“Who the fuck are you?” Seth had his paws on Adrian’s chest, while his eagle wings were spread wide, filling up the space from one wall to the other. He stared into Adrian’s face, and realization struck him. “What the hell? No way. What the fuck?! Professor Wyvern?”
“Fucking move, Khepri,” Adrian growled menacingly.
I had no idea what had suddenly gotten into me. I was still on top of the pew, my legs apart, my skirt bundled around my hips, and my panties soaked, as they had fallen back into place. I started laughing. It was as if something had simply snapped in my brain, and the situation was absolutely hilarious. And bad. Oh, so bad.
Seth moved. What else could he do? He stepped aside and allowed Adrian to stand up and brush himself off. He remained in his sphinx form, though, and he only tucked his wings along his back.
“Yoli,” Davien said. There was utter, soul-crushing disappointment in his voice, and that was the thing that sobered me up.
“What?” I was either angry, or sad. I wasn’t sure. Right at this moment, I couldn’t distinguish between the two emotions. “What are you doing here? Did you follow me again? What is wrong with you?” Even if it was sadness, I chose to go with anger. It was more straightforward, and I could actually make sense of it.
“I thought we were the only ones,” Davien said. He had his black wings spread as well, as if he was ready to fly away. Except… I knew he’d never fly anywhere without me. “It’s hard enough to accept that you won’t choose between me and Seth, but now this? How am I supposed to deal with this?”
“Yeah,” Seth said, sounding just as disappointed as the incubus. “How are we supposed to deal with this.”
“And a teacher? Really?”
Adrian’s face was completely red. I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at them, waiting to see how they were going to handle this mess. The Unseelie looked from Seth to Davien, then back to Seth. I wondered whether he’d ever seen a sphinx in his true form before. Seth was quite impressive, and right now, much stronger than Adrian, especially since Adrian didn’t have any weapons on him. His jaw was set tightly. He didn’t know how to react, so he straightened his tie and simply walked past Seth. Seth stepped aside. Adrian came to help me get decent by arranging my dress. He offered me his hand for support, and I jumped off the pew. I proceeded to straighten my long, white gloves. I could feel that he’d grown cold toward me. He didn’t like the situation I’d put him in. He’d had no idea that all this time, he’d been sharing me with two other men. He cleared his throat.
“We will all return to the ball, and we’ll speak nothing of this. Ever. It didn’t happen.”
Neither Seth, nor Davien said anything. That pissed me off.
“So that’s it?” I confronted Adrian. “You fuck me a few times, and then you say it didn’t happen?”
“What?!” Davien was scandalized again. “A few times? Since when has this been going on?”
“Since last year,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Seth laughed bitterly. “Aside from the fact that we weren’t the only ones, we weren’t even the first.”
Adrian clenched his jaw. I could tell he didn’t want to have this conversation. He wasn’t even looking at me, let alone at Seth or Davien.
I shook my head. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m not actually dating any of you. Yes, we had fun… We’re still having fun, right? We can have fun for as many times as you guys want, I don’t mind. But I don’t belong to anyone, so don’t expect me to be loyal or something. Or… or whatever you’re expecting from me.”
There. I said it. And every word of that selfish, entitled speech broke my heart. Because at some point, I would have to admit it to myself, at least. I felt something for them. For the three of them. But I couldn’t choose. I wanted strong, noble Seth, crazy, unpredictable Davien, and mature, broody Adrian.
“He’s our professor, Yoli,” Seth said, as if it hadn’t gotten through my thick skull the first time.
“So what? It’s not like there’s an age gap,” I laughed.
Adrian cleared his throat again. “I will go now. We can talk about this… later. In private.”
“No.” I stomped my foot. “I will go. All three of you want me to choose, and I won’t have it. One, I don’t belong to either of you, as I know you’d like to think. And two, if you want me, you will have to learn how to share and not make a huge drama out of it. If that doesn’t work for you, then whatever. I have more important things to do, anyway.”
They were silent for a moment, and that was my cue. I teleported out of there. Poof. Back into the ballroom, where Corri had already dug into the first course.
“Are you okay, Mistress? You look rattled.”
“No,” I whispered. “I’m not okay.”
She knew we were going to talk about it later. For now, I needed to eat and drink a few glasses of wine.
Why had I done that? Did I want to turn them against each other? Did I want to turn them against me? Because I felt like I was succeeding beautifully. It would be easier that way… If they gave up on me… It would be easier to do what I was supposed to do without worrying that I might never return. If they fell in love with me like I was falling in love with them, they’d lose me. And that would break their hearts. So, it was better if they thought I was a heartless bitch who fucked around and didn’t care about anyone. Because I knew… I could feel it deep inside my core… I was going to banish the Great Old Ones, but there would be a price to pay.
There always was.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The day after the Yule Ball the dorms and halls of Grim Reaper Academy were usually empty. Students left for the winter vacation right after the party. It was short anyway, so they wanted to take advantage as much as they could. So, when I went down to breakfast in the dining hall, I expected it to be empty. Corri was buzzing around me, complaining that she was hungry. I stopped in my tracks when I saw Seth and Davien sitting at the MDC table, waiting for me. At the professors’ table, Headmaster Colin, Adrian, and Professor Lovecraft were having coffee in silence.
“Oh, we’re not alone,” Corri said, surprised. She blew out her tiny, cute cheeks. “I was really looking forward to some no-drama, quality time with you, Mistress. We could’ve gone hiking, or swimming, or relaxed at the sauna like girlfriends.”
I smiled. “But you don’t exactly hike, do you?”
“Eh.”
“Since we’re all here it seems, no point in trying to avoid the inevitable,” I concluded.
I walked over to the MDC table, and Seth and Davien looked up at me. I could tell they were still mad because of what had happened the night before. Just as I was sitting down, Headmaster Colin called out from the front of the dining hall.
“Yolanda, boys… why don’t you join us? No reason to make the staff set and clean two tables.”