21. Nolan
“Come in.”
I stand, doing my best to wipe any trace of annoyance off my face as I move from the most uncomfortable waiting chairs toward his door.
If I had been even one minute late, he wouldn’t have seen me, yet having me wait for almost thirty minutes is perfectly acceptable.
Even worse, there’s nobody else here. It’s not as if he were in a meeting; he just likes to act as though he is above everyone.
He’s used to being the king and wants everyone to know it.
But this isn’t the ocean, and he’s only got so long to hold that over my head.
Once I’m free, I’ll never see him again.
The thought is enough to get me through this meeting… hopefully.
“Ah, Nolan, my boy!” He’s out of his chair and coming around the desk before I’ve even opened the door completely, coming up and clapping a hand to my back, hard.
To anyone watching, which is only his secretary currently, I’m sure it would appear affectionate, even playful.
But I know better; something's up, and I’m sure I’m about to find out what it is.
He wraps his arm around my shoulder in a weird side hug, pulling me close and squeezing. I might be big, but my father still towers over me. Perks of being the king, I guess.
He loves to make other people feel small and powerless and never misses a chance to flex his muscles, both figuratively and literally.
The door clicks shut behind us, and I have to remind myself that it’s only temporary. I just need to get through this meeting, and then I can go on pretending he doesn’t exist. So long as I keep winning, he allows it, and life is easier, if not significantly better.
“So what brings you here? How is training? Are classes treating you well? Any special girls?”
I almost choke on the air in my lungs at his last question.
Never has my father asked me about girls, let alone cared to ask me about anything other than classes and competing.
I swallow down the urge to start the sentence with ‘um’ as I get my thoughts in order. He hates bad manners.
“Training is going well. Classes are just starting, but they shouldn’t be an issue. No special girls, but I am here about a girl, specifically the one you put in our dorm room.”
I know I’m fucked the second his lips pull up into a smile; it’s not a pretty thing. Not something I would associate with happiness, more so an evil villain or a crazy person.
No, I think I’d rather he be yelling than smiling.
“Yes, Wren. How is she doing? I trust a girl as smart as her is acclimating well.”
“She seems to be doing just fine, though I was wondering what made you place her in our dorm.”
His smile doesn’t waver, and I feel like I’m in the fucking twilight zone. Never have I been able to question my father, even if it really was just for the sake of better understanding something.
What was it that Julian used to joke about? Body snatchers… maybe they got my father?
No, that can’t be right, though, because through it all and behind that smile, I still see the cruel fire that burns in his eyes. He might be damn convincing with that mask, but there are some things you can’t hide, and I've seen those eyes blaze in fury enough times to know them anywhere.
“A shame, really, that she’s a dud. Her family was really something,” he says as if he didn’t just drop a bomb on me.
A dud is a rather rude term for someone born to parents who live outside the mortal realm, be that shifter, demon, witch, vampire, whatever it is, just not mortal, but who is born mortal, regardless.
It shouldn’t be possible if you ask me, and from my understanding, it’s increasingly rare, even rarer than the opposite, flukes.
Those born with magic from non-magical families.
But that’s not the only thing that catches my attention.
“Which family?” I ask before I can help it, falling right into his trap.
He wanted me interested; well, he knew just how to do it.
“I’m not at liberty to speak of her family at the moment, but she’s an alumni student and was set to attend last year, having graduated a year early, but something… came up.”
This time, I managed to keep my mouth closed, but just barely.
Wren had been interesting from the moment she knocked on the door, but now, well, I’d say there are a lot more pieces on the board than I was aware of.
Though with every new discovery, I remind myself I’m to stay away, uninterested.
“There was an accident, and her brother died. She took it hard, and while that’s tragic...” his face doesn’t say he thinks it’s tragic at all. In fact, he’s talking about this the same way a sane person might talk about the weather. “Rules are rules.”
The fact that I’m related to this man makes my skin crawl. His rule is an old one that had to do with her coming through the semester. Meadow Ridge doesn't accept transfers, but this doesn’t seem like the same thing.
