Page 29 of Quiet Burn

“Lucian has scheduled a Samhain ball to celebrate our most revered night of the year and the return of the greatest competition in Hell. It’s in two weeks, and attendance is mandatory.”

Salem groans. “That means he’ll inviteallthe universities. Ihatewhen they mix us up.”

“Other universities?”

X and Anton whisper for a moment, then Xerxes looks at me sympathetically. “All of them. Brimstone included.”

I wait for them to explain, but no one says a word and it finally becomes clear: Brimstone must be where the richfemaledemons go to college.

Oh, shit.

For What It’s Worth

Anton

It’s been two days since our meeting, and despite the odd determination of our professors to piss off Kit, it’s been pretty quiet. I guess Lucian isn’t announcing the damn Devil’s Night affair to the masses yet, but since staff gossip as much as students, the whispers are running rampant. Jasper sent word for the royal tailors to visit this weekend, and X has been giddy with glee ever since. My effusive love is planning to make their own outfit, as well as our new member’s, but the rest of us are stuck with using our families’ employees. It would be an insult of epic proportions to not allow them to design our bespoke attire, and even though we’d all prefernotto get visits from what will definitely be spies… it’s unavoidable.

Especially with the damned event so soon—a purposeful choice on Darkstar’s part, I’d bet.

“Today we’re going to spar with magic and weapons,” Jasper says as he strides into the room brusquely.

My eyebrows shoot up and my panicked look at Zavida and Xerxes doesn’t go unnoticed. Kit doesn’t have magic to use andthat will make him abigtarget. I’m fairly sure Jasper isn’t doing this to punish him, but it’s risky nonetheless. “Professor…”

Jasper’s gaze slices to me, and all I feel from him is helplessness. He didn’t make this decision on his own and he doesn’t have a choice. When his eyes slide to the rest of the class, I groan internally. That might mean he’s been warned about grouping his own caliphate together in his classes. This is going to be extremely bad if we’re not careful.

“Not now, Anton.” He gestures at the rack of dulled blades and lighter staffs on the wall. “Pick your poison, gentlemen, then we will divide into pairs to practice.”

X sidles over, whispering, “At least he won’t be with Bastian. Q is pretty far from C in terms of alphabet.”

“We don’t know that he’ll use the alphabet,” Zav says as he grabs a staff. “Kit, what weapon are you using?”

Our newest member looks at him blankly, and I curse under my breath. “X, help snap him out of it. He has to be focused.”

Xerxes walks over to the wall, plucking two swords from it. “Kit Kat, you’re good with the blade, so I got yours, too. Now take this pig poker and show your partner what you’re made of.”

Kit doesn’t move to grab it and I realize he’s probably rocketing into space with anxiety over the ‘magic’ thing. I step up in front of him, looking into his eyes as I put my hands on his face. “Dude, youhaveto get ready. I think Prince Asshat is being ordered to run this exercise in a specific way.”

When he doesn’t respond again, I look at the floor, asking every high demon deity in Hell to help me figure out what I need to do. I know he can’t help it, but we have to help him get past this kindof incident so it doesn’t happenduringthe Games and get him killed. Zav and X shrug, looking as helpless as I feel. Oriel would know what to—so would Salem, and maybe even Slash. Damn, we’re so far behind in this situation.

Maybe…

I look directly at the freaked out guy and make an apologetic face before I dart forward to plant a kiss on his lips. Within seconds of our mouths touching, his eyes pop open, looking shocked and suddenly aware at the same time. I try not to notice how soft his lips are or the fact that just the barest brush of our tongues happened before he blipped back in as I pull back. His face turns bright red as people other than my caliphate start hooting and hollering, making this a much bigger scene than I intended.

“Don’t forget we want them to think you’re dating us,” X says under their breath. They give me a smug grin as I recover from my likely ill-advised decision and I glare at my lover. Xerxes is not upset in the slightest, but they areverysmug and that’s going to last all day for certain.

“I… I…” Kit whips around, looking at each of us as he tries to find his bearings. “Um… I…”

Zavida takes pity on him. “It’s fine, Kit. Take your blade from X and let’s move on. I’m sure Jasper is going to intervene in about?—”

“Mr. Camponella and Mr. Aldaric.Are you quite through?”

We all turn to look at the Prince, his dragon half-shifted as he grits his jaw and gives us looks like he‘s going to murder us all on the spot. His fists are clenched, his eyes are full of his beast, and he appears truly infuriated. I frown, unsure why the hell he’d bemad that we were getting Kit to focusandfollowing the ‘dating’ plan in public. It seems like a win-win for all of us.

“Oh, boy,” Zav says as he moves over to stand in line where the groups are normally assigned in Arms class. “This isn’t good.”

X joins him, and I follow, leaving a space for Kit to stand next to me. “What’s up his ass, now, Z? He’s impossible to predict lately and I can’t see why he’d be pissy that we’re doing what we agreed to.”

The kitsune shakes his head, giving us a rueful smile. “I don’t know, and if I did, I couldn’t tell you this kind of thing.”

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