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I hopped off the device and pulled the blaring buds from my ears.

Brett and Niko were standing on the other side of the treadmill, looking at me with playful smirks on their faces.

“What are you doing? And why are you shirtless?” Brett asked, eyeing my bare chest up and down.

I stuffed my buds into my pocket. “My shirt burned off.”

I watched as both their eyes found the crispy remains of my shirt on the floor next to my feet.

“And I saw that you burned a hole in one of the punching bags.” Niko pointed his thumb behind him at said bag. “Are you okay, man?”

I bent to pick up my shirt and sauntered over to the nearest bench, sagging onto the edge of it. “How did you know I’d be here?”

They followed me, standing in front of me as I chugged a bottle of water.

“Well, you weren’t in the dining hall, or your room, or the Avian common room, and really, this is the only other place you hang out,” Niko said.

“Which is really pretty sad,” Brett commented. “You need to get out more.”

I arched a brow at him as I gave him a sideways glance.

“So, spill. What’s got you burning shit?” Niko prodded.

I let out a heavy sigh, realizing that they weren’t going to drop it…and that maybe I didn’t want to bottle it all up inside anymore.

“Cora, Adina, and Letti locked Arya in the Simulation Room earlier tonight,” I explained. “I barely showed up in time to stop it before she—” I broke off, unable to say the last word.

The goofy looks on their faces slid right off, their mouths popping open.

“Oh shit,” Brett said.

I nodded, my lips in a flat line.

“Did you tell Caesar?” Niko asked.

“Fuck no,” Brett barked, slapping Niko’s chest with the back of his hand. “The mers already hate her. If she ratted them out, they’d make her life a living hell.”

Niko’s resulting frown mimicked my own.

“My thoughts exactly,” I said gravely, although I wanted to do everything possible to hurt those girls for what they’d done.

A silence fell over us for a moment, until I finally decided to break it.

“That’s not the only thing,” I began, then I told them everything. I told them about the prophecy Celeste had about a siren who would destroy Hadrian. I told them that Arthur was certain Arya was that siren, that he’d ordered me to befriend her, and that if I didn’t make her my girlfriend, he’d ship me off to the military prematurely.

“So tonight, after I saved her from the sim, I asked her out officially,” I said. “We have a dinner date tomorrow night.”

They both gawked at me with more serious expressions than I’d ever seen either of them wear, Brett especially.

“Wow, man, that’s pretty heavy,” Brett said finally, rubbing the back of his neck. “I knew your dad was a first-class asshole, but damn, that’s fucked up.”

“How do you feel about Arya?” Niko’s eyes held a knowing glint. He usually saw through my masks. “You like her.”

Brett snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “Yeah. You totally like her. Why not date her? I mean, there are definitely worse things the General could order you to do.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and looked away from them. They didn’t know about the curse on my bloodline, that if I fell in love with her, she’d never love me back, and vice versa. Which brought me to problem number three, and I wasn’t ready to say those words out loud. I was barely able to admit them to myself.

I bounced off the bench and walked toward the garbage can to toss my ruined shirt. “Let’s just go back to the dorms. I’m exhausted after my workout.”

We headed out of the gym, passing the destroyed punching bag I’d have to reimburse Caesar for. But that was the least of my worries.

Because as I followed my friends across the lawn toward the main building, I couldn’t stop thinking about my biggest problem of all.

I had imprinted on Arya.

And one way or another, we were both going to get burned.

~The End~