Page 66 of Cruel Legacy

I shake my head, correcting her. “No, he doesn’t. You’re not scared of anyone or anything. Don’t let them manipulate you into thinking you are.” I say as we approach my door.

“Mind over matter, huh?” Finn says with a smile. He’s been doing that a lot in public lately. He shouldn’t. It’s an amazing smile. Highlighting just how cute he is. Friendly even. And a total and complete lie. I don’t trust him any more than I trust his friends.

I press my key fob to the lock and push the door open. “Works for most things.” I squint my eyes and give a pointed look at his junk. “Except biology.”

His smile falters and I yank LJ into my room before he can say anything else. I dissolve into a fit of giggles thinking of the look on his face. I totally won that round.

Chapter32

Pax

Fight night at the frat house always draws a crowd. Tonight’s entertainment is in the form of girls in bikinis and a kiddie pool full of mud.

Holden and I are talking about Thea. I swear that girl is taking up way too much real estate in our minds lately. So far, our research hasn’t turned up anything suspicious.

I’m ready to be rid of my stuck-up bitch of a neighbor. The updates to my father have been surface level, and his response is to keep watching her. I still haven’t mentioned that she almost ran Finn over the night he assigned us this task. I had every intention of telling him that night, but as soon as he started with the whole “get me info on the new student” shit, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

My father stresses action over problems. Thea is walking around this campus, defiant at every turn. She’sa problem and I can’t say anything about it until she’s under control.

My dad used to be my hero. When I was little, I did everything he said, everything he asked, because I wanted to make him proud of me. As I got older, I realized that his pride in my accomplishments aren’t the same thing as being proud of me. So now my former hero is just the guy whose reputation I want to surpass.

He’s a mid-level council member and mom enjoys the perks that position gives her. That means the older I got and as my father climbed the ranks, the less time and attention she had for me.

I don’t have any siblings. My mother decided one was enough, and dad was okay with that since I’m a male heir, but I have girl cousins, and Holden has an older sister, while Finn’s sister is younger.

Starting in high school, the daughters are paired up with a male heir. They escort him to functions, and go through a type of finishing school to prepare them for helping their future husband’s lives run smoothly. Etiquette. Party planning. Smiling.

They learn to obtain information with a laugh and a smile and are told that they must keep their consort happy. In high school the tasks are small. Doing his homework, writing his papers,wetting his dick.

It’s why we were caught off guard at the social club. We’ve always been told the women are assets, that they help make good alliances, but we thought that just meant arranged marriages and having children to extend bloodlines. What I saw that night has me rethinking that premise.

High school was fun. The male heirs made it into a game. We all wanted to see how many legacy princesses we could use and abuse before their matches were officially announced. But none of what we were exposed to back then could have prepared us for what we learned when we started college.

It started out small, our senior year of high school. We’d go to functions where we were introduced to representatives from Canyon Falls University and other Ivy League schools. Some of the reps traveled with students who talked to us about campus and fraternity life. Finn, Holden and I always knew we’d pledge Rho Beta Psi. Just like our fathers did.

Then our freshman year of college we started hearing the whispers. The rumors. The hints that there was an even more exclusive group on campus that was harder to join.

We hadn’t met any members of that group, and questioning my dad about it, never yielded any answers. The last dinner we had before the start of pledge season each of our fathers finally admitted they were a part of a secret society. The League of the Daggered Ravens.

The brands, rings, and watches we’ve seen all our lives started to take on new meaning. They told us that getting accepted into the society was hard. We’d be asked to do things that would stretch our moral compass, and even then, there was no guarantee that we would be found worthy.

We all agreed we wanted it, and from that day on, we’ve done nothing but work our asses off to prove it. I didn’t find out about my grandfather’s position as a high council member until my application was approved.

So far, the tests we’ve faced have been easy, but we all know they’ll get harder the deeper into initiation we go.

Finn and I got our prospect declaration last year. Holden got his a few months ago. We were worried we’d ascend faster than Holden until Finn’s dad let it slip that entering the prospect phase at different times was just another test to see how close we really are.

Any other group would have felt the strain, but the three of us are closer than brothers. There’s nothing I won’t do for these guys and that they won’t do for me. Nothing, not even The League can come between us.

A cheer from the crowd snaps me from my musings. The girls are covered in mud, pushing and pulling at each other. One of them is so drenched her bikini has slipped and her tits are hanging out. Someone pushing through the crowd on the other side of the pit draws my attention. It’s Thea. I’ve seen her at a few other mixers as well.

At parties she dances with plenty of people but when it comes to hanging out, she’s always with the same person. The shy girl who’s glued to her side. Maybe that’s the key. Instead of going directly after Thea, maybe I need to be more subtle about it and target her through her friend.

She notices I’m looking, raises her brow in challenge, then pushes her thumb and pointer finger together.

Fucking bitch needs to quit with the small dick shit. I keep my expression blank. Giving nothing away as a plan finally comes together.

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