Chapter 29 Quinn
Quinn
Prismatic Crystal
Xan kissed me.
Plum Purple
Took him long enough.
Let me be clear. We want you between us.
As an equal.
I read my TB for the fifth time before setting it down beside the glowing Intentions. The heat cone in my dorm flickered with my sparkling rainbows. A pile of stuffed creatures, courtesy of ‘PH,’ stared from the corner with lifeless eyes.
The sound of a page turning in a book rustled. Erick sat on the couch across from me, blessedly clothed without any extra bodies wriggling under him.
I touched my lips. Xan had kissed me, and for a second, I loved it, until panic over Ezra made me teleport the Architect. Then I bolted, hiding in my dorm like a coward.
But maybe running wasn’t my only option anymore.
Let me be clear. We want you between us. As an equal.
My heart raced.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, baby sister,” Erick said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He put down his book and slid to my side of the couch. “Are those Intentions?”
I nodded.
One of Erick’s overbuilt arms swooped down and picked up the pile. He flicked through each one.
“None from the Tates. Your enforcer’s struggling.”
I studied the backs of my hands. “I guess the baby was going to be a Moore, and they want the Tate blood more than Rowan thought. One of Rowan’s brothers is currently the renegotiation chip, but Rowan’s elemental magic is stronger.”
Erick raised an eyebrow. “You’re talking about this quite a bit more calmly than last time I offered to knock you up.”
I shrugged. “It was messed up. But I’ve realized ‘messed up’ is a perspective. The future did what it had to.”
“It always does.” He adjusted himself in his gold trousers and fanned himself with my scrawls dramatically, which did absolutely nothing but draw attention to his dick.
I wrinkled my nose. “Really, dude?”
“You just need to know what you’re missing.” He grinned before he started skimming.
I scowled. “If you want to knock me up so bad, why haven’t you sent me an Intention?”
“I don’t want to be your suitor. I want you to pop out my spawn.” He didn’t look up from my Intentions. “There’s a big difference. A contract gives you power. Being one of my pregnant girls gives me power.”
“Pig.” I scowled. “Why does anyone sleep with you?”
“Because I’m rich, powerful, and charming. Plus, the massive dick you noticed, denial or not. Now shut up and let me help you.”
I sighed and leaned back to give him space to read. My TB buzzed again.
Plum Purple
Gym, now.
My heart pounded. ‘Gym now’ meant Ezra wanted to talk.
No. Maybe. Ugh, yeah?
On one hand, I’d been daydreaming about exactly this; on the other, Cayden kissed me. My best friend liked me, and he kissed me while I rode Rowan’s face, which had blown my little virgin mind.
But they weren’t XanRa.
The dynamics between Ezra and Xan were nothing like Cayden and Rowan. And I liked all of them, each in their own maddening, irresistible way.
Erick let out an unhappy grunt. “I’m just going to say it.”
I snapped my attention to him.
He handed me my Intentions. “These are not the only Intentions you’ve received.”
I nodded. “Everly said the same thing… and Xan hinted there might be more.”
Erick snorted. “Might.” He shook his head. “The Architect’s limiting your options.”
I bit the inside of my cheeks, hating how plausible that sounded.
“Two are from the McDonalds. Their runner’s still at The Rooster, probably waiting for answers.”
I scowled.
“The rest are from our overlords’ allies.” Erick tsked. “I also know for a fact that my father sent one on behalf of my family, offering up my oldest brother on a platter.”
I laughed before I realized he was dead serious.
“Charles’s a twat.” Erick inspected his fingernails.
“But I’m sure you could talk my father into anything.
Politics and power are like that. My freedom extends only as far as my use.
” Erick frowned; his eyes shadowed. “So, depending on your game. The Architect would probably want you to respond to the Abernathys first, followed by the Robinsons. They’re out of Blackpool and small, but they’re loyal to the Architect to a fault.
Two of their sons are in his ranks if you wanted to meet them first.”
“Ah.” I pursed my lips. “Right.”
“The Silvers... are interesting.” Erick handed me back the scrawls.
“Like Seth Silver?” I bit my lip, not liking this at all. “The guy Winston told me would make a good friend when I first got here?”
“I did hear Seth expressing interest in you even before you told the world you were a woman.” Erick smiled too sweetly.
“The Architect was a Silver. The family’s stronghold in Yorkshire is vast and powerful.
