Page 38 of Souls of Steel
“Women don’t need to speak,” Jared’s cousin, Vincent, said. “All they need to do is lie there and take it.”
“A woman was built to be fucked, Ms. Renard,” Jared finished. “That’s all your mouth is, another hole to fuck. Nobody cares about what you have to say. And by the time this is over, I’ll prove to everyone there’s nothing special about you.”
He took a step forward, as if intending to intimidate me through his sheer presence. It didn’t work.
The moment Jared moved, Knox was in front of me, grabbing him by the uniform and holding him aloft as if he was nothing more than a puppet. “You’re one to talk, you unworthy piece of trash. You’re only a tamer because Zephyrus took pity on you. You’re the one who isn’t special.”
The words held a deep animalistic quality that made them hard to understand. Even so, the message came through quite clearly. Knox also chose to emphasize his point by dumping Glass on the tarmac and grinding his foot against his spine. “You don’t even deserve to kiss her boots, let alone touch her with your dick.”
The other Harpy tamers lunged forward, undoubtedly wanting to aid their leader. August lifted his hand and two of them went flying, struck by an unseen blast. In an uncharacteristic display of aggression, Pollux grabbed Vincent and threw him into the path of three others, making all of them fall to the ground.
I’d expected the violence from Knox. August’s outburst didn’t surprise me either. Pollux’s reaction did. He’d always been among the calmer people of our little group. But that leashed anxiety I’d sensed inside him had been begging to come out for a while now. It had been only a matter of time until something like this happened.
Brendan stepped in before things could escalate further. “If you don’t want to go into the tournament with a missing limb, you’ll do well to run along now,” he said.
All of a sudden, I was aware that at one point during the past ten minutes, a circle had formed around me and the two chimera squads. Every other student was staring at us and had undoubtedly heard the whole exchange, including the bet I’d made. I cursed myself for my recklessness. The last thing I’d wanted was to turn into a spectacle.
But in the end, did it really matter? The students at the academy were gossips, and news of the bet would’ve reached everyone’s ears anyway, even if we hadn’t been in public. Besides, I had no intention of it being relevant for my future. I wouldn’t let any of these men intimidate me.
In the meantime, I had to prioritize and end this confrontation here. The teachers hadn’t shown up yet, but they might. If that happened, I doubted the Harpy tamers would be the ones reprimanded. They might have offended me, but August, Pollux, and Knox had been the ones to resort to physical violence. I didn’t want any of them to get expelled because they’d decided to defend my honor.
“Well, it looks like the tournament will be exciting, wouldn’t you say?” I asked, drawing the students’ attention to me once again. After a few seconds of consideration, I winked and added, “Make sure to look into the requirements for being a Harpy tamer, everyone. It looks like their unit will have a free spot in the future.”
I didn’t feel nearly as smug and confident as I claimed, but that was all right. As long as they believed it, I’d make do. I had so far. Gaia and Tartarus would help me.
Without another word, I left the group and made my way back toward the academy. When my lovers didn’t follow me, I tried not to feel abandoned, but utterly failed.
* * *
Pollux
It was a disaster. It was a disaster of epic proportions. The story was repeating itself and I didn’t know what to do.
I curled in the seat of the Scylla, hyperventilating. I knew I shouldn’t have reacted so poorly to the news of the tournament, but I couldn’t help myself. Flashes of my sister’s screams kept coming back to me, worse than in my usual nightmares. I closed my eyes, and instead of seeing Stella, I saw Selene.
“You haven’t failed your lover, my dear Pollux,”Scylla reminded me.“Breathe. Nothing’s happened yet. Selene is fine and Sphinx will make sure she stays that way.”
“Chimeras aren’t all-powerful, Scylla,” I told her. “You of all people should know that. It’s very likely that, in a week, Selene will have to face the school on her own.”
“She’s braver and stronger than you realize,”Scylla chastised me.“She’s not your sister. She never was.”
I understood that. How could I not, when I still remembered the feel of her silken skin beneath my fingertips, the taste of her sweet lips? We hadn’t gotten the chance to be together too many times, but it didn’t matter. With Selene, one kiss and one touch was enough.
That didn’t change the essence of my problem. Selene was not Stella, no, but she was just as vulnerable as my twin had been.
As I mused over my dilemma, the side hatch of the Scylla opened, connecting to the Charybdis. August crawled into the cockpit of my chimera.
“Hey,” he greeted me. “So… This is all very awful.”
“That’s the understatement of the century, August. We have to stop it, somehow.”
August shook his head sadly. “There’s no way to stop it, not anymore. You know that.”
“But she doesn’t understand how this works, not really. We should’ve told her the truth. We should’ve done more. We should’ve stepped in before she agreed to that bet.”
We hadn’t. We’d allowed her to speak to that idiot Glass, although we’d known he was bad news. “We were so stupid, August.”
“I don’t know if that’s the best description,” August answered. “Selene wouldn’t have allowed us to speak up in her stead anyway. She’s not that kind of girl.”
