Page 13 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

“I know he won’t,” I say and walk back to the group.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Kai and Calista?” Jermoine asks when we head into the garden.

“Oh, um,” Fleur stutters while she looks at me.

“They’ll find us if they want to,” Yuki says, running out from his space in the group and toward the mastick. “And if they don’t, then more for us, baby!” He screams and hollers a little louder than he should.

I look at Fleur and say, “I’ll race you.” Then I run, untucking my uniform’s dark blue overcoat and unbuttoning it.

“Wait, Lucian!” she calls. “That’s so not fair!”

We don’t go far into the mastick—we never do. Truthfully, we have more power than any of the staff here, except perhaps the headmistress, but she’d never do anything where I’m involved.

The six of us are future leaders. Fleur is to be Lorucille’s head debater, a fancy name for a Eunoia who forces the truth out of someone for the crown. Eleanora and Jermoine are to be memory stealers for Soma.

Breck has the highest position of the lot—Kai’s advisor, though they aren’t friends the way Yuki and I are. Kai’s always been more partial to Jermoine.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Fleur slurs over her bottle at me. “Are you guys learning the whole,” she holds up her fingers and wiggles them, “mind-puppeteer-thing?” She smiles as if it’s a delight.

“I’m well past the learning phase,” I answer.

Her smile turns sinister, and she leans into me further. “Do me.”

“I think I’ll pass?—”

Can we get the bottle over here?” Eleanora, who is sitting next to Jermoine, asks while waving her hand.

“One second!” Fleur turns back to me and hands me the bottle. “Wanna pour it in my mouth?”

I take a sip without letting my eyes leave hers, an unspoken answer, and she tilts her head back. I pour the shot in her mouth and she tips her head back up, licking her lips while she stares into my eyes.

I lean into her, wiping the vesi from her bottom lip with my thumb.

Eleanora clears her throat. “Bottle? Please!”

* * *

I’m a bit droozed and ready for the inevitable when I make it to my suite. Upon my first step beyond the threshold of the door, Kai asks, “What’s this about a party?”

Always so predictable. Everyone is.

“On Friday in the mastick,” I answer, and Azaire sighs. “Bring your best engagement gift.”

It’s precisely like that that I have set the Flame off in a forest. Purple bolts of lightning crack between Kai’s fingers, working their way up his forearms like a shield of energy.

It’s not as though I take any particular joy in this. It’s only the thought of inconveniencing Lusia and Labyrinth that makes me ask, “Is it a fight you’re looking for?” in the most amused tone I can manage.

I don’t look at Azaire. I know what he’s thinking, and I don’t want to see it.

I anticipate Kai’s strike before he makes it and am well out of the way when the lightning crashes where my chest had once been. For him this is serious, to me it’s training. Now, if only I could get him to use his hands instead of his powers.

Light Folk are tricky, second to a Fire Folk in brute power, and Kai could incapacitate even me. If he could land a blow that is, which he won’t. Not when I can see them coming before he even lifts a finger. With that, I force the prophetic part of my mind to come to full fruition.

He holds his hand out, sending five different electrical currents in all directions around my body. I am out of the way of each and wrapping cold, black shadows around his legs before his blows land.

I’m behind him when I say, “Would you like another shot?” He tries to turn and cannot. “I might even let you go if we take the magic out of this encounter.” I’m toying with him, which is clear to everyone but him. So hot-headed and so quickly violent that I think he’d be better suited with the Flame than the Light.

I have no real problem with Kai, we’ve gotten along fairly for most of our lives. Yet when we found out about the unions, both he and Calista instantly wanted to blame Lilac and me. However, when I have someone as easily angered as Kai, I am certainly going to use it to my advantage. To make trouble for the people I would truly enjoy battling: those who are to blame for our share of unfortunate fate.

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