“Yeah,” I said finally. “I’m in.”
An hour later,I opened my bedroom door and let the two girls out. They were giggling quietly as they slipped past me, Melissa’s lipstick smeared and Jenna’s hair disheveled. I barely acknowledged them, just nodded as they left.
I stood in the doorway shirtless, bottle of Jack in my hand. Aiden was zipping up his jeans, his chest still bare, hair messed up from where Melissa had gripped it as we took turns fucking her. We locked eyes, and I saw in his face the same emptiness I felt.
The sex had been okay. Just another physical release without connection. I couldn’t even remember most of it, just flashes of skin and heat, of Jenna’s mouth on me, bouncing on my dick like she was auditioning. All the while I stared at the ceiling, thinking about everything but the girl in my bed.
“She’s going to be a problem,” Aiden said finally, tying back his disheveled dark blonde hair that fell almost past his shoulders now in need of a cut.
The women loved Aiden. He was pretty, and they gravitated towards him without knowing that the prettiest shells sometimes contained the most toxic contents.
I didn’t need to ask who he meant. “She’s already a problem.”
“Did you see her tattoos? Those serpents?” He shook his head. “Draco’s getting some info on her designation tonight. I think we need to do some research.”
Ihadseen them. I’d seen everything about Jupiter Black—the silver eyes, the long black hair that fell to her ass, the tattoos that wound up her arm, the defiant tilt of her chin when she faced down a room full of skeptics. She’d stood there alone, the only one of her kind, and she hadn’t flinched.
I took another drink, letting the whiskey burn away the memory of silver eyes challenging mine across the Convocation Hall. “The Assembly wants to control her. They want to use us to do it.”
Aiden nodded. “So what’s the play?”
I considered that, turning the bottle in my hands. What was the play? Reject the girl outright and risk Assembly intervention? Accept her and become pawns in whatever game they were playing? There were no good options.
“We watch her,” I said finally. It would be hard not to.
SIX
Jupiter
Classes at Dominionwere not what I’d call welcoming. The curriculum was structured around designations. Foundational courses like magic theory, zodiac history, combat fundamentals, and then blended for advanced coursework, which meant that for the first week I was primarily surrounded by other zodiac students who were having their first week, while also having already taken most of these courses with the Assembly.
I sat wherever there was space and received the special gift of being simultaneously stared at and avoided, which is its own special little hell.
The staring, I’d expected. My designation had been the primary topic of conversation across the entire student body since the declaration ceremony, and I’d had forty-eight hours of listening to people discuss me in corridors they didn’t know I was in. What people said ranged from genuinely curious to openly dismissive. I’d overheard several shield members discussing the possibility of bonding with me as their axis.
The Nightfall Shield had not spoken to me since their flat dismissal. They had, however, communicated a great dealwithout speaking, because four very powerful men were hard to ignore when all they did was glare at you.
I wasn’t born yesterday. The Nightfall Shield was playing puppet-master, pulling strings behind the scenes to turn the student body against me.
But damn, they worked fast.
Day three, someone scrawled MYTH BITCH across the whiteboard before magic theory class. I had to admire the dedication, honestly. Day four, a gaggle of Leo girls developed a fascinating habit of erupting into theatrical laughter whenever I entered a room. I bit my cheek to keep from laughing back—wouldn’t want to confuse their tiny pea brains. Day five, I found a surprisingly well-drawn ouroboros taped to my door with a charming note.Go back to being a myth, bitch.
I pocketed the drawing. It was decent line-work to be honest.
My phone buzzed that evening with a text from Tye:
T: So..how’s academy life?
I snorted. He was such a loser.
J: Magical. Got some fan art today.
T: Heard about the whiteboard incident.
J: Artistic expression is so important.
T: Need me to come rearrange someone’s kneecaps?
