He walked away to take a piss and I stood up, using my water magic to clean myself off and syphon the water on the floor into the sinks. That vision had rocked me to my core, but I didn't know what it meant or where to even begin unravelling it. But I sure as shit didn't want it to come to pass.
I glanced over at Ryder as he zipped up his fly then moved to wash his hands.
"Thanks for..." I couldn't bring myself to finish that sentence and Ryder ignored me anyway.
He headed past me to leave, but I caught his arm and he hissed at me, his eyes demanding I stop touching him. I dropped my hand, my lips tightening. "Have the FIB come knocking at your door yet?"
"No," he said simply. "Yours?"
I shook my head.
"Then it looks like we're in the clear," he said, moving to leave again but as he made it to the door, words fell from my lungs.
"Have you heard from her?" I stared at the back of his head as he paused, his hand on the door as he fell still.
"Yeah," he grunted. "You?"
"She’s tried to call a bunch of times, but..." I shook my head, not needing to finish that sentence.
He didn't look back at me, but he didn't leave either, remaining there as he decided what to say. "As far as I'm concerned, she's a fucking ghost." He turned to me at last, his green eyes sweeping up and down me. "How's your control of The Sight coming along?" He changed direction so fast that I was sure he didn’t want to talk about her any more than that.
"Better," I lied. I wasn't getting anywhere with controlling it and frankly, I was looking forward to returning to school next week and spending time with Professor Mystice so I could get a handle on it. Maybe he could help with that vision I'd just seen because it seemed like whatever was coming was not good.
"Do you think you could find someone for me?" he asked, a crease forming between his eyes which was the only sign that this was important to him. "I'd pay you. Whatever you want. Blood, gold, auras, stardust. Just name your price.”
I raised my brows in surprise then shook my head. If there was one thing I knew about The Sight, it was that it only gave me visions for whatever the stars deemed it necessary to show me, for my own future or for those close to me. And as that currently amounted to Bill and Elise, there was no chance I could do it for Ryder Draconis. "Doesn't work like that."
"Then how does it work?" he snarled, taking a defensive stance like he was about to try and force me to give him what he needed.
"Threatening me won't work either," I rolled my eyes. “Unless the stars have it in mind for me to see something in particular, I have to know you to direct the visions. Really know you. Or I can't have predictions for you."
He considered that for a long moment then growled furiously like I'd just told him he'd have to give me both his legs and one of his kidneys for me to be able to use The Sight for his benefit.
"For fuck's sake," he snapped, shoving out of the room and I didn't immediately follow.
I turned to the mirror, wondering if that vision might come back. Not that I wanted it to. But if there was something bad coming my way, I needed to know. I needed to try and stop it. But there weren't enough details to go on. It was just blood and death and terror...
***
I went back to Aurora Academy the day before term began with dread in my gut. I was going to have to face Elise and I'd decided I wanted to do it sooner rather than later. If we were destined to be apart then I had to find a way to accept that. And I was done spending night after night pining for her. I had to suck it up and deal with this like Fae, no matter how much it broke my heart. The stars had chosen someone else for her, and their word was final.
I landed on the roof of the Vega Dormitories and took the fire escape down to our room. I climbed in through the window and spotted Dante in a towel by his bunk, his hair wet and his tanned skin gleaming.
He looked over at me and a tense beat of silence passed between us. Before either of us said a word, a squeak of fright drew my attention to Elise's top bunk, and I saw a little white rat poking its head out from under the sheets.
"What the fuck?" I breathed just as he shifted and Eugene Dipper appeared with the sheet wrapped around his waist. There were a pair of chewed socks on his pillow and his eyes darted to Dante before he quickly tucked them under it.
Dante missed it as he was still looking at me. "Il ratto has been reassigned to our dorm. To make room for the new freshmen."
"Then where's Elise gonna sleep?" I blurted before I could stop myself and Dante frowned in a way that said he was hurting like I was over this.
