Quiet Burn (Discordia University #2)

Take A Chance On Me

Anton

P oor Kit looks like he’s going to turn on his heels and leave cartoon dust behind as he runs for the hills. I don’t know if it’s because he’s arachnophobic, scared of something so enormous, or just having trouble coming to terms with yet another surprise. It’s a toss-up, and I know exactly what’s going to happen next.

“Jasper, I’m going to fucking?—”

The hissed words are cut off by the giant recluse shifter coughing in a comically loud fashion. “Welcome to my humble shop, Prince of Hell and his companions. I am honored to have your unannounced visit as you prepare to attend the Apalachin.”

My eyes narrow for a millisecond at the spider’s carefully chosen words. He’s ancient as hell—his aura is colored in such vibrant shades and so fully that it would be impossible to miss. There’s no way he wasn’t being extremely purposeful in the way he greeted us. I cut my gaze to X who then looks at Oriel and down the line it goes until Slash is watching the Prince.

“Signore Rigoletto, I appreciate your willingness to work with us when we appear at your doorstep without notice. Are you able to outfit us for the auspicious event with such short notice? We were certain our education would prevent us from attending, thus the lack of preparation.”

Jasper’s smooth handling of the situation makes the new kid blink and I have to hide a chuckle. Kit hasn’t seen the side of the Prince that isn’t rough and pissy as he is at school. Even at the ball, Jas didn’t show the truly diplomatic capabilities he has when the seven of us are forced to attend court shit at home. He’s been trained since he was tiny, like all of us, and we have the ability to switch it on and off like a lightbulb.

Unfortunately, the Prince usually has his flipped off.

The giant spider sighs and claps his hands loudly. A small but business-like raccoon shifter comes scurrying out of the back with a tablet in her small hands, stopping in front of the arachnid tailor to look at us. Her gaze is shrewd, but she smiles once she’s done examining our group. “Are we outfitting the Prince’s caliphate today?”

“ Sí, Laurel. His Highness apologized for the late notice and since we accommodated the twins, I would be remiss if I denied heirs of the seven courts the same courtesy.”

I arch a brow at the old shifter’s words. “You dressed the Geminis for this event?”

Laurel nods, her small eyes glittering. “The Gemini family has been one of our major clients for many, many generations… going back to the old country, even. The twin heirs are quite lovely, as is their new mate and her other fated.”

What the actual fuck?

Before I can express my surprise, X jumps in to save the day. “You must have been honored to dress that large a party for such an auspicious event. Perhaps while we are getting measured, you might share a little about what wonders you worked for them? Fashion is my passion, you see.”

“Ah, that explains it. You are the heir to the lust lineage, no?” The spider tilts his head, skittering sideways a tiny bit as he studies my lover. “Your skill has grown since I last saw the pieces you made.”

X looks like they’re going to faint, and I chuckle softly as I whisper to them, “Don’t let the flattery send you into spasms of joy. Bigger picture.”

“Very good, young demon.” The tailor squints at me and I feel as though he’s trying to see into my soul. I don’t know if that’s for the outfit or out of curiosity, but it makes my magic prick up in response. “You are the Alaric heir, then. Logic is often in conflict with pride, but I sense you ride the line well.”

“You could introduce yourself, since you seem to be adept at guessing who we are,” Kit grumbles and we all stare at him in shock.

This was not the diplomacy I’d hoped for, but at least it wasn’t Jasper.

A bark of laughter escapes the enormous spider, his legs moving quickly as he scurries up to the kid. “ You… You are not a royal at all, are you? All the courage to confront my lack of manners, but none of it to believe in yourself. Tsk, tsk, young rebel. I sense many things about you—none of them surprising or bad, yet your destiny is fraught. Laurel, please escort the gossip loving heir and this young one to the back. They will go first, then the Prince and his general. After that, two at a time until we are ready to select the pieces.”

“That still didn’t answer my question, even if you did give me the magical version of a fortune cookie,” Kit complains as the raccoon woman takes his hand.

“Oh, I like this one,” Laurel mutters happily. “You’re as fun as the twins’ new mate. Let me take you and Duke Xerxes back to get measured and we’ll talk all about it.”

“My name is Guillermo, but you may call me Gui,” the tailor says as he turns to follow his assistant and our friends. “I do not often extend that offer, but Laurel is right; you are quite amusing.”

Salem leans in, whispering to me in a shocked tone. “Who had KK charming the fuck out of the ancient spider dude by calling him out on their bingo card? I sure as fuck didn’t.”

“I don’t have the shrimp charming anyone on my goddamn bingo card,” Jasper snorts. “We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get us killed with that fucking mouth.”

I’d correct him, but in this case, the pissy prince might actually be right.

