Page 64 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

I pull back just in time to see Mr. Davenport looking less than impressed at seeing almost all of his students loitering when they should be heading to class.

Seb is righting his shirt and tie as our Head of Sixth comes to a stop before us all.

“Everything okay, Miss Doukas?”

“Nothing I can’t handle, sir.” I smile sweetly at him, and he nods, giving the boys behind me pointed stares.

“Class, please. All of you.”

“Sir,” they all mutter simultaneously. He either believes them, or, just like almost everyone else around here, he’s terrified of them and disappears around the corner.

Spinning around, I place my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes at my remaining audience.

My lips part to rip them all a new one when I notice something.

“Fuck me, are you multiplying?” My eyes focus on the new boy. It’s obvious who he is, or at least who he’s related to, and I groan, five has quickly become six.

“Princess,” Alex says with a wide smile. “Meet my evil twin, Daemon.”

I look between the two of them, noting all their similarities. Actually, they’re so fucking identical that I doubt I’d be able to tell them apart if they weren’t standing next to each other.

“Oh great. Another one to contend with.”

A smile twitches at Daemon’s lips. “Don’t worry, Princess. I’m not around much.” His voice is deep, deeper than Alex’s, and as his eyes roll down the length of my body I can’t fight the slight fear that creeps through me. And that really is something because I’ve been taught to never fear anyone. But this guy, there’s something… actually, no. There’s nothing. His face is a mask. I thought Seb wore his well, but it’s really nothing compared to this guy.

“Right, well as fun as it’s been watching Seb get his ass kicked by the princess, we should really get to class,” Theo says, instructing his minions to move.

It didn’t take much watching them these past few days to realize that he’s the leader here. The second he barks a command, they all usually jump like good little puppies. It’s almost amusing.

Theo, Alex, Nico and the new one all take off, leaving me standing between Toby and Seb once more.

“Well, as he said, this was fun and all—”

“This isn’t over, Hellion.”

“Of course,” I mutter, reaching out to take my purse from Toby, seeing as he’s a gentleman and rescued it for me after I abandoned it to kick his buddy’s ass. “What would be the fun in leaving it here?” I deadpan, my eyes rolling so hard they hurt.

I shoot a look over my shoulder at him before dismissing him with a wave of my hand and taking off down the hall.

There are footsteps hot on my heel, but I know it’s Toby. I don’t feel the hate of Seb’s stare burning into my back.

The second we’re around the corner and out of sight, his warm fingers brush my hand. Clearly, he learned a lesson from Seb, because he doesn’t actually grab me.

“Wait.”

I stop and turn to look up at him.

“Your surname,” he says, his brow crinkled. “Is it Greek?”

“Uh… Y-yeah, although I’m not sure there’s actually a Greek bone in my body,” I joke. “Why?”

His eyes hold mine for a few more seconds. “N-no reason. What class have you got? I’ll walk you.”

“Nope,” I state. “We’re already late. I can take it from here. I can look after myself, after all.” I wink at him, and thankfully he drags himself back to the here and now and cracks a smile. “That was hot as hell, just so you know.”

“Glad you enjoyed it. Later.” With a smile, I take off down the hall toward my last class of the week.

So I survived week one at Knight’s Ridge… barely. It can only get better from here on out. It’s not like I’ve made an enemy of one of the kings of the school, who, in his own words, wants me dead.