Page 138 of The Prince of Demons

And Luna Deokhye has surprised us all with her choice. Good thing she, too, will be in for a delightful surprise at initiation: I suspect her House matches her quite well, indeed.

As if to haunt me,my phone dinged. Flora had texted.

Flora:You’re Late.

I hadn’t fed her information in days. Not only had I not done so, but I would never do so again. I was tired of being her pawn.

And I had enough information to be ready to step into my role as queen.

I waited in the bustling cornucopia. I wanted this to be public. I was ready for this to be explosive. She probably wouldn’t attack me with students milling about and eating lunch, but I would have loved it if she tried.

I’d spent my morning plotting and filing my nails into sharp, jagged points. If I was a Gaksi descendant, I should present like one too. Coffin nails only—a tribute to the darkness pulsing beneath my flesh. I flexed them in the sunlight now. Maybe the oracle would see them and write an article about me. She and I could be friends, I thought, if we ever managed to meet.

Flora wore a business dress and blazer as she slid into the seat across from me.

“Pretending you’re busy, Flora?”

“Watch your tone.”

“Watch your House. I know dark energy powers it,” I shot back. Flora paled.

“I kept wondering—why do the Barren Fields exist? Why, next to a thriving university, is there a place that steals energy from anyone who visits? Who is stealing that power?”

I let her sit in silence for a moment. “It’s the Houses. They all steal energy from the land to keep their magic going.”

Nobody had noticed our encounter yet, but I wasn’t lowering my voice.

“I know the faeries created the House system. I know they did so because they wanted to ensure they would always end up on top. You gave yourselves away when you resorted to dark, illegal magic to slip a love potion into all the food from your House—and I didn’t eat any.”

Flora bared her teeth, face frigid. “How do you know we did that?”

“You told me. Just now.” I winked. “I am the number one student in 600, don’t you know? I’m not dumb.”

It just didn’t add up. Not a single negative comment about that House came out of the students who attended, not even when they hazed their hopeful new candidates. That must have been the real test. How much abuse can you endure and still adore your abuser?

Flora huffed. “So what? You’re going to tell our smitten followers that their love is unrequited?”

“No. You’re going to release me from this bargain,” I demanded. And you’re going to give every single one of the students who rushed this year their top choice.”

She snorted in disbelief. “That would destroy the fabric of this institution. What about the students who were dropped entirely?”

“Send them a phone call. Blame it on the whims of the machine.”

“I cannot control the machine.”

She moved to leave, and I ensnared her wrists with a tendril of darkness. She hissed in annoyance, startled by my quickness.

“I think you could if you were so motivated,” I said with a sly smile.

“You ask a lot for one mere piece of information,” she growled.

“I’m not done.” My eyes went dark, blackness clouding the whites. Flora’s gasp only fueled the confidence of my shadows. I smirked. “You will, as the most prominent House leader, tell our University president that dating demons is no longer forbidden. Neither is becoming one, or having demonic companions.”

“You’ve lost your mind.”

“No, I’ve gained it,” I said, the weight of my words jolting the tense air around us.

I pushed up from the table. My fingers stung, but weakly. Flora was scared.

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