bleed out before you even hit the ground.”
Raines shrugged. “I’ve been through worse.”
“Bullshit,” I said. I took a step, but I couldn’t touch him, couldn’t bring myself to, so I pointed at the chair instead. “Sit.”
“I’m not a dog,” Raines growled, but he sat. I spun around, and made use of what I had, grabbing the top sheet from my bed and ripping it down the middle again and again until I had strips.
“I don’t know how clean they are,” I said, “but they’re better than nothing. Hold still.”
There was no way to do this without getting close to him. I tried to avoid his gaze, tried to focus on the task at hand, wrapping the sheets around his shoulder, tying them, making sure they were secure over the injury. But I couldn’t avoid feeling the warmth of his body at my fingertips. Couldn’t avoid hearing his breath in and out, getting steadier and steadier the more I took care of him.
By the time I was finished, my throat felt thick. “There,” I said, and turned my head just barely to acknowledge him.
Raines put his hand on the back of my neck and kissed me.
I didn’t resist or even want to resist. It overwhelmed me, sending a wave through me that was at once calming and electrifying, my skin flushing and warming, demanding to be near him, as near him as I could be. Nothing mattered now. Nothing mattered, and at the same time, only this mattered.
I unlocked myself from his arms just long enough to tug at his shirt, gently, seeing him wince, and easing its ragged remains off of his body, revealing the muscles of his torso, his breathing picking up again. Then I pulled him back to me, slamming my mouth to his, moving his hands to the small of my back and up under my blouse as I awkwardly shed my blazer.
“Nova,” Raines said, pulling away just briefly. “I didn’t mean to...I only wanted to see you. You don’t have to...”
“I want to,” I said. “I’ve wanted to for a long time and I just...” I chewed my lip.
“Nova, you’re not her.” Raines held my chin softly and looked deep into my eyes. “I know that’s what you’ve been worried about. But you’re not.” I leaned into his hand, relishing the rough feeling of his palm against the soft skin of my neck. Then I opened my eyes.
“How did you know?”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
I swallowed, look down.
“Because I knew you would say that,” I said. “I knew you’d reassure me and act like nothing was wrong and tell me that it didn’t matter, that you wanted to be with me anyway. And I couldn’t handle that. Because I knew there can never be any guarantees, and all it would take was one...moment. One impulse. I know that I manipulate people because it’s how I’ve always survived. It wasn’t till I got here that I realized that I didn’t have to and then...realized again that I was made to do it. Because of her. And I just don’t...”
Fuck. Tears escaped my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. Raines moved his hand to my mouth, brushing them away from my lips.
“You survive, Nova,” he said. “That’s not a weakness. That’s a skill.”
My breath caught, and Raines went on.
“I know I can tell you that you haven’t manipulated me, but I also know that you probably won’t believe me anyway. So just listen to this. Even if you had seduced me, there was no reason for me to do the rest of the stuff that I did. Get my shit together. Stop being such a jerkoff asshole all the time, ignoring responsibilities, being a dick to everyone but my friends. That was just from watching you, seeing you, and your resilience. Your ability to survive. I’m not gonna lie, I still wanted you bad, and I still do.
“But I made a choice. And even though you had everything to do with it...you had nothing to do with it, if that makes sense. I understand who you are as much as what you do. To me or to anyone else. And you’re fucking amazing, Nova.” He looked up at me through his lashes. “That’s all I came here to say. Just in case I didn’t get another chance. That’s it.”
It took a few seconds for everything to sink in.
“And yet you ended up shirtless,” I couldn’t resist saying.
Raines smirked. “I don’t mind it. Do you mind it?”
Something had taken over my body...not relief, because there was still so much at stake. But a sense of temporary balance. Like I knew that no matter what but the next few moments or minutes or maybe even hours would be all right, for however long as Raines could stay here.
I felt good enough to grin, even. “No,” I said. “Honestly, I think you’re kind of a trendsetter.”
The glow came back to his eyes. He leaned forward again, rising from his chair, pressing into me with his mouth and his hands until in one swift motion we ripped my shirt off too.
We fell towards the bed, Raines pinning me to the mattress, his skin salty as I nipped at his neck, time flowing around us, meaningless. I fumbled at the top of his belt, and he pushed away my uniform skirt just as handily.
