Page 30 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
He chuckled as he thrummed his fingers across the table. “I not only forget what you are at times, but also how naïve you can be.” My hackles raised at that statement, but I pressed my lips into a thin line and let him continue. “Until you Awaken your full potential, I’m going to do what I’m told. I’m the only reason you’re not in one of those cages, Lily. The Dean knows something is off about you, but she thinks Kaito and I are keeping an eye on you and will report anything suspicious.”
My blood ran cold to hear that the Dean had noticed me. Perhaps I wasn’t keeping quite the low profile I was hoping for.
“So, what have you told her?” I countered. Dante was a skilled Hunter and the Dean wouldn’t be dumb enough to think he couldn’t recover basic information, which meant that he had to tell her something useful. I just hoped that it didn’t involve any of my other Virtues.
He shrugged again. “Just enough to keep her happy. She knows you’re working for the Dark Mages. I checked in with Hendrik and it sounds like he’s keeping you busy. The Dean thinks if there’s something off about you, Hendrik will eventually figure it out.” He raised a brow. “Is he getting close? Because that would be unfortunate if he learned the truth.”
“He doesn’t know what I am,” I lied. To anyone else, Hendrik just saw me as his pet and he was too shortsighted to see anything more than that. Playing his game was humiliating, but it protected me. “I mean, even if he doesn’t know about my demonspawn and succubus powers, there’s a third component even I’m not sure about. Kaito won’t tell me.” I leaned in, placing my bowl down so I could grip the table. “Do you feel like sharing? Maybe if I know what the fuck I am, I can do a better job of Awakening.” And I wouldn’t have to do Hendrik’s bidding anymore.
He shook his head. “That’s something you’re going to have to figure out for yourself.”
Growling, I slammed back in my seat. “I’m so tired of all the secrets.”
His features hardened, taking on a stillness that reminded me of a predator. “You and me both.”
I studied him, but it wasn’t like I was keeping secrets, not on purpose, anyway. I was just clueless, as much as that irritated me to admit.
Maybe Dante was right. Maybe I was naïve, but there was a cure for that.
Time to get my hands dirty.
“Thanks for the food,” I said, shoving away from the table as I wiped my hands on my skirt and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” he barked.
“I’m going to find Jess.”
He moved so fast that I bit down on a squeak of surprise when his fingers clamped on my arm. His metallic orange eyes glimmered with warning. “You need to show patience. I just spent a year of my life finding her for you, but I need to break her first.”
“You say that as if I should be grateful you abandoned me and kidnapped my friend and put her in a cage. Well, newsflash! I’m not.” I tried to yank myself out of his grip, but power glimmered over him as he kept me in place. I didn’t know exactly what kind of powers a Hunter had, but I had a feeling Dante was capable of a lot more than he let on.
“She won’t be any use to you if she’s trying to kill you.” He leaned in, his lips twisting with a snarl. “And if you think she’s yourfriend, you’re far more naïve than I painted you out to be.”
The reminder of Jess’s betrayal made my stomach twist. “I can take care of myself.” I glanced down at his grip on me, his fingers lightly glowing with a golden aura that reminded me of his eyes. “Now, if you’re done manhandling me, I’d like to get on with my evening because it’s going to take me all night to find her in this underground shithole you call home.” I leaned in, making sure to enunciate my words. “I’m going to find her, with or without you, Hunter.”
He worked his jaw as his fingers flexed before he finally released me with a curse. “Stubborn creature.”
“Oh, I’m a creature now?” I snapped. That sounded too close to “monster” for comfort.
Maybe that’s all I was to Dante.
Maybe that’s all he was to me.
“Takes one to know one,” he said in confirmation of my thoughts.
Weren’t we a pair.
Chapter 11
Iraged down the halls before Dante growled and shoved me behind him, yanking me down a path I’d missed. “You’re going the wrong way.”
I would have figured it out eventually, especially if I had been able to do my superwoman-seeing-through-walls trick, but I was far too pissed off to concentrate on my new powers to make them functional.
Following him without saying a word, I quietly stewed in my anger. Shortly after we had left I felt that cold pit in my stomach return ten-fold and I dumbly realized that he had a protection spell on his room. It only pissed me off more that Dante had taken me there to interrogate me.
Why did it feel like all of my Virtues were making my life miserable? They were supposed to be there for me, enable me to reach my ultimate potential and save the world, but I felt like the universe had gotten it wrong this time. Maybe it was screwed up by the Echoes of Calamity that had already passed that it wasn’t thinking straight when it had picked its Virtues for me.
“This is a mistake,” I growled out as Dante shoved me into a cold chamber.
