Page 26 of The Darkest Note

Jinx: This one is for free, New Girl. A king will never marry his concubine. Don’t walk through any doors believing it’s your happily ever after. The only path in front of you is the one that leads to destruction.

CHAPTERSIX

CADENCE

It doesn’t take long for the alarm bells to go off in my head, overpowering the music that’s been on a loop since The Kings cornered me outside.

The smile on Zane’s face disappears the moment the door slams shut. He walks over to the window and looks outside it, hands on his hips as if he doesn’t want to watch what’ll happen next.

Finn retires to a chair, arms folded over his chest and eyes sharp. The ruthlessness that I’d sensed in him takes the wheel. Lips that had seemed vacantly lax have an almost cruel slant. A gentleman replaced by a savage.

But the sense of doomreallysinks in when my eyes land on Dutch. His scowl is gone, mouth relaxed, as if he’s glad to be in his own turf where he no longer has to act civilized. His amber eyes are both bottomless and depthless as he steps closer to me.

I step back.

The smile that inches across his dangerously handsome face is lopsided. He’ll enjoy this. Whateverthisis.

What started as a faint sense of calamity boils down to a steady, untainted thump of distress, like barely visible cracks in the wall morphing into giant gaps that could down a bridge.

“Now that we won’t be overheard, there’s something we need to discuss, New Girl,” Dutch says quietly.

“It’sCadence,” I correct him, but my voice trembles and it doesn’t sound half as intimidating as it should.

He chuckles, low and deep in his throat. “I don’t give a damn what your name is.”

I whip my eyes to Finn and then to Zane, who’s turned around and is watching us like we’re a television show that he’s barely paying attention to.

The switch in their demeanor is so quick that it feels like diving into water that’ssupposedto be warm and finding out it’s ice-cold when your body’s already submerged.

I struggle to jump ahead of what’s going on, but I can’t quite believe any of this is happening. If not for the danger swirling in the air and the alarm bells raging in my head, I’d think this was all a dream.

“W-what do you want?” I stumble back.

“One little thing.” Dutch growls darkly. “Leave Redwood Prep. Immediately.”

The words thud against my chest and bounce to the ground. If I weren’t so shocked, I’d try to pick them up and turn them over. I’d do my best to piece them together until they made sense.

But since I’m not in any state to do that, all I can do is gape. “Excuse me?”

“Leave. This. School.”

“What are you—what do you mean?” I stutter.

“You’re smart, New Girl, or you wouldn’t have been offered a spot here. No matter how much Mulliez begged.” Dutch keeps advancing on me. “I need you out. I need you gone. Today.”

I keep moving back.

My heart is clanging in my chest. This isn’t right. The only place I need to leave is this room. But Dutch is standing between me and the door. And even if I run, Zane and Finn could catch me. They’re all lean and powerful. It wouldn’t take a lot for them to drag me back.

I can’t escape them.

I can’t do anything but fight my way through.

“W-who the hell are you to tell me to leave?” I yell. But the bite is lost from my tone when I inch away.

Dutch’s hand lurches out and he grabs my upper arm. His grip is strong. Although he’s not digging in hard enough to cause pain, it’s enough to prove he could break me if he wanted to.

All the tingly feelings I’d felt for him when we met outside disappear, replaced by a pulsing fury. He set me up. The friendliness, the offer of working together, they wanted tolureme here.