“I don’t suppose you have any idea why Rina set Bane’s trousers on fire?” he asked, as I packed my bag and left the library.

  I shook my head, because even though I knew the reason, I didn’t understand why Rina would be affected enough by my self-pitying moment to act on it. “Was he hurt?”

  “No,” Blaze admitted.

  “I guess it doesn’t matter then.”

  He gave me a long searching look. “You know, it’s harder to keep your mates from coming after you if they can feel how distraught you are down the mating bond.”

  I returned his look evenly. “I don’t want to talk about it. I was sulking, I won’t indulge again.”

  I could see his jaw lock in frustration, as if he was restraining himself from ordering me to give up my secrets. It frustrated me that he always held back, but I bit my tongue because I really didn’t want to talk to Blaze about Bane.

  We reached the huge doors that marked the exit from the castle, only to find Daron there, waiting for us. He was fiddling with the tablet Blaze had gotten him for his birthday the week before, but at the sight of me, he tucked it into his pocket and smiled.

  “Daron, what are you doing here? It’s almost curfew.”

  Blaze chuckled. “As head of security, it is my duty to escort misbehaving students back to their towers... nobody said I couldn’t take them on detours. You get everything set up?” The last sentence was addressed to Daron who nodded.

  “I have a surprise for you.” He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet in excitement before swiping my bag from me and swinging it over his shoulder, offering me his arm at the same time.

  “Is it a good surprise?” I took his arm and looked into his big blue eyes.

  “I hope so...” He traced the delicate lines of my daisy bracelet with his finger as he and Blaze led me along the path towards the gatehouse.

  The walk was companionably silent, Daron gently stroked my arm as we walked out of the school straight through the main gate without anyone stopping us. I looked at both men with questions in my eyes but Blaze just smiled blandly and Daron winked.

  “I worked out how to make my presence disrupt the cameras,” Daron confessed, eyes fixed on the darkness ahead. “And Blaze here happens to have the ability to get through the barrier.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked as we piled into a waiting black Land Rover with the Vice crest on the doors.

  “You’ll see.” Daron climbed in beside me and Blaze got into the driver’s seat, starting the engine with a loud purr. “I hope you’re hungry.”

  Both Onyx and Ivory perked up significantly at the mention of food, and I smiled slightly at their antics. But my smile disappeared when Blaze passed Daron a long strip of silky fabric.

  “Will that do?”

  “Perfectly.” Daron held up the piece of fabric and I saw it was actually a blindfold. He held the piece of fabric out to me and I looked at it questioningly. “Trust me?” His eyes were so sincere and gentle, reminding me that this was Daron, my white knight.

  I took the blindfold from him and slid it over my eyes, letting him help me tie it behind my head. The brush of his fingers against my hair was enhanced by the loss of my sight, and the gentle kiss he pressed on my cheek had me breathing in the scent of his minty breath.

  “We’re here,” Blaze said, after some ten minutes of driving. “I’ll wait till you’re ready to go back.”

  He was just a chauffeur, I realised with a start, as Daron opened a door and came around to my side to help me out of the car. When I would have walked, he swooped me up into his arms, and I automatically clung on around his neck.

  “The ground is uneven,” he explained apologetically, as he walked, barely jostling me as we travelled to wherever we were going.

  It took him under a minute of walking before he set me down, his long strides eating up the distance as I listened to the quiet whispering of leaves and felt the cool night air against my skin. I could hear the crackling of flames before I felt the warmth of a fire against my front. When I was delicately placed on my feet, he tugged gently at the end of the blindfold, sending it fluttering away and finally letting me see.

  The first thing that caught my eye were the twinkling lights hung between the trees above us, they flickered gently against the darkness, illuminating the blankets and pillows laid out below. In the centre a fire pit crackled and blazed, chasing away any evening chill and illuminating the cooler full of food on the blanket before us.

  “How did you do all this?” I twirled in wonder, noticing the smaller details like the rose petals scattered all around and the blankets. I slipped off my flats and took my first step on the fluffy blanket carpet, smiling as the soft fabric met my bare toes. “Daron, this is wonderful.”

  I turned back to find him holding out a glass of wine towards me, and I accepted it taking a gentle sip.

  “I had it planned for a while,” he admitted, kneeling by the cooler and drawing out two smaller plates which he set to one side, Onyx and Ivory beelining for them. “But when I felt how sad you were today, I thought it might be the right time.”

  “It’s perfect.” It was more than perfect, it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. I knelt beside him on the rugs and watched as he carefully removed plates of food from the box. “I can’t believe...”

  He smiled softly, the flames reflecting in his glasses and making him harder to read than usual. “I’m glad you like it.”

  I set my glass of wine down on the blanket after taking another sip, and happily took the plate he offered. “How did you come up with this?”

