Page 20 of Cursed Heirs

“Not so great when it’s directed at you, is it?” I accidentally blurted out.

I was still sore about what he’d done to Alena.

Something she had no idea about.

But something that would no doubt come between us all. Secrets usually came out in the end. It was a fucked-up shit-tastic situation. All of it was, and I was so fucking sick of it.

Ore’s magic faltered again, at my words this time.

And then he growled and pulled it all back, releasing Isabella and dropping his palms.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he ordered her.

As she frantically rushed off, choking and cradling her hand, Marlowe called to her, “See the Healer immediately.”

She nodded, tears in her eyes, then disappeared through the trees.

Marlowe approached, Orpheus looking him over like he was seeing him for the first time. “Clearly we have a lot to talk about.”

“And we will,afteryou see the dean for what just transpired here. Attacking a fellow student is a reprimandable offense.”

Orpheus hissed at him and even then went so far as to threaten him as he flicked his palms down.

“Careful. Now is not the time to be turning allies into enemies,Your Highness.”

Shit,the guy was good.

And he clearly knew how Ore’s mind worked.

Then again, with him apparently watching for three years, that made sense.

“Fine,” Ore muttered.

And then he was just storming right off toward Dean Bronson’s office without another word.

My gut twisted as I watched him go.

“This isn’t like him,” I murmured.

Marlowe told me, “It’s Constantine. He got inside his head.”

“Then we’ve gotta find a way to make sureourvoices are louder than that fucker’s.”

“We will,” he said.

With the conviction that accompanied his words, Ialmostbelieved it.

That we could pull Orpheus back from the edge.

That things that had been broken could be fixed.

That everything would actually be okay.

6

~Xavier~

It was all the same.

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