Seris's POV
By the third period, I had understood one thing clearly. If you waited for kindness at Blackthorn Academy, you would rot where you stood.
So I didn't wait.
I had just finished dumping my books in my locker when I strolled off the corridor into the courtyard.
I massaged my neck, squinting my eyes a bit at the gentle glow of the sunlight. I did my best not to look at the stares around me.
I found them, the triplets, in the central quad, where the stone paths intersected beneath the dead oak trees.
Students parted around them without thinking, like water avoiding a blade. No shouting. No obvious fear. Just instinct.
I could understand why everyone was scared of them. Individually, each had an aura that could match a devil's, except Lucein; his was gentler. And together, they looked like they could plunge the world into an apocalypse any minute.
Three boys. Same face. Yet different. Father's diary hadn't really explored their differences; he'd just rant on about how cool and dangerous they were.
I wasn't sure yet that they killed Father. Wearing the Night Fang insignia was circumstantial at best, but I wouldn't put it past them.
My thought dissolved into nothing when Lucein turned, and our gaze collided.
There was something about him and his brothers that had me staring far more than I had ever stared at any male. I stilled, just staring.
Lucein's mouth curved into a familiar, careless smile. He stood up from the bench near the fountain where he was sitting with his brothers, and he crossed over to me.
"Morning, Human," he said, voice light. "You're surviving."
I calmed my stare and offered a smile. "Barely," I replied.
Caelen didn't look at me at all.
He stood with his arms crossed, posture rigid, eyes fixed on the academy spire as if I didn't exist.
Vaelis turned last, slowly. His gaze slid over me like a scanner, studying, assessing. Again, I felt like a puzzle he was solving.
If I weren't looking so closely at him, I would have missed that cynicism in his eyes that Lucein hinted at in the morning.
Of the three of them, I felt he was the one I had to watch out for if I was truly going with my plan of befriending them to find out the truth.
"Coming to Blackthorn. You're brave," Vaelis said finally to me, looking around at the imposing and ominous structure of the school to prove his point. "Or stupid."
That was the first statement I'd gotten from him since we met.
"I've been told it's a thin line," I said, strolling closer to them.
I dropped to the opposite end of the bench, and Lucein eased beside me, laughing. Vaelis didn't. His face could have been carved from stone.
"You shouldn't be here, human," Caelen said then, still not looking at me.
"I know," I answered. "That's why I am. I have a penchant for doing things I shouldn't do."
That got his attention.
His eyes snapped to mine, still cold and unreadable. He finally made me smile, one who refused to ease the tightness in his face. "Couple with your attitude, you are going to end up dead around here sooner than I had thought. It's just a matter of time before something snaps your neck off," he said, and turned away, throwing his hands into his pockets.
Vaelis smiled faintly. "Let's see how long your confidence lasts, human," he grinned. Unlike Caelen, his eyes held more light and humour, but I could glimpse something sinister and mischievous brewing beneath. He stood up and went after his brother.
Lucein turned to me. He ruffled my hair playfully with his fingers. He chuckled. "Don't mind them, human. They are just too stiff. No one will touch you, they know I have taken you as my pet," he said, pinching my cheek too.
"I am not anyone's pet," I shot back at him, growling, but he was already hurrying after his brothers.
For a while, I just remained there, wondering what kind of conversation we had just had. Was it a threat, a prediction, or humiliation? I didn't know.
It took the loud, pulsating ring of the bell for the next period to snap me to my feet.
The next class was a sort of extracurricular programme that had us sitting in the Advanced Pack Dynamics, a circular hall with tiered stone benches.
Alpha heirs filled the upper levels, their presence loud even in silence. I took a seat near the middle, aware of every stare and every whisper.
Lucein wasn't particularly wrong. Some immunity did come with aligning with the hottest, most popular, and most dangerous males in school.
After the display this morning, the wolves avoided me. They just stared, whispered, and gossipped, while the blades in their gazes tore mercilessly at me, sharp and lingering.
They looked like restrained hounds, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.
I didn't like being called a pet, but I began to realize I had to stick to being Lucein's pet, or I would sooner have my head on my hands.
I looked around to see the brothers three rows above me. Vaelis threw me a wink, eyes lighting up with mischief as he stretched his legs out on his seat, looking bored.
That should have warned me. But it didn't. I glanced away from him, and I tapped my shoes to the ground, steering my focus completely to the instructor, who looked extremely eager at what he was teaching.
