Quiet Burn (Discordia University #2)

Faith

Anton

K it burrowed into himself for the rest of the night, all of Sunday, and we all seemed to accept that he needed some time—even Jasper. My lover, however, spent that time alternating between working on their projects and eyeing the kid like he was going to disappear. I pressed him on it, but X was tight-lipped, other than to say they worried that immersion therapy would have adverse effects we might miss if we weren’t careful.

I’m not sure exactly what they mean by that, but sometimes, X is too mysterious for their own good.

When I enter the Triclinium for lunch, I find Jasper, Oriel, and Zavida sitting with Kit at our table. No one makes a comment as I pass, though I assume they didn’t give our smallest members the same grace. Dottie is hunched over a bowl of something while Kit stares at his tablet quietly, still not interacting with people despite the conversation going on around him.

“Good afternoon, my brothers,” I say loudly, plopping down next to Kit. “You look cheerful.”

He looks up, his eyes unsure as our gaze meets. “It’s Monday, Annie.”

“Yes, and despite that tragedy, we soldier on.”

Jasper coughs, getting me to focus on him. “The shrimp has a point. None of us are ever chipper on Mondays and Wednesdays—especially because he’s got all those solo classes. It makes it hard to focus on shit.”

“I’m fine; stop worrying, Jasper.”

That gets Oriel and Zavida’s attention. They both frown, but O is the one who says, “You know we’re not going to do that, Kit Kat. We want to keep you safe.”

“I know.”

I turn my head at the tone of his voice, studying his posture and affect. Despite the reassurance he gave us Saturday after the dance, he’s been pulling away. I thought perhaps he needed time to process like X said, but this feels different. “Kit, what’s wrong? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ It’s very obvious and none of us are fools.”

Sighing, he puts his device on the table and the kinkajou scrambles over to join him. Kit looks at his hands for a moment, fiddling with the pencil before he finally looks up. “I feel like I’m a burden. You guys have to watch out for me, do things you don’t want to so people don’t see me as weak, and even coddle me when I have attacks. It’s not fair to any of you, especially Prince Dickhead who really doesn’t want me here.”

Where the hell did this come from?

“That’s crap,” Oriel says as he leans back and crosses his arms over his chest. “No one said that. Hell, even Jasper didn’t hint at it this time.”

The Prince smirks and shrugs, looking pleased. “I am pleased to say I agree with him.”

Kit puts his fists on the table, clenching them open and closed as he shrugs. “You didn’t have to.”

Narrowing my eyes, I look at the device he’s been glued to since Saturday evening. When Dottie distracts our new member, I snatch it away, opening the screen to confirm my suspicions. It doesn’t take me long to find the flood of notifications he’s received in the past two days through email, messages, and various Underworld social media accounts. I didn’t know he’d plugged into our world this deeply, but I bet Xerxes is the one who helped him. Most of it is vile and unflattering to all of us, including Jasper.

People really have a set of brass ones when they feel encouraged by a petty dictator.

“You’ve been dealing with this alone for days?” I ask as I pass it to O. “Why? We would have helped you back these assholes and snooty bitches off.”

“What the fuck?!” O says, interrupting me as he glares around the room with dark, glittering eyes. A feather flutters to the table as he puffs up with fury. “I’ll ruin them. Who the fuck asked these people to comment on our choices?”

Kit shrinks back for a moment, but I watch as he forces himself to sit up straight. His instinct was to back down at the outburst and I find that interesting given how much he goes toe-to-toe with Jas. “Look, I’m making all sorts of problems for you and… all I want is to go to school and get a degree. You don’t have to…”

Zav shakes his head. “No, Kit. No one is coddling you. Are we concerned about your safety? Definitely.”

“Maybe, but?—”

“Shrimp.”

We all stop to look at the Prince. He’s scowling, which isn’t unusual, but something in his eyes keeps me from commenting. The arrogant tilt of his head makes me worry about what’s coming next. I hope he doesn’t send the poor kid running for the hills again with some bullshit barbs.

“You seem determined to believe that despite being demons and royals, we do anything we don’t want to. Doubting the others is easy because they are so fond of you, but hear me when I say that I do what I want. My caliphate would not protect you or respect your demands so consistently if I truly did not wish it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself; it’s unbecoming.”

The table is silent as that sinks in. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Jasper be quite so… conscientious of someone else’s feelings in public. The guy in question licks his lips and my own tingle with the memory of kissing him in Arms class. He finally looks up, meeting Jasper’s gaze steadily despite how defeated the rest of him looks.

“Even though I have a truck load of issues that cause problems?”

The snort is derisive and so is his smirk as Jasper responds. “Kit Camponella, being a demon doesn’t mean we’re unable to be decent beings. You have trauma and in truth, so do all of us. If we can’t find a way to mutually coexist despite that, none of us deserve to rule this realm.”

Holy shit. I think Jasper’s heart grew three sizes today.

