“What the hell happened?” he hissed angrily.

  I tugged at my hand. Realizing what he was doing, he blinked and eased his grip, smoothing his fingers across my skin in apology.

  I didn’t blame him for his worry. I was worried too.

  “I don’t know.” I crossed my arms against my chest. “We were out in the jungle, eating, swimming… Out of nowhere he just keeled over.” I felt the tears prickling at the backs of my eyelids. “I don’t know what happened!”

  Ambrose ran a hand through his curls and made a sound of frustration. He turned to look at his brother, still being tended to by the medic before glancing back at me. He shook his head back and forth. “Someone told me they saw Maksim come in and I—” He broke off, his jaw tightening. “He’s always so reckless I thought...with that first year’s death...I was afraid…”

  He loved his brother fiercely. I could see that in his eyes. He feared for his brother and loved him in equal measure.

  I reached for him instinctively because it was the only comfort I could offer. My hands grasped for his and our fingers threaded together. A moment later, he made an anguished sound and pulled me against his chest, pressing my face into his chest as he heaved in a breath. I felt the sound rattle through his chest and press against my own.

  I wrapped my arms around his waist and held on. He smelt like citrus and sunlight; if sunlight had a smell, it would be Ambrose.

  “I’m sorry you had to deal with it alone,” Ambrose whispered, pulling away. “I should have been there.”

  I swallowed. “You’re here now.”

  He nodded. “You look like hell, Calliope. Why don’t I walk you to your dorm so you can rest?”

  How could I leave him knowing he was unwell? My heart demanded that I stay, that I watch over him, but the glares of the medic and the reassuring touch of Ambrose told me I’d be nothing but a distraction. Exhaustion suddenly tugged at my every limb. I hadn’t felt it in the rush to get him here, but I ached everywhere.

  Inside and out.

  Still, I looked reluctantly to Maksim, chewing at my bottom lip.

  Ambrose’s hand came up to cup my face, thumb swiping across my lip until I let it go. “Rest,” he urged, his voice calming and demanding. “I’ve got this.”

  I swallowed. “Right.” I looked at Maksim. “You do.”

  Chapter Seven

  Ambrose

  “I’m going to walk Calliope to her dorm and then I’ll be back to check on you.” My arms crossed against my chest in a stance I knew spoke of command and power as I loomed over my brother.

  He made a dissatisfied face and shook his head back and forth, trying to sit up. “This is ridiculous.” The medic pushed him back against the mattress. “I’m fine.”

  My eyebrow rose. “You’re not fine.” Clearly.

  Maksim was always disregarding his health and safety. For a single moment, when Arty rushed into the training room to tell me he saw my brother and Calliope going into the infirmary, I feared the worst. I swore my heart stopped and the world slipped out from beneath me.

  With the wound of that first year’s death still raw, causing paranoia, and with the culprit still out there, we had to remain cautious.

  “It was just heartburn,” Maksim protested.

  I sighed and ignored him to turn to the medic. “Have you found anything?”

  The medic shook his head. “I feel a small trace of something, though I cannot discern what until I keep him overnight for observation.”

  I turned back to my brother. “There you have it. Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Maksim tried to get up once more, and I couldn’t help the snarl that escaped my lips. “Maksim, I swear to the Gods and all that is holy, if you don’t stay the fuck down I’ll send a letter to mother and father and tell them what happened here. Do you understand me?”

  There was a restless energy building up inside of me that I couldn’t control. It wanted to explode into a thousand fragmented pieces of vulnerable emotions, and I couldn’t let it. I had to keep myself under control. Not just because I was Ambrose Tallis, but because I had to stay strong. I was the older brother, and I couldn’t be ruled by my emotions when Maksim so obviously needed me.

  If he wasn’t going to care for himself, someone fucking had to.

  “Fine,” he grumbled.