It was a hard task trying to keep my gaze from straying to the brothers, but I persevered, right until I heard the hushed whispers behind me, from a very familiar voice.
I looked up, and I saw Vaelis leaning toward one Alpha heir—a broad-shouldered boy from the Western Claw pack. He murmured something I couldn't hear. The boy stiffened, jaw tightening, his eyes narrowed to points of murder as they glued to space.
Moments later, Vaelis shifted to the other side, whispering into the ear of a rival heir from the Iron Vein pack. That one sneered, eyes flicking across the room, until it landed on the Western Claw heir.
Both boys locked gazes at each other, murder pulsing between them like a live wire, their shoulders tightening, posture shifting, fingers unfolding into wolf claws.
No magic. No threats. Just words, and the whole air charged with so much electricity.
Chairs scraped back. Students scrambled away as the two Alpha heirs lunged for each other. The Western Claw heir battled his rival to the ground, snarling. Punches flew, and claws flashed as both of them struck at each other.
The hall erupted with shouts, laughter, and encouragement.
Vaelis stood behind the fighting boys like a god. No! a devil. The slow, tentative grin on his lips as his gaze flicked from the boys rolling on the ground, clawing at each other, to me, could only be a devil's.
He picked up both of the boys' lunch trays from the abandoned desk, and he climbed down the steps.
I followed him descents, while everyone else was focused on the fight, cheering the fight on, even Lucein. Only Caelen looked my way, but he didn't move. He just watched.
My heartbeat rose to my ears when he stopped in front of me.
Vaelis leaned down, his voice low enough that only I could hear.
"Let's see what you do, human," he whispered, and he upended the trays.
Food spilled at my feet—meat, bread, fruit—scattering across the stone floor like an offering.
The hall went quiet at the noise of falling food and clattering plates. The fighting boys broke apart.
He slipped me another wink before turning away, the gleam in his eyes growing.
I understood instantly what he had done. The food made it look like I'd orchestrated the fight. Like I'd stolen from the boys, and was mocking them.
Two furious pairs of eyes found me. Rage replaced confusion.
"Oh," I muttered to myself under my breath. "You're dead, Seris. You are fucking dead."
The boys growled, one flexing his muscles menacingly as he climbed down, the other folding his fists and clicking his tongue mischievously against his fangs. They were like predators about to pounce. They charged me at the same time.
I might be powerless, but I wasn't a coward. I didn't let the fear crawling into my veins from the depths of my stomach win.
I didn't scream. I didn't run. Instead, I stepped back, just enough to put the fallen lunch between us.
I fell into a defensive posture. My fists folded tight, arms raised enough to protect my face, should they choose to go for my head first.
"You really want to do this?" I asked calmly, controlling the trembling note in my voice as much as I could. "Everyone saw him," I continued. "Vaelis played you."
Laughter rippled through the hall. Each note was a blade to my nerves as it was my pride. I stood firm in my defensive stance.
The Alpha heirs snarled, "You are a fool if you think we believe that?" one growled.
"I think you should," I said, eyes sharp, watching both of them closely, following every movement they made. I couldn't last a minute in a fight with them. I just needed to defend myself for a moment or two before the instructor or some teacher decides to intervene. "If you attack me, you prove Vaelis point."
"I don't give a damn about that." One of them sneered, losing his patience, and he resumed his lunge for me.
I braced, holding out my arms and waiting for an impact, but Caelen had jumped to the scene.
His fingers clamped around the boy's wrist, stopping him mid-strike. He didn't raise his voice. Didn't bare his fangs, but just simply tightened his grip.
The Alpha heir went pale. The other dropped back quickly, easing his fangs.
"That's enough," Caelen said. "The show is over."
He flung the boy's hand back.
The boy backed away immediately, dragging his rival with him. Neither argued, and neither looked back.
Caelen turned to me. For the first time, he really looked at me, his gaze sweeping me slowly, as if he was just seeing me for the first time.
"You get to live another day," He said and walked past me.
Behind him, Vaelis clapped slowly, eyes glinting like the flickering glow of a lamp.
I felt like strangling him, and I wished I could, but damn hell, I couldn't. "Congratulations," he said lazily. "You passed. Perhaps you might survive for longer." He grinned.
Lucein dashed me a warm smile before hurrying after them, like a string was pulling him to his brothers.