“I know you’re secretly into this sort of thing,” Sila said in a low voice, opting to use the language only the two of them knew so no one else would be able to understand him, “but tell me now if you’d like for me to end it for you. Do you have this, brother, or is he a threat to us? If so—”
“No,” Rin cut him off, but didn’t use their personal language to do so, further proving to Sila that his words were true and he believed them. He carefully removed Sila’s hand off of Kelevra’s sleeve, but didn’t shake the Imperial loose, another silent indicator he wanted his brother to listen. “No, I’ll handle it.”
The language was something they’d come up with one summer out of sheer boredom more than anything. A way they could talk openly about the people around them without worry about accidentally letting their real identities slip if they happened to have switched places that day. Now that they were so far from home, they didn’t resort to it often, but not bothering with it now was also a veiled message in and of itself.
Rin really believed he could handle this.
So Sila would stand down and not stomp on his toes.
“Are you sure?” The need to protect them was gone now and Sila stepped back and leaned against the wooden beam, giving his brother the space he wanted despite his teasing words. “Shouldn’t I play the part of big brother?”
Sila Varun had been born only a few minutes before Rin Varun, something that hadn’t mattered on their home planet. But here on Vitality, where age helped determine hierarchy, it was an ongoing joke they liked to torment each other with. Only, this time his brother didn’t seem amused.
Interesting.
“You should jump off this pathway, stick your face in the water, and not come back up,” Rin snapped.
If he was thinking about murder so openly, the Imperial Prince must be affecting him more than he wanted to admit.
His brother sighed. “I’m fine. I can handle this.”
Kelevra laughed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sila caught sight of Bay turning on his heel and disappearing down the walkway. He was contemplating challenging the Devils after all, since they’d so rudely chased off his prey, but his brother left with the Imperial before he got the chance.
“You should warn him against getting involved with someone like Kelevra,” Baikal said, watching as Rin dragged Kel down the wooden planks of the pathway leading to the library.
“We can take care of ourselves,” Sila stated, keeping his expression blank when that earned him a look from the Brumal Prince. They stared each other down for a tense moment and he was the one to finally break it, forcing a friendly smile to stretch across his face. “Actually, it’s good you’re here. I was just trying to get Rabbit to go out for some fun.”
The spot above Baikal’s let eye twitched. “I’ll be handling all of his fun from now on.”
“Jealous?” Sila threw up his hands in mock surrender, still keeping that fake smile in place. “We’re just friends.”
It seemed like there was something else Baikal wanted to say, but at the last minute he changed his mind. Giving a single curt nod—like a prince certain his decree would be met without fail—he turned and headed back toward the far end of the quad where a nervous Rabbit was closely watching and waiting.
Sila only barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the display of alpha-bullshit.
Yes, one day he was going to have to test himself against the other Devils, just for the hell of it. If they were lucky, he might even let them see him coming first.
Depended on his mood, really.
Chapter 5:
Bay was several minutes late to his coffee meeting with Nate because that grimy Castle had tried stopping him from leaving the school. It was starting to fray his last nerve that the older guy couldn’t take no for an answer and, after today’s little stunt, he was seriously considering escalating things to the headmaster.
But first.
“One large vanilla, butterscotch latte, please,” Bay said as soon as he was up at the counter. He turned his multi-slate to scan the screen across the pay-pad and then glanced around the shop, catching sight of Nate at the corner table by the windows.
Nate was his contact with those in charge of the races, but Bay hadn’t ever asked him how he’d gotten himself involved with that sort of crowd. The two of them had attended Vail University at the same time, though Nate was three years his junior. He’d been the one to introduce Bay to the racing scene in the first place, and had helped convince his grandmother to up his monthly allowance when he’d been secretly saving to purchase his first hoverbike.
The two of them were closer than Bay was with Berga and Flix, but that wasn’t saying much when this was the first hangout they were having outside of the races in…probably all year, actually.
In the beginning, when Bay had cut himself off from the world and gone numb, Nate had tried his best to first be supportive and then to drag him out of that empty abyss. He hadn’t been successful, obviously, and eventually their friendship had altered to fit the new, emotionless, robotic Bay. The only time he was like his old self was when he was riding, which was probably why Nate had put so much effort into boosting his reputation.
It was kind and, now that some of his old emotions had been unlocked again, Bay admittedly felt a pang of guilt when he thought about it. Nate was trying to be a good friend. If only he knew the secret game Bay played with himself. If one day his luck ran out and he lost, would Nate blame himself when Bay’s body was discovered floating down the river?
Bay had just taken his cup and thanked the barista a second time when his multi-slate chimed, giving him pause on his way over to the table his friend was at. His brow furrowed when he read the unknown number and then he sucked in a sharp breath when he scanned the actual message itself.
