We stared at each other for a second, then both of us burst out in laughter.

  “I can’t believe it,” Nelly whispered, still giggling under her breath. “Lulu… mated. Lulu of all people!”

  I grinned. “That makes it your turn next!”

  Nelly’s eyes widened to a comical degree. “No way! You may have started this… this mating bug, but I am staying out of it! Focus your matchmaking wiles on Rina!”

  I snorted. “She probably already knows who she’ll end up with, her grandmother probably already told her.”

  “I hope it’s an ugly troll,” Nelly grumbled. “The other day she told me that if I frowned any deeper people would start mistaking my face for my ass.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I told her that if she got any bitchier I’d have to find her a kennel.”

  I chuckled then peeked through the peephole. “They’ve gone somewhere…”

  “I give them an hour before my sister is naked.”

  “I think you’re underestimating Lulu.” My smirk diminished as I realised something, “Is this going to be a problem for her? Hadrian is technically a professor…”

  “You think Lulu hasn’t slept with staff before?” Nelly raised an eyebrow.

  I shut my mouth quickly. “I hope it works out for her…”

  “Why the sudden glum look?” Nelly came closer and dragged me into an impromptu hug. “You know Lulu will be fine.”

  “I have Maddox’s energy class tomorrow,” I muttered, forlornly. “I don’t think I can stand another three hours of watching Lucinda make eyes at Bane.”

  Nelly nodded sympathetically. “You’d think Rina setting him on fire again would clue him into the fact he’s being a dumbass.”

  “If only it was that simple,” I sighed. “Anyway, some things can’t be changed.” And I was getting better at burying the pain of Bane’s rejection as time passed. “I got a letter from the department of family affairs.”

  Nelly frowned. “Your mother isn’t trying to have you disowned again, is she?”

  “No… My father declined the position of head of the family… they’ve offered it to me because apparently I’m the last Carazor.”

  Nelly was thoughtful for a moment, leading the way through the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of wine. “If you don’t accept, will you be under your mother’s family name?”

  “My grandmother is the head of that family; she and my mum are quite close. They’d probably have me emancipated as soon as I was under their jurisdiction. That would mean I’d lose my place at Vice…” I poured my own wine and gulped it.

  “So, you don’t have a choice.”

  “Nope.”

  “Well you’re screwed. Why wouldn’t your father take it?”

  “He probably just wanted the power he could gain from being indifferent to it.”

  “Maybe he knew if he did your mother would force him to emancipate you as well.”

  I shrugged and took another large gulp. “If he cared he would have stood up to my mother when she disowned me in the first place… I don’t actually have a clue what I’d even have to do as head of the family.”

  “It must be almost unheard of for someone to take the position whilst still in college,” Nelly mused. “It just means you have to vote right?”

  “I guess, the letter said something about maintaining the ancestral estate, but I didn’t know there was one. The people to ask would have been my grandparents, but obviously that’s not going to work.” Though I still experienced a pang of grief that they weren’t with me, the last few months had dulled the sting slightly.

  “I don’t know anyone who’s the head of their family.” Nelly sipped thoughtfully at her glass. “Can I see the letter?”

  We spent the evening pouring over the letter together, Nelly pointing out the more ridiculous responsibilities in the thirty-page list made me laugh. She also helped me draft my dreaded response accepting the position, and somehow made my asking for more information on the mystery estate sound reasonable instead of ignorant.

  She left only when Jin arrived at my door, and she was outside again when I woke up and was ready to leave for breakfast.

  “Lulu didn’t come back last night,” she said, in lieu of a hello. “It’s weird, she never sleeps in someone else’s bed…”

  I smiled sympathetically. “It’s going to be weird for a while I guess.” I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling because I didn’t have any siblings, but I imagined that it wasn’t a pleasant feeling when your sister’s priorities changed overnight.

  Chapter 25

  Nelly walked to breakfast with us, only really relaxing when she saw a very ruffled Lulu sat at our table blushing as she looked up at the teacher’s table. Kain and Aeron were already there, giving her curious looks, whilst Rina was stabbing at her French toast as though it had personally offended her.

  “So how was it?” I slid in beside Lulu, smirking. “I want details!”

  Aeron groaned. “No. Just no. I have Professor McKinnax twice a week, I don’t want to know about his sex life.”

  “Seconded.” Kain and Jin spoke in sync, before the latter shook his head. “And here I thought I’d never agree with anything that you said.”

  “I would never kiss and tell,” Lulu said, with a wink to me that promised all the details as soon as we were alone.

  “Did you mate them?” Rina demanded. “Or just bang them?”

  Lulu sighed happily.

  “Never mind, I think I know the answer,” Rina muttered. “I hope this isn’t catching.”

