Page 26 of Buried Secret 295

I roll my eyes at him. “Most fathers have a knocking rule. Ember, this is Constantine. Constantine, Ember.” I motion between the two of them for the introduction.

He makes a weird face, scrunching up. “Stop with the word father; it makes me sound like a dictator. Either Dad or Constantine, those I can handle.” He motions between me and Ember. “Are you the roommate?”

I wince slightly. “No, I already lost my roommate. This is Ember. She knew me from before. We were best friends?” I don’t mean for the last part to come out as more of a question. This is another thing I didn’t see coming, and I’m trying to play catch up and keep my head above water.

His eyes widened. “From before? Are we positive her loyalties aren’t with Marcus?” He narrows his eyes as if he is scrutinizing Ember. My spine straightens, and I want to protect her from Constantine’s suspicious gaze. “And when you say you lost your roommate, did she move out, or am I about to be involved in a crime?” He shrugs. “I’m okay with either option. I must know what my night will entail and if I need to change clothes.”

Ember looks at me, her eyebrows furrowing, before looking at Constantine. “The quick version of events is that Lulu is out for this one’s head. The roommate tucked her tail and ran away. As for Marcus, he always hated me. Both him and her mother. We had to be friends in secret. I never believed she ran away. Hethreatened me when I kept coming by after she left. They told me it was probably my fault that she left, that my blood being tainted gave her unrealistic expectations for her power.” Ember rolls her eyes. “That’s everything in a nutshell. Plus, I’m pretty sure he got lawyers involved, not that my parents would tell me otherwise.”

“What an asshole,” Constantine states before tilting his head to see the moth. “And you bring gifts of dead bugs… that’s cool.”

Ember laughs, “There is more where that came from. I had boxes of stuff stored at my house that she needed to keep safe.” Her voice goes lower. “She likes weird shit.”

I frown and look down at my moth. My eyebrows furrow, and I hold it closer, wanting to stick up for its feelings even though it’s dead. Constantine stops my protectiveness over my moth. “Sorry to break up this party, but we received a summons from Dean Campbell’s office.”

“Fuck.” I mutter, wondering which part of my day I will get a strike two for. I give Constantine a cringe smile with a shrug. “So I kicked a pretty boy’s ass today in Professor Merrick’s class, who, by the way, is not a fan of mine at all. He tried to embarrass me by failing me, and it backfired. Lulu and Oliver have started an ‘I Hate Salem’ fan club. It doesn’t matter that I don’t remember any interactions with them. Then, my roommate moves out. So, one of those is probably why we were called in.”

Ember’s eyes widened. “You seriously kicked Gage’s ass? I heard about it but didn’t know if it was true. He is like the golden boy. His parents are loaded and pretty sure they own half the corporations. They have been trying to get him to follow in their footsteps. He isn’t a complete asshole, hot as hell for sure, though.” She fans herself, and I laugh while thinking about him. Ember isn’t wrong on that end.

“Oooh, I like her.” Constantine points at Ember. “You will be a wealth of knowledge since I lived up to my sloth name.” Hewinces and hesitates slightly. “I don’t know what has happened with the Ministry or the powerful Fae running this place.”

Ember’s hands go over her mouth. “Holy shit! You’re Constantine Blackthorne?” She looks at me and then back to Constantine. “Your mother fucked Constantine Blackthorne? Then had you?” Her voice gets higher. “And she thought I was a bad influence! What a hypocrite!” She winces and shoots Constantine a look. “No offense.” Holding her hands up in surrender.

Constantine points at her and smiles. “I like her even better now. But seriously, we got to go.”

I look at Ember, “Be careful. See you soon?”

She rolls her eyes and lets out a huff. “You’re not getting rid of me.”

I nod. “If you want out, nobody will fault you. It’s going to be dangerous being friends with me.”

“Yeah, yeah, we will catch you up later, Ember. We already are on strike one and didn’t want to get to three on day one. If we do, then this whole thing is for not.” Constantine grabs my hands, the room blurs, and we stand inside an office.

The large cherry desk we sit in front of has a plaque that says ‘Dean Campbell.’ Everything in his office is grand, with gold leaf, medals, and trophies lining the tops of his bookcases. Constantine looks at Simon and then at me. “Do you think he might be overcompensating for something?”

“You sure took your time.” Simon crosses his arms and shoots Constantine a glare.

Constantine only shrugs before looking bored as he sits down. “It was my daughter’s first day of school. What kind of dad would I be if I didn’t see how it went?”

“I must say, I don’t enjoy this side of you.” He narrows his eyes. “It’s freaking me out a bit.”

Before Constantine can say another word, the door opens, and in walks Dean Campbell. From the look on his face, it doesn’t appear that he has lost the giant stick that is wedged up his ass. “Well, well, well, the infamous Salem finally makes her appearance. You took your time getting here.”

“To be fair, I didn’t know we were supposed to have this meeting.” I tilt my head and hesitate. “Infamous sounds a bit… what’s the word I’m looking for?…” I look to Constantine, who has a flash of a smile before it’s gone. His face became serious, pensive, yet helpful.

He steeples his fingers to his lips and hums almost to himself. “…Leaning towards pretentiousness. I was catching up with my daughter on her first day here, which is why the delay occurred.”

I swear the man’s dark brown eye twitches at me. “Let’s get down to business, shall we? Professor Merrick kindly requests your withdrawal from his class. He suggests private tutoring from Mr. Louis, who has been applying for a job on campus. Of course, this must be funded to add him to the payroll.”

He looks over at me and smiles like he has won something. The smile quickly disappears when Constantine claps his hands together. It starts as a slow clap before quickening. “Splendid idea! I am happy to fund Samuel Louis to teach my daughter. I would consider it a personal honor.” Constantine pauses as he looks over at me. “He has helped train some of the best agents to grace the FPS.” His attention goes back to the Dean. He thought he would create a new rift between us at the cost. “I had doubts about Merrick, but clearly, he knows what a talent my daughter has for combat. I heard he got to see it firsthand today.”

“Indeed.” His voice is dry as wallpaper. “Your roommate requested a transfer. You have a room suitable for two. This means you may get a roommate later on.” I nod my head because I assumed that might be the case. “If you drive a new one awaywith childish antics, we might also have to consider increasing your room and board.”

“My antics?” My voice has an edge to it.

“Yes. You’re on strike two, Ms. Blackthorne. Your antics–”

“If a private room is available, I am happy to pay for her to move into it now.” My father chimes in quickly, cutting off the Dean before he can say anything more.

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