  Calliope leaned over the bed, her hair falling and curtaining her expression from my view. “If you need anything, Maks, just let me know.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and bent forward to press her lips against his cheek.

  Maksim’s eyes widened, and he wheezed as she pulled away.

  Something in my gut clenched. My mind memorized the shape of her lips against his cheek, and I wanted to say I was too mature for jealousy, but the feeling eased inside me slowly. I turned away in shame.

  Calliope and Maksim were friends. She cared about him, probably as much as I did. And it was obvious she was worried.

  I only turned back when I felt the press of her hand against my bare arm. “Ready?” she asked before taking her bottom lip between her teeth. It was a nervous habit I noticed she did. I wanted to take her face in my hands and kiss the anxiety away, pull those plump lips into my mouth and claim her.

  “Ready.” I turned my back on my brother, offering her my arm. She hesitated a brief moment before tucking her hand into the crook of my elbow.

  Together, we left the scent of herbs and magic, the infirmary and my brother behind.

  It wasn’t until we were in the hall that I seemed to breathe again. My heart still hadn’t stopped pounding rapidly within my chest, and I was worried she could feel my pulse at my wrist.

  We walked most of the way in silence; I was sure it was because, like me, she was trying to gather her thoughts and process her own feelings. I needed time for my own. Having that fear of losing someone lodged within you so instantaneously was hard to shake off.

  At least Calliope was at my side and I could draw comfort in that.

  Until the moment she stiffened.

  I’d barely paid attention to my surroundings, as I was lost within my thoughts, but the moment her body tensed, I looked up. Vitas was striding towards us, a sneer on his face and his meaty hands curled into fists.

  I took a breath, eyes darting all around him and on him, taking in his posture and fixing mine into a defensive, protective stance. Almost discreetly, I pulled Calliope closer to my body. If I could take comfort in her, then she could take comfort in me, too.

  Vitas stopped before us, looming and giving an effort to look intimidating. He was anything but, and he had another thing coming if he thought I was afraid of him.

  “Vitas.” I nodded my acknowledgement and started to pull Calliope along to side step him.

  His deep laugh rumbled threateningly. “Heard your little brother was down with the medic.”

  I tried not to tense my body, tried not to let him know just how his words worried me. News at the Academy always got around quickly, and Vitas seemed satisfied about my brother’s infirmity.

  Vitas and I had never been the best of friends, though I tolerated him.

  Not anymore. Not after what he did to Calliope. His true self was showing now, and it was poisonous.

  “Not for long,” I replied, trying to side step him again. He blocked our way again, only this time his eyes roamed over Calliope’s figure, and his gaze was leering and suggestive. And so full of hatred.

  “What do you want, Vitas?” I drew his attention back to me. I didn’t like the way he was looking at Calliope. It made me want to jam my fist straight into his teeth, rules of the Academy be damned.

  His gaze slid back to her, and he licked his lips. “Nothing you can give me, Tallis.”

  Calliope tensed.

  My anger flared. “Shove off, Vitas, and leave Calliope the fuck alone.” I took a menacing step towards him. He was big and a brute, yes, but I had skill that matched his by the thousands. He could try and best me, but it wouldn’t happen. I’d take him down if it meant protecting Calliope from his leering gaze.

  Vitas’s eyes flared with the thrill of the prospect of a fight. “Or what, Tallis?”

  I kept my expression cool even while I was seething inside. “You really don’t want to step up to me, Vitas. Not with the fragility of your own reputation hanging on by a thread.”

  His whole body stiffened. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  I lowered my voice. “I’m talking about the rumors spreading. Haven’t you heard? Everyone says it was you who killed that first year. The day he died, they say they saw you shoving him around the hall during parents’ visitation day.”

  I’d hoped to find shock or even a sense of guilt on his face, but all I saw was an angry expression, one that didn’t differ from his every day appearance.

  “Stop spouting bullshit before your teeth get knocked in.” He started to raise his fist.

