Chapter 44 Elle
ELLE
When my alarm goes off in the morning, I slap my hand onto the nightstand, pressing my fingers against my phone screen until the irritating beeping ceases. Rolling over, I stretch my arms and legs, expecting to feel Sutton still in the bed with me but instead finding only cool sheets.
This was the first full night we’ve spent together without me returning to my dorm, so I can’t say I’m not a little disappointed to be waking up without him.
Still, it’s not like we set any expectations when we decided to cross boundaries, so I suppose the tiny pinprick of jealousy I feel over him not waiting for me is unwarranted.
Even if last night felt like a hell of a lot more than two people simply obliterating every line drawn between them. I won’t get my hopes up for that either.
I lie in the bed for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling, taking stock of the state of my body.
My muscles are a little sore, and there’s a slight ache between my legs that I haven’t felt in a long time.
Gently, I close my eyes and slide my hand lower, tracing along my seam as I try to re-create the delicious patterns Sutton drew and licked mere hours ago.
Arousal strangles my throat as the memories pulse against my brain; I push one finger inside, choking on a soft moan and tilting my head back.
A sudden gust of air pours over me like ice-cold water, and my eyes snap open to find Sutton standing over me, already dressed in a deep forest-green sweater and brown slacks. He perches on the edge of the mattress, fiddling with a sleeve, watching me with liquid heat in his green eyes.
“Don’t stop on my account.” The tendons in his neck strain against his skin. “Open wider and let me see what you’re doing.”
For some reason, I feel shy, and my legs go to close instead. “I don’t—”
He palms both my knees, stopping me. “I didn’t last long enough before to get to do everything I’d like to, but I’ll watch one way or the other. Your choice, baby.”
“And here you said you didn’t know how to flirt when we first met.”
“I didn’t,” he says, flashing me a goofy grin. “You just like me, so you respond to everything I say, whether it’s corny or not.”
“But I don’t…” Swallowing, I force a shaky breath and pull my hand away. “I don’t want this to be all we do.”
His eyebrows arch. “Who says it would be? Can’t a guy just want to appreciate his woman first thing in the morning?”
“I’m not really your woman, though, am I?
” I chew on my lip, unsure of why I’ve chosen this exact moment but unable to stop the insecurities from tumbling out.
When you leave a pot boiling for too long, it’s bound to spill over.
“I mean, we can fuck in private all we like, but what does that really mean if you can’t even tell anyone about it? ”
“I wasn’t aware you needed to announce our status to the whole campus in order for it to count,” he says, a tinge of hurt lacing his words.
Throat constricting, I sit up, pulling the covers over me. “It counts. I’m just wondering how much.”
“Would it make you feel better if I offered you a role in exchange? Maybe we could explain to the class you should fill in for Sabrina because I like how you ride my—”
My eyes widen, and I blink as he abruptly stops speaking. There’s a sharp sting against one of my cheeks, the sensation of being slapped reverberating off my skin even though he hasn’t touched me.
I push the sheets off and throw my legs over the bed. “I should go.”
He drops his face as I stand up, searching for my clothes. His hand lashes out, grabbing my wrist and trying to pull me back. “Elle, Christ, I didn’t mean that.”
“It’s fine,” I say, twisting out of his grip. “You can’t be with me in public, I get it. It’s not fair of me to ask for more anyway.”
“Elle.”
“Honestly, Sutton, it’s fine.” I give him a watery smile, leaning up on my toes to kiss him.
He looks as if he wants to beg me to stay, but I mention I have a test in astronomy that I can’t miss, so he lets me leave.
There’s a numbness in my chest as I go through the motions, attending the two classes I have scheduled for the day and finding myself in the refectory, wondering how Sabrina’s doing.
I spot Lexington and Percy arguing over the differences between beans and legumes and plop down at their table to see if they’ve heard anything.
“She’s back in her dorm,” Percy says, scooping some turkey chili onto a spoon and shoveling it into his mouth. “As of this morning, I think the dean said.”
“Professor Dupont didn’t tell you?” Lexington asks, cocking a brow.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Why would he have mentioned it?”
