“I’m not a Knight. I’m a Summers, and that will never change.”
I felt sorry for her, being dragged into this family. Being a Knight came with certain expectations, and unfortunately, my dad didn’t allow anyone to tarnish that name. I’d keep her safe from everything that came with it, though.
“Aria Knight doesn’t really sound right, if I’m honest. Summers suits you much better,” I teased. “Now, budge up so Ican see what terrible taste in movies you have.” I climbed onto her bed, bouncing next to her.
She pushed me, then grabbed the pillow to make a wall between us.
She handed me the remote, and I turned the TV on.
I felt her eyes on me. “You’re not what I expected.”
My eyebrow arched, but my eyes were fixed on scrolling through the TV. “Oh yeah. How so?”
“I thought you’d be some stuck-up Chelsea boy.”
My eyes flicked down to her. “Guess you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Like I haven’t heard that before. How did you cut your lip?”
My eyes met the TV again. “Nothing you need to worry about, Nyx.”
“Nyx? That’s not my name.” Her face screwed up in confusion.
“Well, that’s what I’ll be calling you.”
“But—”
Before she could finish, I interrupted her. “What do you want to watch?”
Her mouth closed, her eyes now on the TV.
“Oh, that one.” Her hand found mine on the remote to stop me from changing it.
My eyebrows rose as I looked at her. “Romeo + Juliet?”
“Yep,” she replied with the biggest smile on her face.
I let out a heavy breath and pressed play, then threw the remote on the bed. I guessed this was going to be me for the next couple of hours. It wasn’t like I was going to sleep, anyway.
The film started, but I felt her eyes on me. “I’m not saying I don’t like the name Nyx. I mean, she was a Greek goddess.” Surprise filtered through me. “It’s just no one has ever called me anything but Aria.”
“First time for everything, Nyx,” I told her, placing my hands behind my head. “Like me watching this film.”
“You’ve never seenRomeo + Juliet? Did you not go to school?”
“Of course.” A soft laugh fell from me. “Where I went to school, they made us read books, even if we didn’t want to.”
I’d been forced to go to private school and had been expected to be the top of my class for everything. My father had always told me there would be consequences otherwise.
“Oh! Well, the book is my favourite, but you might like this. They have guns.” She smiled at me, burrowing into the covers.
I chuckled to myself. There was something about her. Something special.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d be family for, but I decided there and then that I wasn’t going to let anything hurt her. I’d keep that light safe, no matter the cost.
43
Sebastian
