by Lan Chan
“Alessia,” he tried to coax.
When I didn’t respond, he held me at arm’s length. He turned me so I was facing him. “I won’t let my mistake affect you,” he said. He pierced me with his eyes. “Just...I need you to make a decision.”
“We’re too young for this kind of pressure,” I said. Anger brought life back into me. “Anything I say in this moment could change so quickly. It’s too much to ask.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll help you to break the vow,” I said. “But I can’t promise you anything else.”
He tipped my chin up. His eyes were a sparkling green. “You’d do this even if we don’t end up together?” His jaw twitched as he said the words.
I nodded. “You might be a jackass, but you should be allowed to make this one choice.”
He smiled sadly. “I’m Malachi Pendragon,” he said. “This is the one choice I might not get to make.”
In my heart, I knew it was true. He was privileged but he had been raised for duty. His biggest duty was to continue his line. Whether that was with me or without me remained to be seen.
7
At Kai’s request, the Council convened the next day. Jacqueline and Astrid escorted me to Seraphina. We were the first to arrive in the Council chambers. Walter and Megan appeared a second later, after we stepped through the doors.
Honestly, how had my life come to this?
“You’ve made your choice then,” Walter asked. Neither he nor Megan had sat down at the conference table when they arrived. I wasn’t sure if it was because Jacqueline had chosen to lean back against it rather than sit down herself. The power play between these supernaturals gave me a headache.
“I made my choice a long time ago,” Kai said.
“This is going to be a difficult fight, Malachi,” Megan said. “The Elders won’t be easily swayed.”
“They won’t be in charge forever,” he said. “In fact, some of them have been stewing in their comfortable seats for too long.”
I tugged at the hem of his T-shirt. He bent down from where he stood beside me. “I thought you said no killing,” I whispered in his ear.
The dark look on his face stopped my breath. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. He reacted just as poorly to being threatened as the shifters. If this contract wasn’t a threat, I didn’t know what was.
He turned back to that Nephilim. Jacqueline had an equally stony gleam in her eyes. I suspected I wasn’t the first one to work out that the Council themselves were the weak link in the contract.
“We cannot start a civil war over this,” Megan said. She turned to me as though imploring me to see sense. “There’s always the possibility of producing one heir with Chanelle and then –”
The walls began to glow an incandescent blue. She did not just make the suggestion that Kai pop out kids with Chanelle and still be with me at the same time.
“It’s not a terrible alternative,” Walter said.
“Why don’t you suggest it to Chloe and see how she reacts?” Jacqueline said. Chloe was Astrid’s mother. Walter was from Ariel’s line, but Chloe was all Michael. I’d seen her throw a knife and pin a fly to the wall. I imagined she wouldn’t take kindly to being betrayed either.
“I’m not the last of Raphael’s line,” Walter shot back. “There has to be some give and take.”
“There will be,” Kai snapped. “I am going to give them my opinion and if they don’t take it, they should start getting their affairs in order.”
“Malachi,” Megan exhaled his name. “Please be reasonable.”
Why was I standing here listening to them try and convince Kai he shouldn’t be with me? Megan seemed to sense the same. “I apologise, Alessia. I know this is difficult for you. Under different circumstances, there wouldn’t be such an issue.”
“There is no issue,” Kai told her.
“You can’t just walk away,” Chanelle’s voice said from behind me. The hedge magic I hadn’t retracted went haywire. It condensed into a sharp circle that began to rotate.
“Lex,” Jacqueline said. She reached out and grabbed my arm. My jaw was clamped down hard. Shards of white-hot rage speared through my chest when I watched Chanelle walking across the floor of Jacqueline’s office. She was wearing an honest-to-God ballgown. It was in a rich cherry colour that accentuated her dark features. Behind her, six Nephilim guards trotted. Salt-and-Pepper Nephilim walked alongside her.
“Headmistress,” Salt-and-Pepper Nephilim said.