Though they failed to cull a mentalist in their midst.” He tilted his head to the side and shook it.
“Such a shame. Neither the Architect nor the family makes a claim, but blood doesn’t lie. ”
I bit my lip. I’d studied the families with Xan, and he never once said he was a Silver. He had a cousin here. Why was I learning more about Xan from my roommate than from the man himself?
Nausea twisted in my gut. “You’re just making this up.”
Erick stood, walked to his desk, and pulled out a binding of scrawls. “This is my book. I’m sure the Architect has shown you his by now. Anyone who wants to get ahead in this world has one.”
Erick took a moment to thumb through it before thrusting a page in my face. I took the coral scrawl and scanned for ‘Alexander.’ After several minutes, I found it, tucked in a discontinued branch on the fringe of the Silver tree.
Alexander Silver, mentalist.
Mother Brenda Silver, physical caster
Father Richard Poltarz, raw materials
Funds received. Family branch relocated to the Midlands under the name Poltarz.
“Did you think the Architect just sprang into this world?”
Honestly? A little. I woke up here, so I kind of felt like everyone else popped into existence too.
I looked up at Erick and handed him his book back. I wasn’t ready to unpack why Xan had never told me.
“So maybe answer the Silver’s first…” Erick stood and pushed his book back into his desk.
“Though if you want to piss off the Architect, either only answer the McDonald’s, or better go back and demand the rest of your Intentions.
Anything’s going to be a better deal than making you get up at five every morning to work.
Every single one of those Intentions will be offering you a life of luxury. ”
The unease in my stomach only got worse. “In exchange for sex.”
“For procreation,” Erick corrected, as if the clinical word made it less disgusting. “That’s your only function if you stay with the families.”
“What other options are there?” I asked. “Everything here is about the families, as far as I can tell.”
Erick took a breath and then closed his mouth.
“There’s another option.”
I stared at him, waiting.
Erick sat heavily across from me once more. “Pick a family, Quinn. Pick several. You don’t need to drag this out.”
I tapped the scrawls against my knee. “But don’t pick you.”
Erick opened his book back up. The revolving door of people coming in and out of my dorm paraded through my mind.
Though most of them were women, he was definitely banging; several were not.
His cousin and the glimpse of forest-green eyes under his power slave’s hood came back to me.
The same forest green I’d seen at The Pit and now one of my attackers on The Mile.
“What was the name of your cousin’s power slave again?” I asked.
Erick didn’t look up. “That’s not your biggest problem right now. The Architect’s withholding information from you and denying you access to your Intentions. He’s keeping you from even entertaining options that don’t involve him. I don’t think my cousin’s power slave is important.”
Emil. The unimportant power slave was called Emil.
I swore I saw him at The Pit and then again on The Mile.
I’d been drunk. My memories of the fight were hazy, but one of Cayden’s brothers had been named Emil…
but why would one of them be posing as a power slave?
It felt so far-fetched. And I could picture Erick demanding proof while I only had a hint of forest green and guesswork.
My pile of intentions glowed. Xan’s kiss burned while my clit purred from the attention of a different set of men. I didn’t have the energy in me to deal with the mystery right now.
Another message appeared on my TB. I made a mental note to check in with Cayden about Emil and focused on everything else.
Plum Purple
If not now, then tonight?
Tonight. Because they wanted me to be a part of their throuple.
This morning, I’d sat on Rowan’s face while Cayden caressed me, pleasure so intimate it left me raw. I’d just gotten Cayden out of his shell, or really, Rowan had. I didn’t want to mess that up.
I didn’t focus on anything while my thoughts about XanRa played through my mind.
They both revealed their true selves when we were alone.
Ezra had been my anchor from the very beginning.
He was incredibly attractive and intense.
The chemistry between us was impossible to ignore.
Xan saw the world in ways I hadn’t expected.
He asked questions I didn’t have answers to.
I’d only met a few people who thought as deeply about the world as he did.
But the only facts I knew about Xan came from everyone but him. When he woke, he didn’t free me. He watched me and lied about who he was. Hell, I was technically still on probation, not even placed in his castle.
I took a slow breath and read the first three Intentions. Erick was right. Not one mentioned work, just estates, hobbies, and lists of potential partners. The Robinsons wanted me to stay in the direct family, as in, I’d carry a kid for each of their sons.
The scrawl in my hand shook. I had a split second before memories pulled me under.