  He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I thought of a picnic, originally. But my sisters got wind of the idea and insisted that a midnight picnic was much more romantic.”

  “I need to meet your sisters.” I tried my hardest to imagine two female versions of Daron without much success. “What are they like?”

  “Irina is the most talkative, she talks so much it’s a miracle she remembers to breathe at times.” Daron smiled fondly. “Adrienne is more like me, but she’s slightly louder. She had to be to be heard over her twin, I guess. They used to drive my parents crazy with their pranks and their squabbling, but they’re best friends at heart. Because they’re sixty years older they like to act like they’re all worldly... they were so peeved when I got gifted and they hadn’t.” His lips twitched at the memory.

  I took a bite of a tiny finger sandwich and swallowed before commenting. “You love them a lot, don’t you?”

  He nodded, finishing his own bite before answering me. “I agreed to go to Vice because I knew they’d been here first, and they never stopped talking about it.”

  “I wish I’d had siblings.” I stared into the flames. “I often wondered what it would be like to have someone else there who knew me from the beginning and understood me.”

  “Sometimes it’s not so great, my sisters are nosey as hell.” He chuckled, and my eyes flicked over to him, finding him staring directly at me. “We have weekly video calls and when they figured out I’d mated someone they wanted to know everything about you.”

  “You only told them the good bits, right?”

  “Of course.” He lifted the wine bottle and offered it towards me. I lifted my glass in answer and we were quiet as he topped me up. “My parents already love you. I told them how you were the only reason we passed Maddox’s practical exam.”

  He’d told his parents about me, my insides squirmed with nerves at the idea of meeting the people who’d raised my mate. What if they didn’t think I was good enough for their son?

  “The look on your face.” Daron chuckled, leaning back on his elbows. “My family is very close, but they don’t bite. You’ll probably meet them at the Christmas visit.”

  I swallowed the bite of savoury pastry I’d been enjoying and nodded. “I hope they like me.” I stroked a lock of hair behind my ear. “What’s it like growing up with a family like yours? Did you have a fun childhood?”

  For the rest of the evening he regaled me with tales of his time with his family, telling me stories that made me laugh and a few that made me want to cry. We edged towards one another like magnets, till we were lying together on the blankets, my head on his arm as we talked, and the fire died down. The mating bond twined between us like a lazy, contented cat as we relaxed together. The more we spoke, the less awkward Daron became until he was stroking my arm in intimate little circles, soothing me till I was almost dozing next to him.

  When nothing but embers remained we reluctantly retreated from the tiny clearing and Blaze drove us back to the college, leaving us at the Gatehouse to walk back alone.

  “I loved tonight.” I leaned against Daron’s shoulder as we meandered back to the tower.

  “I’m glad. I wanted you to feel special.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of my head.

  “I do... I’m so glad you’re my mate, Daron.”

  He breathed out a sigh of tension I hadn’t realised he’d been holding. “I’m glad I’m your mate too. You’re the best accident to ever happen to me.” There was a long pause where he fiddled slightly with his glasses. “I hope I didn’t mess it up when I didn’t tell you about Bane being your mate too... He’s my best friend, I honestly thought it was his responsibility to share it with you.”

  I shook my head. “Bane... I don’t want to talk about Bane.”

  “Lilith, maybe you just need to sort things out between you.”

  “He’s got Lucinda!” I blurted without meaning to. “He’s fine, and I’m beginning to think that Rina’s right and I should set fire to his stupid roses and be done with him.” Daron looked torn, staring ahead as though trying to figure out what to say to that. I knew he was in a horrible position, as my mate and Bane’s friend he was stuck in the middle of the two of us and it had to suck. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” I whispered. “We just had the most wonderful night. Please, let’s not ruin it by arguing now.”

  “I just wish I could make it better.” Daron ran an anguished hand through his hair.

  I snuggled in closer to him. “Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.” I whispered into his blazer. “Maybe Bane and I are just one of those things...”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe you don’t...”

  “You don’t either, you’re just both so stubborn. Lucinda and Bane are just friends... she’s also a resistance member.”

  Oh great, I thought, sarcastically. Not only was she beautiful, but she was already part of that special, secret world that Bane would never let me into.

  “I appreciate that you care.” I smiled sadly as we reached the tower. “But things aren’t changing anytime soon.”

  He let out a loud sigh. “That’s the truth.”

  I paused as I opened the door. “Do you want to come up?” I asked, feeling awkward. With my other mates, sex now would be a given, but with Daron...

  He shook his head. “I don’t want to rush things,” he whispered, and I lowered my eyes, looking down at my feet to try and lower the sting of rejection. He grabbed my chin, lifting my face back to his. “It’s not that I don’t want you,” he protested, his awkward side back in full force. “I want you a lot.” He blushed adorably and let go of my chin. “I just... Your caste...” He dragged his hands down his face before trying again. “Because you’re a Succubus, you lost the opportunity to have all the sweet romantic moments that usually come before a relationship gets to that point... I just wanted to give you that...”

