Page 29 of Soulless Rivalry

Then he too left, probably trying to catch up with his cousin and leaving me and Ace alone in the loft.

Asher and I had met at the Academy during our first year and, against all odds, we became great friends. He was the youngest son of Gerard Donovan, a powerful congressman whose mind was clearly as small and narrow as his dick.

Asher finally looked up, the corner of his lip bleeding from the punch Rhodes had delivered. I shook my head slowly, angry at him for fucking up our dynamic again, this time for good.

“It’s crazy how you hate your dad but still act so much like him.”

Before I turned around to exit the Church, I saw regret flash in his eyes, but he quickly hid it.

“Don’t forget to lock up after you this time, or I’ll kick your ass.”

Making my way out of the old building, I started walking back to the castle. I was annoyed at Asher for ruining what was supposed to be a relaxing night away from thoughts of the dark-haired minx that had decided to take up my mind.

Ever since we got stuck in that room almost a week ago now, I found myself looking for Elyssa-fucking-Ayaari whenever I entered a room. It was annoying and I hated myself a little for it, but I couldn’t stop. Anytime I was around people, my brain sought her out of its own accord. Whenever our eyes met, she’d hold my gaze for a few seconds before looking away and finding a way to disappear. I wanted nothing more than to follow her but I couldn’t let myself do it. I wouldn’t stoop that low.

The woods I had to cross to get back to the castle felt just as weird as earlier on. There was a heaviness in the air that usually wasn’t present. Like something was lurking around school grounds.

Just when the thought crossed my mind, the sound of leaves crunching echoed right behind me. I whipped around, ready to take on whatever or whoever the threat was, but I stopped short when I recognized my friend’s mop of black hair.

Royal frowned at me and I closed my eyes, trying to lessen the feelings of aggression and violence rising inside me.

“Have you seen him? I can’t find Rhodes.”

Shaking my head, I was about to tell him he should probably leave his cousin alone to lick his wounds when a screeching sound resounded. A woman, or girl more like, was screaming in absolute fright. It was so loud it made the trees shake.

Royal and I shared a look before running in the direction it came from. I was faster but he wasn’t that far behind. The scream came from Old Joe’s Mill, which used to belong to the castle’s caretaker back in the fifties. Situated in the south of theisland, not that far from the coast, it was where secret parties happened and, when that wasn’t the case, it was a pretty popular hookup spot.

That’s why when I came up to the clearing leading down to the mill and saw a couple standing there, half naked, it didn’t dawn on me yet that they were the ones we’d heard.

Their backs were to me, and if it wasn’t for the moon being up so high that night, I would’ve barely seen them with all the trees around us. It took me a second to realize they were staring up at something in those trees, actually.

I felt Royal stop next to me. “Holy shit,” he whispered.

Just as I was about to ask why he’d said that, my eyes looked up and I understood.

I didn’t feel anything particular looking at the gruesome view greeting the four of us. After all, I grew up in a pretty deranged family. I was no stranger to murder or blood, but even I had to admit that seeing a girl no older than twenty being strung up on a tree, naked and with her throat slit open, was pretty fucked up.

ELYSSA

Icouldn’t sleep.

I was hungry and hot and I just. Couldn’t.Sleep.

Usually, I would take that opportunity to sneak down to the kitchens and make myself a sweet treat, but something kept me from leaving my bed that night.

Against my better judgment, a part of me was worried about running into Konstantin.

He didn’t scare me, but he did have things on me that I’d rather nobody else knew. Not only that but ever since we got stuck in that room days ago, it felt like something had shifted.

Like we were sharing a secret.

Well, it was the case for me, since I hadn’t spoken to anyone about it, not even my friends or my cousin.

Konstantin didn’t strike me as the type to tell anyone either. I had been dying to get back there for days now, especially to retrieve the journal I had found, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it; the darkness scared me shitless.

When I was finally allowed to hang around my cousins, Renaldi, Mia and Lorenzo’s father, was not happy about it. He couldn’t say anything, since my grandfather’s word outweighed his, but he never failed to make me feel it. I walked on eggshellswhenever he was around and one of the things he did to ‘discipline’ me when he thought I deserved it, was locking me up in a closet at the far end of their house.

It was dark and cold and he left me there for hours on end sometimes. I hated it.

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