Page 27 of Fallen Heirs

“I bet he wasn’t pleased about what happened last night. You caught him when he was in his carnal vampire state. Telling him to feed on her would’ve been irresistible to him, but in the harsh light of day, I bet he’s regretting it and pissed at you for pushing him into it, or whatever.”

“He is. He already laid into me.”

“I’ve got you, brother. I’ll talk to her. Having you do it wasn’t going to work because you’re a challenge to her and she receives you that way. She needs to be in a neutral space and frame of mind, which she can’t be where this is concerned because of the nature of the relationship between the two of you.”

“It’s worth a try. But don’t capitulate to her.”

“What?”

“If it doesn’t work, don’t go back to giving into her. I’m going to have enough trouble trying to stop Xavier from doing that as it is.”

“I can’t just outright deny her. That’s not gonna go over well and it’s gonna make things worse.”

“Tell her you need to focus on your studies, catching up on your readings and finishing a couple of assignments before Electi Academy reopens in a couple of weeks.” He eyed me pointedly. “Which you actually do. Unless you want to fail out.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not gonna fail out.”

“You will if you don’t focus. With things quiet again, you have the time.”

“What’s going on?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you being unusually harsh about my status at the Academy? You don’t usually go the route of stressing me out about it.”

“That’s because I’ve always been there in the past to ensure things work in your favor.”

“In the past?What does that mean? Does this have something to do with the call I heard you taking as I walked in?”

He sank back in his chair. “Yes.”

Getting me worried as fuck, it had me sitting up ramrod straight inmychair. “What is it?”

“I’m not coming back to Electi Academy.”

I stared at him incredulously. “What the shit are you talking about?”

“As you know, that last battle put my army in the spotlight in an irreversible way, beyond any sort of coverups orillusions.It was outed. Me militarizing the students into a fighting force was outed. The families, guardians, and whoever the fuck of the students attending the Academy have been up in arms about the danger it put them in. To avoid the Academy itself from being blamed, they needed—”

“A scapegoat.”

He nodded.

I shot to my feet. “This is fucking bullshit! You saved everyone that night! Constantine’s acolytes and those escaped prisoners were gonna run right through everyone to get to that key! If you hadn’t stood up, hadn’t fought back, hadn’t readied the students to be in a position to do that, they all would’ve really fucking likely been massacred!” I tugged at the short tufts of my hair. “Wait, is that what your assurances about there being no blowback were about?”

“Yes, they were worried about my father intervening.”

“Maybe he should. It would get you back there.”

“I’ve already told him to stand down. I don’t want him taking action on my behalf and causing a mammoth incident.”

I shook my head. “You and Xavier, always so bullheaded about standing independently from your fathers and doing things alone. It’s cost both of you.”

“Talon, this is how it needs to be. At least for now. Give things time to calm down.”

“You think thingswillactually calm?” I asked, hope sparking through all the crap.

“Of course,” he told me, smiling out at me.

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