He nodded politely at the three girls and they giggled.
Gods. He was so sick of this farce.
Chapter 6:
“You’re where?” Zane Solace, second highest standing member in Kelevra’s Retinue, asked. His voice came through the hovercar speakers as Kel pulled the vehicle into the parking lot.
“Vail,” he repeated, taking the nearest empty spot. His car, a Zale 54, was worth more than all the cars currently in the lot put together, but he wasn’t overly concerned about it getting damaged.
“What are you doing there?”
Kelevra shut the vehicle off and climbed out, using his Insight Eye to lock the doors as he strode away. “Someone told Madden he saw him here.”
“Saw who?” Zane, used to Kel’s spur-of-the-moment decisions, didn’t sound all that concerned. Technically, someone in the Retinue was meant to be with the Imperial Prince wherever he went to help ensure his safety, but that was a rule very rarely enforced.
In part, because Kelevra didn’t stop to wait for anyone once he’d decided to do something, and also because everyone knew he could take care of himself. He’d been in intensive training since he was seven, learning how to defend himself against any possible attacks. His IQ also happened to be well above average, and coupled with his electronic eye, he could typically sense a threat from a mile away.
Which was why he was livid that he hadn’t seen Rin’s escape coming.
He’d woken less than two hours ago to find himself alone, tangled in the sheets. The spot next to him had already been cold, meaning his flower had slipped past his notice sometime before. He was a deep sleeper. That was the one weakness Kel had, but it’d never interfered with anything he deemed important up until now.
“Since when did you go chasing after people?” Zane asked when Kelevra didn’t reply quickly enough. “Instead of worrying about getting your dick wet, you should be thinking about missing class again. The professor is about to walk in and if she sees you’re skipping, she’ll fail you for the day.”
He snorted. “So?”
“Your sister—”
“Fuck my sister,” he said, then paused just as his feet stepped onto a winding stone path that led between two towering brick buildings. “Actually, don’t even look at her.”
“Stop getting pissed at your own words. Shit. The professors here. Got to go.” Zane ended the call.
Kelevra scowled, but he wasn’t annoyed for long. The attention he was drawing his way became apparent suddenly, and he smiled at a group of passing students, noting their crisp dress shirts and the shiny pins showcasing the Vail Crest attached to their bags or their belts. Technically, like them, Academy cadets were meant to have the Academy crest on them at all times, but Kelevra didn’t like the wristbands—they didn’t match any of his outfits—and there was no way in hell he was going to be poking holes in any of his designer corsets so that was a no. He’d gotten special permission to wave that rule, and no one had ever called him out on it.
“East Quad?” he asked the next passing group, a couple of freshmen if his color coding was accurate.
Both boys seemed nervous, but one cleared his throat and pointed over his shoulder to the left. “It’s that way, majesty.”
Kelevra didn’t bother thanking him, the boys all but forgotten the second they stepped out of his peripheral vision. Amongst all the white, gray, and black—the colors assigned to all school uniforms at Vail—he stood out in his black corset vest, even though the boning and the rest of his suit was ruby, to match the rest of the suit. His hair looked windswept, a thick curl partially covering the top of his scar, and he’d chosen a tie made up of broken shards of red. The only reason he’d bothered with a suit jacket at all was because the forecast said it might rain.
As he made his way down the path, he thought about why he was there. Zane was right in regards to sex not being a high priority at the moment. And it wasn’t. Sure, Kel was disappointed that his flower hadn’t been there for a quickie, certain Rin’s sandy-gold hair would look amazing in the sunlight, but that’s not why he’d followed him all the way across the city.
Honestly, he wasn’t entirely surewhyhe was doing this. All he knew was he didn’t like the fact Rin was no longer by his side, and because of that he’d called Madden and ordered him to find his cadet posthaste. Madden, as per usual, had come through and sent over a location within twenty minutes, just long enough for Kel to get dressed for the occasion.
He figured he’d know what it was he wanted once he saw Rin again. Overthinking it beforehand would be a waste of time and energy, so he didn’t bother, scanning the somewhat familiar grounds for any sign of Rin as he went.
Kelevra had been to Vail before for Baikal, but he hadn’t spent much time there, usually just picking up or dropping the Brumal Prince off. The two were friends, but they lived vastly different lives, and there was a silent agreement between them not to step on each other’s toes. He probably should have contacted Kal to tell him he was coming, but it’d slipped his mind, and since he was already here it seemed pointless to send one now.
If Baikal found out and got mad?
Whatever. What was he going to do? Cry to the Emperor? Please.
He was so sick of everyone using that threat against him as if it was anything other than the paper-mâché crap it was. Contessa Diar, Emperor of Vitality, treated her baby brother like he was made of solid gold. The most he’d get was a firm talking to and a family dinner where, sure, maybe he’d feel like he was dying of boredom, but that was it.
His second eldest sister, Lyra, wasn’t any different. She was a bit firmer with him, since the two of them were closer in age, and she’d had fewer responsibilities than Tessa growing up, but she would—and did—let him get away with murder over punishing him.
Most of it stemmed from the fact they doted on him, but he understood at least some of their reasoning was his friendship with Baikal. As the next in line for the Brumal Mafia throne, who Baikal chose to side with made a difference, and he and Kel were thick as thieves, something neither of the Diar women could say.
Power on Vitality was split pretty evenly between the Brumal and the official Imperial government. The Void family also happened to run the largest conglomerate on this side of the galaxy, bringing legal funds to help keep the planet as one of the richest in Dual Galaxy. The mafia portion of their business handled things discreetly and under the table, with the strict understanding that the Diar’s didn’t know, and didn’t want to know, any details.