  I blushed as red as he did, and my heart did tiny backflips in my chest. “That’s so sweet of you.” I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed the line of his jaw, persuading him to bend down so I could reach his lips. His lips were soft and gentle against mine and I melted against him like I did every time.

  When we broke apart, I hugged my arms to my chest to prevent myself from dragging him back for more. “Goodnight, Daron.”

  “Sweet dreams, Lilith.” He pressed a final, chaste kiss to my cheek.

  I fell asleep smiling, dreaming of my white knight mate.

  Chapter 11

  Theology was held in a room adjoining the chapel, but the first thing Acolyte Ezra did on our arrival was shepherd us all from the classroom and into the shrine. We lined up along the pews, sitting comfortably on the padded pews that encircled the shrine at the front. Rina sat on my left, her heptagram hanging out of her shirt and reminding me that – considering I was supposedly chosen by the Strange God – I knew far less about religion than most of the class did.

  “You were all blessed by the Strange God upon your conception, then again at your birth.” Acolyte Ezra announced from beneath his hood as he took a goblet from the altar and handed it to the front row. “Through his rituals, your house was decided for you before you’d spent your first day on this earth. And he blessed you again when you go through your showings and he chose a caste for you. Before we begin these lessons, you will all drink the Strange God’s blessing once more to ask for clarity of mind in your studies.”

  I began to sweat a little at the thought of drinking more of the blood potion. What if I had another vision?

  My suspicions were confirmed when the goblet was passed to me, and I looked down into the crimson liquid reluctantly. One tiny sip was enough to blur my vision and I braced myself for the feeling of drunkenness that I knew would follow afterwards.

  When my consciousness was watching the lesson from above, I heard a familiar thrumming voice.

  “Welcome back.”

  “Benefactor.” I watched my body slump in the pew, and Rina shake me slightly. I couldn’t feel the sensation and even though I knew, logically, that it was still my body, I felt so distant from the events unfolding below me that it was like watching someone else’s dream.

  “You’ve found my gifts.” I didn’t bother spinning to try and face the voice that echoed around me. “But you haven’t accepted them all.”

  “One doesn’t want me.” I tried to keep my voice level as I watched Bane whispering to Daron and Rina. “And you can’t gift people.”

  He chortled, and the sound just felt wrong somehow, like listening to static. “One of the perks of being a deity is that I can gift people.”

  “Perhaps...” I wasn’t sure if arguing with a deity was a wise move, so I bit my tongue. “If I don’t get back, people will notice...” My body was rigid in the seat below us, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.

  “Your petty school problems do not concern me, nor should they concern you.”

  Easy for him to say, he wasn’t stuck living them, I scoffed. “Then what should concern me?” I wanted to pull my hair at his endless talking in circles but the best I could do in my non-corporeal form was to fume silently.

  “I gifted you your mates for a reason, each one has his purpose. Without all of them bonded to you it is likely you won’t survive the task you were created for.”

  I shuddered slightly. “I won’t force him.”

  “Then you will die, and he will follow shortly after.”

  My view of my body disappeared, replaced by the same office I’d seen in my previous vision. Seven figures sat around the table, their details blurred and distorted beyond recognition except for Professor Saxon, who leaned back in her chair, lazily assured of her place among those present. There had been nine figures in the vision I had before, but that had been when the Tester had still been alive. So, who was the other missing person, I wondered, looking around, trying to memorise more of the room for when Blaze inevitably asked me about it later. My efforts were thwarted by the fact that I couldn’t move at all from my position hovering over the table, and the blurriness of the figures surrounding it. It frustrated me that the Strange God showed me these meetings only to keep anything meaningful from me, but I was yanked from my angry musings by a slight cough from the person directly in front of me.

  “We’ve lost too many of our members since we last met.” The voice at the head of the table quietly spoke in the same deep voice I recalled from before. “The Resistance must be cut down before they cause any more damage to our campaign.”

  “We already have several infiltration agents working on gaining enough of a foothold to cripple them,” another shadowy figure informed the group. “I am confident that, by the year’s end, we will have eliminated several key members and gained leverage over the rest. We will avenge Portinax and reclaim his property for whoever we choose as his replacement.”

  “It will be harder to choose his replacement without the Tester.” A different blurry figure groused quietly and was ignored by everyone there.

  “What about the Carazor girl!” Another stood, sharpening into focus. Studying the elegant man before me I wondered what I had done to make him hate me so much. “This council has clearly underestimated her abilities and how much of a danger she poses to us. She killed the Tester and humiliated my daughter. I demand her death!”