43. Orion
ORION
My lucky coin moves quickly across my knuckles as I knock on my brother’s door.
He’s been more and more distant lately, worse with this Offering than he has been with the others, and I’m not sure what about Sable has offended him so gravely.
It’s been nonstop drama ever since Hadrian came back.
The tension builds along my spine, creeping up my shoulders, about to make me go insane.
I need something to take the edge off. My brother opens the door wearing my face and his sour fucking expression.
“It’s your day with the Offering,” I say as I press the coin to my palm, and I push my way inside. Towers of books pile across the floor, and I roll my eyes at him for not getting another shelf or leaving some of these in the damn library.
“I don’t want a day with her,” he says like he does every Thursday.
“So officially give her to me for the day,” I push once again.
He let her starve on his first day with her.
His pride got in the way of feeding the damn girl, and because of him, Hadrian is now the good guy in her eyes.
He’s so far from that. Hadrian is just as fucked up as the rest of us plus he’s a traitor.
If she comes with me she won’t get more caught up in his bullshit.
My brother laughs just once, but there’s no real amusement. “So you don’t want to share the time with the others, you want me to pass her off to you?”
“Yes.” I grit my teeth.
“If I did that, I would be involving myself in telling the Offering what to do. I want nothing to do with her.”
“Don’t fucking give me that, Soren. Just give her to me for the day.”
“No.” His tone is too cheery. He's enjoying denying me. It takes everything in me not to attack him like I would when we were kids, and he kept my things from me. Irritation builds, and I feel less and less human until I’m nothing but empty and hungry.
It’s not one of my finer qualities, but I’ve always enjoyed making a meal of others' torment. My brother is dangerously close to becoming my target, and if he’s smart, he’ll use Sable as a shield.
I step toward him, hands raised, and grab him by the lapels. We’re exactly the same size, but I work out more than he does, so I have an edge in strength.
“Fine,” I seethe. “Don’t give her to me, just stay out of my fucking way, and if the guys ask, you said yes.”
He laughs, not a trace of fear in the eyes that perfectly match mine. “What don’t you get about I’m not fucking playing?”
“I’m not asking you to. Just don’t interfere.” Resentment for Soren swirls inside me.
“I said no.”
“Are you taking their side over mine now? Where’s your twin loyalty?” I accuse, jealousy boiling inside me. Is he sending her off with Parker?
Soren shakes his head. “It’s not that.”
“Then what’s your fucking problem?” I demand.
“I don’t have one.” But he clearly does.
He tries to avoid looking at me, but I catch his gaze before he turns it to the floor. His cheeks turn mildly red, and a light bulb pops on in my head. I know my brother better than anyone, and I have a pretty good idea why he’s acting this way. I also understand why he’s so embarrassed.
“You want her,” I accuse.
“Absolutely not.” But he won’t look at me, and my holier-than-thou brother never acts this offended unless you’re dead right about something he’s ashamed of.
“You don’t want to give her to me today because you want her to follow you today. You want to play with the Offering and?—”
“Take her! Just fucking take her. I’ll tell the guys if they ask.”
My eyebrow rises in surprise at how easily he gave up.
I thought he might find her attractive, but his eagerness to shut me up has me thinking there might be more going on with my brother and Sable than I realized.
I could be a good brother and try to talk to him, do anything really, but I’m still feeling insane and barely human, and the only thing I want is to hurt something pretty.
“Thanks, Soren. As always, you make everything so fucking easy,” I shoot the dig over my shoulder but don’t expect it to land.
“Fuck you, Orion,” he spits in genuine anger.
I look back at him before leaving, but he’s still staring at the floor.
He’s not usually so easy to rile. Something about this girl really is getting to him, and I don’t know if it’s an attraction or something else entirely.
My curiosity quickly shifts to anger, and I decide he'd better fess up before he really pisses me off.
Now that I’ve won, I head over to Sable’s room, thinking about the first time I picked her up for class and the show we put on. Today will be similar, but a hell of a lot worse. Before I knock on the door, I pluck out a text to my new bestie, Parker, letting him know what I have planned.
She opens the door, suspiciously. I always just let myself in.
