Seris's POV
From the start of the day to lunch break, I didn't glimpse the triplet. It was as though they had disappeared from the face of the earth.
I was beginning to think they were absent for the day. That changed fast when I walked down the south corridor of the school.
"Busy morning?" Vaelis voice slid into the silence around me, causing me to turn my head.
Of the three, he was the one I couldn't place the most. His eyes were quiet, but one could tell they were calculating and scheming something underneath.
I refuse to flinch from the shock that slithered up my spine at his sudden presence, nor did I break step in my walk. I wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of seeing me scared.
He didn't look at me and kept his gaze forward. "I didn't reckon you'll be this busy so early," he said.
He fell into step at my side without asking permission. Unlike Alaric, he didn't need goons. His presence was chilling enough, and his silence demanded authority.
I pretended to be unaffected. "What are you talking about?" I asked evenly, after reading the hidden meaning to his greeting and presence.
We walked some more steps in silence. Students ahead of us instinctively shifted out of our path, nearly plastering themselves to the walls.
"You are a smart female, Seris. You know what I am talking about. I don't need to spell it out to you."
I had a feeling I did know. But I wasn't going to be the one to say it.
"I am sorry, but I still don't know what you are talking about." I scoffed.
Silence settled between us for a moment, then he tilted his head, studying my face like it held notes only he could see.
"You met Alaric in the east corridor this morning," he said calmly. "Four of his wolves cleared both ends. No witnesses. Just you and him."
"Are you so obsessed with me that you are following me around, Vaelis Ludwingvon?" I cocked a brow high at him, lips curled in a sneer. "Yesterday, it was the library, and today, it's about Alaric and me. Even an obsessive lover wouldn't go this length."
"I am not obsessed with you, Seris, nor am I obsessed with anyone." He said. He sounded like he'd just grunted the words, though he'd made his voice seem so even.
For a moment, I thought I saw a crossed look claim his eyes, and his jaw tightened. I couldn't prove it. His expression calmed so fast, it seemed like a blur.
"Then why does it seem like you are?" I sighed heavily, then with exaggerated exasperation. I slowed to a pause, and he did too beside me. I'd seen him crack earlier, and I thought. Why don't I get more of that? "You are a pretty boy, Vaelis, but I'll advise that if you want a woman, you don't stalk her. You approach her."
There was no crack in his expression. Or perhaps he'd hidden it well this time. He stepped closer, not invading, just narrowing the air between us. There was that strange aura that came with him, that made me shelve my further attempt at taunting him.
"I'm not obsessed with you, I'm just curious, Seris," he said softly, his gaze sweeping me carefully, studying me again. "whether you told him no immediately… or whether you hesitated first."
I knew the trick would come. He didn't ask about what Alaric asked me, what he offered me, or how tempted I was to whatever he offered.
I crossed my arms, holding the smoldering intensity of his gaze, though his expression might as well be blank. "I don't owe you an explanation."
He rowed his head to the sides thoughtfully, and then he threw his arm forward for me to resume my walk.
I hesitated for a moment, watched him. His lips flatlined in the fakest of smiles, urging me on.
I stared down the now-empty hallway, the stone walls and marble tiles of the floor, and eventually I resumed walking.
I didn't really have somewhere to be, but anywhere was better than being around him.
We'd only walked for a couple of minutes when he circled slightly behind me, shifting angles. Changing perspective, and forcing me to turn to keep him in view.
What games was he playing now?
"Alaric doesn't approach without leverage," he finally said. "So let's remove the theatrics, Seris."
His eyes locked onto mine, while he shifted again around me, and again, I had to look around to keep him in view.
"He offered protection, right?"
I said nothing. I just clutched my backpack tighter and put more pressure on my stride.
"He wanted something in return," he said, lifting a brow in question. "Something like information… about us."
He licked his lower lip, and his eyes sparked momentarily with mischief when I turned to him fully with a tightened jaw.
I wasn't surprised he knew. I was just surprised by what he might be scheming, spelling it out loud, when there was no reason to.
"You seem very confident in your analysis," I said carefully, resuming after a brief break in my strides.
"I am." He watched me the way a scientist watches a reaction in a glass.
"You're intelligent, Seris. And ambitious." His voice lowered slightly. "And you're currently aligned with us. Alaric would only offer you security in exchange for proximity."
He took another awful pause that tugged hard at my nerves. "He asked you to spy on us."
It wasn't phrased as a question. I tried my best not to turn at that. I tried to respond and hesitated, not knowing whether to confirm it or deny it.
I wished I knew where he was going with all this. Silence stretched between us as we continued down the corridor, his gaze burning holes in my back.
"I—" I began, then I sighed. Fuck it, I screamed in my head, and I answered. "He did," I conceded.
I caught a faint shift in his eyes. Victory that he'd broken me or something else, I couldn't be sure.
"And?" he prompted.
"I said no."
Vaelis considered me for a moment. Then something unexpected happened. He faked a smile, that same flatlined stretch of his lips. "You'll accept."
My brows knit. "Excuse me?"
"You'll accept his offer," he repeated calmly.
I stared at him. "And why would I do that?"
"Because," he said, stepping closer until the world narrowed between us to a few inches of space. I didn't like that I felt his warm breath on my nose, but I didn't hate it either. "If you refuse him outright, he becomes aggressive."
I didn't like that he was right. I wouldn't want Alaric as my enemy.
"If you accept," Vaelis continued, "he relaxes. He believes he has control, and he reveals more." He paused. "You gain proximity to both sides."
The realization of his schemes settled slowly. Cold slithered through me. "You want me to spy," I demanded, almost yelling.
"I want you positioned."
That still sounds the same to me.
"You're already in the middle," he added softly. "We might as well use it."
"And what makes you think I'd risk that?"
His gaze darkened just slightly.
He leaned in, closer that his strong woodsy cologne shoved itself into my throat, his voice lowering. "Because I know you're not afraid of risk, Seris. And this might be the only way you survive at Blackthorn."
For a split second, I wondered which Alpha heir was more dangerous between the two groups.
The one who demanded control. Or the ones who orchestrated it.
"I know what you are doing, Vaelis. You're manipulating me," I said.
"Yes." He didn't even pretend otherwise. He stepped back now. The flatlined stretch of his lips again. "I want to protect you, Seris, so help me. Agree to his offer. Tell him what he expects to hear,"
Then he turned to leave, leaving me at the edge of the stairs, the echo of his footsteps fading into the stone walls.
I just stood there, realizing I was becoming a pawn in a game I never signed up for.