Page 228 of Blackwood

Savannah hums. “No. She knows how to rule a kingdom.”

The music shifts, subtle, but powerful. The kind of tone change that hits your spine before your ears.

Knox’s voice crackles over the speakers, smooth as ever. “You’ve seen the warriors. Now bow to your gods.”

A hush falls across the club floor. Students in designer togas, leather straps, and gold crowns all suddenly going still. Spotlights cut through the dark, golden beams slicing air like blades.

“Please welcome the goddesses of Wexley,” Knox’s voice booms over the speakers, smooth and rich. “Descending from Capitoline Hill, your huntress and your heart-breaker… Haley, the goddess Diana, and Ellie, the goddess Venus. Try not to worship too loudly.”

The crowd’s eyes lock on the stairs as Haley and Ellie appear first. Draped in emerald and blush. The girls glide down like royalty, all fire and gold, heading straight toward Callum and the rest of The Order.

“And now,” Knox says, voice dropping into something reverent, almost unholy, “Capitoline bows to vengeance. To power. To the storm and the silence. Our gods of the night, Jupiter and Nemesis.”

The spotlight sharpens dead center on the top of the stairs and there she is. Bella, on the arm of Roman Russo. The fucking King and his heir. The goddamn goddess of vengeance.

“Bow to your gods,” Knox commands.

Everyone drops. Toga after toga, head after head. The Roman guards kneel. Even Dad dips his head slightly.

I glance toward my mother, she doesn’t move. “She certainly knows how to make an entrance,” she says, clipped.

“Yeah,” I mutter. “She always does.”

Bella reaches the bottom step. Roman kisses her cheek, formal and reverent, and steps away as Josh, Drake, and Sam dressed in black and gold Roman guard uniforms move out from the shadows. They take their positions in front of the girls.

A soft piano. A single voice. “Ordinary” by Alex Warren begins to play. The girls move like smoke and fire. Lifted and spun across the floor with reverence and precision. Everysway of their skirts looks like a painting torn to life—gold catching light, fabric slicing the air like blades. Arms stretch like wings. Heels land with surgical control. It’s not a dance. It’s a declaration.

Bella is dead center. Josh lifts her high as her head tilts back. Her cape unfurling behind her like a black flame. She doesn’t dance. She commands.

That line that talks about praying at the altar hits and all three guys drop. Right there, at their goddesses’ feet. Knees bowed. Heads down.

Then, on the next beat, they launch the girls skyward. Bella soars. Arms wide. Cape arcing. Her eyes fierce and untouchable. And for a second, everything disappears, the crowd, the noise, even the war in my chest. It’s justher, midair. Like vengeance incarnate wrapped in gold, power, and fire.

“Jesus Christ,” I say leaning toward Cade.

Cade leans in just slightly, voice quiet but full of awe. “This isn’t just a performance, Lex. It’s pure art.”

And when they hit that final note, arms extended, backs arched, and heads tilted to the ceiling like they were born from constellations? The room explodes. Screams. Cheers. Savannah wipes a tear and mutters something about “never seeing anything so divine.”

“Give it up for our goddesses!” Knox yells over the chaos. “I’d like to give a shout out to our birthday girl, Bella! Happy 21st babe.” He raises his glass toward her. “It’s Halloween, and we are at The Obsidian! So I think it’s about time we get this party officially started!”

The lights drop again, then flicker back to life with a strobe-pop blast as the beat shifts. Something bass-heavy and dirty kicks in, a club remix of, “Where the Party At” by Jagged Edge,pulses through the speakers like a heartbeat on cocaine.

The crowd surges. Bodies move. Glasses clink.

Bella’s still glowing under the lights, standing with Ellie and Haley in the middle of it all like they’re carved from gold and sex and sin. The Order boys are around them, drinking, cheering, trying not to look like they’re dying to be picked for the next dance.

Too bad for them. This one’s already claimed.

“That’s our girl,” Cade mutters beside me.

“Yeah,” I growl. “Let’s go mark that shit.”

We move through the crowd like sharks cutting water—slick, silent, lethal. People step back, eyes flicking toward us, but no one stops us. No one even tries.

Bella spots us just before we reach her, those eyes snapping to mine like a fuse being lit. Her lips curl, all spark and challenge. I don’t stop walking. Just grab her waist, spin her around, and pull her straight into me. Her ass grinds against my hips like she knows exactly what I need.

“Jesus, baby,” I growl into her ear, hands sliding low. “You know what you do to me?”