Page 9

8

Summer

A fter classes, I drag Alice to the library very much against her will. As soon as we are inside, she claims an empty table and pulls out her phone, adamantly refusing to explore the stacks with me.

The books call to me, and I scarcely know where to begin. I wander down the dimly lit aisles, brushing my fingers along the leather-bound spines of the books. Each conveys a slightly different feel based on how widely they have been read. As I turn the corner, I notice a tall figure browsing a book. He looks familiar, but only when I glimpse the halo on his wrist does recognition spark. My memories of the night before are a little hazy, but this is one of Connor’s brothers. The tall, dark, broody one named Rafe.

I make my way along the aisle, not necessarily toward him, but continuing my perusal of the library’s offerings. He doesn’t seem to notice me as I pass behind him. Interested in what he is reading so intently, I sneak a look at the title of the book he is holding.

“Demonology?” I whisper, the question slipping from my lips.

He slams the book closed and flicks me an irritated look over his shoulder. While he is a darker version of his brothers, there is still a strong familial resemblance. The sparkle always present in Connor’s blue eyes is absent in Rafe’s, but they are just a shade darker and the same shape. He shares the same bronzed skin and strong jawline as his brothers.

“Do you mind?” he snaps at me.

I quirk a brow at him. “You’re Connor’s brother, right?”

He glares at me. “One of.”

“And why is a Morningstar angel reading a book about demonology? Especially one written from a positive perspective. Aren’t demons your natural enemies?”

“Don’t you know the best way to defeat an enemy is to know them?” he says, his tone mocking. “And my name is Rafe. I will not just be known as Connor’s brother .”

“I’d tell you my name, but I don’t want your beloved brother to know, and I’m guessing you’d snitch,” I say, leaning against the bookshelf beside him.

Rafe rolls his eyes. “Don’t assume to know anything about me,” he says, snapping the book closed and pushing past me.

I watch him round the end of the row and disappear. I shrug and continue to wander the stacks for a while before circling back around to meet Alice at the table. A male stands beside her, his hand on the back of one of the chairs. Alice hisses at him and shows him her fangs, her eyes tinged with red. I quirk a brow and hurry over, not wanting bloodshed in the library. It might get on the books.

“Everything all right?”

“This chode is trying to sit with us,” Alice growls.

“Brett,” he says, holding out a hand. “I was asking if I could sit since all the other tables are full. Your friend seems to hate that idea, though.”

“Go die, shifter scum,” Alice hisses.

Brett’s eyes turn a predatory feline yellow. “I have no issue with your kind. Avalon is a safe haven. If you want to carry over millennia-long prejudices, that’s on you.”

I wiggle between them and sit down. “It’s just a seat, Alice. You don’t have to marry him.”

Alice recoils and turns so she’s facing away from him. Brett drops his hand. His cheeks flush in embarrassment from the spurned introduction, but he rounds the table and sits across from us. “So, you guys first years too?” he asks, trying to make conversation.

“Don’t make me regret offering you the seat, Brett.” I open the tome I found while exploring the stacks and flip through it.

Brett sinks back into his chair a little, and I can see he is starting to regret not just sitting on the floor. “Well, I’m first year,” he says quietly.

Alice huffs loudly. “See? This is why you don’t fucking feed the animals.”

I glance at her, my lips twitching.

“I didn’t know there were female vampires,” he mutters, trying again despite Alice’s vitriol.

I look at him over the top of my book. “You’re taking your life in your hands here, but okay. Yes, we’re first years. Yes, I’m a weird fae. And yes, she’s a murderous vampire.”

Brett blinks, regarding us both with newfound wariness. “Cool,” he says simply and pulls out a stack of textbooks.

Despite not opening a book, Alice begs for a reprieve after several hours of studying. She had continued to make snarky comments and even occasionally hissed at Brett, but he still waves a friendly goodbye as we leave the library. There is something admirable about his persistent cheerfulness and the way he’s still not taken the hint. Or maybe he’s a moron. Either way, I kind of respect him more for surviving our study session. Alice and my similarities must end when it comes to the pursuit of knowledge. She hadn’t been deprived of books like I had, so they aren’t treasures to her.

