Chapter 17
Castle Black may not be a bona fide castle, but it was still massive.
There would be a real risk of getting lost if not for the way things were split.
Each Black Hart had their own floor, complete with a locked front door that each individual had sole access to.
There were two elevators and a winding staircase that even led to the basement and rooftop.
Ares’ rooms had their own kitchen, but aside from a few beverages, his refrigerator was empty. When asked about it, he’d explained he preferred taking his meals in the common area of the first floor, so that’s where Eden found himself on the morning of his first day on the job.
He was standing behind the large, sandstone kitchen island, slathering butter onto a piece of sourdough toast while he waited for Ares to join him.
He’d been sent ahead after complaining about being hungry, and told to help himself to whatever he found in the shared kitchen.
At first, he’d been wary, since he’d yet to be introduced to any of the other Black Harts, but those nerves had fled the second he’d stepped into the room.
The kitchen was big enough to double as a small cafeteria, with several fridges and two walk-in freezers. There were even multiple ovens. All he’d had to do was find the row of cabinets with “Creation” carved into the wood to know where it was safe to take food from.
While he ate, he pondered over the past couple of days—mainly how Ares had fast-tracked it all. Only an idiot wouldn’t see things for what they were.
Clearly, the Black Hart had planned this from the beginning. He’d been suggestive and flirtatious to rile Eden up, make him desperate for it when he finally agreed to sleep with him, then went hard enough that Eden would be reduced to semi-conscious goo. Easily transportable.
Malleable.
It’d all been rather easy. Even after waking, Eden had mostly just gone with the flow. As a result, he’d yet to tour the building or even Ares’ level to the full extent.
Hell, last night, when he’d denied Ares a spot in his bed, the Black Hart had pouted but had left. He hadn’t suggested Eden join him in his room instead, hadn’t made any innuendos or anything of the like.
Had he willingly given Eden space because he’d seen he was overwhelmed?
Or was he hiding something?
A rustling noise pulled him from his thoughts, and he glanced up, expecting to find Ares there. Instead, he met a stranger.
He had to be another one of the Black Harts, as he looked around the same age as Ares, with a similar build and silky black hair.
But that was where the resemblance ended.
This man was dressed in a pair of form-fitting black jeans and a white t-shirt far too thin for the brutal winter weather outside.
He was standing in the doorway, staring at Eden through mismatched eyes, one as dark as midnight, the other white as snow.
The man lifted a hand, covering his black eye so that only the white one rested on Eden. He held that pose for a moment, then the corner of his mouth twitched, and he dropped his arm, stepping into the room with a measured pace that had Eden’s pulse thumping.
Whoever this was, they were dangerous. Every single one of his instincts screamed at him to turn tail and run, but Eden held his ground, squishing the corner of the slice of toast he held between two fingers without realizing.
“Starling,” the voice was recognizable, though it took a second to place.
“You’re Zar?” Eden felt a tingle of relief. Surely there was nothing to fear from Ares’ brother.
“Balthazar Corbett.” He didn’t extend his hand over the counter or anything like that, merely came to a stop and continued to stare with that eerie gaze of his that seemed to see too much.
“Eden Baldur.”
“The Starling.”
“Just Eden.” Honestly, he didn’t know why he bothered at this point.
“Creation doesn’t like his past either,” Zar said.
“What past?”
“The one that ties the three of us together.” He tipped his head to the side and pondered into the distance for a heartbeat. “He’ll be here soon. It’s almost time.”
“Time for?”
“Your branch. What you do next determines how reality deviates from its current projection. That’s what I was viewing before.” He covered his black eye briefly, as though that answered all the questions Eden could possibly have about his cryptic statement.
“Right.” Were all the Black Harts certifiably insane? So far, they were two for zero.
“Yo, Reality, my bike isn’t working.” Another man strolled into the kitchen, a smear of grease across his left cheek. He slowed when he noticed Eden, expression alighting with mirth. “Who’s the hottie?”
“He’s Creation’s,” Zar warned.
“Ares is back? Haven’t seen him. Never mind about the bike then. I’ll get him to take a look at it later.” The newcomer planted a hand onto the counter and lifted himself, leaning over to snatch the toast from Eden’s grasp. “Thanks.”
“Nyoka.” Zar’s gaze never left Eden’s. “Unless you want to find your precious bike at the bottom of Silent Lake, you’ll apologize.”
