She leaned forward into the mirror, inspecting her messy purple hair. “You and Bolton really never dated? Why isn’t Austin king, if the school crowned you queen?”
“Austin isn’t king material: he’s warm blooded and sensitive. Bolton is, no offensive, cold and heartless... he’s the perfect king.” Perfecting the concealer step of my process, I watched her turn inward, calculating how much he could care about her if he was heartless and cold.
Rolling my eyes, I turned to face her, dropping my beauty blender from patting the products into my skin. “Everyone has a weakness... you’re his. Trust me, he’d be pissed at Caellum for what he did, but not kill him... for just anyone.”
Playfully tugging a strain of her purple hair crowding her features, I gave her a genuine smile—well, as genuine as the callous, dried-up parts of me would allow.
That same obvious smile returned. She was falling for Bolton no matter how much she shouldn’t.
The powers inside me were wreaking havoc and setting off alarms I was choosing to ignore.
Having parents so rooted in love and lust only transferred their talents onto me like a modern day Cupid. I sensed love, saw their love stories unfold in my head, and it wasn’t always a match made in heaven. Sometimes it was a fiery kind of hell.
Arianna and Bolton weren’t a match. Neither were Luna and Nyx. I had seen their stories unfold, and they were all full of ache, insecurities, and flaws.
How do you tell your friends when they don’t even know your power? How can I break their hearts when love defies the odds every day?
I wanted to pretend I was powerless, so that’s what I did.
After putting my face on, I turned to Luna and manipulated her wild strawberry curls in a tight twist along her hairline, creating a crown.
We were all equally royal and going to look it.
My phone went off on the counter, shaking the products closest to the vibration.
Austin: Jasper is missing. No splitting up.
I kept my phone close to me, so only my eyes were able to read the message. Last thing we needed was Arianna’s dramatics and Luna’s worrisome eyebrows to dip.
Me: What do you mean by MIA?
Austin: Bolton poked the bear.
My fingers were frozen, hovering above the screen. I didn’t know what to type back. Bolton was rocking the boat before it was even in the water. Thankfully, Nyx and Bolton weren’t keeping the other girls in the loop like Austin was.
Pretending everything was fine was my special talent that I used every other day; tonight was no different.
We spent hours getting ready, talking, and snacking the whole time. It was straight out of a romantic comedy movie. There was always that one montage of the girlfriends together before they figured out how to be normal. Just like this.
I shimmied into my blush pink velvet wrap dress, making sure any static was banished from my look. I sat on the edge of the bench and pushed my feet into pink Balenciaga sneakers for some edge. I couldn’t let Arianna’s black number with Doc Martens steal the show.
I was on the dance committee, responsible for ordering people around and birthing the idea of the Winter Wonderland dance, but when I walked in, my own jaw dropped. I was seeing my handy work for the first time.
Austin’s arm was around my waist as I took in the magic around us; none of it was abnormal or god-like—just magic.
Nyx and Bolton met us here in true bad boy fashion. They weren’t going to conform to gentleman, even to walk across the quad to pick up their dates and walk to another building across the same quad.
Stubborn as they are handsome.
Almost all of me was focused on tonight and the dance, but the other half of me nagged at my senses. Something was wrong. Something in the air was grabbing my attention in a disappointing way, and I was hellbent on figuring out what was standing between me and the normal I lusted for.
“Did you have to push Jasper tonight? Of all nights? Are you begging for something to go wrong?” I barked at Bolton, while he was smirking at Arianna’s much more polished look.
Bolton’s mouth dropped exactly the way I planned to make these alpha men bow before the only women able to keep them in line.
I didn’t think she could pull it off, but even with her white Doc Martens, she still looked like royalty. Her lace black babydoll dress fit her so perfectly you almost didn’t notice the small hair piece I pushed against the crown of her purple hair. A tiny silver crown.
“He was pissing me off. I gave him an out, and he didn’t take it.”
A strong gaze from my half-mast eyes, heavy with mascara and fake lashes, and he knew exactly what I was conveying: an easy disappointment at his sloppy attempt to fix the situation before it happened.
He was throwing his weight into a brick wall, one not moving if they could hide betrayal this easily.
I had been feeling like someone was watching me for weeks now. It was a feeling that pushed my senses into overdrive, as I tried to pin the feeling onto someone looking my way or whispering in the distance. I had been searching all week for the culprit, but came up short. Whoever it was, was talented and hiding in the shadows, which is a place I had no determination to go.
Let them watch me.
Let the mystery person see how normal I strive to be.
Let them try to guess what my abilities are and what I can do.
I hadn’t even told Austin about this feeling. Not that he wouldn’t protect me or throw his weight around like Bolton; I just didn’t need him to. I wasn’t Luna or Arianna—someone looking for a shield to promote how strong I am. I was strong, and no man on this planet was going to steal an ounce of it.
I worked hard to be considered strong myself, apart from my sovereign blood and football player boyfriend—both equally deemed majestic in their own worlds. The mortal world prided themselves on image, and having a hot boyfriend that people adored was the same as having powerful parents in Olympus.
It made no sense, yet yielded more respect, even from me.
The dance was going smoothly, but the small hairs on the back of my neck were standing straight up still. I kept sweeping the room for threats; we all were. Tonight was the full moon and the start of the Harvest. There was no doubt it would happen tonight.
“Where’s Caellum?” My arms were around Austin’s neck, as we slow danced, trying to forget everything around us. Too bad my mind was glued to the drama.
“Probably going to blow us off. I heard Bolton really got to him.”
I couldn’t help the eye roll that came next. Bolton was single handedly playing the fool. It wasn’t like him to not play smarter than the average guy.
This was more than protecting Arianna. This was jealousy, anger, payback, and every other bad emotions lingering inside him for fourteen trapped years.
Men, as much as we condemned them to hide how they feel, we never stopped seeing how their actions were rooted in emotions.
My eyes swept the room as I pushed my chest against Austin’s, letting my pink velvet brush against his button down, complete with suspenders with small dogs on them. Austin was a rare bird, just like his father, Poseidon.
“Stop worrying. It creates wrinkles…” His voice was smooth and casual, like how I should be. He could feel how tense I was against his chest, relaxing sailed away when the nagging feeling of someone watching me grew even more heavy.
At least he knew me well enough to know how to get my attention.