Lexington shrugs, leaning back in his chair. He smooths his fingers over the collar of his peacoat, giving me a lazy, taunting look. “You two were the last ones at rehearsal, I heard. Just thought maybe it would have come up.”
Suspicion clouds my mind, but I force a neutral expression onto my face, plucking at the grapes on my plate. “I doubt it’s within Avernia policy to discuss personal matters like that with students.”
He snorts but says nothing else.
Percy glances between us and then shrugs. “You wanna go see her? I know where her dorm is.”
“Why do you know that?”
“Oh, nothing weird. I dated her roommate last semester for a little bit. She’s not as terrible as she seems in class, you know.”
Lexington frowns. “No one said she was.”
“I know,” Percy agrees, nodding. “But you all always get this weird look on your face when she’s around or when we mention her. Understandable, I guess, given how she’s been and the whole Apollodorus thing, but…”
“That would sour a person’s reputation a bit,” I mutter.
“I’m just saying,” Percy continues with a shrug. “I’ve known her since we were little. There’s usually a method to her madness.”
“You’re just saying that because you love her,” Lexington points out.
I get up from the table. “He has a point though. Plus, the nice thing to do is check on your castmate when they’ve been injured. Percy, lead the way.”
He does, taking us from the refectory—only after stealing the rest of my grapes—and to Rad Hall. I can’t help the wave of surprise that overtakes me as he swipes a key card, allowing us entry.
“She’s in Rhadamanthus?” Lexington asks, whistling low as we’re directed toward the elevators. “Unfortunate.”
All the dorms are dark and dingy, but Rad Hall at least reflects its renovations a bit more, with sleeker hardwood floors and less of the overwhelming stench of fear, a combination of sweat and adrenaline.
Sabrina’s room is on the second level, so I’m not sure why we take the elevator, but I figure Percy also has a method to his madness. He has yet to reveal it to any of us so far, but I’m holding out hope.
He knocks twice, and the door swings open, revealing a tall, broad brunette with dark eyes and a septum piercing. She’s in plaid pajamas and glares down at Percy as she takes all of us in.
“Perciville,” she greets in a monotone voice.
“Kelsey,” he replies, nodding past her. “Sabrina has visitors.”
She glares at him. “I thought I said not to bring anyone by. She’s not—”
“It’s fine, Kels, really,” Sabrina says. “If we don’t let them in now, Percy will just stick around until we do. The sooner you deal with him, the faster he leaves.”
Percy lifts a shoulder. “An excellent point.”
Sighing, Kelsey steps to the side, ushering the three of us in. Percy makes a beeline for Sabrina, shoving a chocolate chip cookie from the refectory into her hands.
She’s sitting up, propped against the headboard, with her laptop balanced on her knees and a dark brown throw across her legs.
A grateful smile lights up her face, which is unscathed, save for a small scrape beneath her left eye from the fall itself.
White bandages are wrapped around her forehead, and she gives us a little wave, sheepishly inviting us closer as she pushes her computer to the side.
“The only good campus food,” she announces, digging into the cookie.
Percy plops down on a wooden chair next to her bed, watching with soft eyes as she consumes the treat. “The lead in our class play should get only the finest Avernia cafeteria foods while she recovers from her injury.”
Sabrina snorts. Behind us, Kelsey excuses herself, and I wonder if it’s weird to watch her ex fawn over her roommate like this.
I imagine I’d have already thrown a chair through the window if I had to watch Sutton flirt so shamelessly with another.
“It’s just a concussion,” Sabrina says, licking chocolate off her thumb. “I’m supposed to be on total brain rest, but it’s so boring that I’ve just been watching Professor Dupont’s previous productions posted on The Delphic Pages all morning.”
“I can’t fathom how that wouldn’t be more boring,” Lexington jokes.
“Oh, no, our professor’s a prolific director.
Last semester, he had a super untalented batch of students, plus the whole thing with—” She cuts herself off, stealing a glance at me from the corner of her eye, and wiggles her fingers.
“Well, you know. But somehow through all that, he managed to pull off a fantastic show and raised a bunch of money for the theater department through the tickets. Half the people come just for him.”
My stomach churns, unsettled by the near-constant discussion of him. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I’d be able to escape Sutton Dupont.
