Page 24 of Dark Gods
"Because I have no reason to lie." She shrugged. "Like you said, you're the White Rabbit. It's not exactly beneficial to be your bestie right now."
I snorted. "Fair enough."
"Look," she said, lowering her voice as she glanced around to make sure we were alone. "I've got my own reasons for being here, and I can't risk them by getting targeted by the triad, but if you're interested in getting back at the twins, I can tell you something that might help."
I raised an eyebrow. "Consider my curiosity piqued."
"Helle and Phrixus used to have a thing with Loki," Daphne continued in a conspiratorial whisper.
Now both eyebrows were at full attention. "A thing as in...?Bothof them?"
"Yep," she answered with a malicious gleam in her green eyes. I was kind of starting to like her. A dryad after my own heart. "And the past-tense was far from mutual. Loki cuts all his lovers loose, but Helle is still heartsick. She'd do anything to get him back, which is probably why she's targeting you so aggressively."
"Huh. And you're telling me this why?"
Daphne shrugged. "I'm as competitive as the next student here, but I believe in winning with honor. What the twins did was dirty, and the information is yours to do with what you will."
I considered her words for a moment before nodding. "Thanks. So I guess this is a sort of secret truce?"
"Well, I'm not insane," she said flatly before returning to her dorm room.
I couldn't help but smile. I still wasn't sure how I was going to use that tidbit of information yet, or if I even wanted to, but at least I had something else to file under Loki's journal entry. He might run with a group of three, but it seemed like two was his favorite number.
* * *
Once I madeit to the cafeteria, the room fell so silent everyone could've heard a pin drop. Guess the school wasn't used to the resident pariah showing her face to eat with the rest of the herd.
I ignored the stares and headed straight for the buffet line. If there was one benefit to being the outcast, it was that people parted like the Red Sea. I helped myself to some eggs and bacon and walked to an empty spot at the nearest table. It was a safe distance away from the cluster of girls sitting at the other end, but one of them leaned over to plant her bag right where I was about to sit.
"Seat's taken," she said icily.
I gave her my sweetest suburban-goddess-ready-to-shiv-someone-with-an-apple-peeler smile and pushed the bag off the bench. "Now it's not," I said, matching her tone as I sat down.
She scoffed and her friends whispered in irritation to each other, but they made no further move to retaliate. Instead, they picked up their trays and scuttled off.
I took a bite of my eggs and kept eating, pretending not to notice the stares I was getting. What I did notice was the fact that there were a few curious, even admiring ones thrown in with the glares.
Something told me this was the first time a Rabbit had actually stood up to the bullying everyone else seemed to view as fate, and they were in for a treat. I wasn't about to bow my head to the Triad anytime soon, and when I finally did, they were in trouble.
Nothing's as dangerous as an animal in a cage. Especially one who let herself get caught.
When I heard footsteps approaching, I braced myself for another childish prank or middle school mean girl routine, but found myself face to face with the only member of the Triad I was sorely lacking data on. And of course I had a forkful of eggs halfway to my mouth.
I took a second to collect myself as the mammoth of a man in front of me sat across from me. He made Thor look like he'd skipped a few gym sessions by comparison, and those golden eyes were even more intense up close, but I refused to give into the instinct to look away.
"Quite a display of dominance back there," he remarked. His voice took me by surprise, not because it wasn't as deep as I expected--it was--but because it had a faint English accent I hadn't anticipated at all.
I wasn't surewhatI'd anticipated Fenrir would sound like, really. Maybe I was just surprised he spoke in words rather than growls and guttural sounds.
"If taking an empty seat is considered domineering here, you really are a fragile bunch," I remarked, taking a sip of my orange juice.
His response was a scoff and he leaned forward, his eyes boring into mine. "The only fragile one here is you, little Rabbit. I'd hate to see you get hurt any more than you already have," he said, casting a glance at my sling.
If I'd been back home, I would've already defied doctor's orders and taken it off, but looking wounded wasn't the worst strategy for the moment. It certainly seemed to have kept the more overt bullying tactics at bay so far. I could deal with bitchiness. Hell, I could give it, too. Another fifty-foot fall, however, would put a damper on my plans.
"Is that a threat?" I asked in my least interested tone, even though I was anything but. Fenrir wasn't like the other two, that much was clear at first glance. They were spoiled rich boys playing games because they were bored, but the god in front of me was as much man as he was wolf, and there was nothing playful in that gaze despite the easy smile on his lips.
"Quite the opposite," he answered without missing a beat. "I'm all for a bit of fun, but I prefer a more worthy adversary than some little girl who's been in the human world for too long."