Wren doesn’t talk about Jordan, something I didn’t even think about much before he just mentioned him.
Thinking back on the handful of times I saw her before she came to campus, he was always around, and while we might not have been close with him, he and Titus both played soccer.
They often faced off, and Jordan was good.
Not to mention he swam too; hell, I’m not sure there wasn’t a sport he didn’t play.
He was the other half of Wren for sure; where she was all books, he was sports.
“But her aunt put up a hell of a fight, and duds have been known to still pass gifts.”
What he meant to say was that she must have paid him a lot of money or offered him something he couldn’t refuse.
My eyes go wide as the thought crosses my mind, and I really comprehend what he just said.
“Father, no—” His glare hardens, cutting through me and shutting me up as if I’m nothing but a scared child.
And to him I am.
Despite my size, I’m still no match for him. With his control of the seas, it also gives him control of those who reside in them, and while I might be on land right now, he can take that ability away at any moment.
I have yet to earn my legs, which is why I’m still around, still eager to try to appease him.
The deal was that I would be the best; I would win, train, and get good grades. What more could he possibly want from me? My older brothers had agreed to be his generals, and he’d married my sister off to some asshole in the council.
I was meant to be his golden child, the one everyone loved, and I’d perfected that role.
So why did it feel like someone just dropped a lead weight in my stomach and then pulled the rug out from under me?
“Manners, boy, I know I taught you them,” he seethes, his fists slamming down on his desk, and despite my rising panic, I manage to snap my mouth shut.
He waits a moment as if testing to see if I can keep myself in check before he nods and continues, as if I hadn’t spoken.
“Despite her unfortunate dud status, there is still a chance for her to offer good genetics, not to mention she’s smart.
The brightest student we have enrolled, she plays seven instruments, speaks five languages, and graduated a year early, though she probably could have done so a few years earlier if her aunt had let her.
She’s going to be performing one of her own pieces during the showcase in a few months.
You’ll do well to make friends with her. ”
The way he looks at me tells me exactly what he wants from me, and it’s not friendship.
I was supposed to ignore her.
This girl, who is Gavin’s rival and who Julian is already obsessed with.
This meeting was meant to be about getting her out of the dorm, but somehow she’s simply wormed her way further into my life and my space.
My annoyance grows by the second as he continues to ramble on about how great she is and how having our two families as allies is a good thing.
“If you can ensure that, I’ll give you your legs.” He says it so nonchalantly, as if he didn’t just toss everything I want and have been working for right at my face and expect me to catch it.
“What?” I force the question out past all logic, needing to know what the requirements are here.
“Keep her close, keep her happy, and if you can, find a way to keep her.” He shrugs as if to say it’s no big deal either way, but we both know that’s a lie. We both also know the ‘if you can’ is a load of shit. My father will expect nothing less.
“If you can do that for me, I’ll give you your land legs.”
Just like that.
No, not just like that, because despite myself, I feel the guilt already seeping in.
I’ll do it. I don’t have much of a choice, but I’m going to fucking hate it. I’ve said it before; I don’t think Wren would be hard to like, but this...
“I can do that,” I assure him without hesitation, because I can. I’ve seen how easy she is to impress, and with Gavin there, it would be so easy to make myself look great.
This time, his smile is a little bit more real, and if I’m being honest, I think that might make him look even scarier.
“I knew I could count on you!” He’s back on his feet, moving toward the door, and I know my time is up even without him saying as much.
I stand, moving toward the door in a daze, unsure how this meeting got so out of hand, and that’s why I don’t see his hand until it’s already wrapped around my throat, not that I could stop him, regardless.
“And the next time you want to question my decisions, don’t.
I don’t give a fae fuck if she has to sleep on the ground; that’s her dorm.
We need her, and all the rooms are full.
Figure it out, or I’ll come and handle it for you.
I trust we can keep this between us, right?
” He shoves me away so that my back hits the wall before he glares down at me for a moment as if looking for something.
When he finally pulls back, he does so with a sneer that is much more like the father I’m used to. He swings the door open, and I head out without so much as glancing back.
So much for ignoring her.