Page 6 of House of Lilith

Including the party that’s supposed to happen right after dinner.

*

I inhale deeply, trying to enjoy the balmy night air, but the tension in it is just too palpable. Resting my head on my closed fist with my elbow propped up on the high table, I twirl the stem of my champagne flute in my fingers. I don’t listen to Max, Nikolay and Hilde’s conversation. My eyes are sweeping over the crowd gathered for our garden party, trying to figure out why it doesn’t feel like one.

The huge cobblestone ring around the Dame Gothel statue, which is at the very center of the castle grounds, has been scoured and the normally empty space strewn with countless tables like ours. The three towers, Lycan Tower with the forest looming behind, Ydril with the Sobbing Lake shimmering below and Lilith with the Graf Hill perched above, they’re barely more than silhouettes against the night sky, but there are strings of lights running from their tops all the way to the statue. And there’s music coming from enchanted instruments all around us.

But the usual merry chatter is missing, people are sipping their drinks with bored looks on their faces, and it only takes a single glance to see that Grimm students are steering clear of Fiáin ones and vice versa.

The only one who seems to be having fun is that alpha, indiscriminately going from table to table with a grin on his face.

I throw a glance around my own table. The three of them don’t seem to either notice or care that the party’s not going too well. Hilde is scrolling on her phone while Max and Nikolay are arguing, albeit in low voices, about something having to do with the vampire King.

This was supposed to be fun, and Max hasn’t even tried to involve me in the conversation. I can already see all my excitement slowly fizzling out.

I know I should know better, but I decide to interrupt the conversation. I grab Max’s hand. He looks at me with a puzzled face. I lean in, like it’s a conspiracy.

“Why do they all seem to have an identical fox tattoo?” I ask, as I motion at the upper arm of one of the Fiáin girls walking by.

They all turn to look in the girl’s direction.

Nikolay lets out a wolf whistle and says, “I know why it is.”

I frown, but I do find myself intrigued.

He turns to me with a huge grin on his face. “It’s because all their women are so foxy.”

Hilde chuckles. I myself let out an exasperated sigh and turn to Max. “We’ve just seen some of them shift,” I say, “and they’re definitelynotall foxes.” I want to draw out Max’s playful side, the one I love arguing with. But he stays silent.

“Does it really matter?” Nikolay drawls.

“What do you even mean?” I ask as I turn back to him. “Isn’t part of the point of all this for us to get to know each other?”

“I agree with Nikolay,” Max cuts in, all serious. “It’s completely irrelevant. They lost the last time we did this and that’s exactly what’s going to happenthistime.”

Finally, I have his attention. I shake my head. “But theydidn’tlose, did they?” I say, giving him an excited smile. “The Games never got to be finished that year. But up to the point when the Umbrage happened, they werewinning,by a landslide, making everyone at our Academy butthurt.”

I look at him with smiling eyes, but he just rolls his. He knows how it annoys me when he does that. But I decide to let it go. I still want my fun night out. So I smile and wait for him to start talking.

“You’ve got your facts wrong,” he says. “Theyknewthey were going to lose so they rigged the Games. It’s just that they weren’t as smart as they thought they were and we caught them red-handed. They were as pathetic and dishonorable as an Academy can possibly be.”

Pathetic?He can be so infuriating sometimes. I know where this is going, but I can’t seem to keep quiet. “And our Academy’s responsewasn’tdishonorable?” I throw back.

“That’s just something they made up.”

“So what you’re saying,” I drawl, “is that they nearly destroyed their own Academy just to make it seem like we’re the bad guys.”

“Exactly.”

Now, that makes me let out a scoff. “So on one side, we have your conspiracy theories and on the other, my highly reputable sources, but it’smewho’s got her facts wrong?”

He rolls his eyes. But I don’t get a chance to react.

“Come on, Nyx,” I hear my brother protest and I turn to look at him. “Can’t you leave fighting for some other time? We were having fun here.”

“There’s a difference between a fight and a discussion, Nikolay,” I say flatly, but I immediately look away, all of a sudden feeling like I really am ruining their fun. I’m the one that’s all worked up. Max just shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

As for Nikolay, I know he’ll just keep talking to Max as if nothing happened.

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