For an instant, nothing happened.

  Then the replica screeched, clawing at its body as it collapsed to the ground. It writhed in ways no one's body should ever move, limbs distorting into horrific positions. It started dragging itself along the floor and Ruelle stepped delicately aside, studying it intently.

  “You can do more than that,” she commented, as the replica flipped over onto its back and I saw its lifeless eyes stare blankly into the sky. “I told you to give it all you’ve got.”

  The rest of the class was watching, two of my mates among them. I hesitated.

  “You need to learn what you’re capable of before you learn control,” Ruelle advised, coming closer to me. “Don’t let the opinions of small-minded people convince you to put a lid on who you are.”

  I let go of the hold on the darkness, feeling my hair rise as if I was caught in some kind of static current as I thrust both hands towards the replica.

  In one brutal move, its bones started dislocating and then popping back into place. Its open eyes began to bleed, the trails of blood merging with ones from its ears and nose. The screeching scream it had been making faded to a gurgling wheeze. I gave it more energy until its spine arched so violently that it almost snapped in two. It’s not real, it’s not real, I chanted in my head.

  “Perfect.” Ruelle grinned as though my brutally torturing a replica of her was akin to receiving a present on her birthday. “Okay, I think this one is a bit broken.” She held her hand out and the replica dissolved into the air like glittering ashes. In a flash, a new replica appeared in its place. “How much of your power did you use?”

  I checked my levels. “A fair bit,” I admitted, feeling slightly ill after causing something that much pain. “Not as much as I thought I would.”

  “You have enough to do it again?”

  I nodded, reluctantly. “Several times over.”

  “Good. I want you to work on increasing the pain gradually, bit by bit. Understand how much it takes to achieve different results. You have to get to know your power before you can truly use it... Remember, the replicas aren’t sentient, so practice how you need to.”

  I glanced around the pit, seeing most of the class trying to focus on their own things, but I noticed all of them were a lot paler than they had been before, and Lucinda had started giving me fearful looks, tucking herself closer to Bane.

  “Ignore everyone else,” Ruelle reminded me gently. “Come on, you have to focus on you.”

  When we left the pit for lunch, I was a strange mix of drained, revolted and proud. After the time spent with Ruelle, I knew how to do what Hadrian had asked of me last combat lesson, and I felt confident enough that he wouldn’t be kicking me out next time I saw him. I still had no clue about using my power to remove pain to help poor Mrs Oxomoda, but for the first time that week I felt optimistic about what I could do.

  I was used to whispers happening around me, so I thought nothing of it when I sat down for lunch at my table. It wasn’t until Rina gave me a strange look that I took notice.

  “What is it?” I patted my hair, still slightly staticky from the lesson. “Do I have food on my face?”

  “Lilith, the whole school heard you practising today,” she began. “The ones with classrooms overlooking the practice pit say that they watched you torture a woman.”

  “It wasn’t a woman, just a replica.” I insisted, handing Onyx and Ivory a breadstick. When Doughnut peeked out of Jin’s pocket and gave me a look I grabbed a second one and gave it to the rat before continuing. “Ruelle created it, it could feel the pain, but it couldn’t think, it wasn’t real.”

  “I don’t think the rest of the college believes that,” Lulu muttered, scanning the room. “Lilith, they think you’re the bogeyman.”

  “I would never use it on anyone else.”

  “But you already did,” Nelly reminded me. “The only difference is, before it was just Abrosiax’s story and everyone knows she’s a drama queen. Now they’ve heard what you can do for themselves. That thing may not have been real, but it screamed like a demon would.”

  I raised my eyes to look at my mates. “What do you all think about this?”

  Kain was the first to lift his hands in surrender. “Personally, I think it’s damned hot that you can defend yourself.”

  “If you were a bloke, you’d be the hottest thing on campus,” Lulu admitted.

  “I want you to know how to use it.” Aeron was giving me a possessive look. “It would reassure me to know that you could use it, if you ever had to.”

  “Asking us how we feel about it is pretty obsolete.” Daron added. “As your mates, we can never be harmed by your power, so any discomfort felt by the rest of the student body is unlikely to affect us.” He paused, taking a sip of his drink. “That being said, I can understand the hesitance of others. Sheep fear wolves by nature.”

  “I agree with Kain, powerful women are hot. If you ever wanted to put on a tight leather number...” Jin wiggled his eyebrows salaciously.

  Bane sighed as I turned my eyes on him. “You scared Lucinda.”

  Good, I thought, with a viciousness that surprised me. “You two did seem quite familiar,” I said, burying the savage jealous half of me deep down, wondering if he’d explain. Praying he’d say she was a cousin or something so that this jealousy could die without ever rising to the surface.

  “Yes. We know each other.”

  I pretended that his non-answer didn’t bother me until he looked away. The moment his attention was focused somewhere else, my shoulders slumped.

