I dont need to know him to know what hes capable of.
My brows rose, but I ignored that. I need to apologize to him.
You dont need to apologize to him. He bent down, brushing my hair off my cheek. Im being serious. Youll be the next Apollyon, Alex. You wont apologize to him, to any pure, or even to a god.
After a few moments of silence I said, You know you need to leave, right? Even if I fall asleep, youre going to leave?
Of course. I couldnt see him, but I heard the smile in his voice. Seth kept talking, bombarding me with questions, but I gave up answering them as sleep pawed at me, the kind of sleep I was almost sure I wouldnt wake up from in an hour or two. I finally gave into it, confident that when I awoke in the morning, Seth would be gone.
It felt like someone had trapped me face down on the bed. I thought I was having one of those dream paralysis things Id read about once, but then I realized what pinned me to the bed was an arm.
And that arm belonged to Seth.
He hadnt left, and apparently, Seth was a cuddler.
His arm curled around my back, fingers balled into the comforter. His steady breath blew across my neck, almost as if he had moved my hair out of the way. Under a different circumstance, I would have enjoyed the feeling of having someone wrapped around me so closely. Because the warmth Seth exuded was nicevery nice. It was Seth, yet for a momenta really tiny momentI closed my eyes and drank in the warmth.
Then I wriggled out from underneath him, beat him on the chest until he woke up, and yelled at him for staying. All of this made me late for my first class, and the whole episode left me in a weird funk, which wasnt helped when I passed Lea in the hallway.
Even with the black eye and bandaged nose, Lea looked good. No one could sneer like her. I ignored her for the most part, feeling ambivalent for doing so.
In Technical Truth and Legends, which was a cross between history and English, I usually sat beside Thea, a quiet pure Id met over the summer, but today Deacon St. Delphi slid into the seat beside me.
I liked Deacon for a lot of reasonsnone of them being the fact he was Aidens younger brother. He tended to drink a bit too much, but he was funlots of it.
Hey there. Deacon dropped his book on the desk.
Why isnt Thea sitting here?
He shrugged and several blond curls fell across his gray eyes, the only physical trait he and his brother shared. Some of the pures are scared of you. Thea knows were friends. She asked to switch.
Theas scared of me? Since when? What did I do to her?
Its not you personally. A lot of us are freaked out right now.
Thats nice to know. I focused on the chalkboard. Our teacher hadnt showed yet.
You asked.
I did.
Besides, you should be nice to me.
I cracked a half smile for him. Im always nice to you, Deacon.
Yeah, but you need to be nicer. Im losing a lot of cool points being seen talking to you.
I glared at him.
Deacon grinned. One dimple in his right cheek appeared. Not just you, but any half at this moment. We pures dont trust a single one of you. Every half is suspect. Were just waiting for one of you to pounce on us and suck away at our aether.
Then why are you talking to me?
Have I ever cared for what the other pures think? His voice was loud enough for several of the pures seated around us to hear. I cringed inwardly. Anyway, my brother thinks I need a babysitter while he goes to Council. Probably thinks Im going to overdose or something without him being up my ass.
Thats not what he thinks. Hes probably worried someone will suck up all your aether.
Deacon arched an eyebrow at me. Defensive, arent you, when it comes to my brother?
Looking away, I felt my cheeks flush. No. You give him a hard time when all he does is care about you.
I dont know. He just thinks Im a drunk little shit, which I am. He grinned, but it rang sort of false. Anyway, his birthday is coming up. Hes going to be twenty-one, yet he acts like hes thirty.
Cuz thirty is real old, I said. Of course I hadnt forgotten Aidens birthday. It was the day before Halloween, and a week or so before we left for the Council.
Anyway, I thought about throwing him a party. You should come.
I shook my head, grinning. Deacon, Im not allowed to go anywhere. None of the halfs are. I also doubted Aiden would be down with a party, but I didnt say that. I think Deacon was serious in wanting to do something for Aiden, and I didnt want to hurt his feelings.
So you excited about going
to Council? I hear they know how to party up there.
Edginess turned my tummy upside down. Excited isnt the word Id use.
Our teacher finally showed up and launched into a long-winded, dry lecture about archetypes and the first creation of the Council. Other than wanting to bang my head against the desk, the class was a breeze. So was the rest of the morning, once I got used to the suspicious looks. They werent directed just at me, but at any and all half-bloods.
The pures were a paranoid bunch.
Halfway through Silat training, several Guards entered the room, bringing everyone to a halt. I sent Caleb and Luke a nervous look as the first Guard started reading out names in a flat, emotionless tone. My name was among the ten called out.