Page 71 of Quiet Burn

“Get moving, gentleman!”

The others follow me as I head for the track, all of our shoulders slump as we jog to our imminent doom.

Jasper Eversore is a real cocksucker, that’s for damn sure.

Beggin’

Zavida

Poor Kit is run ragged, but he’s not complaining—at least, not out loud. I was surprised by Jasper’s interruption and more so by his punishment. Not because it’s unlike Jas to be spiteful, but more because it was definitely aimed at separating us from the rest of the group. I’ll ask him later tonight, when we’re alone, and hopefully, he’ll clue me in. I could feel his irritation spiking along our connection while he got the Games basic uniforms out to the rest of the guys.

Jasper seems mercurial and overly emotional in his decisions, but he’s rarely reacting spontaneously.

X is sticking close to him, with Oriel and Salem following closely. It’s interesting how quickly those two have attached themselves to Kit when they’ve never given a shit about much of anyone before. Something about the kid speaks to their isolation and even if Jasper can’t see it, I get the allure. The guy has spunk and despite being essentially crippled by his lack of magic, he’s willing to throw himself into the ring out of spite.

“What’s on your mind, Zav?” Anton murmurs as we trail behind the others.

I bite my lip for a moment, not wanting to share my concerns without speaking to Jas first. After a moment, I shrug. “I was thinking about why Jasper sent us packing for such a small, arbitrary offense. I don’t think it was about giving Kit crap; it felt like he was doing it for some other reason.”

“He’s been suspiciously tight lipped about the various bullshit the admin is throwing at him at the last minute. I thought it was about keeping idiots from suggesting we’re getting preferential treatment, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

My brain takes off on one of its frequent computory adventures, and when it stops, I grab Annie’s arm. “Do you think they placed a geas on him?”

Anton sucks in a breath, looking around us before he hisses, “Don’t even suggest it. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but if those fuckers knowweknow, they’ll alter it in some way. Fuck.”

Not even Lucian could do such a thing to the Prince of Hell without consulting the King, so our families will be of no help. Sighing, I let my mind wander again, knowing it’s searching for anything in my mental database that will help us deal with this new possibility.

“I can sort of understandwhythey’d do it, given Jasper’s place in our caliphate, but I’m not sure why he’d allow it.” The peacock shifter frowns, tilting his head as his gaze focuses on his lover and the rest of our group ahead. “Do you think he was extorted? Perhaps they threatened to do something untoward during the Games if he didn’t tell the King he was cool with it.”

Me. If they threatened me, it would be easy to convince our Prince to bend.

“Damn it,” I mutter in irritation. “They probably used me as their bait.”

“Mmmmm, perhaps.” Anton’s voice is full of doubt, though, and he shrugs when I look at him expectantly. “Kit is far more vulnerable than you and we’ve all taken some level of shine to him. He would make a much better bargaining tool until his powers emerge fully.”

My brother is right; Kit is tied to all of us through the induction. It weakens us all to have him powerless and our affection for him is just as dangerous. Lucian has spies amongst the student body, so he’s certainly been told we’re all ‘dating’ the new student he thought was a punishment. I’d be willing to bet he’s pissed as hell and that’s why Jasper keeps having to do dumb shit in our classes with him.

“This is not a good outcome,” I say as I rub my temples. “Darkstar knowing what buttons to push before we even grace the field for trials means we have to work even harder.”

“Perhaps that’s why the Prince pushed the limits of our strength today?”

Sweet baby Asmodeus, of course it is. Slash said Kit needed endurance training.

“I think it might have gone down more smoothly if he’d said something to that effect, though.” I shake my head, looking up at the sky as I regret not pushing Jasper harder to communicate before now. “Not about the spell, I mean, just a general statement that would have told us he was using the time to train our team.”

Anton is about to reply when we almost crash into Oriel and Salem. They’ve fallen back, letting Kit and X get farther away inorder to give Annie and me time to catch up. I give the huge panda shifter a dirty look; he’s solid as fuck and I bruise like a peach.

“What’s the buzz back here?” O says curiously. “You two are whispering like palace servants in the staff halls.”

While he might be right about that, I hold a finger up. “I should probably remind you all that Kit will give you an immense amount of shit for saying stuff like that.”

The crow shifter winks at me. “Probably, but he knows I’m a work in progress.”

“True dat,” Salem adds as he fist bumps the avian.

When the fuck did those two get so chummy?

“Whatever you say,” Annie says drily. “We were discussing why Prince Asshat is even less communicative than normal—and we think we know why.”

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