“Tiberius,” Jacqueline acknowledged.
“Your presence isn’t really required here.”
Jacqueline gave him a brittle smile. I was beginning to get ideas about my demon blade and his scrawny little neck.
“Lex,” Jacqueline shook me. Her hold wasn’t tight, but I got the message all the same. Slowly, with a force of will that I barely knew I had, I retracted the magic inside of me. The pool of magic was undulating as though it was being battered by a storm. And then I caught sight of the necklace around her throat. I had to lock down my emotions like I did when I was living on the streets.
Kai saw where my gaze was focused. He took a step toward Chanelle. “Forget it,” I snapped. “I don’t want it now.”
I pressed my nails into my palms until I heard something cracking. Astrid stepped up beside me. Her shoulders were bunched. Jacqueline let go of my arm at the same time Astrid wrapped me in hers.
Chanelle had no interest in me whatsoever. She kept blinking at Kai like he would suddenly come to his senses and fall at her feet. I didn’t blame her. Everyone else seemed to be doing just that.
My understanding of their leadership constructs was hazy. I did know that there was the Council of Supernaturals who made decisions about the interplay between species and over the population as a whole. And then there was the Nephilim Council. Their own brand of snotty jerks who decided what was best for the Nephilim in the same way Durin governed his shifters. Megan and Walter weren’t on the Nephilim Council. They had a group of Elders for that and I would bet my life Tiberius was one of them.
Several other portals opened and spat out more supernaturals. I glanced at the unknown on the other side of the portal and gulped. Something heavy thumped against my chest. I took a shuddering breath as my heart kicked.
“Blue?” Kai was suddenly in front of me. I wasn’t sure when I’d dropped into the Ley dimension, but now I could see thin strings of blue trying to reach out to the portals. I consciously retracted them. My breath evened out.
I reverted back to this dimension to see the room was full to the brim. On my right were the members of the Supernatural Council. Victoria and Orin stood at the front of the group. Mani elbowed Orin out of the way. Nora trailed behind him as they came up to me.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Nora asked me. Mani hugged me against his side. Ambling behind then was Matilda. She tossed a knife in the air and caught it without even watching what she was doing. She raised a brow at me but didn’t say a word as she plonked herself down into an armchair.
To my left were a group of Nephilim who must have been old because I could actually see the lines on their faces. Some Nephilim who had reproduced with non-immortal species still aged. Kai had human blood in his line so he would age too. Just at a very slow speed once he reached the peak of his power. For these Nephilim to show signs of the weathering of time spoke volumes. I just didn’t care to hear any of it.
I expected both sides to pile on and try to convince Kai to toss me aside. What I got terrified me.
“You have no right to be here,” Tiberius said to Victoria.
She made a sound like she was gargling mouthwash. I wouldn’t be surprised if she spat on the carpet. “We have every right to be here. Malachi is a Council member. How he chooses will have ramifications for all of us. Not just the Nephilim.”
Maybe I had wax in my ears. Did she really just say something semi-supportive?
“And you would choose against our candidate?” a wide-f
aced Nephilim woman asked. She looked to be about Jacqueline’s visible age though her bone structure was much wider. Jacqueline if she’d let herself go.
“We choose against forcing a boy to mate with someone he doesn’t care about,” Durin snarled.
Tiberius cackled. “Nephilim don’t mate.” The way he sneered at Durin made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “We all know the shifter alpha can’t be trusted to make a rational decision.”
If Griff and Jonah hadn’t held him back, Durin would have charged over there and sunk his claws into Tiberius. I had my fingers crossed for it to happen. But though he was half bear, Durin was also the head of the shifters. His left eye twitched when he turned and saw me standing there.
I tried to school my face into a neutral expression. He had too much honour to let this go. If I showed that I was distressed, he would knock someone’s head off. I tried to give him a reassuring smile. It must have looked deranged instead because suddenly a film of dark purple laced around him. Jonah’s magic. Griff’s sinewy arms bunched. Shit. I held my breath for a second until Jonah got his magic into Durin and convinced him he didn’t want to attack every Nephilim in the room.
