Page 35 of Daughter Of The Ninth Line: The Complete Book One (Lines Of Ebrus #1)

chapter thirty-five

Vox

I was looking for Avalon’s face in the crowd, even as I half-listened to Shay’s updates.

Apparently, much of a nothingness had occurred while I was away—the same jockeying for power, just on a different day.

We walked back from the docks, and the others who’d been on the ferry with me gave us a wide berth.

I had a small dome of silence around us, because Boellium had eyes and ears everywhere.

Taeme and those damn hounds raced in front of us, and I scowled at his retreating back. I hated the derision in his expression when he looked at my father, but worse than that, I hated the pity in his eyes when he looked at me and compared our relationships with our respective paternal figures.

Feodore Vylan ruled with absolute authority; his family was no exception.

I was to be seen and not heard, especially as the spare Heir.

Here, at Boellium, I had the semblance of control, even if it was just in this tiny microcosm.

Taeme and I were not equals anywhere, but least of all here.

I didn’t need or want his pity, even if I did slightly envy the way his father looked at him with pride.

Pathetic.

“Are you even listening to me right now, or should I just go and shout my update at the sea? Maybe the mermaids will give a fuck what I have to say,” Shay grumbled.

I tightened my lips, giving her an apologetic nudge with my shoulder.

“Sorry, Shay. I know you took care of business while I was away. I have absolute faith you could organize this rabble like a General in the Dawn Army, with or without my presence.” It was entirely true.

“The Conclave is playing on my mind. It was called because of the drought over in the West of Ebrus. The Eleventh and Twelfth Lines are going to face mass starvation if something isn’t done, and my father wasn’t interested in my opinion on the matter. ”

My back still ached from the air-lashes he’d given me for talking out of turn.

I was a figurehead, and that was the box I should stay in.

It didn’t help that my brother didn’t give a damn about anyone but himself and his own power, much like Father.

All of Ebrus could starve, as long as they took the knee before us as they died.

Shay gritted her teeth. “He would rather they were gone. In fact, I’m fairly sure he’d be content if everyone below the Sixth no longer existed.

” Her voice was pitched low, so even if my privacy dome fell, people would struggle to hear her words.

Because what she said was inflammatory at best, treasonous at worst. “What was the Conclave’s verdict? ”

I snorted. We were a false democracy, and once my father declared it not their problem, the spineless Barons had been all too happy to wash their hands of the whole problem.

“They’re on their own. I overheard Baron Taeme conversing with the Tenth Line to send aid, though, so perhaps they’ll circumvent the Conclave altogether.”

Shay raised a brow. “Will you tell your father?” Working outside the Conclave was frowned upon.

“And stray outside my predetermined role of seen and not heard? No. My father made my role clear before the banquet—it’s to be an example of his virility and not much more.

The humanitarian efforts of the Third Line are outside my purview.

” Frowning hard, my cousin checked me over, patting me down until I moved away. “What are you doing? ”

“Checking for a tal that might have stolen all your common sense.” We both knew there was no talisman that could do that. She was just ribbing me.

I shooed her hands away. “I care about the people of Ebrus, Shay. That’s not a new thing.”

“But defying your father is,” she hissed. “It’s the girl, isn’t it?”

I kept my face blank. “What girl?”

The droll look she gave me was perfectly Shay. “You know who. Does your sudden interest in the welfare of the Lower Lines have something to do with Avalon Halhed, who happens to be an Heir of the Ninth Line, as well as have great boobs?”

Now it was my turn to frown. “Don’t look at her boobs.”

“Why? Do you have a vested interest in her chest?”

I ignored her completely as we stepped into the atrium, feeling satisfied as people scurried away. I wanted to find Avalon and not get dragged down into social bullshit. I just had to drop my bags in my rooms, then I’d head down to see if she was in her dorm, or perhaps the food hall.

“She missed you, you know.” Shay sounded way too smug, like she knew that would make me stop and give up the pretense.

Sighing heavily, because she wasn’t going to let this go, I looked over at her. “What makes you say that?”

“She watched the ocean horizon like a married fisherwoman waiting for her husband to return.” She snorted derisively.

