My smile is slow. “Ahh…so that’s the part that stuck. Does everyone know your gift is Mind Mirroring? Pretty fucking wild to be able to see inside someone as if you’re them.”
“Who. Is. He?”
I chuckle lowly. “You’d have to take a trip to the isle to find out.”
Creed huffs, shaking his head. “There is no mating bond within you, is there?”
Something annoying inside of me heats at the reference to the little king.
Aches a little.
But I’m not about to tell him that.
“I told you. I’m not his mate and even if I were, which I’m not, I don’t even know what a mating bond is.” Not really, anyway.
He steps up to me, toe to freaking toe, though he is a whole ass head taller. “Bond or no bond, Legend believes a bond pulses within him, but Iknowsomething is twisted. So you need to behave, or he will lose his shit.”
“What makes you think I care?”
Creed’s features harden, his eyes glowing white as he pulls his power to the surface. “He watches, because the so-called bond demands it, but he’s yet to arrive. Don’t give him a reason to abandon his current task until it’s done.”
Okay, that is basically an invitation.
I grin to myself, already thinking of ways to piss off my—
No notmy.
Just Legend.
He’s just Legend.
Right?
Chapter Ten
Haide
The next morning, campus is already a fucking zoo.
Students swarm from the dorms, every single one of them moving like they know exactly where they’re going. Fucking sheep. I just let the current pull me along, trying to map it all out.
I stumble out to the main courtyard, a huge open space paved in dark stone that looks slick in the morning light. Archways branch off everywhere, with runes twisting over them. Laughing students cluster around a black obsidian fountain that spits out water with weird blue shimmer. They trade looks that probably mean something. Something I don’t give a shit about.
I veer left, heading toward what I’m pretty sure is the lecture hall from yesterday. The path winds through a covered colonnade, the ceiling arched high above and carved with images of battles I don’t recognize. Creatures with too many limbs clash against warriors wreathed in fire, their faces frozen in silent screams.
Cheerful.
A group of girls pass me, their voices high and sharp, laughter spilling out like broken glass. One of them glances my way, her eyes flicking over me with the kind of casual dismissal that makes my fingers itch for a blade.
I smile at her. Teeth and all.
She looks away fast.
Good girl.
The lecture hall looms ahead, its entrance marked by twin statues of Sirens, their jaws open in eternal snarls. I slip through the doors and find a seat near the back. If I’m going to be stuck here, I’m at least going to have a clear exit.
The room fills quickly, bodies sliding into seats with practiced ease. The boy from yesterday—Lord Kael of the Sable Stone or whatever—takes a spot two rows ahead, his posture perfect, his expression bored. Spark-Hair sits near the front, her braid coiled around her wrist like a living thing. Silver-Hair girl is here, too, perched on the edge of her seat like she’s waiting for something to happen.