I laughed. Raines pulled back, alarmed.
�
��Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I said.
I felt light, charged with energy. If this was risking everything, I’d do it. If all I could achieve as a demon, a seduction demon, a duchess, was to live placidly, maintain a status quo I wasn’t sure I even agreed with, I didn’t know if I could do it. And if I was going to be kidnapped by a cult soon or whatever my mother planned to do with me, then propriety didn’t matter. Either way, I needed Raines. More than I needed anything or anybody else.
He held me tighter, and I closed my eyes as he parted my legs, gasping at the feeling of him, gasping as his breathing got more and more ragged until I felt myself falling, right off a cliff, endless.
We held there, frozen and shaking, staring deep into each other’s eyes, until at last he pulled himself off of me and I clung to him, careful of his shoulder.
All the usual pillow talk clichés were failing me. It’s not like I had to ask if it was good for him—there was no doubt. And I had the sense that he couldn’t stay long—no, I knew he couldn’t.
“Nova?”
“Yeah?”
“That was way fucking better than a soul bond.”
I snorted and flicked him gently on the shoulder. Things felt almost...normal. Almost.
“Is this where we’re supposed to have a DTR?” I said. “Because I know my friends are dying to know.”
Raines lifted up to prop himself on an elbow, his muscles rippling under a light sheen of sweat. God, he was fucking hot. If he was the last guy I had sex with before I died, I wouldn’t complain.
“I’m not sure we should make any kind of long-term plans, Nova.” His voice was serious.
My heartbeat picked up a few notches.
“You think?”
I knew he was right. Knew that nothing at all long-term was guaranteed now. And yet, to hear it out loud...
“It’s not because of you,” Raines said needlessly. “It’s just that—”
“Halt!”
I jolted to sitting, wrapping the sheet around me.
“Who the fuck was that?” I said, the words tumbling out quickly and nervously.
In a sweeping cloud of red, a kyrios appeared, his face obscured by a black mask with only two slits for eyes.
“Trespassing,” he said. “Violation.”
Reality crushed me like an iron fist. “No,” I said. “He just wanted to...to see me. You’ve kept me up here with no explanation, like I’m a fucking war criminal, and—”
The kyrios wasn’t listening. With a single, vicious motion, he flung out an arm and a chain extended, clapping itself around Raines’s neck, tugging him out of bed to his knees on the floor.
“Let him go!” I said. “He was just making sure I was okay!”
Raines swiveled to look at me. “Nova, don’t. You’ll only make it worse.”
Cold guilt flooded my chest. This was it. I’d led Raines to some kind of destruction, punishment. There was no fear in his face but I knew it was there.
“Raines Kendrick, by order of the Regents, I am seizing you from this location immediately.”
The chains began to glow blue, and Raines’s body flickered.
“Where are you taking him?” I cried.
But it was no good. In a split second, Raines faded, and the kyrios with him.
Just like that, I was alone. With nothing but streaming moonlight and a brisk breeze.
A lone feather blew across the stones of the floor.
I burst into sobs.
Chapter Seventeen
After hours of non-stop crying, I was finally able to get in a bit of sleep. At least I could be thankful for the lack of nightmares—because if there’s one thing that’s going to result in nightmares, it’d probably be having a boy you just had sex with ripped from your arms only to leave you all alone in a mysterious, creepy tower. Maybe I should be thankful for small victories, I guess.
And now that I was through with all the crying, it was time to get thinking. Before Raines snuck in only to be forcefully removed, I wasn’t happy with my situation, but I wasn’t exactly angry about it either—more just resigned to my miserable fate. But now I was fucking furious. The whole thing felt like an injustice, not only to me, but to the entire school. If me being on campus really put so many people in danger then really they probably should’ve just sent me somewhere far away.
Instead, somebody decided the best solution was to lock me up in this little room. To borrow a phrase from Morgan, demons could be so daft sometimes. I just didn’t see the point to any of this.
So I started making notes on the parchment that was so graciously provided for me on the desk: the pros and cons of trying to escape from this damn tower. Predictable of me, of course, given that Lattimore had already guessed I’d be trying to find a way out.
