Elsbeth
There’s a quick knock on the door, and I don’t have to wait to find out that it’s Fox with another tray of food.
The strawberries are the deepest red and smell like they’re fresh from a farm stand.
My stomach reminds me that I was too anxious to eat the food brought up last night.
The foil-wrapped gift tempts me the most, but I don’t trust them to not poison this after luring me into false confidence with last night’s dinner. It’s what I would do.
“I’m not eating that,” I declare, more to my own hunger than Fox.
“Good morning to you too, venom,” he replies.
I blink at him, unable to decipher by the amused look on his face if he’s teasing me or if the nickname reflects some underlying truth.
He sees me as a threat, but one he can endure.
Where Thorne is angry and Maddox is terrified, Fox seems to be fascinated.
It could be the time I’ve spent in his dreams or that I’m a puzzle he can’t quite figure out.
Either way, I want to melt his wings and watch him realize the gravity of his curiosity.
“Since you won’t tell us your real name, I had to come up with something that’s more fitting for you.” He tilts his head at me.
“You’re a terrible hacker if you’re still looking for something as simple as my name.” I lean into the back of the silk, cushioned armchair.
“Venom suits you.” He looks at me for a long moment, his head tilting to one side as he slips his hands into his pockets.
The plush fabric across his crotch tightens, giving me an almost perfect outline of his dick.
I flick my eyes back to his and curse myself when it’s obvious that he caught me admiring it.
I may want to kill him, but even I’m a supporter of gray-sweatpants propaganda.
His gaze intensifies when I let myself blush for him. “Maybe we’ve been going at this all wrong,” he says, his internal triumph making him swagger.
I roll my eyes and cross my arms. “You mean trying to feed me and keep me locked in your house isn’t working? Shocker.”
“You like games, don’t you?” He strides over to me, plants his hands on the arms of my chair, and levels his face to mine. “So, let’s play hide and seek.”
He’s so close. Again. But unlike our first meeting at the gym, neither of us is covered in sweat or the grime of a workout.
My head swims. Atmosphere and rain on warm asphalt envelopes me.
If I dared to let my eyelids shut, I would see the head of a mountain trail in the early morning.
The one I used to run away to when my mother became too much to bear.
An empty parking lot at 5 AM in the last weeks of summer.
Soft dew hanging low in the air as my lungs struggled to fill as I reached the summit to look over a sleepy city below.
I shake the image out of my head and fight the pit in my gut from growing. “What’s in it for me?”
My stomach does a traitorous flip when his perfectly pearly white smile widens into a playful grin. “What do you want?”
To see you and this house burn, is what I want to say, but instead, “To go home . . . or to the cops for a restraining order.”
“Come on, venom. A real prize.” His gaze falls to my lips. “I already know what I’ll win when I find you.”
“You won’t find me.”
“I have the advantage. I’ve lived in his house for the last five years. I know every square inch you see and many more you don’t.”
He’s right. I only know the layout of the manor by what was given to city hall years ago. I know that there was a fire and new blueprints were submitted after the restoration, but that means nothing. Alric warned me that there were pockets of the house that even he’s never been inside.
“Then why would I play a game I likely won’t win?”
“Because I’m giving you the opportunity to skip over whatever plan you have and get exactly what you came for. You don’t even have to tell me what it is yet.”
“What do you get if you find me?” I shift under his gaze, trying my best to ignore the tightening in my core at the thought of making a run for it, only to look back and see him chasing me.
He wets his lips and answers, “You have to eat lunch with me.”
I know I won’t win, but I could get a better sense of the property and find something that I know will help me take them all down.
The relic that I won’t allow my mother or Alric to get their hands on.
A spell book that was stolen from my ancestors when they were exiled.
I can’t be sure they still have it or if it wasn’t destroyed all those years ago, but if it’s intact, it would be in the legacy library. I just need time to look for it.
Fox’s smug face brightens when I don’t reject him. “Do we have a deal?”
“What about the others? Four against one isn’t fair.”
“You’re stuck with Asher and me for a few hours. Thorne and Mads have business to attend to. It’ll just be us. Asher has his head in his books. Something about a topic assignment that was due yesterday?”
