Page 61 of Stray
He was going to build her up first. To make her think she was safe. To convince her of the beautiful lie that her fortune really had changed and she had a chance at the happily ever after he’d given up on a long time ago.
He was going to make her fall in love with him all over again. He was going to show her pleasure and decadence she could never even imagine, just so he could hurt her more than anyone ever could or had or would.
He was going to bring her to such heights that the inevitable drop would crush her into nothing, even if the fall killed them both.
Chapter 9
Ella
After her confrontation with Axel in the hallway, the rest of the day was pleasantly mundane. Ella wasn’t sure if the other students were not quite as cruel as she’d feared, or if they simply didn’t know what to do with her, but either way, they left her alone.
For the most part.
She wasn’t used to the stares, but it was something she knew she was going to have to get used to, considering she bore the obvious sign of her moonmark everywhere she went.
She still wasn’t even sure what it meant to be Empress. What would be expected of her beyond her time at the Academy, or during it. Getting into fights with the school’s most prestigious student definitely wasn’t on the list, but maybe that would be the end of it.
If she stood any chance at a normal life at the Academy, she knew it depended upon distancing herself from Axel as much as possible, not only for her own sanity, but because she didn’t want to give Marissa and her minions any more reason to think she was involved with him.
One day, she would have to choose a mate, and the idea that she would deny Axel would have once been unfathomable, but now that she’d done it, she felt...freer.
And a little bit terrified, but mostly she just felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
When the time came for her last class, Ella checked her schedule to make sure she had the right room. The room looked standard enough from the outside, but as soon as she opened the door, she knew she had to be in the wrong place.
This wasn’t a classroom, it was a five-star restaurant, by the looks of the immaculately set tables scattered around the room. There were candles lit on too many surfaces to count, and soft, ambient music played from some unseen source.
There were a few other students gathered sparsely around the tables, and they all ceased conversing when Ella entered the room.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, more as a reflex than a conscious thought. “I think I have the wrong class. This isn’t Etiquette, right?”
The two girls at the table looked at each other, and the brown-haired boy next to them snorted a laugh. “You’re in the right place.”
“Well, that’s a matter of debate,” the girl to his right said with a malicious little sneer. Her friend giggled.
Ella sighed, taking a seat at the furthest empty table. So much for making friends.
At least Axel hadn’t come to any of the classes they had scheduled together. Ella couldn’t help but feel a familiar twinge of guilt, even though she knew it was his fault.
Hewas the one who’d behaved like a complete ass in front of everyone, and whether he went to class or not was none of her concern.
Maybe if she told herself that enough times, she’d stop worrying.
The room began to fill up quickly, and Ella’s table remained notably empty as the others reached full capacity. The other students even started pulling over chairs from her table to cram in with their friends, as if the point they were trying to make wasn’t obvious enough.
Ella decided the best strategy was just pretending like she didn’t notice. Or hear the whispers and snickering from the other tables. She took out her phone and scrolled absently through the last thing in her browser history, which happened to be a recipe for the most recent dish she’d helped Beatrice make. She was so intent on pretending not to notice anything that she failed to hear the approaching footsteps until a shadow loomed over her.
Fully expecting to turn around and find Axel there to finish what he’d started, Ella wasn’t sure she should be relieved to see the man standing in his place. Tall and lean with glossy black hair pulled into a tie at the nape of his neck, the man didn’t look any older than his late twenties, but the maroon blazer that complemented his ice blue eyes left no room to doubt he was a teacher.
Ella’s mouth felt as dry as cotton as she stared up at him, taking in his sculpted and strangely beautiful features along with the condescending sparkle in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, would you like me to postpone my class until you’ve had the chance to finish your conversation?” he asked in a voice as smooth as silk with a soft English lilt that made his sarcasm all the more cutting. That voice at once caressed and wounded, but Ella couldn’t bring herself to regret hearing it.
“No, I… I wasn’t…” she trailed off when she realized he was utterly indifferent to any explanation she had to offer and quickly silenced her phone before stashing it in her bag. “I’m sorry.”
Satisfied, he turned toward the others and their gleeful chatter immediately stopped. “Now, would someone like to give me a reason you’re all crowded around these tables like an infestation of rats?”
No one dared to answer him, but several students leaped out of their chairs and scurried over to Ella’s table. They still made sure to stay as far away from her as the curve of the table would allow, as if her lowly social status was contagious.
