I can't afford to get hot and bothered by anything they say tonight. I need to show them I'm not someone to fuck with ever again.
Fool me once and all that.
Only the ugly truth is that this isn't the first time someone screwed with my head to screw with my body. To say that the one and only other time I dallied in romance ended badly would be an understatement.
Silas approaches, finally meeting my gaze as his tongue slips out to drag slowly across his lower lip. Despite the rest of his fancy getup, his normally-mussed curly hair is worse than usual. As if he's been unable to stop messing it up.
“Thu mi le d’chal lei fhuil, ima sangfluir,"he murmurs.
Which is fae for,You drive me mad with your beauty, my blood blossom.
And since I'm dangerously close to getting sidetracked by how unfairly gorgeous they are, I choose to be impish.
"Nach, ás mo esio chial na'mi cobhair,"I reply smoothly in fae.
No, you are mad enough without my help.
His head rears back in surprise. "How do you?—"
"Attention, everyone!"
The music softens to silence as Professor Gibbons climbs the first few stairs on the massive staircase, turning with a bright smile as a mage light settles around him like a spotlight. Using magic to amplify his voice, he addresses everyone present.
"Welcome one and all to Everbound University's prestigious Matched Ball! As you know, there have been some significant changes to our schedule going forward, which the Immortal Quintet wishes to reiterate. So, without further ado, let us welcome Iker Del Mar, Somnus DeLune, and the effervescent Natalya Genovese!"
Everyone applauds as he retreats. From opposite sides of the split staircase, those three members of the Immortal Quintet enter the room.
And unlike legacies, who look mostly human, these are clearly monsters.
Descending from the left staircase is Iker Del Mar, the immortal hydra shifter. His skin is a deep, mottled pattern of grays and greens broken up by clusters of scales. Several horns protrude back from the dark hair of his head, and his eyes are a pale yellow with snake-like slits for pupils. He wears an outfit that would have been tasteful a hundred years ago but somehow looks equally sharp now.
And on the opposite staircase, Somnus DeLune enters.
Crypt's father.
My eyes can't help seeking similarities between this suited monster and his mysteriously absent incubus son. His hair is dark, his face just as strikingly handsome, and they're similar heights—but that's where the similarities end. Instead of Crypt's vibrant, silver-flecked purple eyes, Somnus's are a beady black. Leathery, bat-like wings riddled with ragged holes extend from his back in mangled arches. A barbed tail whips back and forth behind him, and his sharp fangs gleam when he sneers down at the legacies below.
I admit, they're an impressive sight.
But the most impressive of all is their keeper, Natalya.
Her foreboding presence fills the room as she descends behind Iker Del Mar, dressed in a nude gown that clings to hercurvaceous body and glitters with thousands of teardrop-shaped diamonds. Natalya's cinnamon-colored hair is styled perfectly, and though her blue eyes aren't glowing now, I know they will if she uses her psychic abilities—a trait of the original vampyr. Though she looks less monstrous than the other two, she is the last survivor of the psychic vampyrs, who led all of monsterkind in the revolution to escape their dark ruler in the Nether many hundreds of years ago.
And like a crown of runes etched into her forehead are all four of the keeper emblems. A line for Arcana, a circle for Shifting, a triangle for Craving, and a square for Elemental.
Those emblems manifest on keepers once their hearts have been bound to the members of their quintet. It's a symbol of unity—though they don't always manifest on the forehead in the vague shape of a crown as Natalya's did.
All three of the monsters scan the legacies below as if they expect to see one of us covered in their mage's dried blood, blatantly guilty for them to execute on the spot. But finally, Iker Del Mar's voice booms across the room, needing no magic amplification. His forked tongue flicks out on occasion as he speaks bluntly.
"Heirs of the Four Houses, your next semester starts effective tomorrow morning. The no-killing ban for legacies matched into quintets has been officially lifted."
Whispers fill the room as fresh tension vibrates through the air. From the corner of my eye, I see sneers and smirks pass between many of the matched quintets. Many of them move to better surround their keepers.
Silas and Baelfire also move to either side of me. Baelfire skims the crowd with a scowl on his ordinarily cheerful face. Silas looks one wrong look away from another psychotic break. He withdraws his bleeding crystal, twisting it restlessly between his long fingers.
Del Mar continues as if he doesn't notice the heightened tension. "All matched quintets, complete or not, must report their chosen emphasis to Professor Gibbons before the conclusion of this dance. Classes shall begin tomorrow morning. All students will arrive at their courses promptly and obey curfew. Anyone caught skipping classes or wandering the halls outside of designated hours shall be dealt with by me personally."
That makes another hush fall over the Matched Ball as the other students seem to catch on to what's happening. Typically, quintets have weeks to pick their classes, and Everbound is lenient with legacies—but not now. Now, we're being highly monitored by the Immortal Quintet themselves.