Ah, so this was Nyoka. The Black Hart looked charming, rich in that laidback, never had a care in the world kind of way. But at Zar’s comment, his brow furrowed slightly, and he paused.
“You see that?” he asked, all seriousness in his tone. “He gonna rat on me?”
“It’s one of several possibilities,” Zar confirmed.
“He’s going to tattle,” Nyoka pointed at Eden, “and Ares is going to take his side? Who are you?” he asked. “Aren’t you just another one of his gaming buddies?”
“I’m Eden.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t ring a bell.”
“He’s Ransom,” Zar provided, and a light went off in Nyoka’s eyes, but before he could reply, Lucifer finally joined them.
“He doesn’t like being called that,” Ares told them, entering the kitchen and heading straight toward Eden. He came around the counter, stopping at his side, and rested a palm on Eden’s lower back. “Trouble, Paradise?”
“Not at all,” Nyoka jumped to answer for him, waving the half-eaten toast. “We’re getting along so well, he even shared his food. Isn’t that right, Eden?”
He was more interested in the enigmatic look on Zar’s face than the pleading one on Nyoka’s.
“That’s right,” he ended up confirming anyway.
Since he had no idea how long he would be staying here, it was smarter to get on everyone’s good side.
Besides, he was used to fighting his own battles.
There was only so much relying on Ares he could allow himself.
A snatched piece of bread hardly seemed worth causing a stink. “Your friends are…interesting.”
“They bothered you.” Ares’ eyes narrowed.
“No.” Eden made a big show of dusting his hands off and checking the time on his multi-slate. “If we don’t leave now, I’ll be late. I refuse to be late on my first day, Lucifer.”
“Lucifer?” Nyoka hummed, clearly agreeing with the nickname.
“Oh, there’s a problem with his hoverbike,” Eden added. “Check it out.”
“All right.” Ares grabbed Eden’s briefcase—the brand new leather one with his name embossed on the front that he’d gifted him an hour ago—and urged him toward the door. “I’ll fix it after classes.”
“Cool,” Nyoka nodded and then fell silent as the two of them walked out into the foyer.
“He seems nice,” Eden said once they were out of earshot.
Ares absently glanced back, though they were already outside on the porch and hadn’t been followed. “Maybe in some reality he is. But not in this one.”
“What do you mean? He didn’t want to get on your bad side.”
“It’s a front.” Ares led them onto a path that wound away from Castle Black toward the music building.
The Black Harts resided smack dab in the center of campus, as though to make it easier for them to travel to and from.
“Nyoka merely doesn’t want to waste time fighting with me when he has his own targets in mind. ”
“Targets?”
Ares smiled. “He likes games as well.”
“Aren’t you the pair,” he grumbled, then took a leap and asked, “He have anything to do with my predecessor's disappearance?”
Ares refused to meet his eye. “Perhaps.”
“Interesting. Pretty sure I recall you telling me the professor before me left because he got a new job.”
“You would have asked questions if you knew the truth.”
“Which is?”
“That he’s missing. I don’t know any more than that.”
He hadn’t cared to find out, is what he meant, but Eden let it go. Who was he to judge anyway?
“What about your brother? Zar said some really weird things. Like, possibly even weirder than you type things.”
“Did he talk about branches?”
“Yeah.”
“When he fractured, he gained the ability to see potential branches in reality—parallel universes, so to speak.”
“…You’re saying he can see the future?”
“Possible futures,” Ares corrected. “Nothing is set in stone until it is. Choice is the deciding factor. Zar can guess what a person might choose, what path they may end up on, but he can’t ever know with one hundred percent certainty. Most people are unpredictable, at least to a degree.”
Being able to tell the future wasn’t entirely unheard of. There were species that had that trait, but not Usurns. It all felt a bit too unbelievable, especially when the way Zar acted was taken into consideration.
“You sure he isn’t just a couple of crayons short of a—”
“Don’t,” Ares cut him off sternly. “You don’t get to judge what you can’t comprehend.”
Eden hated how that stung, but it did. He thought about Nyoka’s surprise when he’d been told Ares would choose Eden over him. Apparently, that advantage didn’t extend to Balthazar.
At least he knew where he stood, even if it sucked for reasons unknown to him.
“Don’t be angry.” Ares captured his hand and stopped them on the path.
It was early, and not many other students were out yet.
The sun poured down, creating a halo of light on top of his angelic head, and the heaps of snow from the storm last night glittered like flecks of silver, making it all seem beautiful and unreal.