Try to remember, he’s sleeping with the headmistress. Or, as she should be known, the Deadmistress.
I snorted at my own silent joke.
The girls chased Ayaz down the hall, giggling as they caught up with him and started to grill him on his class schedule. He met my eyes over their heads, and the corners of his mouth tugged up, just a little. He pushed his way through the gaggle of girls and came right up to me. His hand flew to my cheek, stroking my skin. I heard one of the girls gasp.
It was one thing to cook me breakfast and help me banish a god behind closed doors, but for him to acknowledge me in public…things are definitely changing around here.
Ayaz grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
“But Ayaz,” one of the girls stepped forward. “Wouldn’t you rather—”
“No.”
Greg and Andre trailed after us as Ayaz dragged me into the senior common room – a space I’d never been allowed to enter before, except for my first day when I been snooping. Then, the common room had been deserted. Now, it waspackedwith students. Even though class was starting in less than twenty minutes and the dining hall was still open, what looked like the entire senior class was stuffed in like sardines, leaning against the walls, sitting on the floor, and perched on the edge of tables.
Trey sat on the kitchen island, swinging his legs casually, like he was waiting for a doctor’s appointment or for his private jet to be prepped. Behind him, Quinn whistled to himself as he made himself a coffee in the fancy espresso machine. Ayaz joined them, swiping a hand through his dark hair. The three of them standing there, so cool and casual, commanded the space. This was their domain. They belonged here.
And we didn’t. No wonder I felt like I was naked, and Andre was staring at his shoes. Greg smiled, but I could still see the haunted look in his eyes. The god was haunting him, too.
Toward the front of the crowd, Courtney folded her arms and glared at me. “What’s this about, Trey? Why is the gutter whore in our space?”
“This is just an informal gathering to let you all know that from this moment on, the scholarship students are off-limits,” Trey said. “We’ve had our fun with them last quarter, but that stops, now.”
A collective rumble rippled through the room. “This is fucking bullshit,” John Hyde-Jones growled from the back of the room. “Those plebs deserve to becrushed.”
Every word from his lips made my stomach twist as I thought about what he’d planned to do to me.
Courtney snorted. “You may be King of this school, Trey, but you don’t make those rules. Our traditions have been passed down for generations. The strong prey on the weak. It’s the way of the world, and none of us should fight it.”
“Oh, yeah?” Trey lifted my wrist and yanked up my sleeve, exposing the Elder Sign tattoo.
Silence dropped like a bomb, obliterating every whisper of dissent.
Courtney’s eyes flashed with rage. She stood up and stalked over to me. I glared right back at her, stepping forward so we were nose-to-nose. She grabbed my wrist and raked her nails over the tattoo, as if trying to scratch it off.
A jolt of pain lanced through my wrist. Inside my head, the god cried into his void. If Courtney felt its pain too, she didn’t show it. Her nails dug into my skin.
“It’s not a scratch-and-sniff,” I snapped, yanking my arm from her grasp. She grabbed Greg’s arm and flipped it over to see his tattoo, and then her eyes fell on Andre’s and she shrieked.
“You gave them the sign. You can’t do that!” Courtney faced off against Trey. “You don’t have the authority to—”
“Iam in charge of the Eldritch Club at this school,” Trey said, his demeanor cool, calm. He looked completely bored with everything Courtney had to say. “Not you, Courtney. You want to talk about rules? You want to talk about who belongs? I don’t need to remind you that before you started fucking Quinn, you and your filthy new money were never part of the inner circle.”
“And now we’re not fucking anymore,” Quinn said gaily, lifting his coffee like it was a toast. “Perhaps you won’t be in much longer.”
“When I tell your father about this, he’s going to kill you,” Courtney spluttered.
“My father left me in charge of the club,” Trey growled. “He wouldn’t be pleased to know the new money slut is making trouble.”
Tillie stood up, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “If you won’t hear it from new money, then hear it from old. She isn’t one of us, Trey. None of them are. You’re making a mockery of everything the club stands for. For everything thisschoolstands for.”
A few murmurs of assent rose from the crowd.
Ayaz stepped forward. “It’s ridiculous we’re still measuring our worth by our parents’ wealth. They’re not the ones here, we are. Maybe it’s time we—”
“Save the pretty speeches, Ataturk. No one cares what you think anymore. It looks like Trey has got another pet, which means that you’re about to lose your throne,” Courtney sneered at Trey. “Have you thrown Ayaz out of bed to make way for the gutter whore? Or do both of you stick your dicks in her at the same time?”
Ayaz growled low in his throat, like an animal. Trey threw his arm out just as Ayaz threw his body forward. “Don’t. She’s not worth it.”