Pros of Escaping:
- This tower sucks
- I’m bored and I want to get out
- Need to know that Raines is okay
- Me being on campus at all is a risk to everybody
- Still really fucking bored
- Also if Raines is okay...more sex???
Cons of Escaping:
- Gonna be in trouble probably
- Might get expelled from school?
- Maybe this tower actually IS keeping me safe and if I get out of here I’ll get snatched up right away and being kidnapped by a cult might actually be worse than being bored
- Could I actually be putting the school in more danger by escaping?
- I don’t actually know how to get out of here
After writing all of that out, I still couldn’t figure out how to properly make a decision. The best bet right now just seemed to be to take so long to make a choice that somehow the decision would be made for me.
In the meantime, I couldn’t stop thinking about Raines. What did he mean when he said it wasn’t a good time for us to define the relationship or make any sort of long-term plans? Was that, like, a permanent thing or did he just mean that being stuck in a tower was the wrong time to actually make those plans?
In my loneliness after he was pulled away, I was more sure than ever that I wanted him—both emotionally and physically. Especially physically because, damn, I could not stop thinking about how good we were together in bed. Look, if you’re alone with nothing to do then constantly thinking back to the awesome sex you had the night before wasn’t really that weird. How else was I supposed to be entertaining myself right now?
Was it a little fucked up that I was thinking of Raines even more than the fact that members of my mother’s cult—and probably even my mother herself—might be on their way to Hades Academy at this very moment to try and snatch me? Probably. Did I care? No.
I was stuck in a tower. What did any of it even matter?
Although I was definitely curious what they wanted with me. Before, my mother made it sound like she wanted me to join the cult and help her resurrect the devil. But I wasn’t so sure that was definitely the truth. If she and the Children of Abaddon truly believed that creating dark energy was the key to bringing the devil back, what better way of doing that than by ritually sacrificing your own daughter? After all, one of the main takeaways from what my father told me was that my mom wasn’t to be trusted. She was an unreliable narrator, and I couldn’t take anything she said at face value. But whether she wanted me to join her or wanted to kill me, I knew I 100% didn’t want anything to do with her.
Eventually, I got tired of thinking endless thoughts and decided to try and sleep a little more, even though it was clearly the middle of the day. I’d just have to cross my fingers for no nightmares. Are they even called nightmares if they happen when you’re taking a nap during the daytime? Wouldn’t they be called daymares?
One thing was for sure. Being alone up here was making my thoughts go to increasingly stupid places. If I’d ever considered myself an introvert, being locked away was certainly proving that to be false. I needed people to talk with.
I could feel myself drifting
off when, out of the blue, the tower began to rumble. Because of course this whole situation had to get worse. It was only a slight rumble, but enough that there was cause for concern. Just thinking about how high up I was already made me want to throw up, so any sort of swaying back and forth, however slight, wasn’t ideal.
The shaking began to intensify, and even though it was incredibly scary I was a little relieved: my decision had been made for me. I needed to find a way out of this place. Something bad was happening—it felt an awful lot like a Chaos incident—and being this high up wasn’t feeling at all safe.
But how? And really, whose idea was it to tuck me away somewhere this high off the ground. This wasn’t a fall I’d be able to survive.
Yeah, but if you fall to your death, at least that would solve the problem of having to figure out how to get out of here.
I made a mental list of the magical skills I was good at. Transmorphing wasn’t going to be any help here. Seduction was also useless in this situation, given that there wasn’t anything to seduce. Making fire or lightning? Was there a way I could use one of those powers?
The shaking was only growing in intensity. If I was going to figure something out, it had to be soon. There might not be much time left before this tower was making a beeline for the ground.
Until it stopped entirely. Just like that, everything was back to normal, other than the bookshelf that had fallen over, leaving a big pile of that boring demon poetry all over the floor.
Honestly, that’s where it belongs.
But I couldn’t get complacent. The quaking could begin again at any moment and maybe it would be easier to figure out a way out of here in a state of slightly lesser panic. I looked out the window thinking that maybe there was a small jump I could make, or maybe something I could climb down.
There wasn’t a jump I could make without dying or, if I were lucky, breaking pretty much all of my bones. But there was, however, a kyrios stationed on a roof maybe fifty feet below me. And that’s when it hit me—maybe my seduction powers actually were what would get me out of this mess. The real question was if they even worked at a range this far.