Alice and I walk to the edge of the campus, heading for the pizza parlor in Camelot, the town just outside the gate of Avalon. From what I had read of this realm, Camelot is the city that connects the other schools of the realm. At one time, there was only Avalon University, but eventually, other colleges were established. There are now seven in total, with Avalon being the oldest and most prestigious.

“Apparently, the uniforms have built-in glamors. Once we’re outside the wards, anything identifying us as Avalon students vanishes. Cool, huh?” Alice says as we reach the gate.

My brows furrow, watching as other students meet up and head off campus into Camelot. “Why would it matter if this is a realm full of magic wielders?”

Alice shrugs. “With all the other nearby schools, I’m guessing they just want us all to blend in. Maybe there are those bitter that they didn’t get in, and they want to maintain the peace.”

I nod thoughtfully. Just as Alice said, our uniforms change as we pass through the gate. My skirt remains a skirt, and Alice’s pants remain pants, but any identifying school markings blend into nothing. The perfect pleats of my skirt smooth out, the simple black fabric now hugging my ass and thighs tightly.

Alice looks down as her slacks turn into a pair of dark denim jeans, twisting to look at herself in them. “Stop! Look at my ass! You could bounce a coin off it. How do I keep them?”

I laugh as we follow the signs to Camelot.

The path is like something out of a storybook. Trees line one side of it, and as the sun sets, bright sparks of magic flare to life, guiding us to Camelot. They hover, forming small spheres in midair, and I marvel at them as we walk.

Alice smiles, watching me. “I sometimes forget you didn’t grow up around this stuff.” I glance at her as she continues to chatter. “It’s funny. I’ve never looked at twilight orbs with wonder until I saw you watching them.”

I blanch. I need to get a better handle on my reactions.

“Tell me about Dr?culea. Is it like this realm?”

Alice chuckles softly. “No. It’s constantly overcast. Every single day. There is no sun ever. Most vampires are required to get a sun charm to enroll here. But it’s not a perfect solution. It feels like wearing a second skin on top of your own. Poor fuckers.”

I tilt my head. “You don’t need one?”

Alice shakes her head. “I’m… an exception.” Alice points ahead at a small pizzeria. “That’s the place!”

“I can’t imagine a place with no sun ever,” I ponder, staring at the orange glow the sunset casts against the cobbles.

“I didn’t really know any different. I also grew up in a palace surrounded by a moat of blood.”

I blink, trying to keep the disgust from my face. “Huh.” A moat? That can’t be where they drank from, can it? That can’t be sanitary.

Alice rolls her eyes. “Yeah, the flies that gather are the worst.”

A bell jingles as we walk into Kingston Pie, and I’m immediately hit by the comforting smell of rich dough and herbs. The walls are covered in checkered white, green, and red wallpaper, hung with various prints and decorations. It reminds me of a place I once saw in Gaia. I’d pressed my face to the glass from the outside, imagining the taste and how it would feel to have a full stomach.

Alice inhales deeply, scenting those in the establishment as we wait in line to order at the tall counter.

“Heads up, your favorite angel is here.” She nudges me, pulling my attention from the menu.

“Rafe is here?” I ask, the broody angel taking the top spot thanks to his unpleasant demeanor and general assholeness.

I look up and lock gazes with Connor. He’s sitting in a booth with his brothers, his lips curled into a mocking smile. His head tilts, and he lifts his beer in silent cheers. Like a pack of vultures, the blue eyes of his companions lock on me.

I smile sweetly and wave at him coquettishly for a moment before turning my hand and lowering all but my middle finger, flipping him off. His surprised smile turns to a frown, and the two that have to be twins openly howl with laughter. I turn away to hide the way my lips tug into a genuinely charmed smile.

