“I should,” I totally agree, but my feet stay firmly placed on the floor.
“Dark angels are seductive, but you already know that, don’t you?”
My lips tilt up, and his eyes track the movement like a hawk tracks its prey. “Is this your way of asking if I like you, Henry-boy?”
“Fuck it,” he growls before he kisses me. His lips press against mine with an urgency I didn’t know I could feel through a kiss, but now I do. He deepens the kiss with his tongue as his hands slide under my ass and lift me up. My legs wrap around his waist on instinct as I dive my hands into his hair, moaning at how good our bodies feel pressed together.
The door slams open, and I pull away from Henry to see Riley standing in the doorframe, his eyes like molten lava and heartbreak all in one. Dammit. Henry lets me slowly slide down his body, but his arm stays around my waist, not letting me go to Riley and calm him down.
“Have you heard of knocking?” Henry’s voice is all male anger and possessiveness wrapped in a neat bow.
“Why him?” Riley asks me, ignoring Henry altogether. “You were never the girl guys like him would use and move on from. You deserve more.”
“Careful,” Henry warns, pushing me behind him in one move as tears prick my eyes. It was almost like Henry knew I wouldn’t want Riley to see me breakdown.
Riley’s overdramatic laugh fills the room. “Or fucking what?”
“Try it. I will even give you one free shot, but then your free game,” Henry taunts, and I stare, frozen in horror, as Riley does just that. He takes one large step forward and smacks his fist into Henry’s face, and Henry just laughs before he punches him back. Riley flies across the room from the hit, smacking against the wall.
“Stop!” I scream, running into the middle of them as Riley struggles to get up. I offer a hand to help him, but he glares at me as he gets himself up. His eyes flicker to Henry, and a sneer I’ve never seen on Riley crosses his face.
“I will kill you for this. One day, when you’re not looking. I will fucking kill you.” Riley storms out of the room, and I shout after him, only he decides to ignore me. Vesnia pops her head around the door, a worried look on her face.
“Seems like it’s the night for fights,” she says. “Want to walk back home with me?”
I look back at Henry as he sits on the bed, wiping the blood pouring from his nose, and he looks so pale again. Not meeting my eye, he whispers, “You should leave. I need to be alone.”
“Oh, okay,” I whisper back, feeling more tears waiting to fall. I take my bestie’s hand and close the door behind me as I step out into the corridor. She doesn’t need me to talk as she wraps me into a hug and tells me everything’s going to be okay.
But it’s not okay.
And if Riley doesn’t let this go, it can’t ever be.
Chapter 23
“Is he still ignoring you?” Vesnia asks as we eat breakfast. I chew my toast before leaving the rest of the meal, not feeling hungry anymore. Any mention of the two guys ignoring me makes me feel bad for not telling Thallon about my kiss with Henry. Thallon is a good guy and always honest with me, but I guess we never actually agreed we are dating. Or exclusive for that matter.
Exclusivity would mean telling Thallon the truth about the vampire ghost who haunts my room or my weird crush on the dark angel who is usually mean to me.
“Which one? Riley and Henry haven’t spoken to me in over two months,” I mutter in annoyance. The same can be said for Ren. I would worry he isn’t around if I didn’t see him every so often as I wake up or in the corridors or in the gardens. The problem is, every time he sees me, he disappears, and it’s frustrating. I’ve always made it so, in my life, I would never once get attached to any ghost, and then Ren floats into my life, and I find myself wanting to be close to him and figure him out. I guess if I’m being honest with myself, there is a connection between us that goes unsaid, and I’ve never had that with a ghost before. But in the end, any feelings I may have for him are pointless because he is dead, and one day he will leave, like all the ghosts do, to go to a better or worse place.
The thought of Ren being in hell gives me a lump in my throat I have to swallow. I couldn’t let him go there; he isn’t evil for starters. No matter what Master Gabriel said about vampires, I know he isn’t evil.
“Boys suck,” she says and bumps my shoulder. “You should stick to girls.”
“Of course that would be your advice,” I say around a laugh.
“Being serious though, have you decided which angel you want to be?” she asks as I get up and place my tray on the bed next to her.
“I want to be a dark angel,” I say, and it’s not a decision I’ve come to lightly, but it is one I know is best for me. I’ve always had secrets to hide, and the price of not being able to lie would be a terrible thing for someone like me. The dark has always called to me from the first moment I came here, and the light never did. “I knew from day one, if I’m being honest. What about you?”
“I like them both, so I’m going to make the choice when I stand in front of the fires. I will see who calls to me,” she tells me, and I think that’s a really good decision for her. I think about me and Vesnia having wings soon and actually becoming angels. I’m so excited for us to learn how to fly on our own. As much as I love flying with Ayda, it still would be so cool to do it for myself.
“I’m excited for us both,” I say, and I really mean it. “Now we best get moving to spear class. She asked us to come fifteen minutes earlier last week, remember?”
“Oh shit, yeah, I forgot,” she says and shoves the last bit of toast into her mouth as I slide my trainers on. I soon figured out trainers go better with the sports gear they make us wear now. Vesnia and I head quickly to the gym on the other side of the castle, but we come to a stop when we see everyone is gathered outside.
“Brilliant, now everyone is here, follow me,” Professor Bates says with calculating eyes. She walks us around the gym and to the end of the island where there are some stone steps going down. Nervously I look at Vesnia who shrugs, and then I search the crowd for Riley. He is right in front, and I can just about see his back. I’m hoping to talk to him today because I’ve heard he is sleeping with some of the light angels, and that might mean his silly crush on me is over. Maybe we can go back to being friends again?
I eye Professor Bates with some mixture of worry and fear as she is crazy, and in every lesson with her, someone has ended up getting hurt. As much as I can figure out, she has no sense of personal space and loves to see people in pain. She walks down the steps and makes it quite clear we all need to follow after her. The steps are a little wet from the rain last night as we head down one by one, and Vesnia holds onto my shoulder. We finally get to the bottom and find a long cave. Professor Bates stops at the other end, standing still even as the harsh wind blows her cloak around her. I shiver as we get into a line in front of her like we do in class.
“Angels do not fall. It is in our blood, in our bodies, in our souls and the very essence of this class and what we can teach you,” she starts off and slowly turns to the side. We all stare out at the hundreds of little rocks, no bigger than four feet apart, floating around in the air. Sometimes they crash into each other, but mainly it looks like they are making small circular patterns in the wind. I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach before she even talks. “Today’s class will be learning the art of spear fighting on these rocks. Two of you will go out one at a time, and the goal is to get to the island in the middle. If you manage to knock your opponent off, you will pass this class for the rest of the year. If you fall off, you will die as no one will catch you. Do you understand?”