I wincedat the first one.
The last time Evira and I had been at The Caverns, things hadn’t exactly gone well.
I mean, yeah, we hadn’t attended together and we’d barely interacted, but it had culminated in me getting into a fight with Keuric and her then intervening—before Vaxan had ended the thing entirely.
So that would probably bring up bad memories.
She was already dealing with the fact that after three days of remaining holed up in his dorm room, Keuric had finally returned to classes. He hadn’t said a word to her, though, or even sent one nasty look her way or mine. In fact, he’d even lowered his head at her in submission a couple of times. Still, it wasn’t nice for her having a reminder of all that shit in him walking around.
AndPolaris?Well, that was a good idea on the surface, because she was here outside the Dracoryn Realm to live, be free, experiment, and explore.Butthe sexual aspect of that place was what was making me think twice about it. She might think that was why I was picking it—to get some more fucking from her. I mean, sure, that would be incredible with her. But not only that. There was more… more that I wanted to experience from her. I wouldn’t have gone this date route if that wasn’t the case.
She was honestly amazing. Being with her… it had stayed with me. She was somehow soft and unsure during sexual interactions, but also strong and dominant. That was a really rare breed. Outside of any of that, she also had a really cute sense of humor, she was formidable, she could hold her own against me and banter so well with me, she was kind and understanding and… gentle as well.
Gentle? Urgh, why had I landed on that at the tail end? It brought uphim—Winter.
It was the fucking essence of him.
I didn’t want my thoughts going there right now. It… it hurt.
It fucking hurt me.
He hadn’t even registered my presence since that lake confrontation with Keuric.
Fine, he had given me a chin lift and a smile during some of the classes we’d shared together. But Winter did that to everybody, even people he didn’t know.
Not to somebody like me who he’d fucked hundreds of times—was it that high a number now? Somebody he’d known for years. Somebody who’d even lived in his house for a couple of months when all that shit with my parents had gone down. I might have even slept on the floor in his room for a few nights back then because I’d been scared to be alone during all of that.
But… whatever. The fact that he was treating me as though none of that had—hold up.
Fuck me.Was that how he’d felt with the way I’d behaved toward him before?
I shifted on my seat.Oh, god-fucking-dammit.Was that it?
I clenched my fist, almost shattering my mug in the process, so much so that I had to slide it away across the table.
Still. Even with that, I’d tried to tell him during the Keuric thing as Evira had been kicking that motherfucker’s ass, that I wasn’t going to be like that anymore. But he hadn’t even cared. He’d even taken off in his shadows.
Stop. Stop thinking about it.
I sucked in a breath, and forced-focused on my list.
I crossed outPolaris.
I looked at the last item on the list.
Walk in the woods.
Well, that sounded like a serial killer’s go-to.
I kept my pen hovering there in my hand, while I snatched up the one honeyed churro I had left on my plate from earlier.Sweet and crunchy and sort of like a food version of the tea comfort.
As I munched on it and started gazing aimlessly around the Cafeteria, my whole fucking body went rigid when I caught sight of Vaxan sauntering on in.
Right after him, two vampires walked in. They were second-year students who’d transferred in from Lotus Academy this year, and I hadn’t spoken with them yet. It took a while to get to know all the newbies. Although two nights ago, I had experienced a near-encounter with them when I’d been riding my motorcycle down the created path that veered through the forest grounds and around a mountain, while still being inside the protection of the wards. The two of them had been loitering, and when I’d noticed them as I’d zoomed on by and given them a chin lift, neither of them had even bothered to acknowledge it.
I’d taken to riding after Winter and his Pops, Lazriel, had taught me how to ride when I’d stayed at their home. On my last day there, Winter had given me a bike of my own, and I’d taken it with me everywhere since. It was currently in the garage set back from the main building here.
The vamps were dressed like each other in khaki pants, white polos and navy blazers. One of them, Andrew Harkle, had golden-boy hair that was short but swept back. The other, Pierce Dennins, had chestnut-brown waves that brushed the shoulders of his blazer. Yeah, they were really preppy. And that didn’t exactly mesh well with my whole punk-rock vibe to begin with. Their attitudes just worsened that.