“Get ready and meet me in the cafeteria,” I say as I turn around and leave her there with the door and her mouth wide open.
“Wait, you’re not serious?” she calls after me, but I don’t answer because, quite obviously, I am.
I make the walk quickly and wait at a table in the cafeteria for about twenty minutes before she shows up. When she does, I get the distinct pleasure of seeing a whole new side of Sable Briarwick. She’s gorgeous as ever, but that’s not what’s so delicious.
Sable is unsure of herself as she picks her way through the door.
Did she spend all that time getting ready?
Or did she get lost, too? I picture her asking for directions from worthless peons and how small that would make her feel.
She walks as a queen when she’s beside any of us, but not now.
Eyes search in every direction, like she’s afraid of what might be waiting to attack.
The moment our eyes lock, she straightens up, and the toughest-girl-in-the-world act returns.
She walks over to me with her head held high and defiance on her face, like she wasn’t scared and uncertain a moment before.
I won’t be impressed by her, but with this haze all around me, keeping the world a little too far away?
I’m desperate to watch her break. Can I make her cry?
“Get something to eat. We have class in five minutes.” That draws a slightly wide-eyed look from her, and she runs up to the buffet, grabbing a muffin and a banana.
She looks at me, waiting for me to come and pay, but I shrug as if to say “figure it out.” I think she’s going to have to put it back and go hungry, but at the last moment, Hadrian steps up and pays. Of course.
I never particularly liked Hadrian, but I fucking hate him for all the pain he caused my brother.
Even if the idea of that asshole being his best friend was stupid from the beginning.
Obviously, that’s me. She returns with a little smirk on her lips and a taunting sway to her hips, but she’ll pay for it.
She takes a bite of her muffin like she’s challenging me, and I only refrain from ripping it away from her because I don’t want her to starve.
Hadrian has only made things worse for her, and I rise from the table without saying anything else.
I start my walk to class, forcing her to follow me.
She struggles to catch up, but like everything else, she manages it.
When we step inside, Soren sits in the far back of the class, head down and headphones in.
If you didn’t have a reason to, you wouldn’t look for him, but I always spot my brother right away.
I take a seat. My glare threatens Sable, telling her she’s supposed to sit next to me. She takes a minute to comply, but she finally sits, staring hard at the front of the class, doing anything she can to avoid looking at me. A commotion calls my attention to the door.
Parker and Hadrian enter at the same time, and my brow creases as I try to understand what the hell they’re doing together. The relationship doesn’t seem any warmer than I would expect, yet they were clearly discussing something, but what? I'll ask Soren if he knows anything later.
Someone asks Hadrian about his music and what he’s been up to all this time. Hot rage fills my stomach when Sable turns around to listen to his story better. She makes a flirtatious bit of eye contact.
“Turn the fuck around and keep your eyes on the front of the room before I make you regret showing another man more attention than me.”
Her mouth opens like she’s going to talk shit, but when she catches my expression, she keeps her mouth shut and aims her eyes at the front of the room just like I told her.
Unfortunately, Hadrian’s voice carries, and I know if she’s interested that she can hear every pretentious word about the music he’s performed and written, the accolades, and his lauded performances.
God, I wish he would just go back rather than me having to listen to this shit.
A moment later, the professor enters the room, and while people don’t go entirely silent, they do lower their voices in preparation for the lesson ahead.
Professor Aldrich drops his suitcase on the table at the front of the room and turns toward the wall where the projector screen is rolled up.
He pulls it down, opens his computer, and cues up what’s guaranteed to be a fascinating lecture.
“Everyone, get your note-taking supplies out. We have a lot to cover today.”
Everyone grumbles. This is a history of Medieval Art. Who really gives a shit?
“Professor Aldrich?” I call, raising my voice with false innocence. “Can I teach the lesson today?”
The professor turns around with irritation all over his face, surely about to tell whichever idiot asked no, but then he sees it’s me.
His eyes widen, and he swallows a few times before he says, “Today’s lesson is quite complicated.
Maybe another time?” But he’s really asking, not just politely telling me no.
“Today,” I insist. “I’m going to be teaching the class today.”