Maybe I should have been glad that the stars had put us all out of the misery of waiting for her to choose between us. If Dante had been her mate, he would probably have taunted me about it forever. But I didn't feel glad when I saw him looking like that. It made my heart twist and I had the urge to walk over there and clap an arm around his shoulders. I shook that feeling off fast and strode across the room, grabbing a backpack from the closet and stuffing some things into it. I didn't want to stay in here anyway, I'd just sleep up on the roof alone.
Laini evidently hadn't arrived yet as her bunk was still made up ready for her arrival.
"What are you doing, stronzo?" Dante asked as he dropped his towel and pulled on some boxers.
"I need some space," I muttered, shouldering the pack and swinging around to slap my wing into his face, but at the last second I drew it back, finding I didn't want to do it for some reason. If I was starting to pity Dante enough to stop winding him up, things really were looking bleak.
Our eyes locked as he realised what I’d done and we both frowned.
A knock came at the door and Dante moved to answer it.
"Oh, hey," Elise said brightly as he opened it and the bottom fell out of my stomach as she walked into the room. Dante embraced her and she spotted me over his shoulder, her lips parting in a perfect O.
"Gabriel," she breathed, moving out of Dante's arms and hurrying toward me.
I stepped forward on instinct then lifted a hand, pushing it through my hair as I stopped myself. The silver rings around her eyes gleamed like moonlight and my heart tugged painfully.
I dropped her gaze, turning to Eugene and finding him nibbling on one of the socks he'd been hiding. He tried to cover up what he’d been doing but not quick enough.
"How was your summer?" Elise asked, a note of concern in her voice.
I cleared my throat, shrugging in answer.
"Everything's unpacked, little monster. You're all settled in," Leon said brightly as he strode into the room with his golden hair up in a topknot and his muscles straining against his Aurora Pitball shirt. Jealousy raked at my heart as he punched Dante playfully in the bicep then dropped his arm over Elise's shoulders.
"Hey dude," he said to me with a beaming smile. "Do you guys wanna hang out? Me and Elise were just gonna-"
"No," I said immediately, moving to the window as my chest tightened.
“Are those my fucking socks?” Dante’s voice followed me as I climbed outside.
I flexed my wings and took off, flying up to the top of the building and landing beside my tent.
Elise shot in front of me in a blur of motion and my lungs stopped working.
"Elise..." I sighed as she caught my hand, her eyes glistening with tears. My memory hadn't done her any justice. She shone like the most beautiful star in the zodiac; if I had been her mate, I'd never need to look up at the sky again.
"Talk to me," she begged. "I don't want to lose you, Gabriel. I didn't ask the stars for this."
"It's a gift," I said heavily, trying to ignore the way my soul yearned for her. I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her until I couldn't breathe. But she wasn't mine. I could never lay a claim on her again. "I'm happy for you," I said, which wasn't wholly untrue. I might have resented the stars for the choice they'd made, but finding your Elysian Mate was the most divine gift anyone could be blessed with. She had her one true love now, someone who wou
ld always care for and protect her. And that was something I couldn’t resent. She deserved happiness more than anyone I knew.
Tears slipped from her eyes and I reached out, unable to help myself as I brushed them away. "Don't cry."
"I don't want to lose you," she choked out. "But I can see you withdrawing already. You wouldn't answer my calls, my texts. I've missed you so much. At least tell me we can be friends."
My nose wrinkled at the word and I took a measured step away from her, shaking my head. "I can't. I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you, or Leon, but I can't be around you now."
"I need you," she insisted. "Don't do this."
"It's already done." I swept past her into my tent and blocked the entrance as she tried to follow.
“Please,” she breathed and it broke me to see her like that.
I wanted to give in and make her smile again. I needed that so much in that moment, but for myself, I had to break this off or it was going to kill me.
“I just…need time,” I said, a vague promise in those words that maybe one day we could be something. But I knew in my heart I couldn’t be friends with Elise Callisto. She would always mean too much to me, my heart would always pound a fierce and hungry rhythm for her, even if a whole eternity passed before I saw her again.
