8. Lex
LEX
The scalpel hits the pan, and I peel off my one remaining glove as I finish my dissection.
A nagging curiosity has eaten at me since Orion called, but I’m not rushing my work for anyone.
Now that I have a free hand, I type her name into my preferred search engine.
A line of images appears, confirming Sable Briarwick is exactly who I thought she was. How very… different.
Hairs raise across my arms, saliva pools in my mouth, and her name loops in the back of my mind.
The prospect of an Offering excited me during my first year, but after six, I assumed the rush was over.
But if it’s Sable Briarwick knocking on our door?
That’s different. I force myself not to run to her even now that I have no reason to hold back, but every single thing feels better with a little edging.
“Morwen! Are you in there?” Cillian bangs his fist, and his voice cuts through my thoughts.
Fucking bastard is back again . I avert my gaze from Sable to the door.
My adviser has been getting into more and more trouble because of me.
Maybe I should feel some guilt about complicating his life, but I don’t.
“Open the door, you fucking prick. I don’t get paid enough for this.”
He surely does.
I toss the mortuary apron over the body I was dissecting before walking to the door.
The round room I chose to work in sits at the top of the turret, holding most of the showers.
The blood and guts run beneath everyone’s feet as they find their way to the sewer system far beneath.
That seemed like a considerate choice to me, seeing as I’m not making a mess, but I’m the only one who sees it that way.
I open the door with a swift swing. “Cillian, looking for me?” I snap.
He reels back, confusion twisting his expression.
We’ve played this game many times, and I’ve never opened the door.
I’ve been a TA with the university for a couple of years now, but really, they just use me to cut people up and to grade the same shit papers.
Cillian knows I hate working near others, so this should be a good solution.
His mouth opens and closes, no words escaping.
“Well, I’m busy.” I nod as I step around him, not bothering to close up shop. I’ve made Sable and myself wait long enough, and I want to play too.
I’m five steps short of the stairs when Cillian’s cursing rings around the empty hall.
The bang as he slams the door tells me he’s the good boy I assumed and wouldn’t leave my sloppy cleanup on display.
A second later, he rushes to my side, stepping in line with me.
A vicious smile curls my lips. I know it’s wrong to enjoy his torment, but it doesn’t stop me. Some traditions are worth keeping.
“What the hell is that, Morwen?” His voice takes on this funny pitch when he’s upset, and he points back toward the room.
“A cadaver,” I deadpan as I take the back stairs to the less traveled corridors of the academy.
“You can’t take bodies out of the med school. We’ve talked about this repeatedly.” His exasperation amuses the hell out of me, and a sliver of excitement reminds me that I’ll now have Sable to play with too.
“Yet you haven’t figured out that I don’t listen to you. Imagine all the breath you could save.”
“Lex!” He wants to keep shouting, but we reach the first floor, and he’s forced to keep his voice down as we step into the one hall where we might find people. I turn left, and my shoulders brush the stone wall as we sneak into an especially narrow corridor.
“You may not like it, but my job is literally to keep an eye on you since your artistic stunt,” he sneers, too disgusted to even finish his sentence.
My “artistic stunt” was actually Parker's doing. He dropped a corpse in the bleachers for the football team to find. I didn’t even know until Cillian came screaming.
“I’m twenty-three years old, and I didn’t consent to being babysat, Cillian. Maybe it’s time you found something better to do with your time.”
“Being your fucking babysitter is the best-paying gig around, you asshole!”
I nearly laugh. It sure is.
“So what exactly would you like to see happen?” I ask out of pure interest.
“I’d like you to stop,” he lies.
And I won’t, because if I did, he would have nothing to do with his time.
We step out onto a landing with a much wider berth.
“Do you really want your life to be that boring?” I ask, ready to push him into a full-blown fit just to get him to fuck off. It’s Sable’s turn.
We arrive at a closed door just in time to drive the point home.
Cillian visibly flinches at the barrier.
People with the wrong last name are barred from certain parts of the castle.
Cillian isn’t blessed with the right one, or he wouldn’t be babysitting me.
Near pain crosses his face, and I almost pity him.
He loves knowledge, but the same black walls designed to protect me and my secrets would never share with him.
The entire system will destroy him if necessary or for fun.
At Bellthorn, you’re predator or prey, and where each of us sits is painfully clear.
“Make sure you put the body back, Lex,” he says between his gritted teeth.
I dip my chin at his request since it doesn’t change my plans.
I understand he needs to feel like he has a say in this before he inevitably does it himself.
Without any more words between us, I turn the knob and make my way through one of the secret paths of Bellthorn.
A few minutes later, I’ve descended about twenty sets of stairs, and I step into the cool, misty air of the late afternoon.
As I come into view, Sable stands from her suitcase.
Visible relief colors her face, and she smiles at me like I'm her savior, the effects of both making her even prettier. She's shorter than I expected, with narrower shoulders, but she’s also strong , thick through the legs and hips, muscular, curvy, different from many of her pictures. An odd protective flicker passes through me. Despite the fact she obviously works out, she's so tiny, almost like a fairy. I’m glad she’s strong because that’s her only natural defense.
Blue eyes look up at me, and my heart beats faster.
Is that what people mean when they say butterflies?
Her eyes shimmer in the low light. Her beauty confuses me.
Moves me. I’m compelled to touch her, to own her, to play with her.
So many things I’ve never felt before tumble around inside me as I try to make sense of it.
It’s been so very fucking long since I wanted anything that I’m not sure what to do with the sensation.
“Hi, I’m Sable,” she says with a hopeful little tone as she lifts her hand to shake mine.
“You smell like you just rolled out of the bar.” Only now do I realize why her outfit is so skintight, and I stare at her until she gives up on shaking my hand.
“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry about that,” she says, her face openly displaying her mortification, like this is the first time in her life she’s had to apologize. I love to be the one forcing her into that position. “There was an accident in the car and?—”
“I’m sorry if I gave you the impression I give a shit about your problems, but I don’t.” I cut her off. “You’re here for one reason.”
Her face falls, and her mouth pops open like I’ve shocked her, but I know she just wants the head of my cock on her tongue.
“What reason am I here?” she asks, staring dead into my eyes like she wants a challenge.
“Let’s go. I don’t have time for games.” I turn on my heel, walking back toward the school. A sense of power courses through me as I frame the shape of her name in my mind over and over. Sable Briarwick . How will it sound if she chants my name? If she begs…
Her feet slap the wet ground as she chases me with her suitcase dragging behind her. We pass through the steaming gates and across the rocky lawn.
“Wait!” she says, breath coming in pants, giving me a hint of how I’ll enjoy her later. I walk faster just to hear more of it. “Please slow down.” I ignore her and the main entrance as I lead her farther along the edge of campus.
“What a fucking dick!” she curses, and I’m not sure if she meant me to hear or not, but I can’t help the way my lips kick up at the corner. I’m pissing everyone off today, and that’s fine by me.
I turn to her, and we’re surrounded by an alcove built from stones and trees. There’s not a soul around to see us, and the reality of her position seems to register with her as her back snaps straight and a fine line of goose bumps puckers her skin.
“What did you say, Sable? ” Her name is a vicious threat. I’m barely in control of myself, and if she pushes me further, I’ll clean her mouth out with my cum.