  Daron noticed, his blue eyes flitting between the two of us with a cool intelligence that picked up what wasn’t being said. He shifted closer to me, the mating bond between us sparking with comforting electricity at his proximity.

  “We have Saxon next.” He changed the subject and drew us into our own bubble with his quiet words. “Do you have enough energy to make it through her lesson?”

  I paused, thinking. “I don’t know. It’s just desk stuff, right?”

  He shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt for you to take some from me anyway, just in case. I’m pretty wiped from what Lukas taught me, so we can help each other.”

  I bit my lip and he gently cupped my chin, using his thumb to free the abused flesh before swooping forwards and capturing it with his own lips.

  Kissing Daron was like kissing prince charming at the end of a romantic fairy-tale, so sweet that it turned my bones to butter, and so much like home that I always sighed a little when he pulled away.

  “Mine,” he whispered, stroking my cheek gently and sending waves of sparkling joy down the mating bond. “All mine.”

  I captured his mouth again, letting myself absorb the power he offered. When his tongue met mine, stroking sweetly, making me feel just as claimed as his words earlier had, I let my hand tangle in his unkempt hair.

  When we pulled away, both panting lightly, I looked into Daron’s eyes only to find him staring at Bane. I flicked my gaze toward my Greed mate, who quickly looked away.

  But not before I saw the sheer want swirling in his eyes.

  My mind flashed back to the only time he’d kissed me, back in the infirmary when I’d been too out of it to really enjoy it. I shut down the memory. Bane was my friend, and that was more important than pushing him to take me as his mate when I’d always come second to the Resistance in his eyes.

  “We should go,” I edged out of Daron’s embrace and bent to pick up my bag. Ivory and Onyx, who had been having a tug of war with the breadstick, immediately fluttered up to my shoulders. “I don’t want to be late.”

  Of course, Professor Saxon already wanted me dead, so I was pretty sure tardiness couldn’t make her hate me more than she already must.

  “Good plan.” Bane’s voice was rough, but I refused to look at him.

  He may be my mate, might even desire me, but he didn’t want me. He was stubborn enough that he would never allow the forming of the bond, and I should be smart enough not to get my hopes up over little things.

  Saxon held her demonic citizenship lessons in a room beside her office. Unlike other professors, she wasn’t there as we entered the room, but there was a seating plan already drawn on the board.

  I scanned the chart quickly, annoyed to find that I was in the first row, directly in front of her desk, and beside me was Abrosiax. Everyone I knew and liked was seated as far away as possible, with Bane and Daron on the back row.

  I sat down uneasily, getting out my books and preparing to start the lesson.

  Abrosiax sat down next to me, cocky smirk in place. I could have sworn that the piece of the bullet in my horn twinged in response to her presence. I held my breath, refusing to allow myself to stiffen or even acknowledge her. On my shoulders, Onyx and Ivory had both gone very still, their red eyes glaring at the person who made me feel afraid.

  I tried to soothe them discreetly, but Professor Saxon entering through a side door didn’t help matters.

  “Good afternoon, class.” She breezed up to her desk with the grace of a dancer. “Welcome to your first demonic citizenship class. I’m glad you’ve all managed to find your seats without trouble.”

  It was, without a doubt, one of the most patronising ways to greet a class, but I grit my teeth, reminding myself that nothing Saxon could deal out would be as bad as Pruitt’s etiquette classes last year.

  “In these lessons you’ll learn all you need to know about the structure of our society, and your place within it once you graduate. Some of you will likely go into politics, and these lessons will be crucial to your understanding of our government systems before you take my advanced politics module next year.

  “But government will be covered next term. Today we’re focusing on social class in our society.” She flipped the chalkboard. “As you all know, some demonic lines are more powerful than others, and that is reflected on your place in the world. Every one of you studying at Vice comes from a strong demonic line, but there are six other demonic colleges. Who can name them?”

  I raised my hand, surprised when she nodded at me. “Transgression, Blasphemy, Wicked, Fallen, Desecration and Barren.”

  “You named them in order of their class, without even realising,” Saxon pointed out. “In demonic society, that is how ingrained classism is. You are all blessed to be here at Vice, where only the strongest families can get in. But even here, roughly an eighth of students do not complete their showings. At Barren, half of all first years become unshown, this is especially troubling when one factors in that Barren has almost four times as many students as Vice does.” There was a pregnant pause where Saxon looked us over meaningfully. “Today I want us to discuss why we have this class system. I would hear your ideas and–”

  But the headmistress was cut off by a terribly fake whimper coming from my right.

  “Professor Saxon, Lilith’s using her powers on me,” Abrosiax cried, in the most sickeningly whiney, scared voice I’d ever heard.

  I turned to stare at her with the rest of the class, annoyed when she made an overly dramatic flinch away from me.

