I stayed silent. I was an idiot. I knew what he meant. He wanted to know why I didn't tell him how connected he was to Arianna.
Arianna had timing that left a lot to be desired, but when she yanked my creaking door open, Nyx’s anger only grew into his features, which were all made of stone and forged from fire. “What the fuck is she doing in your room?”
I laughed, only making Nyx more likely to punch me in the face... or worse, if he felt like it. He killed Zeus more than once. I would be a piece of cake, like butter against his hot knife.
Arianna touched his arm, trying to calm him, which fueled my anger. “Nothing happened…” Her voice was reassuring the guy who had no privilege to know that information.
I could have been fucking her all night, and it wasn't his business.
He shrugged off her hand, giving me a stare I wasn't about to combat into something worse, and growled, “Forget it.”
I heard his unlaced boots stomping down the old staircase, while I waited for him to be out of sight before I made any moves.
“He doesn’t need to know what does and doesn’t happen between us.”
She rolled her eyes at me, and I let her. It was how she managed her emotions by acting out. It was keeping the lightning in her veins inside instead of branching off in every direction.
Class wasn’t particularly interesting, and Nyx was avoiding me at all costs, like I had killed his cat. He opted to sit on the windowsill instead of one the empty desks in the room, making it clear how much I shouldn’t even bother.
Luna leaned over her desk in History, Alba’s class, asking me what his problem was. I wanted to be the asshole that he was making me out to be by breaking her heart in the process. He moved swiftly, making sure to beat my words, before I even formed them in my head.
“Starting more drama, friend? Leave Luna out of it…” His voice didn’t sound familiar or loyal like I was used to.
I felt challenging enough to stand up and let this come to blows if it needed to. “She asked me what your problem was… You afraid I’ll tell her?”
He stood up taller, side stepping and cutting my vision off from Luna, with confliction strewn across his face.
He couldn’t understand how to classify his need to protect Arianna and being accustomed to loving Luna silently. “Don't fucking throw your power around, just because you're the only one with memories.”
I snickered, letting my body dip down to the desk without letting my weight sit on it fully. My fingers covered a smirk, and I looked up at him through my eyelashes. “You play the tough guy, Nyx, and I'll be the leader I always am. Let's stay in our own lanes.”
Nyx had a short fuse—one I just used a match to set off. He yanked me up, fisting the material of the button down uniform shirt we were all forced to wear—forced to resemble each other even though we were all so different.
I felt my shoulder blades slam into the wall, regardless of how toned I kept my body. None of it made up for the powers I didn't have.
Nyx’s fist wrinkling my button up resembled Arianna’s—gold running through his veins. The blood of the gods coursed through him, and I was at the other end powerless.
I didn't bother flinching; there was no point. His fist was going to collide with my face whether I liked it or not, full force, no holding back… Luckily, he couldn't leave any real damage; we couldn't hurt each other.
I tried to absorb his fist colliding with my cheekbone as best I could, while Alba tried (and failed) to get Nyx off me. The rest of our class was stunned and watching without any real participation to stop it.
Nyx leaned into me so only I could hear, his lips brushing my cheek and my gaze to one side as I twisted my jaw around trying to break up the pressure: “Heavy is the mother fucking crown who wears it, huh, brother?”
He let go of his grip on me, and I had to bite back retaliation as I got my bearings back. If I was the King of Arcadia Prep, then the knight just embarrassed me enough to dethrone me.
I was still trying to stand up tall and swallow the pain reverberating on my cheek, “Did you tell Luna you've been dreaming of Ari?”
Nyx took me down without any real effort, and I felt my skull hit the hardwood floor with a kind of force that left me dizzy. The sound was muted and muffled; the room seemed to blur; and his hands around my neck made me contemplate if he had the balls to kill the one person with all the answers—well, ones he wanted at least.
My voice was choked up: “Do it if you're going to do it, brother…”
His hands didn't loosen, and I felt his fists around my neck tighten, keeping me quiet by putting pressure on my vocal chords.
It took Leo, Austin, and Alba to get Nyx to let up with the gold shining through his veins like a warning sign—one I didn't take.
Now I had to bear through the sting of my lip being split too. I could taste the tartness that made it seem like I was sucking on pennies. I wiped it away with my knuckles before anyone would notice the color wasn’t red like theirs but gold.
Nyx fell down next to me on his ass, elbows slung on his bent knees. “You're a real asshole, you know.”
I let my arm fall beside me, outstretched, as I heaved in all the air my best friend just stole from my lungs. Luna didn't dare move until she knew Nyx was okay, but when honey and lavender wafted by me, I knew she had taken off in a hurry.
Ari stood above me, offering me a hand, looking just as conflicted with dueling emotions as Nyx did earlier. I took her hand only sitting up and taking my deserved punishment, at least the last hit I earned.
Still catching my breath Ari filled the silence: “What kind of dreams?”
“Not here,” I snapped in her direction.
Caellum wasn't even here, and he was forcing my hand in ways I didn't want to. I knew I had to tell her, but that left room for her to choose differently and I wasn't giving my crown to anyone.
Heavy is the crown that I wear.
Arianna
Nyx was on the floor next to a beaten Bolton, and I didn’t know who I was more worried for.
Nothing was getting any clearer now that I had the ability to have lightning spring from my hands.
Nyx couldn’t have cared any less about me until he tugged down his shirt and showed me a scar I clearly created with no memory of doing so.
Now to hear he was dreaming of me made me question my connection to him. The closest thing I had to memories was the dreams I was having—my subconscious coming alive, trying to make sense of my new truths.
Luna, the only true friend I had here, ran out of the room, just at the thought of Nyx’s attention straying from her.
Kate popped her bubble gum and assessed the mess of us three. “Well… way to go, New Girl. Way to respect boundaries.”
She wasn’t lying. Luna was my friend; nothing but sweetness and innocence emanated from her. I was the one inflicting new sensations by encouraging whatever magnetism I felt for Nyx that was pulling me to him.
Alba’s deep voice was full of authority and annoyance when it sounded: “Detention. Starting now. In the library. I want 2,000 words on the history of the Harvest Dance. Move!”
His hand raised and pointed for the door with a sharp gaze that kind of scared me. He had to be well over six feet tall, and his skin was so dark that the sheen on top almost resembled glitter. His piercing blue eyes weren’t anything but serious.