Alice snickers. I pull my phone out and start to scroll through the notifications from Nexus . A heavy arm drapes over my shoulder, and from the way Alice hisses, I imagine she has also been trapped by one.

“Hello, you two. No hard feelings about tossing you out of the party. Technically, it was my twin, my severely less good-looking twin.”

I don’t look up, continuing to scroll. “Fuck off.”

Alice snarls, but then, like a switch, her voice turns seductive and mesmerizing. My eyes dart up in alarm. “No hard feelings at all. So long as you don’t have any hard feelings about this…” A flash of silver slips from her sleeve into her hand. The only warning is the hardening of her smile before she slams a dagger into the angel’s gut.

He lets out a strangled groan, and I nearly stumble as he leans heavily against me. I look around at the other patrons, knowing we’ll be in massive trouble if we are caught causing violence in Camelot. The schools all have an agreement regarding students fighting in the small town we all share.

Connor is suddenly at our side. He shifts his big body to hide us with his bulk and shuffles his brother and me into a nearby booth, leaving Alice to order for us. “Luke, come here for a sec?” he calls, his voice still jovial.

Luke. He is the Morningstar from Realms class earlier. I watch as Luke hurries toward us. He has to be the youngest. His face is more innocent, but he has the same golden hair and kind eyes as Connor. As he crashes to a stop beside his brothers, the size difference between them is apparent. He’s lankier, not as filled out, and barely six feet tall. He is a cherub surrounded by warriors.

“What’s happened?” Luke asks, his eyes dark with concern.

“Mind healing the moron?” Connor asks Luke, his voice filled with affection. “Zach, I’m not going to say you deserved that, but you totally did.” Against my will, warmth fills me at the obvious care and love he has for his brothers.

I glance up at Connor and find his eyes laser-focused on me. Still looking at me, he pulls the dagger from his brother’s abdomen and hands it to me. There’s something about the way his muscles flexed when he grabbed the blade and pulled it out that makes my body respond. Stupid, hot angel.

Luke nods and slides in next to Zach. He glances around and then at me, the tawny skin of his cheeks flushing pink. “Um… can you move closer to Con? My hand will glow a little, and it’ll attract attention.”

I step closer to Connor but leave as much space between us as I can. “You’re a healer? That’s very rare.” No wonder his energy was so different from his brothers’.

Connor wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me tighter to his side, his scent surrounding me. How can a person smell so much like clouds? I take it back. Any softness I felt toward him at his brotherly affection is gone.

“He’s the pride of the family.” Connor beams at Luke.

I look at his hand on my shoulder and then up at him, fluttering my lashes while my voice turns venomous. “The last Morningstar that wrapped his arm around someone got stabbed in the stomach.”

Luke chuckles but masks it with a cough. His hand glows white as he lays his palm over Zach’s wound. Connor smiles down at me, not moving his arm. “If you want to stab me, feel free. I’m just trying not to piss off the headmaster.”

Zach winces as his wound starts to mend. “The stab was a bit much.”

Alice scoffs and looks at her nails. They have darkened and lengthened into deadly claws. “I don’t like to be touched.”

The glow from Luke’s hand dulls as the healing finishes, and I move away from Connor when the server calls out our order number. “Well, this has been fun.”

Connor glares at his brother. “Zach, apologize to them.”

Zach pushes Luke out of the way and slides out of the booth, looking disgruntled. “Sorry,” he says and storms back to his table, dropping down beside a brooding Rafe and his smirking twin.

“Enjoy your dinner, ladies.” Connor winks at me before heading back to his table.

“Maybe I’ll see you at that party on Friday night.” Why did I say that? I did not want to see more of this guy. It definitely had nothing to do with the sinking feeling I experienced when he turned his back on me.

Connor pauses and looks at me over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to the game before?”

“You know my name yet, Morningstar?”

He smirks. “Not yet, but I’m enjoying the mystery.”

A smile plays on my lips. And I’m enjoying being chased.

He winks again. “See you soon.”

I grab our order, and Alice and I leave, my stomach still fluttering.