Chapter 10 – The Queen Arrives
Wednesday, 8:07 a.m.
The entire campus froze when the motorcade rolled through the gates.
Nine matte-black Maybachs.
One white Rolls-Royce Phantom in the center, windows tinted darker than legal.
The license plate on the Rolls read: LYS-000.
Lysandra Lestrange-Valéry had arrived.
My cousin.
My mirror.
My enemy since we were children fighting over who got to hold the knife first.
The doors opened and she stepped out like the world had been waiting.
Lysandra was everything I pretended to be and everything I actually was, all at once.
Silver hair to the waist, eyes the color of glacier melt, cheekbones sharp enough to cut diamonds.
She wore a white cashmere coat over the girls' uniform (skirt two inches shorter than regulation, crimson blazer tailored to a weapon).
Her choker was rose gold like mine, but hers pulsed darker, almost blood-rose when the light hit it.
Because Lysandra was a real late-presenting Omega.
The only other one in the world.
And she hated me with the kind of purity that only blood can produce.
She walked into the courtyard followed by her pack (four students who had transferred with her from the European campus).
**Cur (Cillian "Cur" O'Rourke)** – Irish-Italian, Apex Alpha, red choker, black hair, green eyes that looked permanently pissed off. Built like a rugby player who ate other rugby players. Rumor said he once killed a man with a teacup.
**Imp (Imogen "Imp" Valenti)** – Prime Alpha, Italian, short black pixie cut, always chewing cherry gum, knives in her thigh-high boots. Smiled like she was planning your funeral.
**Saint (Santino Reyes)** – Prime Alpha, Spanish-Mexican, golden skin, saint-tattooed knuckles, spoke in Bible verses when he was about to break someone's bones.
**Dove (Dovile Kasparaitis)** – the only Beta in the group, Lithuanian, ice-blonde, carried a medical kit and a sniper rifle with equal affection.
They moved like a single organism.
The entire courtyard parted.
Lysandra's gaze swept the crowd once (dismissive), then locked on me.
I was standing beside Kael near the fountain, his arm around my waist like always.
Her smile could have frozen hell.
"Little cousin," she called, voice carrying like a bell made of knives. "Still playing dress-up?"
I let my shoulders shrink, clutched Kael's coat.
Lysandra walked straight to us.
Cur was on her left, Imp on her right, Saint and Dove flanking behind.
She stopped two meters away.
Up close she was devastating. Same height as me, same bone structure, same poison in the veins.
She looked at Kael and her entire expression changed (soft, sweet, lethal).
"Kael Valdemar," she said, extending a gloved hand. "I've heard so much. I'm Lysandra. Rui's… family."
Kael didn't take her hand.
He stared at it like it was an insult.
Lysandra's smile didn't waver.
Cur stepped forward, cracking his neck.
"Take the hand, Valdemar," he said, Irish accent thick. "Or I take yours."
Kael's arm tightened around me.
Imp blew a bubble with her gum (pop) and grinned.
"Five seconds of peace left on this campus," she said. "I give it five seconds."
Saint murmured, "The Lord saith: thou shalt not touch what belongs to the queen."
Dove just sighed and opened her medical kit like she already knew how this ended.
I stepped forward (tiny, trembling).
"Lys," I said quietly, "don't."
She looked down at me like I was an insect wearing her face.
"You've been busy," she said. "I leave for one semester and you seduce the only Apex worth owning. Grandmother is furious."
Kael moved me behind him in one motion.
"Talk to him again like that," he told her, voice arctic, "and I'll bury you and your dogs before lunch."
Cur smiled for the first time (all teeth).
"Finally," he said. "Been waiting to crack that pretty skull."
Imp flicked a knife open with her tongue.
Saint cracked his knuckles.
Dove closed the med kit. "Try not to damage the faces," she said. "They're aesthetically pleasing."
Lysandra raised one hand.
All four of them froze.
She stepped closer to Kael (close enough that her coat brushed his chest).
"I'm not here for him," she said softly. "I'm here for what's mine."
Her eyes flicked to me.
"I know what you are, little monster," she whispered. "And I'm going to prove it to the entire world."
Then she smiled at Kael (sweet, terrible).
"I'll see you in class, Your Highness. I transferred into all of Rui's lectures. Family should stick together, don't you think?"
She turned and walked away, her pack falling in behind her like wolves on a leash.
The courtyard exhaled.
Kael turned to me, eyes blazing.
"Who the fuck was that?"
I pressed my face into his chest.
"My cousin," I whispered. "She's… complicated."
He held me tighter.
"She's not touching you."
I smiled against his shirt.
Too late, I thought.
The real Omega had arrived.
And she wanted her throne back.
But she had made one mistake.
She thought I was still pretending.
I wasn't.
I was just waiting.
And now the board had two queens.
Only one of us would be left standing.