There’s still an ache between my legs from where he was last night; I wince against it as I sit on Sabrina’s bed, pointedly ignoring the laptop screen.
I feel Sabrina’s eyes on me and force a smile onto my face. “How long will you be out of commission?”
“About two weeks,” she says, sighing loudly and falling back against the headboard. “Meg will have to take my place as Desdemona. At least temporarily.”
Lexington snorts. “She’ll be so thrilled.”
Sabrina wrings her hands together in her lap. “Could I talk to just Elle for a second?”
“Sure,” Percy says, leaning his head on the mattress. “We’ll tune out.”
Clicking his tongue in disapproval, Lexington reaches over and grabs Percy by the shirt collar, hauling him to his feet. “Elle, we’ll be in the student gym if you need us.”
“We will?” Percy asks, horrified by the prospect. “I don’t like the way that place smells—”
His words are cut off as he’s dragged from the room, and the door slams shut behind them.
I clear my throat, uncertainty swimming around my insides.
Sabrina cocks her head. “Are you okay?”
“Just swell.”
“That bad, huh?”
Groaning, I slump forward, defeat lacing my shoulders. “Am I that transparent?”
“Probably only because I’ve spent the entire semester thus far watching your every move.” She smirks, sheepish. “Not in a creepy way though—in an I-have-a-major-crush-on-you way.”
“Like Percy does you?”
Her nose scrunches up. “Yeah, I guess that is what it’s like, huh?
” She looks up at the ceiling, exhaling.
“He used to proclaim his love for me at every Fury Hill Fourth of July picnic. I’d sort of hoped college would open his world up to the other possibilities out there, but it doesn’t seem like that helped. ”
I don’t reply, wondering how she hasn’t noticed the heat between him and Lexington.
“Actually, I encouraged him to date Kelsey, just trying to keep him away. People who get too close to me tend to wind up hurt.” She runs two fingers over her bandages, pursing her lips.
“What do you mean?”
She gives me a knowing look. “Come on, Elle. You’re not an idiot. Do you really think I didn’t know who would likely be in the Apollodorus basement the night we went down to it?”
My stomach twists. “Considering you told me you didn’t—”
“I didn’t know for sure, but I had suspicions. The rumors suggested… Well. My curiosity about Death’s Teeth didn’t just crop up last semester. I’ve been studying them for years.”
Silence descends on us, and my eyebrows knit together. “Why?”
“My brother—well, half brother on our biological father’s side—was killed last semester in the caves. By your brother.”
A hole opens up in my chest. I pull my hands into my lap, sure that my expression must betray the discomfort within.
“Look, don’t worry about not knowing,” she says, waving that thought off.
“We didn’t tell anyone about our relationship, and we didn’t even really grow up together.
Eli got to be a Blackwater. I was raised by my mother and stepfather and apparently better off for it.
But Eli was always sort of a loose cannon, so when we enrolled at Avernia, Henry—our father—had me tailing him constantly because he was afraid Eli’d do something to sabotage his own bloodline.
He didn’t want to fit into the Blackwater box, so he got involved with Death’s Teeth pretty early on as a way to set himself apart. ”
“You can just join?”
“If you’re a founding family member, yes. But that’s why I’ve been watching them for so long. It was only a matter of time before Eli self-destructed, and Henry wanted to make sure he didn’t drag down his other son. So I’ve been trying to keep an eye on that whole situation too.”
“Who’s his other son? How many siblings do you have?”
Sabrina pushes her laptop further away. “Do you remember what the Director said the night they brought us down there?”
“I don’t speak French, so…”
“She told the group that there were two offerings, and that Incarnate needed to pick between us. If Professor Dupont hadn’t been there, I’m not sure either of us would’ve made it out at all.”
“You know about—”
“Sutton being Incarnate? Yes. I also know that had you not intervened, I would’ve eventually been sacrificed, because I couldn’t have been his Maiden.”
I blink, waiting for more. “Why not?”
She lifts an eyebrow. “You…don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“Uh, no? You’re speaking in fucking riddles.”
“Oh, jeez.” She sighs, wrapping her arms around her knees. “I don’t want to be the one to keep dropping bombshells on you, but…it’s Sutton. Sutton Dupont is Henry Blackwater’s other son.”