My ears perk up at that. It’s the same assignment I sent after our Wednesday class.
I’m surprised he’s behind considering how hard our professor has been riding us all semester to work two assignments ahead of schedule.
If Asher is doing schoolwork, he’ll be too distracted to worry about my treasure hunt.
“How long are you willing to look before you give up?”
He considers his own timeline for a moment then offers, “If I don’t find you in the next three hours, I’ll personally give you whatever it is you came here for.”
“Why do you think I’m looking for something? Maybe I was just lonely and wanted the company of four hot men.” I pout for dramatics.
“You’re not fooling anyone, venom.” He brushes the pad of his thumb down my bottom lip and takes my chin in a soft hold.
I don’t pull away as he comes in closer than before and I breathe him in deep. My skin pebbles at our contact, and I have to hold myself back from easing into him.
“Wouldn’t your time be better spent researching me?” My words come out breathier than they should, and the instant satisfaction in his eyes makes my stomach flip.
He flashes me another dazzling smile and my insides quake. The small amount of skin on skin is flooding my core with heat and I hate it. Why does he have to be so pretty?
“Who says I’m not.”
Fuck.
He drops his hand and steps back. “I’ll give you a fifteen-minute head start.”
With that, he leaves the room. I wait until I can’t hear his footsteps on the stairs to get to my feet.
I’m still only wearing a T-shirt that I’m now sure is Thorne’s.
It’s too small for Asher and too big for Fox and Maddox.
Not to mention, the essence of smoke that’s overpowered the detergent that was used on it.
After I took a shower last night, I came out to find that one of them had come in and taken my clothes.
My sweater, skirt, tank top, and even tights were gone along with my boots.
I hadn’t expected them to let me keep my shoes as long as they did.
The chill in the air would normally keep me in a pair of sweatpants and under blankets back in my own room.
This was not how I wanted to get into the legacy manor. Alric had told me that I needed to be invited by all four of them, but now I’m not so sure that’s true. Maddox doesn’t want me here. Being in my presence has left a foul taste in his mouth on both occasions. I can’t imagine he’s eager.
Anissa and Eilene left for their trip early yesterday morning. Aside from my mother, no one will be looking for me until after the break.
My thoughts are consumed by each scenario as I peek out into the hall, careful not to make the floorboards creak with every step. Would Anissa call the campus police? Would my mother lead the search party?
The fruitless investigation would lead to vigils, candle-lighting ceremonies, and a half-hearted memorial before my name is forgotten by the next football game.
That doesn’t bother me. While it’s a fine and prestigious education, Harvard isn’t my dream.
Alric handed it to me on a crimson-napkin-lined gold tray and I’m taking full advantage.
But even knowing that I’ve been raised as a lamb for slaughter, I love Anissa and would rather her life not be affected by my current situation.
Mentally promising one of my only friends that she won’t have to give my eulogy, I peek into the hallway.
There are still voices floating up from the kitchen, but they sound casual and easy.
Like having a half-naked woman stowed in their house is an everyday occurrence.
If it weren’t for weeks of research, I would assume that’s the right drawn conclusion, but Asher is the only one who’s sleeping around.
From what I’ve seen, he’s strictly a campus lay.
Meaning that he picks women on or near campus to fuck between classes.
I wonder who he has on his docket this week?
That doesn’t matter, Elsbeth. He can fuck whoever he wants. Even men on death row get a last meal.
Barefoot and more naked than I prefer, I pad toward the staircase.
Someone below opens and closes a door. The force of it rattles a windowpane at the end of the hall.
There’s a mumbled conversation before three sets of feet exit the kitchen and wary floorboards announce that they’re moving on to other areas of the lower level.
I turn toward the far end of the hall and the one room that sits opposite the others.
It’s Thorne’s. My astral-self walked through this doorway last night but was quickly rejected.
Mastering my own magic has been easier since being here, but I’ve never had so many victims to practice on that wouldn’t draw me unwanted attention.
Because I couldn’t torment my roommate with nightly visits and I didn’t want to be caught in the elevator by one of my neighbors that would remember me from nowhere else but their dreams, I had to be discreet.