Once the designers and our friends disappear into the darkness of the archway, I turn to my brothers, my expression serious. “We didn’t know there was a huge event up here, right? Is this why your father would only grant us leave to come up here this weekend, Jas?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the prince sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe? Probably. He’s a sketchy asshole and if he’d gotten wind of some big fucking surface event he wasn’t informed of by our representatives, he just might orchestrate our gate crashing without telling me.”

“He definitely would.” Slash crosses his arms over his chest, his eyes darting around the shop as if ninjas are going to leap out of the mannequins and attack. “I do not like this, but I also do not see a way for us to utilize this trip without going.”

“Exactly,” Oriel adds as he pulls out his phone. “We need Zav to get on this shit pronto. Right now we’re skating by on X’s ability to pretend, but that won’t last long.”

We all turn to look at the kitsune, only to find him staring at his device as his fingers fly over the screen furiously. Jasper chuckles, reaching over to ruffle his messy red hair in an unusually fond gesture. “Looks like he’s on the case already.”

“Great. But like… how long is this shit going to take? We packed for a short day trip. Are we going to get stuck here at some ridiculous party? Those fucking things go on for days ,” Salem grumbles. “And we’d have to be guests of the Geminis . I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t feel safe letting Kit Kat anywhere near those dickwads, especially when it comes to food and drink.”

I blink at the panda shifter. Sometimes, he’s pretty sharp and it’s hard to know when to expect it because of the snoozy shit. “Salem’s right, though it’s not just about Kit. I’m not excited by the prospect of having any of us at the mercy of those assholes. We came up here because we wanted to find out if Darkstar is arranging a coup with Luca. Nothing in their territory is safe for us.”

Jasper rolls his eyes down to the floor, his hands behind his head as he paces on the expensive as fuck carpet. “None of this is going to plan, but if we don’t play along, who knows when we’ll be allowed to come back. But we can’t trust anyone up here and we have limited time to discover any leads. We can find what we need to infiltrate, but we know nothing about the setting.”

Slash sees my curious expression and shakes his head. “Let him work this out on his own, Anton. The Prince often talks himself through things when only I am present, which is why you don’t recognize his process.”

I snort, covering my mouth for a second as it hits me. “Is that why you two hole up to ‘discuss’ strategy alone? Jasper likes to talk to himself and you’re the only one who will stay quiet while he does it?”

“I stay quiet, too,” Zavida mutters as he works on his phone. “But yeah, that’s why. Everyone else talks too much.”

For fuck’s sake, they’re all insane. He can’t be the only one looking at a problem before we address it.

“I say this with love, guys, but you’re dumb as fuck,” Oriel says before I can respond. “If we’re a team in these damn Games, Jasper can’t be the only one solving a problem. We have eight people who have vastly different outlooks on everything. It means we can see a lot more sides of things than other people.”

The dragon whirls around, and I’m certain he’s going to scream at our resident thief, but instead, he nods. “You’re not wrong. I’ve spent too long handling every crisis myself and it’s not only exhausting, but it’s also not going to work when the playing field is bigger than our families and school. You all need to step up and help me strategize.”

“That was easier than expected. Did someone replace Jasper with a pod person?” the crow shifter mutters. The Prince growls loudly and he grins. “Nope, it’s really him. Okay, then we scheme as one. Zav, what do you have so far?”

Zavida looks up, his brows furrowed. “There’s some big party/meeting/whatever for the major criminal enterprises in Bay City. They have a secret location and all the various supernaturals will likely have territories based on what organization they are part of. It’s fancy, from what I can tell, so this was a good starting point. But it’s also exclusive.”

“He’s the Prince of Hell, Zav. I’m pretty sure we can find a way in once we get there,” I remind him wryly. “But the location is another piece of the puzzle we need to find. Why are they having this thing?”

“From what I can tell, it happens whenever one of the major players calls for it, but no one seems to know who and why it was called this time. At least, not in anything I’ve gone over yet.” He pushes his glasses up, his eyes moving to Jasper. “We’re definitely going into this with zero prep. That means we have to rely on powers and shit to keep everyone safe.”

“Oh, crap,” Salem says. “Kit Kat’s only seen four of us as animals and two as demons. That’s gonna be jarring if we have to… you know. Fight a bitch or something.”

Jasper rolls his eyes. “I swear to fuck, if you assholes don’t stop framing everything we do around making sure the shrimp doesn’t get upset…”

“It’s not like I asked for it, dickhead.” We all turn to see Kit and X walking into the room, the latter looking furious with us for getting caught. No one speaks as the newest member strides across the floor, standing in the middle of us as he goes on. “Look, I know I’ve got problems and you want to help me. But we may not always be able to keep me from having an issue—not with what’s coming. So stop worrying about coddling me, and use the fact that I’m not a known player in this world.”

I’ll be damned; he’s spot fucking on.

Kit Camponella is a perfect weapon against the people who don’t expect him.