She nodded, backing up, tears rolling quietly down her cheeks.
I turned away and a whoosh of air told me she'd gone. My heart cracked in two as I dumped my bag down and stared at the small space I'd claimed as my own on campus. A place which reminded me of Elise. Of the girl who was never meant to be mine.
I lay in my new room, which was Leon’s old room, in the new king sized bed that had been installed in place of the old bunks and my head cushioned on the muscular pec of my Lion.
I hadn’t slept well, I’d hardly slept at all in fact. I’d just laid here, staring at the ceiling and trying to steal comfort from the solid arms of the man who held me close.
When we’d been sent our room assignments for this year, I’d been surprised to find out I’d been moved. But it turned out that Greyshine had been informed of our Elysian Mate status and had had special provisions put in place for us. The most obvious of which was this private space for the two of us to be alone. Apparently the no sex on campus rule was scratched when the stars paired you with your one true love. Not that they’d ever enforced that rule anyway.
It turned out we were the first officially bonded pair of Elysian Mates to ever attend the academy and that somehow equated to random privileges. I wasn’t really going to complain about it, but it did feel a bit weird to get special treatment for something we’d had no control over.
I couldn’t help but keep thinking of the other kings as I lay there in the dark, peeking out through the gap in the curtains as the sun slowly rose. I missed them like I was missing a limb. I ached for them like they’d each taken a piece of my heart with them when they’d left me. Even after our three-way at Dante’s house, he still hadn’t seemed to realise how much he meant to me. I could still see that hurt in his eyes, he’d still looked at me like I wasn’t his when I’d never agreed to stop belonging to him. And it hurt. I knew it was selfish of me to feel like that, but I did.
The sun crested the horizon and I couldn’t help but think of Gabriel up on the roof, bathing in its rays with his black wings spread and his chest bare. But he didn’t want to see me. He’d made it painfully clear. My feelings on the subject weren’t up for discussion and I guessed after eight weeks of him ignoring every one of my calls and messages, I should have expected it, but it had still felt like a dagger piercing my heart to hear it.
I wriggled out of Leon’s arms and sped around the room, grabbing my wash bag before heading out for a shower. I didn’t slow down until I reached the girls’ shower room and when I paused outside a stall, I stilled as I came face to face with Cindy Poo.
Her gaze raked over Leon’s Pitball jersey which I’d slept in and a small, triumphant smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as her gaze met mine.
“I guess even the stars had had enough of you spreading your legs for every powerful cock you could find then,” she commented lightly. “And they decided to stop your whoring before you gave manticrabs to the whole damn school.”
I scoffed lightly as I knocked open a shower stall and hung my wash bag inside. “Well, I wouldn’t go getting your hopes up that Dante is suddenly going to start wanting your desperate ass,” I said casually. “He likes a girl who makes him groan with pleasure, not the need to vomit.”
I stepped into my stall and knocked the door closed before she had a chance to answer, hanging my towel and Leon’s shirt up before I stepped beneath the hot water. Cindy Lou clearly decided against answering me and I heard the door swing closed behind her as she left. It didn’t make me feel like I’d won though, more like she was so sure she had that she didn’t think I was worth the effort anymore. Leon had me locked down and there was no negotiation in that equation so far as she was concerned. I was willing to bet if she had any idea what the three of us had gotten up to in Dante’s hot tub she’d be a bit more aggressive in her hatred of me again, but I was happy enough to keep that secret for myself.
By the time I made it back to our room, a gaggle of Mindys had arrived with breakfast for me and Leon. I frowned as I had to squeeze between the group of girls to get into my own space and when I asked them to give me some privacy to get dressed, all they did was turn their backs.
