Page 186 of House of Lilith

“Glad you’re asking,” he replies with a smile. “The plan is to use the Heart Bond to set things right — to restore our Academy to its former glory and lead it into a new era with you by my side.”

“That’swhat you were talking about last night,” I say with bitterness flooding my mouth. “You said I’m to become the Archon’s successor, but you weren’t talking about Brogan, were you? You were talking aboutyourself.”

“Andyou, Dahrian,” he says as he comes to get in my face, the smile sliding off his face and his voice turning a little feverish, “you said all you wanted was to get the fuck out of this hateful, miserable place, remember? Well…” He pauses for a second. It’s in a dead serious voice that he continues, “Side with me and we won’t just dothat. We’ll burn the goddamn place to the ground.”

It’s at that moment that I hear Nikolay say from behind Ricky’s back, “What’re you talking about, you old fool?” He lets out a rough, confused laugh. “You said I’d become the Pied Piper and we’d—”

Ricky shushes him, fixing his eyes back onme. “Once you and I are done with our negotiations,” he tells me, “I’ll open up the Box and I’ll take one of the figurines out, the Judge. You know what Judge does? It evens the scales between the Academies. Which means that, after a hundred and fifty six years, we’ll finally get justice for what they did to us. There’llbeno more Grimm Academy.”

“Hey, Ricky,” Nikolay yells, angrily, as he moves to grab him by the shoulder. “That’s not what we agreed on, you bloody moron.”

But Ricky just turns to face him, lifting the Box he’s holding in his hands. And he slowly starts reaching for the lid with one hand, making Nikolay freeze in place, obviously not knowing what to do.

“Ricky,” I warn in a low snarl. “Stop it, Ricky.”

“You don’t want me to do this,” Ricky tells Nikolay as he motions at his sister. “It’s not just figurines that can be pulled out of the Box.”

Fuming, I once again strain all my muscles to try to break myself free of the spell. It doesn’t work. If he does it, I think with gritted teeth…

And I can see literal sweat beading on Nikolay’s forehead, and there’s a second of silence, but then his nostrils flare and his hands ball into fists.

“Nikolay,” Ricky calls out, a touch of concern in his voice. “I’m warning you.”

But the next thing I know, Nikolay is shutting his eyes and Ricky is taking a step back, grimacing in what seems to be an attempt to fight off his Mind Magic.

For a second, my heart pounds with the expectation of Romanov’s brother ending this shit.

The next thing I know, Nikolay is starting to stumble around, his eyes closing, and Ricky is letting out a low, self-satisfied little snicker as he turns back to me. “He thought I wouldn’t protect myself,” he says with incredulousness in his voice.

I hear Nikolay come crashing to the ground. And now I’m unfreezing, my head snapping to my left to see the same happen with Romanov.

“You filthy shifter,” fucking Aalders yells out as materializes in front of Ricky, moving to grab him by the throat.

Not wiping the smile off his face, Ricky only slinks back a little.

And both me and Romanov move, but before we can do anything to stop him, he creaks the Box open and quickly pulls something out, letting it fly up into the air.

Fuck, I curse when I see it’s a humanoid shadow with countless grabbing arms coming to hover in front of fucking Aalders.

“Ricky,” I shout, meaning to command him to get it the fuck back inside as my mind starts trying to strategize. This is all turning to shit real quick. How the fuck do I get her out of here alive?

But the very next moment, Aalders is doubling back with a terrified look on his face.

And despite not having come up with any tactics, I’m already moving, because Aalders is pushing past Romanov, making her yell out, “Max,” as the creature shifts her focus onto her.

I see her try to use her Blood Magic, but the creature is reaching to grab her so I throw myself in front of it, almost instantly feeling so cold, it makes my mind go blank with shock.

When I come to, I’m still on my feet, but I’m swaying a little and I have to glance around to reassess the situation. Max is nowhere to be seen, Romanov is unharmed, catching her breath to my right, and Ricky is standing to my left with that creature hovering beside him.

“I didn’t let it hurt you,” he tells me. “I only want to talk.”

I turn my eyes onto Romanov. “Get the fuck out of here,” I order, using my most threatening voice, “now.”

But she’s not scared of me, she never was. She just shoots me a nasty look and keeps standing there. But she does motion at Ricky, signaling to me that she’ll be gracious enough to let me try to do my thing before she makes any moves.

And I give her a nod, turning back to Ricky.

Who’s smiling at me. He’s fucking smiling at me as he refuses to stop keeping her in actual mortal fucking danger.

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