Lyra liked to give him the illusion of freedom, but the truth of the matter was, she kept him on a tight enough leash he knew better than to question her staff and her cousin all in the same week.
“Yes, I think the direction of my research has improved,” Zane agreed, figuring that’s what the professor was referring to.
But of course it wasn’t.
“I meant staying away from Pavel Hart. He was a distraction you didn’t need, but I’ve noticed he’s lurking from further away recently.” Wells moved to the next page more slowly, giving himself away. “Did you two have a fight, perchance?”
“Are you asking out of curiosity for yourself, or did Lyra ask you to do it?”
He snorted, giving up the ruse and setting the tablet down on the desk. “Believe it or not Zane, I’m merely concerned for your wellbeing. You’re my best student, after all. You have a bright future ahead of you. There’s no reason to throw that away on a bad egg.”
“He’s a member of the Retinue,” Zane reminded coldly. Wells might be a Diar, but he was further down the ascension line than Kelevra and, frankly, obsolete. The fact that he was working here at the school instead of in some fancy government position was proof of that. ‘I’ll tolerate you spying on me for Lyra, but I won’t sit still if you continue to insult my fellow members.”
Wells acted wounded and stood, slowly walking around the desk to perch on the edge close enough his knee bumped against Zane’s.
And stayed there.
He ground his teeth together but said nothing.
“Why must you always bring Lyra into this?” Wells asked, sounding forlorn. “I’d hoped by now, you’d feel close enough to me to trust that I have your back. My cousin doesn’t have to know everything, Zane. It’s not like she has a legitimate claim over you.”
No, because that would mean admitting publicly that the two of them were ever together, which was something Lyra had always been adamantly against. Honestly, he’d been shocked when Wells had cornered him in the lab last year and announced he knew all about their affair.
He’d claimed Lyra had been the one to tell him, and though Zane hadn’t bought it at first, he’d given details that only she and Zane knew to prove it. Apparently, she’d explained their situation because she wanted him to be Zane’s senior advisor, even though she’d never discussed such a thing with him.
Zane had gone straight to the Little Palace, still thinking there was a mistake, but nope. She’d confirmed it herself, had looked him dead in the eye, and said she’d asked her cousin to step up and take over the role.
And just like that, another spy had been locked into place.
She was smothering him and she didn’t even know it. Or maybe she did and she simply didn’t care. Either way, she’d single-handedly chipped away at all the safe places in Zane’s life, until there were only a rare few he could escape to where her eyes couldn’t follow. Friction, the private fight club was one of them. Since she rarely came down to the pool room, that was another.
Concealed could have been the safest place of all, but he’d gotten freaked out by Pavel’s confession and had placed that bet in order to gain space.
They’d known each other as children?
Did that mean Pavel was obsessed with someone else? A version of him that no longer existed? That didn’t have a hope or a prayer of ever seeing the light of day?
The doctors had been clear. His memory loss wasn’t a temporary affliction. That part of his brain had been damaged from lack of oxygen. By the time his adoptive father had fished him out of the pool, he was already legally dead.
They’d flown in the best brain surgeon around and utilized all sorts of new tech in order to repair the damage. There was nothing wrong with him now, nothing to worry about. The only thing he’d lost had been those memories. The nanites given to him were apparently able to rebuild tissue, but not the data once stored there.
If that’s what Pavel was hoping for, if that was the real reason he kept coming around…
He didn’t want Zane. He wanted an idea of him.
Wasn’t that the same as being a second choice?
How had he managed to come full circle all over again?
If he’d been truly intelligent, he would have demanded more time. Hell, he’d been confident enough he could win, he should have stuck to his initial demands and made it so Pavel had to leave him alone forever. But he hadn’t. He’d caved.
Which meant some part of him was growing attached to the other Devil, and that was a serious problem for multiple reasons.
The least of which was currently reaching to rest a meaty hand on his thigh as though he had a right to any part of him.
Zane slapped Wells away, stony expression still in place. “You don’t have permission to touch me. What would the boardof education say if they knew your pastime was hitting on students?”
“No need for ruffled feathers,” Wells replied, straightening but still not moving away. “I’m only suggesting a…merger that would be beneficial for the both of us. You should really consider it. All I have to offer.” His gaze turned calculating, the bumbling idiot mask slipping some. “And all I have the power to take away.”