Chanelle’s voice dragged me back into the conversation. “You promised,” she said to Kai. Her bottom lip stuck out.
“I don’t care,” Kai said. Chanelle’s eyes grew wide. They started to water.
“You don’t mean that. You’re a Pendragon. Duty is everything.”
“It does.” Kai reached behind him and grabbed hold of me. I squeaked when he pressed me to his side. “I just never understood what duty meant before. I can’t give you what you want, Nelle.”
She brushed the back of her hand over her cheek dramatically. I wasn’t sure if it was Astrid or Matilda who snorted. I was too busy trying not to wince at Kai’s tight hold.
Chanelle stepped forward. “You think that now,” she said, “But things change. We’ve both changed so much, who knows what we could be in the years to come. Your family wasn’t the only one that suffered from the attack. I understand what you went through. How it still haunts you. She doesn’t. She can’t. We could rebuild their legacy. Your legacy.”
I wasn’t sure when I’d stepped back into Nora’s embrace. I only knew that in this moment, I wanted to be close to somebody who understood the frailty of what it meant to be human beside these supernaturals. Something sharp prodded me in the hip. I turned to find myself at the pointy end of Matilda’s knife. She swiped the knife across her throat in the universal sign for death. The guards inched forward. She gave them a forced grin that showed teeth.
Kai turned back to me. I’d only known him for a short time, but somehow, he’d managed to weasel his way into the depths of my soul. The worst part was that I knew him just as intimately. That was kind of what happened when you almost died with someone.
In his heart, I knew he was desperate to fix what he believed was an unforgivable failure. I bit the inside of my cheek. Kids pick up things even when people try to pretend nothing is happening. I sure as hell picked up the vibes of resentment during my time in the foster homes. How long before he would resent me too?
Nora squeezed my side where her arm was placed. I shook my head at Kai. His eyes narrowed. His jaw set into a hard line.
“It makes no difference,” he said.
Chanelle’s perfect mask contorted for a second. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” she said. “Who’s to say that demon-spawned witch hasn’t cast a spell on you?”
“How is that any worse than forcing a child to sign a binding contract?” Astrid sniped. I would have appreciated it more if she hadn’t conceded the fact I was a demon-spawned witch.
“He was not forced,” Tiberius said.
Orin chuckled. “He certainly wasn’t in his right mind,” he said. “Everyone knows that.” If I had been sitting, I would have fallen off my chair.
“This is pointless,” Megan said. She rubbed absently at her temple. “The fact of the matter remains. Malachi is bound by a blood vow. I assume you will not retract it.”
“We cannot,” Tiberius said.
Megan looked at Kai. “And you won’t honour it.”
He shook his head. Chanelle’s right cheek spasmed. If we weren’t here, I imagined she’d fling herself on the ground in a raging tantrum. She saw me watching. Her top lip curled. I kept my expression blank.
“Then we’re at a stalemate,” Megan said.
“Only until Malachi turns twenty-five,” another of the Nephilim standing by Chanelle said.
“Believe me,” Kai said, his voice gone lethal. “You won’t get that long.”
Chanelle buried her face in her hands. When she glanced up again, a tear glided down her cheek. “You forsake your duty?” she asked.
“It depends where you’re looking at this from,” Kai said. She clutched at his mother’s necklace. Suddenly I was so tired. I wasn’t cut out for this kind of polite sniping. Somebody throw a punch already and get it over with.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one with that idea. “Why don’t you settle it in the arena?” Jonah said.
“It’s already settled,” Kai snapped. But Jacqueline was intrigued. So were some of the others. “We’re just about to begin a semester of Unity Games,” Jonah continued. “Why not settle this inside the contest.”
Tiberius laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Who would we pit against Malachi Pendragon? It would be a massacre.”
