“No, now close your eyes,” I demand.
I step closer to him, and he shuts his eyes, then peeks out. I glare in warning. “Fine.” He pouts.
“Give me your hand,” I say softly.
Griffin lifts his hand palm down and extends it to me as if he’s expecting me to slide the ring on his finger. I glance up at his face to make sure his eyes are still closed and push the ring over his finger. It glides on smoothly, so smoothly, I’m worried it might be too big, but before I can test it to see if it’s going to slip off, Griffin snatches his fingers closed and makes a fist.
“Okay,” I breathe when he doesn’t open his eyes.
I’m unreasonably nervous. I don’t think I was as worried about what Evan thought because he doesn’t wear jewelry. If he didn’t like it, I could tell myself he doesn’t like any, but Griffin wears a ring on almost every finger, and they’re made out of much more valuable metal, if my suspicion about the ring I took off being made of platinum is right. White or yellow gold isn’t that heavy.
Griffin’s shuttered gaze is angled toward his hand, and he opens his eyes and fist at the same time. His long fingers uncurl slowly, and the ring sits perfectly in place. I bite my lip, waiting for him to show any kind of reaction.
Without lifting his head, he meets my gaze. “Thank you,” he says somberly. I wait a breath longer, thinking there might be more of a physical response, but he just continues to watch me.
“You’re welcome,” I reply quietly, not quite sure what I should do now. The poignant moment is shattered when Griffin balls his hand into a fist, then looks away. I glance at the clock, feeling sad but not knowing why.
“I’m going to grab something to eat, then I need to head to my office,” I inform him.
He nods distractedly. “We’ll take you when you’re ready.”
“Okay,” I mumble, then leave the room.
Griffin
My throat feels tight. I raise my hand to my neck, intending to loosen my collar, but I’m not wearing a shirt.
I make a fist for the hundredth time in the past few minutes. My hands feel strange. I’ve removed all the other rings besides the one Quinn slipped on my finger, yet its weight feels heavier.
I’ve worn the others for ages. At first, it was to cover some of the scars that formed when I killed my father. I wasn’t drinking blood regularly then—a few sips from the vein, and they would have disappeared that night.
Eventually, the scars did heal, along with the others on my body. All except one. I touch the mark on my neck, hating the fact that I couldn’t hide that one so easily. Eva made sure this one would remain, even after my transition.
I shouldn’t have pushed her for the ring, but I’m a selfish asshole and I wanted it. My head was so fucked up after seeing it, I didn’t even thank her properly.
“Evan,” I snap. I have no right to be mad at him, but I am. I’m furious at every-fucking-body. “Wake the fuck up. Quinn needs to get to her office.”
Evan slits open one eye and gives me a murderous glare. He’s not happy with me either. Well, join the fucking club. I know it’s not my order that gets him out of bed, but Quinn and her needs, which is fine by me, as long as it gets his big ass moving.
Evan lumbers into the bathroom and slams the door shut behind him. I look out of the bedroom door, expecting Quinn to come in to see what’s wrong, but she doesn’t. Which means she’s probably avoiding me.
I dress quickly, pulling shit off hangers and using muscle memory to get it on right. When Evan steps out of the bathroom, he doesn’t even look in my direction. He chooses to pull on his jeans from yesterday instead of sticking around to sort out new ones and grabs a clean shirt. He’s out of the bedroom in a blink, leaving me with nothing but my thoughts and regrets.
I hear some mumbling, then the front door shuts. They left without me. It shouldn’t bother me so much, but it does.
Quinn
I jump when an alarm blares through the school. I use my hands to cover my ears while making my way to my office door. Griffin’s assistant is locking up his office door and hustling down the hall. She pauses when she sees me.
“What’s happening?” I shout over the noise.
Just then, the blaring stops, and a voice comes from the speakers instead. “All children must return to your rooms. All staff are to proceed directly to the main ballroom unless you’ve been instructed otherwise.”
The message repeats two more times, and the alarm sounds again for a brief moment before eventually cutting off. Tasha didn’t stick around to answer my question. If I had to guess, I’d say she had been warned this was going to happen.
I head downstairs amid whispers and murmurs of speculation. It seems like I’m not the only one who’s surprised by another impromptu meeting so quickly. The others have an advantage though, they’re privy to what happened at the last one.
All the chatter slows as we draw closer to the ballroom. I look over my shoulder and notice a security officer standing at the door to the school wing, making sure no one heads back in that direction.
