“We’ll go,” Aiden said, “but we’re coming back. Every day if we have to. Until you believe us.”
“Don’t bother,” I said, picking up my headphones. “I won’t be here much longer anyway.”
Their alarm spiked through the bond. “What does that mean?” Percy demanded.
I met his eyes, letting him see the emptiness in mine. “It means I’m leaving Dominion. I’ve already spoken to Director Waverly. I am enrolled in London academy. I start there next in two weeks.”
“You can’t leave,” Eris said, panic rising up in the bond. “The bond?—”
“Will stretch,” I finished for him. “It’ll hurt like hell, but no worse than what I’ve already been through. I’m going to sever it anyway so it won’t matter much longer. In two weeks I’ll be gone. You never have to see me again, and you can go back to hooking up with anyone who’s willing to drop to their knees in the hopes that you’ll spare them a pity fuck.”
Every single one of them flinched.
“And Melissa?” Aiden asked. “You’re just going to let her win?”
I laughed bitterly. “She already won the moment you chose to believe her over me. And you know what? I deserve better than what you have to offer me. I deserve to be loved. I deserve to be treated with some fucking respect. I thought for a second you could make me happy. I thought I could trust you with my whole life, but it turns out I can’t even trust you with my heart.”
They had no answer for that. Noodle slithered out and began hissing at them, snapping his jaws as they backed away. One by one, they filed out, each looking back at me with such naked anguish that in another life, it might have moved me. Now I just felt numb.
Percy was the last to leave, his hand on the doorframe. “We’ll fix this,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I swear to you, Jupiter. Whatever it takes.”
I slipped my headphones back on without responding, turning the volume up until it drowned out everything—their retreating footsteps, Noodle’s concerned hissing, and the traitorous part of me that wanted to run after them.
As the door closed behind Percy, I let myself fall back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. The book on bond-breaking lay forgotten beside me.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Jupiter
A week had passed,and nothing felt real anymore. Lydia’s nimble fingers worked through my hair, styling it into loose waves that cascaded down my back. I stared at my reflection in her vanity mirror, barely recognizing myself beneath the makeup she’d meticulously applied.
“Stop frowning,” she chided, catching my expression. “You’ll mess up your lipstick, and I just spent twenty minutes making you look like a goddess.”
I forced my face to relax, though the tension remained coiled in my shoulders. “Sorry.”
“You should be. This is my best work yet.” She stepped back to admire her handiwork, head tilted critically.
I smoothed my hands over the white dress I’d chosen for tonight. A gown that glittered with every movement like captured starlight. The delicate straps and plunging neckline revealed most of my serpent tattoos, the fabric dipping nearly to my navel before cinching at my waist. The slit that ran up my thigh was scandalously high, showing more leg than was probably appropriate for such a formal event.
“Perfect revenge dress,” Lydia declared with a wicked smile. “The ‘fuck you, I’m gorgeous’ kind.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, though it felt hollow. “Is that what this is?”
“Isn’t it?” She raised an eyebrow. “One last night pretending to be the happy axis to the almighty Nightfall Shield before you jet off to London and leave them all heartbroken? If that’s not revenge, I don’t know what is.”
I sighed, fidgeting with one of the straps. “It’s not revenge. It’s just the deal I made with Waverly. Play nice for one night, let them present me as their axis to save face with the Assembly, and then I’m free to transfer.”
“Right.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “And the fact that you picked the sexiest dress in existence has nothing to do with making them suffer.”
I didn’t answer. Maybe she was right. Maybe some petty, wounded part of me did want them to see exactly what they’d thrown away. The past week had been excruciating, all four of them trying constantly to talk to me, to apologize, to explain. They’d camped outside my door, sent flowers, letters, and gifts. Percy had even tried to break in one night when he thought I was asleep.
I’d blocked them all completely, reinforcing my mental walls until the bond was nothing but the faintest silver thread. It hurt like having a limb slowly amputated, but the pain was preferable to feeling their remorse, their desperation. Their love, which had come too late.
“They’ve been miserable,” Lydia said quietly, as if reading my thoughts. “Tye said Eris nearly broke Melissa’s arm when he confronted her.”
“I don’t care,” I lied. “That doesn’t undo what they did.”
“No,” she agreed, “it doesn’t.” She met my eyes in the mirror. “But maybe?—”