  “Lilith?” The Headmistress was looking between us. “I’m sure that you are aware that practicing your gift outside of sanctioned lessons is not appropriate?”

  “Headmistress, you know I’m not.” I fumed, staring at Abrosiax’s pathetic display. “She’s just playing for attention–”

  “I don’t want to hear any excuses,” Saxon snapped. “Stop interrupting my lesson.”

  I stared at her in complete disbelief; she couldn’t honestly believe the crocodile tears that Abrosiax was pulling, could she?

  Saxon raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m not doing anything,” I insisted as the mutters from the rest of the class grew worse.

  I glanced around to find Daron and Rina staring accusingly at Abrosiax, and their support made me feel a little bit better. But Bane was staring between Circe and I uncertainly… He believed her, I realised. Bane, who had seen what that bitch did to me, would rather believe her crocodile tears over my word. My hands fisted under the table.

  Abrosiax wiped her eyes and shot me a look. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” She asked, tearfully.

  But I saw the spark of satisfaction in her eyes, she’d gotten what she wanted.

  I fumed silently, trying not to give her the satisfaction of seeing how mad she’d made me, and silently the class’ attention returned to the headmistress who continued her lesson, flicking annoyed glances at the both of us.

  I stormed out of there as soon as the class ended. Abrosiax knew how to work a room, I’d give her that much. Whenever the class had started to forget about her, she’d faked a little sob, or a tiny whimper. Nothing loud enough to catch the attention of anyone but the people immediately around her, but it was more than enough to ensure that everyone gave me a wide berth as I stormed towards the library.

  “That utter piece of shit,” Rina cursed as she caught up to me.

  “I wish I had used my gift on her,” I muttered angrily. “She deserves it. She had the nerve to tell me to leave her alone when a piece of her damned bullet is still in my horn!” I growled at some people walking slowly in front of us, and they moved to let me pass. “Then Professor Saxon sets me an extra two pages of work for ‘disrupting the class’ but not her! How is that fair?”

  “Where are you going?” Rina asked when I didn’t turn left towards the dining hall.

  “The library. At least books can’t judge me!”

  “You missed dinner yesterday as well. Don’t let the bitch get to you. Come and eat, I’m sure your imps are starving, even if you aren’t.”

  I fingered my bag strap, thinking of Bane and having to sit across the table from him. “I’m going to the library. I’ve got a lot of work for healing and I should read up on theology for tomorrow.”

  “Lilith, you’re the Strange God’s chosen,” Rina hissed, observant eyes seeing far too much. “You could lecture the damned Theology class. What’s really stopping you from having dinner?” She scanned me, pulling me around a corner and into a deserted corner. “It’s not the whispers, you don’t let that sort of thing get to you. Someone you’re avoiding… Krossian.”

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

  “Fuck it, I don’t want to hear your sappy shit either, but you have six other mates, why is what Bane thinks so important to you?”

  “It’s not important.” My excuse sounded feeble to my own ears.

  “Don’t bullshit me. Get this emotional confession over with, I don’t deal well with prolonged girlish whinging.”

  “I’m not whinging.”

  “No, just sulking.”

  “It feels like he’s ripping out my heart, Rina!” I finally snarled at her, letting out the full force of my impotent rage out as I slumped against the wall. “Is that what you want to hear? That I’m pining for him, but I can’t even say it? Because even though I have six others I still need him too. Do you want to hear that I miss his teasing? Or would you rather know that the way he’s withdrawn from me since I found out he doesn’t want me makes me bleed slightly inside? Or how about the fact that sometimes I stare at the blue roses he grew me for hours, worried they’ll shrivel up and die?” Onyx and Ivory were fluttering around me like tiny dragonflies, trying to figure out what had upset me, but I ignored them. “Do you want me to tell you that the fact he was laughing with another woman today made me sick with jealousy, even though we’ve agreed to just be friends? Or that the way he believed Abrosiax over me when she went on that little display of sniffles makes me want to rip into her with my odynokinesis all over again?”

  She stiffened, then sighed. “Why don’t you tell him that?”

  “He doesn’t want to hear it. He doesn’t want me. I can’t talk to the others, because it would make them feel like they’re not good enough and they are!”

  Rina rolled her eyes. “This is probably the part where I’m supposed to offer support, tell you to chase him down and follow your dreams or some shit. But to be honest, do you even need him? Your vision said you just had to meet all your mates, and you have. He’s pretty much chosen to put you second to his stupid rebel shit anyway.” She shrugged and started walking away. “If it was me, I’d have burned his stupid blue roses and then set him on fire for good measure.”

  I stayed in that hallway for a long while, stubborn, unshed tears burning in my eyes, before I pushed myself off the ground and headed to the nearest bathroom. I washed my face in the sink, waiting for my eyes to lose their reddened puffiness before I started for the library.

  Chapter 10

  When Blaze turned up to walk me back, he greeted me with a small smile.