Leon grinned at me from his spot in the middle of our bed as I pulled on my uniform, like he thought the group of serving girls were the best thing since sliced bread and I arched an eyebrow at him. As much as I loved most of the ways of the Lions, there were times when we just didn’t feel the same about things. Vampires liked to have their own space, I wanted my stuff to be left alone and I enjoyed privacy. A crowd of girls flocking around me during my morning routine wasn’t my idea of fun.
The moment I was dressed, I was accosted by them, a hairdryer was flicked on and my hands were grabbed as I was steered into a chair, makeup was painted onto my face. Before I could even find the words to protest, I found myself all made up for the day with them cooing around me about how beautiful I was and how happy I must make my Lion. Not to mention how honoured they’d be to be the next Lioness selected for his pride.
When one of them tried to hand feed me, I called bullshit.
“Enough!” I commanded, pushing to my feet and pouting my perfectly pink lips as I sought out Leon amongst the crowd. He was still sitting in bed, one of the Mindys rubbing his feet while another spoon fed him porridge. “I’ll catch you later Leo,” I said as I snagged my bag from the desk and hooked it over my arm. “This shit really isn’t me.”
His brow furrowed on a protest and his lips parted, but I needed air that wasn’t clouded with Mindy perfume and I couldn’t hang back to hear it. I tipped him a salute and shot out of the room, down the stairs and across campus to the shiny new Cafaeteria that had been completed over the summer. In all honesty it looked practically identical to the old building that I’d half exploded, but the paintwork was fresh and there was less graffiti on the walls.
I hadn’t bothered to check the schedule, but as I stepped inside it became clear that it was the Lunar Brotherhood’s allotted time to eat. My gaze caught on Ryder as he sat at his table alone, his underdogs filling the rest of the tables to the right of the room, divided into ranks beneath their King. As if he could feel the weight of my stare on him, he looked up, his gaze meeting mine and making my breath catch as I anticipated the touch of his hypnosis, letting my mental barriers down to welcome his power.
But nothing happened. His gaze was flat, hard, impassive. He held my eye for three long seconds then looked back down to his food dismissively. Like I was no one. Nothing.
People pushed through the door at my back and I was hustled into the queue for food despite the fact I’d thoroughly lost my appetite.
I fell into line though, not knowing what else to do as my heart t
wisted and shattered in my chest and I kept looking over at Ryder, silently begging him to look my way again.
I grabbed an apple from the huge spread of food on offer just so that I didn’t draw attention by walking away empty handed. I moved to a free table in the middle of the room where I had a view of Ryder as I took my seat.
My gut churned as I placed my apple down in front of me and I slowly slid my Atlas from my blazer pocket, looking at nothing in particular as I let it scroll over FaeBook posts and I tried not to let my stare become too obvious.
Pain brimmed in my chest, but it was more than that too. I was angry. How dare he just freeze me out without so much as a word? Who did he think he was to just cut me off like nothing we’d ever shared had meant anything to him? He had a tattoo over his fucking heart for me and I felt like I had one carved directly into the pounding organ in my own chest for him in return. The least he could do was hear me out.
I gritted my teeth and moved to push myself out of my seat, meaning to confront him, but as I tried to stand I found I couldn’t, vines binding my legs to my chair where he’d subtly cast them to stop me from doing what he’d clearly realised I was planning on.
I snarled angrily and Ryder cut me half a glance before looking back at his food.
“Why so sad, love?” a voice snapped my attention from my less than subtle observations of the Lunar King and I looked up to find a dude settling his ass down on the edge of my table, effectively blocking my view of Ryder.
“Who are you?” I asked, my tone pissy because of the vines.
“I’m hurt, pretty girl, I assumed my reputation preceded me.”
I scowled up at this beach blonde douchebag as he gave me the kind of smile designed to melt panties, but my libido had enough going on with the four men I was already entangled with to fall prey to any flash fires for his pretty face. He’d ditched his blazer and his shirt sleeves were pushed back to reveal full sleeves of intricate ink coating strong forearms and his tie hung loose around his neck in a way designed to draw attention to his broad chest beneath it.
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