They were confused. That much was obvious. But I didn’t have the mental strength to ease that confusion. All I could do was put one foot in front of the other, do what I had to do, and then deal with the shit as it came at me. Grabbing some clothes and my toiletries, I left the room and had a rather long shower. Yeah, Louis was waiting for me. Yeah, the world was fucking ending. But I needed five minutes to cry.
Cry where no one could see the pain rattling inside of me. Where no one judged the tears that ran unabashedly down my cheeks. Hear the sobs I silenced in a washcloth. I gave myself five minutes and then I sucked it all down inside, plastered on my stoic face—the one that had gotten me through so much shit in my life—and made my way back to my room.
Larissa and Ilia were waiting for me, still sitting on the bed and both thankfully looking a million times happier than when they’d run into my room. Ilia slammed me with a look the moment I walked in, and she was up and stalking toward me.
“Hells no!” she snarled, grabbing my toiletries and throwing them to Larissa. “You’re still dressed like a mourning human. You say Asher has changed, and that might be so, but I’ve seen the dude around you. His feelings went beyond love. Beyond true mates. It was something extra, and that doesn’t just disappear, no matter how many times you die. You better dress to show him exactly what he’s missing.”
I looked down. “I’m wearing jeans and black shirt, dude. It’s not exactly a mourning outfit.”
She clicked her tongue. “Nope, not good enough.”
I hadn’t told them exactly how Asher had treated me—the dismissive fucker—but somehow they still knew. I was too tired to fight her, so I let Ilia go to town as she did me up like her doll. By the time she was finished, I no longer wore my simple jeans and shirt; instead I was in a dark purple floor-length summer dress that had thin straps, was cut low across my breasts, with a long slit right up my left thigh. My hair was out and curled all the way down my back, a lighter shade to the dress.
She was about to do my face up as well, but then declared I didn’t need anything.
“You’re so much moregolden,” she gushed, holding her arm next to mine. I marveled at how much closer our skin color was. Ilia was a dark goddess, her perfect skin something I’d long envied. Larissa’s was darker too, brown and flawless—I’d always been the pale one. But now … now I was a deep bronze color.
“You were always beautiful,” Larissa said, smiling at me from the bed. “But now you’re beyond stunning … you actually glow.”
Just like my fucked-up parents.
I fought down the urge to scream. I flashed her a cynical smile. “Yeah, apparently exploding in a ball of light is great for your skin.”
Their faces fell. I was an asshole for reminding them of that, of their pain. “Sorry,” I muttered, and they both moved forward to hug me before we left the dorm.
As we entered the main floor of the magic users’ wing, I asked them about the guys. “Uh, they came back with us this morning,” Larissa said, exchanging a glance with Ilia.
“And?” I pushed, sensing she wasn’t telling me everything.
“They rushed to their house,” Ilia said quickly. “Like they somehow knew Asher was back. We didn’t think much of it. I actually thought that’s where you would be. We volunteered to check your dorm.”
I felt hurt by this, and I wasn’t totally sure why. Even if they had run there to try to find me, when I wasn’t there, surely they should have come to the dorms?
Had Asher gotten to them? My chest ached as I huffed in and out. I mean, Asher clearly had been pod-personed by his crazy god mother, but the other four guys had no such excuse.
Just wait until I got my hands on them…
The sun was strong and bright in the commons today, mocking my dark and dreary mood. “What date is it?” I asked.
“Uh … like March something,” Ilia said. “I heard something about the shifter party preparations, so it must be late March.”
The full moon shifter party was April 14.Jesus.None of us had been keeping track of dates, but I was surprised I’d missed so much school that it was almost April. Time really flies when you’re losing the love of your life, raising an ancient city, and getting murdered by your parents.
“I think I’m due a few mental health days,” I said, half joking.
Ilia snorted. “Bora Bora?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Gods, if only it was that easy. I don’t think there’s any place on Earth I can escape my current fucked-up life.”
Larissa shot me a sympathetic smile, but we stopped chatting because we’d reached Princeps Jones’s office. She didn’t knock, just pushed the door open and stepped inside. I followed her into the familiar room, a jolt hitting me when I saw who was waiting. Princeps Jones sat behind his desk, Louis in another chair, and standing to the side … Asher, Axl, Jesse, Calen, and Rone. Despite my anger toward Asher—actually, all of them right now—my heart lifted like it had wings at the sight of the Atlantean-five together again.
I never thought I’d see that.
Ilia and Larissa gaped at them, and Larissa had tears in her eyes.
Meanwhile, the five of them were avoiding our gazes like the world would end if they looked me directly in the eye.
Bastards.