Oriel elected to join us on the walk to Kit’s Demon Lineage class. Since the new guy started talking to us again after Jasper’s statement, it’s been a fairly pleasant journey to the lecture hall. The crow shifter’s presence seems to make him less anxious and I realize that I missed the chatter Kit engenders this weekend. It’s good to have him back, even if he’s not quite to the comfort level he was at the pre-social media bash fest.

“I have to go see Dank after Lit class,” Kit says suddenly.

I blink, looking at Oriel, who shrugs. “Why? Did something happen again?”

Kit shakes his head. “No. Just a follow up from the…other time. You know, to make sure everything is healing and stuff.”

There’s something odd about this; he’s never mentioned it before.

“Okay, Kit Kat. I can take you,” O says as we climb the steps. “Then we’ll head back for dinner and Zav said we can do the flashcards. Last time you nailed the elder gods and devils, so this time we should do the Greeks.”

The bright red flush on his cheeks tells me he’s embarrassed, but I have no idea why. A last minute visit to the doc concerns me, but I’ll check with X to see if they know more. Maybe he mentioned it to my lover before the dance and it got forgotten in the frenzy of the day. “You’ll have to deal with Salem coming along. He won’t want to leave when he hears that Kit’s seeing Dr. D.”

“Guys… no one is coming in that room with me. I’m awake this time.”

I chuckle, giving him an amused expression. “Don’t want a crowd of clowns looking down at you like last time, mmm?”

“Fuck no.” Kit actually smiles at me this time and I feel my gut clench. “I’m trying hard to accept help, but I’m not letting you idiots smother me to death.”

Ahhh, the spunk is back. I like it.

O turns, walking backwards up the stairs so he can look at us. “Dottie can stay with me and Salem while you visit the good doc. I solemnly swear we won’t spoil her dinner.”

The kinkajou chitters from her perch on Kit’s shoulder and I chuckle. “We really should take Kit to meet that weirdo in the bestiary.”

“Wait. What?” Our progress stops as Kit pokes me in the shoulder. “What bestiary?”

“Oh, shit, nobody told him.”

I nod at Oriel as I realize the same thing. This is going to be fun as hell. “There’s a bestiary out in the Wastelands. Some species of demons have better animal affinities and they send the third years to see if any attract a familiar when they visit. You, however, can bring yours for the Keeper to look at.”

“Why have none of you jackasses mentioned this before?” Kit frowns as he starts moving again. “It feels important.”

“Not really,” Oriel replies as we head down the hall, stopping at Kit’s classroom door. “It’ll be fun, which you’ll like, but it won’t tell us anything new ‘cuz you have Dottie.”

Kit sighs, still looking annoyed, but jabs his finger at me. “Talk to X and figure out when we can go. Now get lost before you guys are late to shit and somehow, Prince Pricklypants blames me. We know he can’t be nice to me more than once a day and lunch used that up for the week, probably.”

It’s fucking scary how well he knows us.

The two of us watch as he goes in, bee-lining for the back corner with his familiar, then Oriel closes the door. As we head back downstairs, the thief scratches his chin and looks at me carefully.

“Soooo… you and X, yeah?”

“Not this again. We all agreed that we like Kit.” I shrug, not knowing how to explain it. “Xerxes hasn’t been interested in adding to the dynamic before and neither have I. That’s why, if you’re going to ask.”

“Mmm.”

“It’s not like you ever seemed interested in anyone beyond a hook-up, either, emo boy. Jasper and Slash have been the most actively pursued and they haven’t exactly been… celibate all these years. But you’re no angel. Zav and Salem are honestly the cleanest hands, I’d think.”

The crow shifter smirks at me, his eyes glittering with mirth. “You know, I think our sleepy sloth might actually be the only pure one among us. He doesn’t talk about it, but girls don't exactly flock to the guy who falls asleep mid-evening and prefers the kitchen to a dance floor.”

“Zav wouldn’t be experienced if it wasn’t for Jasper. He’s almost as jumpy as Kit,” I shoot back.

Neither of us are being shitty about our friends, but this fake dating with someone we actually like makes it important to consider all the angles. Getting Kit to feel comfortable and safe with us is the first step to exploring that, though Jasper and I got to take short cuts. If I were to rank everyone, I’d say Oriel and Salem are closest to being able to give it go, followed by Slash. Kit’s really taken to the big guy of late. But that leaves the rest of us floundering for ways to connect.

I'll get X to arrange a visit with the Keeper and we can take him together—that would be good.

“Agreed,” Oriel says and I have to tune back into what he’s saying. “What do you think this doctor thing is about? I don’t remember him mentioning it before.”

“I don’t know, man. He didn’t seem harmed, and even though I’m pretty sure Slash is going to wreck the dumbasses here who attacked KK on social media, he wasn’t having a panic attack, either.”

The evil smile that comes over my brother’s face almost makes me shiver. “Then I’ll be the one to deal with those girls. I’m fine with that; I can fly.”

That can’t be good.