“Knees,” Jero said, as a leggy blonde walked past. “Definitely knees.”
I elbowed him, and he laughed. “What? I meant she was going to land on her knees when she tripped.”
Seeing his cocky grin reminded me of yesterday in class, and the redhead who had been glued to his side. “So … who is Aria?”
He tilted his head in my direction, a smirk creasing his lips. “She’s a Royale. Old family friends.”
I laughed. It burst out before I could stop it. “Are all of you elites ‘old friends?’”
He sobered up a little then, his expression falling into more neutral lines. “No, we aren’t. Royale and Darkens are allies. Leights are generally a neutral third party. The Imperials … they’re mostly the enemy.”
As if he had summoned them with those words alone, a group entered the front entrance. Two males and two females. I knew immediately that they were elites. Expensive clothes … check. Arrogance exuding from every pore … check. Dismissive way of treating humans … check.
The girls wore their hair very short, pixie-style cuts flicking out in styled disarray. One was golden blond, the other a white blond. Both of them had very pale skin, almost to the point where they looked sick. But they were still somehow beautiful, like all of these … beings.
The guys who strode in behind them were around six foot tall, their hair also a mix of blonds, but cut very short to their heads. Almost shaved bald.
The moment their group saw Jero and Marsil, they halted just in front of us. I could feel the tension coming from the two guys at my side, and I found myself straightening and going into some sort of panic alert situation.
“Thought you had petitioned the council to not come back this year,” one of the males sneered. I kept my gaze off to the side, in the hope they wouldn’t notice me.
Jero didn’t say anything, and from the corner of my eye it looked like he was glaring, ferocity carving his face into hard lines. Gone was the relaxed playboy; in its place was a being who was actually a little scary.
“You know we have to be here, House of Imperial,” Marsil said, his voice neutral. “There is no petitioning against an order from the entire council.”
I should have guessed these were the enemies. They certainly had an “enemy” attitude going on.
The white-blond girl stepped forward then. “We’ve heard whispers that the council is looking into the Darken House.” She popped her lip out in a fake pout. I was pretty sure that was supposed to be a sad face, but done by someone who was unsure how that emotion worked. I was instantly reminded ofThe Princess Bride, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”Classic movie, I needed to get another copy one day. I would eventually replace my collec—
My thoughts dried up as the Imperial chick locked eyes on me. I hurried to school my face back into a neutral expression. I didn’t have to bother though, because in the same instant Marsil and Jero both shifted their bulk to block me. All I could see were the tense lines of their backs.
“Don’t be worrying about our business,” I heard Jero say. “You have more than enough trouble in your own house.”
There were a few more words, but so low that I missed most of them. By the time I pushed my way through the barrier of Darkens, the Imperials had disappeared. I reached out and grabbed onto both of the guys’ forearms, yanking them closer to me. “I think you all need to explain to me exactly what is going on here. How many of you elites are in this school?”
If I was to navigate this new world I found myself in, I needed to know what I was dealing with. There was a lot going on here. A lot of history. So much I didn’t know, and nothing I was going to be able to infer from terse exchanges.
Marsil leaned in close to me. “We will tell you what we can, but the council has final say on what information we are allowed to release to a human.”
“Sometimes ignorance is the best, especially when you’re trying to stay under the radar,” Jero added.
“Like … the council might kill me if I know too much?” I said slowly.
They both shrugged, but neither disagreed. I shut my mouth, swallowing roughly to try to clear the ball of nerves in my throat.
“What happened?” Lexen’s voice had us all spinning around; he was standing there with Star at his side, staring above my head at his brothers, but it felt like some of his attention was also on me. A few times his eyes flicked to mine.
“The Imperials. Laous’ side of the family,” Jero told him.
Lexen’s expression morphed from concern into something I couldn’t read. Maybe annoyance. Possibly anger. Definitely a sliver of worry.
“So they saw Emma?”
All of us nodded, and his jaw clenched. “Nothing has changed,” he finally said. “They’re no match for us. We continue to do our job and protect Emma. The council will tell us what step to take next.”
Star, who was quiet and somber for once, stepped to my side and wrapped her arms around me. I patted her back a few times, not hating the close contact as much as I used to.
She pulled back. “What happens if the council tells us to forget about Emma?” she asked her brothers. “The Imperials have seen her now. They’re going to try and find out why she’s with us. They might hurt her.”
