Page 17 of Above
“Yes, I am,” I replied, trying to act unphased as I nonchalantly stood straighter. My heart was racing, fight or flight warring inside of me, my mind a mess of fear and fury.
“Oh, a woman who knows she’s beautiful.” For a moment his startling grey eyes left mine as he turned to look over his shoulder. Without realizing his mistake, he gave me the perfect chance to glimpse his ring. And there, upon the flat top, was a snake coiling around an eight-pointed star. Altair.
Nausea wrapped my intestines, squeezing and pulling and demanding I release my dinner from last night. I tried to stay still, to see what the Altair heir was seeing. His gaze seemed to be on the Otarn girl, who looked bored, if not annoyed. No ounce of jealousy there though. Like she, too, couldn’t care less about the attention of the man between us.
“Looks like Priya has competition for the most vain woman in the nearby vicinity.” Slowly, he faced me again, his smile growing wider as he stared me down. “Intriguing.”
“Not really,” I mumbled, not wishing to speak to him at all but unable to ignore him if I wanted to live.
“I bet she’d look even prettier in a bed,” the curly-haired one said. The Dofrel boy. His arms crossed as he stared at me, though it was clear he wasn’t looking in the same way one who was undoubtedly interested would. None of them did. This was teasing. Testing.
They wanted to measure me.
“Oh, I agree. What do you say,” the Altair queried, reaching up to tug on one of my curls and watch it bounce back into place, “Tershetta, was it? Want to find out if you look good in my black sheets?”
“No thanks, I prefer green.” I tried to side step him, but the Altair boy quickly moved with me, his steps bringing his body only inches from mine. He smelled like vanilla and whiskey. Like wealth and overconsumption. I wanted to gag.
“Ouch,” a low voice said from behind me. Though my instincts screamed for me not to, I turned my back on the blonde before me and found the owner of the voice. Another man, this one slightly shorter than the Altair and sporting hair so black it was nearly blue, approached with a woman on his right that looked like she could be his twin, the only noticeable difference that her braided hair cascaded down to her hips whereas his was pulled up into a small twist on the top of his head. He glanced briefly down at me before speeding up and somehow squeezing in between me and the now furious Altair boy. “Is this the first time you’ve ever been shot down, Azazel? Tough luck.”
The Altair—Azazel, apparently—seemed to instantly go on edge. His once jarringly bright irises became the color of the smoke that only came from devastating fires. Fury pooled inthose eyes, his fists clenching at his sides like a child who didn’t get their way. Fitting for a spoiled core family member. Not only spoiled, but he was practically the prince of the shaytan world.
And whoever was now in front of me was standing up to him. Subconsciously, my eyes darted down to the new addition’s tawny finger, seeing the classic core family black ring on his middle digit. A bear with a star just above its roaring mouth. Zade.
That meant I had five core families surrounding me.
I dared to look at Elite Bargain and immediately wished I hadn’t. She looked like she might throw up. The male guard next to her didn’t look too comfortable either. Well, shit.
“Oh, so it’s Azazel now? What’s wrong, Talon, don’t want to be friends anymore?” Azazel questioned, his cocky smirk returning as he suddenly crossed his arms and relaxed his shoulders.
So they were once friends. That would make sense. The core families were raised together, trained together, taught together. They married each other and befriended each other. They even lived in their special, pure district. But what, then, would have happened to these two? Could this be about the stars? Were they both vying for the opportunity for the essence?
Instead of answering, who I now knew to be Talon Zade turned around, smiled down at me, and said, “This is what we call male arrogance.”
A chuckle burst free of my mouth before I could stop it, my hand flying up to cover my lips when I realized just how stupid I was. But Talon simply grinned wider. His eyes were an extraordinary shade of brown. Almost red. I noted how long his dark lashes were, how rosy his cheeks were becoming.
“I’m Talon, nice to meet you,” he practically hummed, reaching out to the limited space between us. Despite myself, I smiled softly and took his hand, shaking it.
“Nova.” Behind me, I heard the girl who had to be Talon’s sister shuffle in the snow, her voice a soft melody as she walked around us and greeted the other cores.
“Looks like curls prefers her men with dark hair and tolerable personalities. Tough luck, Az.” Beyond Talon, the curly-haired boy shoved at Azazel Altair, snickers breaking out in their group. Altair stared at me, his eyes scrutinizing in the way I hoped they wouldn’t. Because if he looked long enough, he’d know. They always somehow did.
Just then, another group of about fifteen started approaching from the other side of the border and the focus of the group finally left me. Well, all but two.
“Ignore him,” Talon whispered, lowering his face a bit.
“Easier said than done,” I mumbled, stepping back and taking my first deep breath. The last thing I needed were any of these lunatics taking interest in me. Negative or positive. I wasn’t there for friends or sex or anything other than shadow magic and a job. Definitely not for enemies.
“Trust me, blocking him out will become second nature. I do it all the time.” When I said nothing, not so much as making eye contact with him, Talon blew out a heavy breath. “You know, this is normally when someone says thank you.”
Still, I said nothing. This was the first time I had ever interacted with core family members. I didn’t even attend General Altair’s speeches. Avoiding them had become a habit of self preservation. While I had always known I would attend Elite Academy with some of them, I hadn’t expected to even speak to them. It wasn’t necessary. Or safe.
“Not much of a talker, are you? Is it the nerves? I can tell you what I know of the ritual if none of your family ever attempted it.” His arms crossed as he spoke, his teeth worrying his lip when I still said nothing. Should I lie? Omit? What was the best course of action?
Lying would eventually lead to me being caught. There was no way around that. Every bit of my eadi-ness would shine through during this training. I wasn’t as equipped as the others would be, especially seeing as usually only the best of the best attempted the ritual.
Omitting was safer, but only marginally. I would still be seen as untrustworthy. But telling this random core boy that I was of eadi wouldn’t serve me well either.
Silence was truly the only safe bet.
