Page 31 of Gemini Queen
“Which means we’ve got unarmed civilians in the bleacher seats when the shooting starts,” I acknowledge with a sigh. “Can I trust them at least not to stab me in the back?”
“For now.” He sounds cautious. “They’ll mostly pay lip service to the Senate and show you the requisite deference as the current queen-in-waiting.” He pauses. “Assuming you survive Purgatory. Until then, it’s hunting season, and you’re fair game.”
“Purgatory?” I poke my head out from behind the screen. “I really hope you’re speaking metaphorically.”
“Yeah, you wish. That’s what we call the first days here for freshmen.” He’s returned to lying flat on my bed, but he’s still watching me, all those vivid magenta waves streaming across my pillow in an extremely distracting way. “There’s no other way to say this. You’ll probably be, uh, hazed.”
“Hazed?” I sound as indignant as I feel. “How exactly is that necessary? Usually the whole point of hazing is to get you to drop out. I already don’t want to be here. Just show me the way off this rock and it’ssayonara.”
“It’s not that simple, Zara. You’re already enrolled, and the wards around the island won’t let any student pass without the Dean’s consent. So you can’t just back out.”
I process this breaking headline with concern, because it could definitely have a bearing on my whole hijacking plan. “Tell me more about this Purgatory business.”
He draws up one knee and props a brawny arm behind his head. “The whole purpose is to winnow out the weak and help the strong hone their power. Most freshmen start the school year together, and the hazing process encourages us to form alliances with the other plebes. But since you’re starting mid-term…”
“I’m doing this alone,” I finish for him, with a sigh. Because of course I am. “And all those new alliances are already formed.”
“But you haveus,” Neo says firmly. “Your cohort at Villa Augustus. We’re your courtiers and your allies. At least, Racetrack and Dez and I are, and they’re even going to work on Ronin. He’d be a good ally to have if he can ever admit you’re not responsible for what happened to Gwen. Vasili, though… he’s a lost cause.”
Judging by his tone, that doesn’t sound good. So of course I have to ask. “Vasili’s one of the students in this house?”
“As far as he’s concerned, Vasili’s the only student in this house,” he says dryly, “and the only student on this whole island who matters. And of course his underlings buy into it. He’s the Scorpio scion, pretty close to purebred Mogadon, with a little shifter. He’s a really strong warlock, with a penchant for knives and some unusual gifts that don’t usually come out in our recessives these days. Plus he’s the oldest student, so he wields a lot of power.”
“Sounds like a fun guy.” Mentally I add another problem to my growing list.
“Most of the students are terrified of him.” Neo’s tone ratchets tight. “And of course he actively exploits that. In fact, the way he acts, he pretty much guarantees it. The only students Vasili doesn’t completely terrorize are Ronin and me.”
“So if I can get Ronin on my side, maybe the two of you can help me keep Vasili in line?” I button myself into the burgundy blazer and sit in the window seat to work on my stockings.
“Maybe.” Neo hesitates. “It’s worth a shot, I guess.”
I shoot him a sharp look. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He rakes a hand through his hair with a grimace. “Everyone knows Ronin and Vasili are mortal enemies. But they’ve been known to work together at times to take out a common rival. Even Damien was wary of those two together.”
“Sounds lovely,” I say, glumly unrolling the stockings. They’re longer than I thought, more thigh-highs than knee-highs—which makes sense given it’s winter, I guess. Once I finish rolling up the first one, there’s only an inch of exposed thigh between the bottom of my skirt and the top of my stocking.
Neo’s stopped talking completely and rolled onto his side, head propped on fist, to fully appreciate the stocking effect. The intense look on his face makes me abruptly remember that exactly ten minutes and twenty seconds ago, according to my dive watch, I was clenched around his finger and chasing a climax he still hasn’t given me, but which he’s clearly more than capable of delivering.
Holding his gaze, I prop my bare foot on the cushion beside me and unroll the second stocking, inch by inch, up the length of my leg. As I smooth the fabric leisurely over my knee, he watches in utter and complete absorption.
Suddenly his big body uncoils and he surges to his feet. He tosses his glasses on the desk and stalks toward me like some magenta-maned lion on the African savanna. In that moment, he’s so damn predatory he might as well be crawling toward me.
I freeze like a hunted impala with my knee bent and my pulse spiking and my foot propped on the cushion, plaid skirt pooling between my thighs. That arrangement leaves a good four inches of naked skin between the hem of my skirt and the top of my stocking.
There are roughly nine hundred and twelve reasons why teasing Neo Mercury is a really bad idea, and I know every one of them.
But I can’t seem to make myself stop.
He drops to a crouch between my splayed knees. His hands close over my knees and ease them wide open.
And suddenly I’m face to face and eye to eye with this strange guy I’ve been recklessly teasing, and my pulse is jumping and my skin is hot.
“Zara,” he breathes, eyes green as kryptonite locking onto mine. He’s like my own personal kryptonite, this dude, because I don’t want to confuse things between us any worse than they’re already confused. Yet I can’t seem to stop what’s happening between us, and I can’t seem to want him to stop either. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you, do you?”
“I’m guessing… five years?” I whisper.
He dips his chin in a nod without ever breaking my gaze. “And the only reason I didn’t just peel your panties off with my teeth and fuck you with my tongue until you came apart in our bed—theonlyreason—is because you told me to stop.”