  I stared at it with disinterest, but my body was ready to shove Calliope aside and take the full brunt of his rage. “Careful, Vitas. Wouldn’t want to look guilty, would you?”

  He locked his jaw tightly, nostrils flaring, before he dropped his hand at his side. This time, he barely looked at Calliope as he strode past us, shoving into my shoulder.

  I ignored the physical contact and listened to the sound of his retreating footsteps. Only when he was gone did I take a breath.

  I looked to Calliope. Her expression was set in grim determination. My hand smoothed over hers. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. From now on, I don’t want you walking anywhere by yourself.” I hadn’t meant for my voice to come out as such a sharp command or for her to think me bossy.

  She didn’t look annoyed, though. “I can take care of myself.”

  I grabbed her hands in mine and brought them up to my mouth to brush a kiss across her knuckles. “I know you can,” I whispered against her skin. “But until the criminal is caught, I think it’s safer for all of us to travel in groups.” I lowered her hands again, tucking her arm back into place, and we resumed walking forward. “I don’t want Vitas to catch you alone ever again.”

  Just the thought of what he’d done to her the first time made my blood boil, and my reaction when she’d told me had been complete shit. In my own worry for her, I’d misplaced my anger and blamed her for something out of her control. She couldn’t control Vitas’s actions just like she couldn’t control the sun in the sky.

  “I can’t be accompanied every second of the day,” she said gently, almost as if she knew what I was trying to do.

  “I know. I know how strong you are, but sometimes we aren’t strong enough.”

  That was the harsh truth that was hard to admit among it all. That no matter how hard we tried or how hard we fought, it may just not be enough. It was something I was slowly and surely realizing. I protected Maksim time and time again, but the moment I was told he was in the infirmary, my world had rattled and I’d feared that for the first time in my life, I’d lose the one person I’d loved always above all others, and that nothing I could do would save him.

  Calliope’s hand smoothed down my arm. “Alright,” she said. “I promise I’ll try not to be alone again.”

  And that was all I could hope for, really.

  Chapter Eight

  Vitas

  Fucking Tallis.

  It took all I had not to ram my fist straight into his smug face. I despised him. No, despised was too tame a word for what I felt for the Golden Boy of Triton’s Academy.

  I hadn’t heard any fucking rumors about the death of that first year. What I had noticed was the looks all the other students threw my way. I was used to everyone looking at me warily but I pegged that down to them being afraid of me. Looking back now, I wondered if it was because of something else besides the fear.

  Speculation?

  Did they think I murdered that fucking first year?

  Ugh.

  I had tried to kill the Solandis bitch, but I had nothing to do with that other sniveling, dead bastard.

  Why would I waste my time on him when I had bigger prey? If I was to kill anyone at this place, I would start with the treacherous blood of Rafe Zemir. Then Ambrose Tallis and his brother, Maksim.

  And because I’d failed that first time, I’d kill Calliope last.

  And I’d take my fucking time with her, enjoying every bit of her feisty screams as I dug my knife into her flesh.

  Over.

  And over.

  And over again.

  Chapter Nine

  Calliope

  We arrived outside of my dorm room, and I turned to face Ambrose. I gripped his arm tightly suddenly, eagerness threading through my voice.

  “If anything happens, you’ll come find me, right?” My heart beat a frantic rhythm in my chest. My worry for Maksim threatened to eat me away.

  Slowly, Ambrose pried my fingers off of his arm. I had a single moment to feel embarrassed for grabbing him so hard before he lifted his hand and cupped my cheek.

  I felt the flush crawl up my neck and face, and I wondered if he could feel the heat against my skin.

  His dark eyes seemed to soften like molten honey, like sunlight hitting buried gold. Dark around the edges, bright in the center.

  His lips pulled into a smile. “You have a big heart, Calliope.”

  My own fingers itched to reach for him, too. So I did. They slid up the panes of his bare chest, up his neck, and to cup his cheek. I admired my hand against his face, how pale I looked compared to his rich mahogany skin tone.

