Page 103 of Heartless Legacy

“So this is Deacon’s place?” He asks, looking around at the patio furniture.

“It is.”

“I assumed he lived in faculty housing.”

“He does during the semester, but he comes here on weekends and long holidays. Or when he thinks I need some privacy.”

I glance over at him. He’s in nothing but his boxers. “Wolfe had a training session, so he left already, but I can take you to campus if you need a lift.”

Finn snorts. “Campus? I’m not going to class.”

I don’t know his schedule, but I’ve seen him walking through campus around this time on Wednesdays. I assumed he was heading to a class. “Why not?”

“Because I’d rather stay here and hang out with you. So, what would you like to do?”

I look up at him through the fringe of my lashes. I guess we’re all avoiding the bloody extremity in the room. Finn chopped off a hand for me. Well, two fingers, but the motivation was clear. He did it because the asshole touched me. It would be rude to kick him out without letting him finish my coffee, right?

Chapter 61

Holden

“I’m really getting tired of coming to this place.” Finn mutters under his breath as we slip through the hidden door of The Tomb. His words don’t exactly match the look on his face. He looks calmer than I’ve seen him in weeks. He must’ve found someone new to interview.

I’m tired of coming here too. It feels like we’re spending more time here than we do on campus or at home. My first time here seems like a lifetime ago. An experience lived by someone else. We were all so excited to be moving towards the next step of our lives. Now it feels like a burden.

I was enamored by this place. Awed by the men gracing its halls and the secrets these walls held. Now, I look around and all I can think is that the only information it willingly shares with us is bad news.

For tonight’s meeting, we were told to bring our formal wear. I shrug on my cloak and slip on my mask before moving into the inner chamber. Looking around, I can tell I’m not the only person confused about why we’re about to sit through this meeting in these heavy ass cloaks.

“Gentlemen, I’m glad you all could be here today.” The ceremony master says, as if we had a choice about showing up.“As I look out at the crowd, I can truly say that this is an exciting day in the history of our town, and in The League of the Daggered Raven. We have a record number of prospects and initiates to weed through over the next few months, as well as another round of challenges on campus.”

He looks at the person standing to his right. If this is just to hype up the fraternity games, he could’ve emailed a flyer.

“You all know we closely monitor the fraternity game scoreboards and often use those scores as part of our screening process. What some of you may not know is that for second-year prospects and above, there are games and challenges hand picked by The League to manage our membership roles.”

His head turns and I can almost swear he’s looking at me. “For those of you who use the archives to help gain an advantage over the other members, you won’t find any records of these challenges on the shelves. They’re kept in one of the secure vaults.”

Murmurs filter through the room at this bit of information. “These challenges are difficult, often times scary and may require you to work independently of whatever team you’ve formed, or in new teams.”

He smiles out at us, but it’s less than friendly. “I can sense all the apprehensive looks on your faces, but you don’t need to worry. I have faith that each and every one of you is up for whatever challenge we issue.”

This explains why they often kept first year prospects separate from the higher year levels. They didn’t want to risk anybody spilling the beans about these challenges. It also explains the randomness of that solo mission Finn went on.

This is probably where the divide between so many friendships begins. I wish this were the case for me and my friends. This would be easy to overcome, instead of the shit we’re going through. Or is what we’re going through a variation of oneof those secretly hand picked personal league challenges he’s talking about? Wouldn’t that be fucked up?

He claps his hands and rubs his palms together. “I am also excited to announce that we’ve made some changes to our rules.”

This time, he looks at the guy on his left. “The decisions made within the walls of The Tomb are recorded and locked. Accessible only by members with a high enough ranking, until the High Council formally announces the decision. Opening our doors to women wasn’t the only change ratified last year.”

I hate that he keeps pausing for dramatic effect.

The high council has also decided to appoint one lucky family the official title of the fourth legacy bloodline at the end of next year.

No fucking way.

“That’s right. You’ve heard me correctly. We’re finally prepared to assign a new bloodline and have decided it won’t come from the group of families that contributed the fifth highest donation as previously thought.”

No. Fucking. Way. There are thirty families that tied for donations at the fifth highest dollar amount, and ten of those families still have students going to school here. They always said one of those families would be chosen. They’ve been fighting amongst themselves for generations, and now they’re changing it?

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