Page 107 of Fallen Heirs

It was far from that.

And the students needed it to be far from it. A lot of them depended on the Academy. If not to reach their full potential because of the ridiculous rules concerning that, to relegate theheightened emotions that went along with being a supernatural species, and to understand and better use their abilities. It was also a home and a safe haven to many as well. While the Academy was closed, those who didn’t have a place to go had been put up in various supernatural safehouses run byExemplarwith a member or two keeping an eye on them. And of course, I’d also brought several intoObsidian, mostly those in their final year and a handful who were younger but possessed a maturity and a handle on their abilities that matched those with more experience.

It made me sick that Constantine’s actions had caused the Academy to become a battleground several times now and that it had led to the dean closing it as a result.

It was yet another personal affront and there had been many since he’d risen.

Too many.

All of which he’d pay for in blood.

A surge of magical energy rolled through me and I turned from staring forlornly at the building, spinning toward the sensation.

Mere moments later, an eruption of crimson smoke came into view approximately ten feet from where I stood, Constantine materializing from it.

His long, black hair whipped around in the breeze, brushing against his signature black cloak.

The moment he took me in, that snide smile formed on his face, the fucking thing that I’d wanted to smash to pieces every time he looked my way.

Hold it. Give them more time to work the spell.

“Orpheus, what a thorn in my side you have become of late,” he said, sauntering toward me with that overt arrogance of his.

“Coming from you, that’s really something.”

“You think you’ve already won, but you’re fooling yourself. You’re heading down a dangerous track. You’re fortunate that I’m in a benevolent mood at the moment, so I’m willing to give you the opportunity to save yourself.”

I slapped my hand to my chest. “You’re really tugging at my heartstrings, almighty one.”

He sneered at my biting sarcasm. “I’ve already struck at your heart several times. Kidnapping your father. Violating and ruining Alena and forcing her mother into a state leading to her ultimate demise. Murdering Talon’s parents, then employing Cornwell to force him to lose control. Turning Xavier and using him as my sireling puppet, and now holding his father’s life hostage. Twisting your professor lover, Cornwell, to my side. Attacking Electi Academy. And, let’s not forget, taking your mother away from you and making her mine.”

I gritted my teeth at his awful recap of those despicable events he’d been responsible for and the nonchalant, almost proud way, he’d listed them.

“Your point?” I growled.

“Mypointis, those things weren’t even directed at hurting you. It wasn’t my goal, yet they’ve impacted you so profoundly. So just imagine if my target did become you. Imagine what I could do in order to not merely cut at your heart, but to tear it from your body.”

“I’m trembling in my two-thousand-dollar boots, hybrid.”

He snarled and stepped closer to me, stopping just shy of my personal space. Trying, but failing to intimidate me.

Noticing, he started throwing out more threats in a ridiculously transparent attempt to unnerve me and weaken my conviction, “Your father has made peace with the supernatural world, even working withExemplarrecently. What do you think would happen if I unleashed my most powerful weapon in your mother to murder his fiancé? Do you believe for one momentthat his grief and rage wouldn’t spill out into the human realm and destroy everyone and everything in his path, that his darker nature that he’s keeping checked so well currently wouldn’t unleash in all its glory and devastate the altruistic reputation he’s worked so hard to create lately? That it wouldn’t bring the two of you to the brink of war in the process?”

“You’re a fool. He’s not an easy being to manipulate. Not to mention, you won’t get anywhere near Marlowe.”

“Because he and your army are residing in a pocket dimension of your own creation?” He grinned as he saw me tense involuntarily. “You might have turned many of my potential recruits against me and brought them into your army instead, but I still have those on the outside that are loyal to me. And we’re tracking your movements, determining who you’ve recruited and when, witnesses in the area when you transported them to the hidden location. It won’t be long before we figure out the entry point into your pocket dimension. And given that Lenora is wielding borrowed celestial magic, it can be breached quite easily.”

“She’s not the only one possessing celestial magic.”

“Alena has been ostracized from the supernatural world thanks to my efforts. Her refusal to join with me and subsequently rejecting me has made her useless to me. So I’ve made her useless to you all. She’s currently being hunted, having to be hidden away.”

He didn’t know the whole story there and I wasn’t about to reveal it to him, no matter the provocations he threw my way.

“Yes, you certainly outdid yourself with that twisted manipulation.”

“Something you should be very wary of. You may be gifted at such a thing, but I’m the king, youngling.”

I narrowed my eyes.

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