I bit my lip. I’d studied the families with Xan, and he never once said he was a Silver. He had a cousin here. Why was I learning more about Xan from my roommate than from the man himself?
Nausea twisted in my gut. “You’re just making this up.”
Erick stood, walked to his desk, and pulled out a binding of scrawls. “This is my book. I’m sure the Architect has shown you his by now. Anyone who wants to get ahead in this world has one.”
Erick took a moment to thumb through it before thrusting a page in my face. I took the coral scrawl and scanned for ‘Alexander.’ After several minutes, I found it, tucked in a discontinued branch on the fringe of the Silver tree.
Alexander Silver, mentalist.
Mother Brenda Silver, physical caster
Father Richard Poltarz, raw materials
Funds received. Family branch relocated to the Midlands under the name Poltarz.
“Did you think the Architect just sprang into this world?”
Honestly? A little. I woke up here, so I kind of felt like everyone else popped into existence too.
I looked up at Erick and handed him his book back. I wasn’t ready to unpack why Xan had never told me.
“So maybe answer the Silver’s first…” Erick stood and pushed his book back into his desk. “Though if you want to piss off the Architect, either only answer the McDonald’s, or better go back and demand the rest of your Intentions. Anything’s going to be a better deal than making you get up at five every morning to work. Every single one of those Intentions will be offering you a life of luxury.”
The unease in my stomach only got worse. “In exchange for sex.”
“For procreation,” Erick corrected, as if the clinical word made it less disgusting. “That’s your only function if you stay with the families.”
“What other options are there?” I asked. “Everything here is about the families, as far as I can tell.”
Erick took a breath and then closed his mouth.
“There’s another option.”
I stared at him, waiting.
Erick sat heavily across from me once more. “Pick a family, Quinn. Pick several. You don’t need to drag this out.”
I tapped the scrawls against my knee. “But don’t pick you.”
Erick opened his book back up. The revolving door of people coming in and out of my dorm paraded through my mind. Though most of them were women, he was definitely banging; several were not. His cousin and the glimpse of forest-green eyes under his power slave’s hood came back to me. The same forest green I’d seen at The Pit and now one of my attackers on The Mile.
“What was the name of your cousin’s power slave again?” I asked.
Erick didn’t look up. “That’s not your biggest problem right now. The Architect’s withholding information from you and denying you access to your Intentions. He’s keeping you from even entertaining options that don’t involve him. I don’t think my cousin’s power slave is important.”
Emil. The unimportant power slave was called Emil. I swore I saw him at The Pit and then again on The Mile. I’d been drunk. My memories of the fight were hazy, but one of Cayden’s brothers had been named Emil… but why would one of them be posing as a power slave? It felt so far-fetched. And I could picture Erick demanding proof while I only had a hint of forest green and guesswork.
My pile of intentions glowed. Xan’s kiss burned while my clit purred from the attention of a different set of men. I didn’t have the energy in me to deal with the mystery right now.
Another message appeared on my TB. I made a mental note to check in with Cayden about Emil and focused on everything else.
Plum Purple
If not now, then tonight?
Tonight. Because they wanted me to be a part of their throuple.
This morning, I’d sat on Rowan’s face while Cayden caressed me, pleasure so intimate it left me raw. I’d just gotten Cayden out of his shell, or really, Rowan had. I didn’t want to mess that up.