“Honestly, I’m surprised she didn’t lose her head during some of the combat classes.

” The mirth left her face, consumed by something more solemn.

“It’s a dangerous game you’re playing, Vox.

It can’t go anywhere, and you might have everyone else convinced you have a lump of ice in your chest rather than a heart, but I know better. You have to guard yourself.”

I strode through the dorm room, inexplicably happy that most of my Line brethren were either in class or in the food hall.

I didn’t want them here for this conversation, even if they couldn’t hear me.

Shay was the one person who I could be open and honest with, and I knew, even under the penalty of torture, she would hold my secrets close to her chest the way I held so many of hers.

“Something about her speaks to my soul,” I mumbled, frightened of the words, as if speaking them out loud would make them even more true. “I can’t help but be drawn to her, even if logic tells me that this can’t be anything more than a fleeting pleasure.”

Shay stared at me, her gaze roaming over my face, like she could see the truth written on my skin. Finally, she sighed. “I told her as much. Here, give me your bag and go find her. Maybe get laid. It’s been too damn long.”

I screwed up my nose. “Stop thinking about my sex life; it’s weird.” But I still handed her my bag and kissed her temple. “Thanks, Shay. You’re the best thing ever produced by the First Line.”

She muttered something that was probably an agreement, but I was already out the door on my way down the stairs.

I made myself walk slowly, nodding but being unapproachable to the rest of the college.

When I reached the atrium, I straightened my spine, ignoring the stares of the other conscripts as I descended the stairs to the lower levels.

I didn’t even get offended when the Lower Lines stared, rather than offering the respectful acknowledgement they were supposed to give me. I just didn’t care.

Finally, I made it to the Ninth Line dorm. I sent a tendril of air under the door, searching for life inside the room, and I smiled as it found the displacement of air indicating a person was wandering around in there.

Knocking softly, I waited. There was stomping, and then Avalon was there, wrenching open the door. “Look, Hayle, I don’t want to— Oh, Vox. You’re back!”

She seemed genuinely happy to see me . Not the Heir of the First Line. Not someone who could help them climb the social ladder. Me.

“I am. Is Taeme giving you a hard time?”

She stepped back, inviting me into her dorm, and fuck, she smelled so good.

She must’ve just showered, because her hair was damp, and the scent of flowers and sunshine curled around her.

“No, he’s fine. He was just trying to give me a family history lesson that I don’t want or need.

The less I have to do with my Line once this is all over, the better. ”

I knew so little about her, and she knew so little about me, but I didn’t care. I had time to learn. “I want to know more about that,” I promised her. “But first, I need to kiss you again, because I haven’t been able to get the feel of your lips from my mind. Have you decided, Avalon?”

Her tongue dipped out to wet her lips, the same lips that I was desperate to taste. “Decided what?”

“Where you want this to go,” I murmured, stepping closer to her, crowding her back toward the wall of her dorm room.

“Yes,” she breathed.

Finally, her delicious ass hit the wall, and I lifted my hands so they rested on either side of her head. She was caged between my body and the stone walls of this ancient fortress. “And where is that?” I asked, so close to her lips.

“To my bedroom.” The husky sound of her voice undid me, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I leaned down and captured her lips with mine, sucking them between my teeth and scraping them gently, desperate to hear her tiny gasps of shocked pleasure. I was going to ruin her in the best possible way.

Sliding my hands down her hips, I grabbed a handful of her ass and lifted her into my arms. “Your bedroom it is.” I traced the line of her neck with my tongue.

“And then your shower, the dorm couch, the kitchen, the floor in front of the fireplace.” She held my hair tightly as I bit the soft curve at the top of her breast. “There is no place in all of Boellium that I don’t want to fuck you senseless, just so every soul in the college knows you’re mine. ”

I was dying, because all the blood in my body was now in my cock, and when her thighs tightened around my hips, rubbing the hot center of her body against me, I mentally cursed. I needed to be inside her, or I was going to come before I even got my pants off.

I strode into the first dorm room, immediately knowing it wasn’t her room. It was barren and empty, but that was okay. We were going to fill it so full of life that every conscript who entered the room afterward would get inexplicably hard as the stone walls of the college itself.