  Daron and Bane walked through the door at that instant, pulling my attention away from Lulu’s dreamy gaze. Kain, ever eager to continue Daron’s scheme, pulled me closer to him and went to kiss me but I pulled away at the last second.

  “Not today,” I whispered, along our bond. “I just want to eat breakfast right now.”

  Kain kissed the top of my head. “Whatever you say, Sunshine.”

  After grabbing their food from the buffet Bane took the seat opposite me and Daron sat next to him. “You look pretty tired, Lilith.” My Envy mate examined me worriedly over the top of his glasses. “Did you sleep okay?”

  I smiled. “Nelly and I were busy most of the night.”

  “You’re looking at the new head of the Carazor family,” Nelly announced with pride.

  “Head?” Bane’s eyes snapped up. “You’re the head of your family?”

  Why did he seem so upset about that? “Apparently, I’m the last Carazor left, well, aside from my dad and he turned it down… I don’t really have a clue what to do about it. They said something about voting and running the family estate, but I didn’t think we even had one.”

  Bane shook his head but said nothing, his eyes dropping to his plate.

  “Let me guess, the Resistance disapproves of the heads of families.” Rina rolled her eyes and sighed.

  “They’d prefer a government that worked on a system where all citizens could vote,” Bane retorted. “It’s unfair that only the heads of families can vote on things, and no meaningful laws will ever be passed to help the unshown or the lower-class demons because they live off of the backs of those people.”

  “I didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity. I’m only doing it because otherwise my mother’s mother will be my head of the family and she’d probably emancipate me immediately,” I objected. “And you can’t honestly believe I would ever be like the ones who oppress the unshown. You know I’m not like that.”

  “By taking part, you’re endorsing the system that keeps them as slaves.”

  I glowered at him. “Did you ever think that maybe I could use the position to change things?”

  Rina leapt to my defence. “I guess his self-righteousness has his head so far up his ass that he can’t help but spew shit.”

  Aeron snorted into his coffee and the conversation slipped back to Lulu. Kain gave me a comforting squeeze that kept me warm all the way to the practice pit. It was only when I set eyes on Lucinda and my entire body went cold.

  Maddox and the other two mentors were also there, but I saw no sign of Ruelle.

  “Lilith, I’m afraid Ruelle couldn’t make today,” Maddox announced with a sad smile. “You can work on theory from the stands.”

  I nodded and headed over to the seats, pulling out my books and settling in for the long haul. It didn’t take long, however, before a high-pitched, girlish giggle drifted up to me. Bane and Lucinda were directly below me and a glance towards them showed Bane holding out a fistful of bright yellow carnations to her.

  “Yellow like our caste colour.” She smiled, accepting the bunch with a graceful blush. “So sweet of you.”

  I snorted, momentarily cheered because although yellow may be the colour of Greed, yellow carnations meant hatred and contempt. I wondered if Bane knew that, or if he’d just meant them as a pretty gift.

  Judging by the annoying, indulgent grin on his face, he didn’t have a clue. And that made me fume inside.

  They kept flirting for the full lesson, each word from Bane’s lips scarring my heart a little more. We were supposed to be mates, we had once been friends. So why was he punishing me like this? Where had the cheeky trickster I’d met on my second day gone?

  I knew the others could feel how upset I was from the way Daron kept shooting glares over at Bane.

  “Don’t,” I whispered along our bond. “It’s okay. It’s his choice.”

  “He’s hurting you. It’s most certainly not okay,”

  At the end of the lesson, when the tutors stayed behind with Maddox, I headed out of the practice pit with my eyes glued to the ground in front of me. I’d just made it past the stands when the confrontation I dreaded happened, but it wasn’t Daron who pinned Bane against the wall. It was Blaze.

  “Do you want to explain to me why I’ve spent the past three hours feeling our mate’s pain down the bond, and the last two watching you flirt with another woman?” Blaze roared. “Do you have no sense of honour at all? Or do you just not care?”

  “Don’t mess with things that aren’t your business,” Bane growled, fighting against the forearm pinning him to the wall.

  “Blaze, please. It doesn’t matter.” I laid a restraining hand on my Wrath mate’s shoulder, but he shrugged me off.

  “I almost admired you for putting her wellbeing before your own when you said you refused to drag her into the dangerous shit you do. But now you’re as good as cheating on your god-gifted mate with some rebel whore.”

  “Gentlemen!” Maddox’s voice cut through whatever Bane would have said and I whirled to find him standing there, all three tutors behind him. “What on earth is going on here?”

  The assessing look Lucinda gave me, made me shiver and I wondered how much she’d heard. A peek with my empathy let me feel the curiosity and triumph pouring from her in waves.

  “Sorry, Professor.” Bane glared at Blaze, “Officer Inferna was expressing his concern about my life choices. It won’t happen again.”