  He sucked in a breath and loosed it, and I felt the warmth of it against my wrist.

  His thumb swiped over my chin once. Over my lip.

  Something in my gut seemed to electrify at the simplest of touches.

  I wanted him to touch me again, to keep touching me. I was familiar enough with desire to crave it now, even when I knew wanting Ambrose was a bad, bad idea.

  He pulled away, and I dropped my hand. “I’ll come for you if anything changes. I promise.”

  His words were a farewell, even when I didn’t want to say goodbye for some reason. I turned, placing my hand against the door knob and opened it. I stepped inside, not turning around to look at Ambrose again.

  My back met the door as I leaned against it, sighing as I looked up at the domed glass of my dorm room.

  My face felt hot, and my heart was pounding against my chest. I pressed my palms to my face, hoping it would cool my emotions down.

  I hadn’t known desire could come even in the most subtlest of forms. Like a thumb swiping across a lip, or the exact shade of soft eyes, or a sad smile telling me I had a big heart…

  I dropped my hands and stepped into the room, freezing when I noticed Rafe on his bed, staring straight at me.

  The moment our eyes met, he tore his gaze away from mine and focused on the ceiling.

  All desire and sensations that Ambrose caused within me faded away in an instant at Rafe’s blatant disregard for me.

  I prowled deeper into the room. “We’re back to that, are we?”

  He didn’t reply.

  Hurt cleaved a dagger straight to my chest. I tried to ignore it, but it was like a festering wound.

  Give him time, Maksim had suggested. How much time was enough? I didn’t want to beg, but I also didn’t want to watch as he drifted further and further away from me.

  Loving someone really was its own special kind of hell, and it wasn’t as easy as Maksim claimed it should be.

  Love…

  When had my mind and heart travelled in that direction? I tried to shake those feelings off as I made my way to my bed and climbed against the mattress, laying so I was staring at the ceiling, too.

  The silence pressed around us. I wondered if he could hear my heartbeat. For a moment I wished I could hear his.

  “I’m not embarrassed to be seen with you,” I blurted suddenly. My declaration was met with silence, so I pushed on, “I’m sorry if it seemed that way. I’ve never... been with anyone before. I don’t even know what we are or what you think and I admit, I was a bit afraid that my father would want to rip your spine out through your throat.”

  I tried to say that last bit with a lighthearted tone, hoping he’d laugh, chuckle... anything.

  “Say something.” My voice cracked.

  I heard him take in a breath. “Your aunt took my siblings in.”

  The quiet confession, spoken like the darkest sin, had me sitting up and turning to him, my legs crossing one over the other.

  “My aunt did what?”

  He sat up in his bed as well, propping his back against the headboard. One knee was bent up to his chest, and his arm was carelessly lain over it. He still didn’t look at me. His gaze traveled upwards, watching the sea slugs crawl their way across the glass.

  “We rent a shack. Did I tell you that?” He sounded bitter. “It’s shitty and crumbling, with metal sheets for a roof. There’s barely any room to move around in. That’s what my siblings and cousins were fucking living in.” He scoffed and shook his head. His long hair was loose, shaking across his shoulders. “They all slept side by side on a fucking cot. Ana takes care of them all like she’s their mother, but she’s only fourteen.”

  I dug my fingers into my blankets. At fourteen, I was snugged safely away at my manor. I wanted for nothing, worried for nothing.

  “Our tenant took advantage of the fact that she’s all alone…”

  “He didn’t hurt her, did he?” I felt my own rage build.

  Finally, Rafe met my gaze, and there was so much emotion in his eyes that I couldn’t discern one from the other. I couldn’t tell where rage began and sorrow ended.

  “He propositioned my fourteen year old sister. What kind of a sick fuck does that?”

  That’s terrible. The words lodged in my throat.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20