Page 1 of Nidev and Lyric

THE BITE

It started as a whisper.

The change in the Kings.

The shift in their energy.

It was subtle at first, something in the way they carried themselves—sharper, heavier, like they were listening to a sound no one else could hear. Then it became undeniable. Men who once operated with precision were now distracted. Men who once spoke with authority now held tension in their jaws, as if silencing something they couldn’t control.

And Nidev?

Lyric didn’t know what she expected to see tonight. But she knew one thing—he wasn’t the same man he was a month ago. But… she wasn’t the same girl either.

She adjusted the strap of her leather satchel as she walked, the familiar halls of the Creole King Academy echoing softly under her steps. The school had always felt like its own world, separate from the chaos outside. A kingdom tucked away in the bayous, protected by the legendary men that built it.

Here, the gifted trained. The ones with voices that could break minds. The ones with hands that could heal or kill. The ones who could alter the very foundation of reality with just a thought. And above them all, the Creole Kings ruled.

It was a system that worked. At least, it had worked—until the Bayou Bishops came.

Their arrival had ripped the veil open, revealing flaws no one wanted to see. The prodigy program, the academy’s mostambitious attempt at creating an unshakable future, had been an abject failure. And not just for her.

She didn’t like thinking about it.

She didn’t like thinking about George.

Her boots tapped a steady rhythm as she moved past the dark glass of the grand library, her reflection barely visible in its polished surface. Maybe she was avoiding looking at herself.

Four years.

That’s how long she’d dedicated herself to this school, to its mission, to the Kings who shaped her. It was also how long she’d crushed on Nidev.

She let out a slow breath, willing away the heat that crept up her neck at the thought. It wasn’t like that anymore. She’d finally pushed through it, she had to. Once she’d decided to participate in the prodigy program, it cost her a thousand percent of everything. She’d wanted to succeed in that. And hadn’t.

She wasn’t into blaming herself for the heck of it but when it came to something like a marriage, the –it takes two –rule, was a fact, pure and simple. It would’ve helped to knowwhatshe’d done wrong. She ended it because having a shitty bond in the prodigy program wasn’t helping anybody and she wasn’t there to pretend to succeed and on top of that, the program required termination when you couldn’t resolve an issue after trying every measure. And she had. Many times in many ways.

Thankfully, their failure wasn’t a shock but for Lyric it was a massive disappointment. Every student who joined the program felt the pressure of the King’s hope. That’s all it took to rally every student to accomplish anything—a King merely needed to want it. It didn’t matter what it was, every student did what it took to please the heroes they loved. The Kings weren’t just powerful men, they were extraordinary men. They were like their fathers, teachers, and friends. The Kings didn’t realize whyso few attempted the program. It wasn’t fear of marriage, it was fear of failing and disappointing them.Thenit was the fear of marriage.

Needless to say, every failure brought the morale of both King and student that much lower. Those who participated walked around with an invisiblewe tried and we failedsign on their backs.

For months, Lyric racked her brain over what exactly went wrong. She didn’t understand it. Both her and George had given it everything they had. On the surface, they did everything perfectly. So, why didn’t it work? The parts matched but they didn’tfit,they didn’t form a solidconnection.The only thing more embarrassing was what broke it. The sex. George had a problem with the pleasure of it. Hetriedbut you could always tell that’s what it was. Alwaystryingnot wanting.

Lyric wasn’t a pretender and she surely wouldn’t be that in the prodigy program, not when doing things perfectly required success.Wantingthe things that allowed it to succeed wasn’t a subjective decoration, it was mandatory. Youhadto want it, and Georgedidn’t.Lyric never imagined the embarrassment that would come from that and may have even fudged the reasons on the exit form. She didn’t want to humiliate George or herself, so she selected one of the most generic reasons people exited the program. Incompatibility.

The guilt of lying about it was as heavy as her failure. And then there was that third thing that plagued her, way in the back of her mind.

What was wrong with her? Why didn’t Georgewanther. Was it her body? Her looks? Her personality?

With King Nidev as her mentor and her ex-crush, she had to really dance a dance to hide her true feelings while also being upset over the failure. God bless him for eventually forbidding it to be discussed when he saw it interfering with her other studies.

She fingered the strap on her bag as her mind pivoted back to the Kings and their strange new…hunger. The bite had done something to them that wasn’t to be talked about but was, very discreetly behind their backs. Their hidden sources said it was supposed to somehow unlock their gifts and from what she heard, it did. But it also unlocked something else. Something that had the entire school gripped by the throat, leaving very little room for breathing.

The Kings thought the students didn’t know, didn’t see it. Of course they did. The Kings were being quietly stalked and studied by every eye on campus. Questions to be answered: Whatexactlywas wrong with the Kings? Whatwasit clenching their jaws? What caused tension to bleed through every conversation? What kind ofbattleraged inside them? And why did they refuse to name it?

That last question was Lyrics. It was unlike the Kings to keep challenges from them. They always faced them together. As a unit, as a family. The fact that they hid it demanded answers all the more. And that was the unspoken assignment for the entire student body.

And Nidev.

She drew a breath and released it as the usual cacophony of emotions swirled about. It bothered her to see him unhinged when knowing who he was. An impenetrable fortress. A wall of logic and discipline, standing above all storms. He was their leader, their strategist, their unshakable standard of excellence. And she just… wanted tohelphim. They all did.

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