Page 31 of Tempest

“You didn’t have to drag me around a building to ask me that.”

“Well, you know how much I love my theatrics.” I punctuate with another wink. Most girls would melt under one deployment, never mind double. Honestly, it’s so easy to extract information from students whenever Rossi wants it that it’s almost gotten boring.

Ardyn sets her jaw. “Because it interests me.”

I hum under my breath at her lack of puddling at my feet. In the past, all I had to do was look sideways at her, and she’d be wet for me.

“Come on, princess, we both know you’d love nothing more than to rescind your relations to Kaine Industries entirely. I caught you going to art class.”

“So? Can’t a girl have multiple interests?”

“Not you.”

“Why not?” Her eyes glitter within the shadows the cascading ivy casts over us, their leaves trembling against the parts of her they touch. Ardyn’s in an oversized cream sweater and cutoffs, and these fucking plants act like they’re touching a goddess.

I grab her more forcefully above her elbows. She yelps, struggling in my grip, her expression ranging from outrage to hurt to confusion since my actions aren’t matching my playful tone. “Because you are just rejoining society again. You can’t do too much to that sensitive clump of mush in your head too soon, right? Rossi’s class is too difficult for you. It’ll send you into a nervous breakdown faster than a car wreck that killed your best friend and scarred your other one.”

Her eyes flash with astonished hurt.

Exactly, princess. “Drop it.”

She wriggles out my hold. Her back presses into the brick, crushing the pieces of ivy that so adored her a few seconds ago. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

“Then listen to your shrinks. I assume they didn’t want you to bust out so soon?”

Her lips thin, telling me everything I need to know. “I’m not your sister. You can’t just boss me around whenever you feel like it.”

“No, that’s your bodyguard’s job, right? Tell me, did you ever reward him for his efforts?” I mime jerking off with one hand in the air, tonguing my cheek. “Give him a blowie or two?”

She bursts forward on a guttural growl, smacking her palms against my chest and shoving me. “What is wrong with you?”

I sway under her push, laughing. I’d missed being this entertained.

“Seriously, what is it with you, Tempest? Did your daddy hit you too hard that one time?”

My laughter dies on my lips.

“You don’t know shit about me, princess. I’ll let it go this time, but the next time mention of my father crosses your lips, I’ll be kind enough not to rip out your tongue along with what’s left of your pathetic soul.”

“Your soul is about as good as mine,” she spits. “You think I’m some sheltered, sensitive child who can’t handle the real world. That might’ve been true in the past, but it’s not now. I can take any class I want. Go to any college I’d like. And ignore dickwads like you who think they rule the world, when this? This campus is just as unrealistic as the institution I’ve come from. Your theatrics wouldn’t last a second outside of these walls.”

Oh, how wrong you are. “I’ll fail every single one of the papers you submit.”

Instead of snarling, she cocks her head. Squints. “Why is it so important to you that I drop the class?”

“Because I can’t stand the sight of you. I thought I made that clear when I announced to your entire dorm how apeshit you are. A lot of them are afraid you’ll smother them in their sleep, you know. I believe there are a few calls to parents and alumni out about it.”

Ardyn flinches. I’m an expert at aiming where it hurts and coating it in sweet venom while I do it. Ardyn is no exception. What bothers me is the small prick I feel in my chest when I do it to her.

It’s like poking a wounded bird on the ground with a stick. A baby that’s fallen out of her nest much too soon.

“You can bring up that night all you want, Tempest,” she says quietly. “It’s nothing I haven’t thought of, on repeat, in my nightmares and outside of them. Nothing you can say will make seeing Mila’s body and lying in her warm blood any worse.”

“Oh, really?” I arch a brow and step into her space, elated when she shrinks within my shadow. I stare down at the crown of her head, murmuring, “What about my actions then? Do they scare you?”

She raises her head until she meets my eye, her nose brushing under my chin. It causes a zing of friction, a snapping of nerve endings. The wind has the audacity to add to my electrocution and waft her scent into my nostrils.

Ardyn says, without retreating, “You don’t scare me anymore.”

---