Gant
Red . Everything’s red.
Or it’s about to be.
My brother’s inauguration.
He’s so happy as I symbolically crown him with my fingers, just like I’d done in our first photo together since I knew we were blood brothers. His smile is so pure as his eyes flit from me to his other half-brother, Sylo, who’s, for the first time, at the high table. Sylo’s smile, though, is too small to be genuine as he claps along with the crowd.
Zedd’s smile is eager because he hopes Hale’s twisted ascension and Beaussip’s latest article mean the end of him and Stassi.
Etienne rarely smiles, but it’s evident in his eyes as he silently meets mine for a half-second too long. But his secret is safe with me. It’ll reveal itself soon enough.
Bae’s staring into the crowd, and I follow his gaze to the seniors who are recording Hale’s big moment of officially taking over the academy. But he’s zoned in on one senior in particular. Rin, who’s clapping boredly, her eyes boring into Elle.
Elle’s at my side, her fingers laced through mine, but she’s watching Stassi carefully. Stassi, who hasn’t spared Hale a single glance since we got on campus. The same goes for Aria with Etienne. She’s more interested in a stained-glass window above everyone’s heads.
But this isn’t about my circle right now. It’s about them . Those fake fucks smiling back at me. Those fiends, the true fiends that tried to destroy my little dove. Someone has to die. And if I can’t pick out the culprit yet, then everyone has to suffer. Everyone has to fucking bleed.
That’s why Hale chose red as his official colour. Mine was black.
“I didn’t know who you really were when I advocated for you to ascend the throne,” I say, beginning my speech to our new king. “My brother. I wish I’d known sooner, but then again, I don’t. I think, if you were always my blood, I would’ve loved you, tolerated you, but as my friend, I chose to love you.”
Hale’s eyes glimmer.
“Beautiful,” Bae mutters.
“Bold,” Zedd agrees.
“Bedazzling,” Etienne adds.
“I chose to keep you in my life and at my side. Even knowing I have no choice now, I’d still choose you a million times over,” I say, and Hale’s smile broadens.
And I hate you all, I think as I turn to the crowd.
“Hail King Hale,” I say, lifting my goblet, and everyone follows suit.
‘Hail King Hale!’
‘Hail King Hale!’
‘What’s wrong, dovey?”
She looks from the cup up to me in that beautiful way, the whites at the bottom of those perfect green irises exposed.
“It looks like…” she trails
“Blood?” I smile. “It’s just juice. Right, Zedd?”
Zedd grins wider. “Just juice. Right.”
She looks like she’s about to vomit.
“You trust me, don’t you?”
“Unfortunately.” She nods.
“So drink your drink, baby.”
She hesitates, then tosses it back. “It’s cranberry.”
I kiss her. “Of course it is.”
But it doesn’t take long.
The first scream is sharp, piercing, followed by guttural grunts and panic-laced squeals. Then comes the splashes as goblets are dropped. They rattle off tables and across the tiles, where they shatter. Blood-red liquid soaks everything as it spills over the edges of cups, drips, spews from stained lips, and stains everything and everyone in its path.
‘It burns!’
‘It fucking burns!’
Then comes the babyish cries and whimpers. Glass shatters as people fight over water glasses, desperate to get the liquid off their skin. It hadn’t touched their throats. The dribble glasses made that nearly impossible. I want them burnt, stained, not in the hospital. How could I torture them regularly from there?
“Someone made my baby bleed,” I say, the words laced with venom, slipping across the hall like an icy embrace as the cries pause. “They’re hiding amongst us, and until I find out who, everyone bleeds. Everyone suffers.”
I watch their wild, wide eyes search each other for a clue, but they know it’s too late. We’re all playing now, and this isn’t just some petty game. It’s war.
“What the fuck is this?” Rin hisses. She’s bent double, afraid to touch her dripping chin with her bare fingers. Instead, she grabs the table’s runner and pats at her sensitive skin.
“A food-grade acid,” Zedd says calmly. “Nothing fatal, even if you managed to ingest a drop. The colour will fade over a few days.”
“What?!” Kessia shrieks. The tip of her nose straight down her collar is stained a vibrant red.
“But the chemical peel will last about a week,” I say. “Use sunscreen.”
“You could’ve killed us?” Rin hisses.
“Killed?” I tsk. “I would never want to kill you. Just maim you.
“All because of that cunt?” Kessia hisses at Elle.
“Listen to me carefully,” I say quietly. “Only death can stop me from finding out who did it. I’m going to be with you at all times. On you. In you. Everything you do. Every sip you take. Every bite you ingest, I’m right there with you. I want you confused. Weary. Because I’m going to wear everyone the fuck out until someone breaks, and when one falls, they all fall.”
“Interrogations start next week,” Hale says calmly. “Everyone has to answer. Everyone has to pay.”
“How is that fair?” Rin gasps, her eyes flickering from untouchable face to untouchable face. “And why the fuck did I get a cup?” she says, seeing that no one at the high table is marked. “I’m technically an untouchable too.”
“A burn for a burn,” I say, and realisation dawns on her as she gazes at Elle’s chest. Right where she’d burned her with that tea.
She bites her lip, hard.
“Elle’s a part of the royal elite now,” Hale says. “She’s my brother’s queen. Anyone against her is against the crown, and anyone against me is dead. Because mercy is what?”
“A sign of weakness,” Etienne says quietly, yet his words still curl around the room that changes to a new kind of terror.
The hall’s doors burst open as students run into the night, headed for the nurses' station. My hospital provided a new nursing staff, so they’ll be well taken care of.
I turn to Elle, who’s standing perfectly still amid the chaos. Understanding is slowly seeping in as her eyes flicker up to me.
“You asked me to be your fiend, to do what you couldn’t. Do you still not understand that when I say anything, I mean anything?”
“That’s the scary part,” she says, even as she brings her cup to her lips and drains it.
“There’s nothing to be scared of when you’re on the scary side.”
She shakes her head slowly. “How did I get here?”
“You fed your fiends, Elle. Once you’ve done that, there’s no turning back. They imprint on you forever.”
She peers through the open doors, where everyone is panicking on the lawn. Then she eyes the empty tables between them and us.
“And once they imprint, you never have anything to fear. They’re loyal for an eternity.”
“Loyal and full of secrets,” she eyes every untouchable in turn.
“Not without good reason. Even if you cannot see it.”
“And you trust them?”
“Blindly.”
“And I should do the same?”
“You don’t have a choice,” I promise.
“You’re in our ring of fire now,” Hale says.
“Don’t cross the boundary,” Zedd warns.
“Don’t get burned,” Bae says.
“Sounds like I can never leave,” she whispers.
“Cult, maybe?” Etienne offers.
“But I don’t want to,” Elle says, wrapping her arms around me and leaning against my chest. “I’ve found my home, and I’m never leaving.”