Page 5 of House of Pain
Mariana flipped him off, only drawing more shouts and laughter from the other assholes around the table, all trying to lick their way up Killer’s ass.
Morons.
“So, is that all?” Alecto asked, sitting straight in her chair. “Some of us have to prepare for the Ceremony tonight, you know?”
Garcia awarded Alecto with a sideways glance, clearly aware of the subtle dig at the House of Goats, whose performances always sucked, but then smashed her wooden hammer into the table, indicating that the meeting was over.
“Thank the Gods,” Alecto murmured to herself as she rose from her seat and walked towards the large double door.
Right outside the entrance, Val was leaning against the stone wall, half her face covered with large sunglasses even though there was no reason for it—the sky was still gray and cloudy.
Blaze stood by her side, his head lowered to Val’s ear, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth as he whispered to her.
Alecto ignored the weird feeling pushing at her chest, the way Val’s tongue dragged over her lips as she listened to him speak, the way she cocked her head backwards and laughed.
It would be easier to forget that Blaze was mean if Alecto didn’t have to see him being decent with other members of the Inner Circle.
“What are you doing here?” was all Alecto asked as she approached them.
Blaze’s gaze snapped to her, taking her in with a glance as he leaned one shoulder against the wall.
“We’ve come to take you to breakfast,” he said, voice flat. “The others are already in the cafeteria, saving us the spot.”
“So kind of you,” Alecto deadpanned, forcing a fake smile.
The other Liaisons all left the meeting building, streaming past them to either lectures or the cafeteria.The campus was half-empty at this time of the day, the wind rustling in the already gold-turning leaves of birch trees scattered around.
“So, anything interesting happened in the meeting?” Val asked as they fell into step, walking the long stone path through the main field towards the large cafeteria building south of the center of the campus. “Anything I need to know about?”
Val was the leader of the House of Snakes, Blaze her Second. She might have been a crazy party girl with weird sex habits, but she was damn good at her role.
Another thing Alecto envied.
“Nothing important, really.” Alecto shrugged. “Just the usual nonsense and blabbering about what’s fair and what’s not.”
“VAL,” a voice came from their left as they reached the crossway where four different paths meet, with the tall black marble statue of Venefica’s founder in the middle. Galia Rathone, the High Priestess of the Rats, was storming their way, her blond bob bopping with each step.
It took Alecto one look at her face to see that she was pissed.Royallypissed.
“Oh, hi there, baby girl,” Val drawled, a smile spreading on the small portion of her face still visible despite the sunglasses. “I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to the party last—”
Val didn’t get to finish the sentence. Galia’s palm connected with her face with such intensity, people at the other end of the campus probably heard the slap.
“Youskank,” Galia hissed, shaking her hand in the air. “You think you’re so smart carving up one of my Rats as if he’s yours?”
Alecto blinked, glancing between Val and Galia.
Val’s hand cupping the cheek that just got slapped slid down, revealing a red patch. Alecto hoped Blaze would be smart enough to step in between the two before things escalated.
But to her surprise, Val barked out a laugh.
“Jealous, Galia?” she asked. “Is it that you’re jealous that you’re never going to have two men falling for you enough to let them carve your name into their groins, or is it that you would have loved to be the one under my knife?”
Galia’s face turned red. She took a step towards Val. Alecto stepped in front of her before she could do any more damage and attract any more attention from the students on the campus.
“How about we try to be civil, Galia?” Alecto asked, her voice calm. “We all know Val has a taste for some seriously fucked up shit. But I was there last night, just like half the student body, and let me tell you, Killer was more than eager to get himselfmarked.”
“I know what you’re doing, bitch,” Galia spat, looking over Alecto’s shoulder at Val. “Your stupid mind games don’t work on me. Don’t even for one minute think I’ll let you win. This year, the House of Rats are going to be the winnersagain. And sooner or later, we’re going to crush you to dust. No Queen or King rules forever. Remember that.”