  Blaze didn’t say anything, but released Bane and stepped back, turning on his heel with a last look at me.

  Maddox was also giving me a curious look, but I shook my head subtly turning and heading to the hall with Daron hot on my heels. When we were a little way away, I looked back to see Bane and Lucinda were the only two remaining, heads together as they spoke.

  “I can’t believe him,” Daron grumbled. “His complete disregard of you is just... I can’t believe that’s the friend I met in the first year.”

  “He convinced himself he couldn’t have me and then decided to go for someone he could have.” I shrugged, but the dismissive motion did little to calm the anger in my voice. “I hope they’re happy together, I’m sure they’ll have perfect rebel babies together and live in a perfect little rebel fantasy life talking about how much of a monster I am.” My rage was piping hot, scalding my veins.

  “There must be something more going on here,” Daron insisted. “Bane spent months agonising over not being able to be your mate. He was tortured by wanting you. There’s no way he got over that and moved on so fast.”

  “Well he clearly did.”

  I embraced the rage within me because it was so much easier to feel angry than it was to let myself admit how much seeing Bane give Lucinda those flowers had hurt. In my head, all I could see was his face as he handed her the yellow blooms and her girlish giggle. The anger sharpened my mind into a prism of ice, making me feel powerful as visions of the ways I could deal with Lucinda floated through my brain.

  “Lilith... you may want to calm down slightly.” Daron’s voice was calm but hesitant.

  I glared at him. “Why?”

  “Because you’re doing something that’s making you look very... enthralling... and everyone within a fifty-metre radius is approaching you.”

  His statement cut off my rage, and I realised he was right. Somehow my walk had evened out into a seductive sashay and my shoulders had shifted back till my breasts were proudly jutting out “What the hell is happening?”

  “I don’t know but judging from my... symptoms I would guess it has something to do with your Succubus powers.”

  As my rage turned to fear and the false feeling of being powerful ebbed slightly, I noticed I was calling on my Succubus side in much the same way I had when I’d stolen power from Vrosis and the Tester. “Shit.” I slammed a lid on it. When I was sure I had it under control, I glanced down to see that the ‘symptom’ Daron referred to was the massive erection pressing against the seam of his trousers. “Sorry. I don’t know how... Scratch that, I do know. I just don’t usually get that angry.” I looked around to find about half a dozen people looking around like they were lost.

  “It is a Succubus thing then?”

  “I’ve only done it twice, once when the Tester attacked me, and I lost control and the second time when Vrosis betrayed me.”

  He was quiet for a moment, thinking. “Blaze said something similar happens to him sometimes... he gets so into the fight whilst he’s drawing power that he goes into a sort of rage. He told me that in case it ever happened, and we needed to get you out of the way.”

  “When exactly do you all get time for all of these discussions?” I sighed, resisting the urge to look back and see if Bane and Lucinda noticed my breakdown.

  “Blaze makes sure we make time. Enzo was invited to the last one... that made things interesting.”

  I smirked, imagining all seven of them in the same room. “Did he make you drink tea?”

  “He did. I’m actually quite glad that he’s your mate. He knows how to keep you safe.”

  “You all do.”

  “But I’m not too proud to admit that he’s better qualified to do it than I am. He sees threats from angles I hadn’t even considered.”

  “You sound like you admire him.”

  “He has a shrewd mind and he says what he thinks. It’s simpler to understand him than the others, sometimes they say one thing and mean something different.”

  We fell quiet as we approached the hall and when we reached our table Jin pulled me into a wordless hug.

  “Don’t let Bane get you down, Pet.”

  “I’m fine,” I lied, leaning into his hold.

  “Bullshit,” Kain muttered, pulling me into his lap. “I’ll hold him down and you can slap some sense into him, how’s that for an idea?”

  I shook my head. “No. If Bane wants Lucinda... that’s his choice. I don’t want any of you hurting him for it.”

  Aeron looked at me incredulously. “You want us to do nothing when we can feel how much he’s hurting you?”

  “I’m asking you to ignore it.”

  He shoved away from the table. “No. My brother is being an idiot and I’m not letting this drop until I find out why.” He stormed out of the hall, leaving his untouched plate of food behind.

  “I’m setting his trousers on fire again,” Rina announced. “But that’s more for my personal amusement than anything else. Watching him hop around trying to put himself out is somehow uniquely satisfying.”

  I sighed and shook my head because nothing I could say or do would change her mind.

  Chapter 26

  I didn’t see my Lust mate again until the following evening, but his mood obviously hadn’t improved by the way he stormed towards our table an hour into dinner. When he slammed his tray down on the scarred wooden surface loud enough to make Lulu jump, I sighed and slid closer to him, pressing a gentle kiss to the underside of his clenched jaw and stroking his thigh till he relaxed.