Jonah glanced at me. “Agreed,” he said. “But that’s not what I had in mind.”
Everybody turned to look at me. I wanted to smack them all across the head. “Alessia versus Chanelle,” Jonah offered. “Whoever lasts the longest in the games will determine the outcome of the bond. Malachi will obviously have to forgo the games.”
“No!” The refusal was out before I could stop it.
I wrenched myself out of Nora’s hold and began to stomp out of the room. The first guard who tried to stop me copped a punch in the head. I only wished I were the one to dole out the punishment. Before I could slip away, Durin had me cornered beside the door. His massive frame blocked out the rest of the room. Somebody tried to come close, but he turned and snarled, his features shifting between man and bear. I pressed myself against the wall, my heart hammering in my chest.
He had to bend over almost double to be close to my eye level. “Take the shot, lass,” he said. The contrast between the gentleness in his voice and he way the hairs on his arms stood up allowed me to find my voice.
“Screw that! I’m done being a Council plaything. If she wants him so bad, she can have him.”
He looked at me then with depthless black eyes ringed in beaten copper. “I know,” he said. “It’s an insult to even think she could be a challenge for you.”
My mouth opened but nothing came out. “You might be a little slip of a girl but there is a lioness stalking in that soul. Don’t run away. Nephilim might not mate, but Malachi was raised inside the walls of the Reserve just as much as Max. Behind every alpha is a woman who keeps him in check. I wouldn’t be where I am without Yolanda. He might be Malachi Pendragon, but he needs you.”
“We need you,” Griff’s rough voice spoke from my right. He’d snuck up on us but Durin allowed it. “If Tiberius gets what he wants, his Nephilim will run roughshod over those of us who cannot wield magic.”
“Why don’t we just end them here and now,” I suggested. Durin chuckled, but his smile and the expression on Griff’s face pleaded with me.
“Goddammit,” I said.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tiberius said. “Even if Malachi weren’t to bond with Chanelle, we can’t have this girl anywhere near a Council member. Do you forget what she is? Her blood belongs to Lucifer. My people have seen the future, and in it, she will lead his legion against us. She should be locked up inside the Dominion prison at the very least.”
Green light flared around Kai at the suggestion. “Try it and see how long you’re still breathing,” he
said.
“While I agree the girl is a problem,” Victoria said, “so are some of the policies your species would have the rest of us accept.”
“We are Nephilim,” Tiberius said. “Our place is above you.”
I thought Durin was going to burst a capillary.
“Then we are back to where we started,” Megan said. “Malachi refuses to be subjected to the pact. It’s either civil war or a contest in an Academy ritual. I vote for the latter.”
So did most of the other Council leaders.
I was not at all impressed. “Umm,” I hissed at Jacqueline. “Are we all forgetting that I’m human?”
“They didn’t say you have to win,” Matilda piped up. “Just that you have to beat her.” Judging by the look on Matilda’s face, beating up Chanelle was a desirable prospect.
I couldn’t reconcile any of it. “You don’t have to do this,” Kai told me. “I’ll find another way.”
The flash of rage in his eyes said his solution was a massacre of his own. My shoulders deflated. “Fine.”
The nymphs were summoned. They decided that to make it fair to the other contestants, a prize that involved a Council pardon or favour was in order. It meant that if somebody else won, they could ask for anything they wanted from the Council. As long as I beat Chanelle, the blood vow would be rescinded. If I won the whole games, I would have something to hold over the Council’s head. It wasn’t that bad a wager.
When the contract was signed, the nymphs stole it away to their hiding place in the Grove. And that’s how I ended up becoming a contestant in the Unity Games.
8
The look on Sophie and Diana’s faces when I told them I’d be competing in the games was priceless. We had just arrived back at the Academy and were putting our things away. “I...what...” Sophie kept stammering. “But you’re so low on the House points ladder. Do you have any idea how dangerous these games are?”