“Which family?” I ask before I can help it, falling right into his trap.
He wanted me interested; well, he knew just how to do it.
“I’m not at liberty to speak of her family at the moment, but she’s an alumni student and was set to attend last year, having graduated a year early, but something… came up.”
This time, I managed to keep my mouth closed, but just barely.
Wren had been interesting from the moment she knocked on the door, but now, well, I’d say there are a lot more pieces on the board than I was aware of.
Though with every new discovery, I remind myself I’m to stay away, uninterested.
“There was an accident, and her brother died. She took it hard, and while that’s tragic...” his face doesn’t say he thinks it’s tragic at all. In fact, he’s talking about this the same way a sane person might talk about the weather. “Rules are rules.”
The fact that I’m related to this man makes my skin crawl. His rule is an old one that had to do with her coming through the semester. Meadow Ridge doesn't accept transfers, but this doesn’t seem like the same thing.
Wren doesn’t talk about Jordan, something I didn’t even think about much before he just mentioned him. Thinking back on the handful of times I saw her before she came to campus, he was always around, and while we might not have been close with him, he and Titus both played soccer. They often faced off, and Jordan was good. Not to mention he swam too; hell, I’m not sure there wasn’t a sport he didn’t play. He was the other half of Wren for sure; where she was all books, he was sports.
“But her aunt put up a hell of a fight, and duds have been known to still pass gifts.”
What he meant to say was that she must have paid him a lot of money or offered him something he couldn’t refuse.
My eyes go wide as the thought crosses my mind, and I really comprehend what he just said.
“Father, no—” His glare hardens, cutting through me and shutting me up as if I’m nothing but a scared child.
And to him I am.
Despite my size, I’m still no match for him. With his control of the seas, it also gives him control of those who reside in them, and while I might be on land right now, he can take that ability away at any moment.
I have yet to earn my legs, which is why I’m still around, still eager to try to appease him.
The deal was that I would be the best; I would win, train, and get good grades. What more could he possibly want fromme? My older brothers had agreed to be his generals, and he’d married my sister off to some asshole in the council.
I was meant to be his golden child, the one everyone loved, and I’d perfected that role.
So why did it feel like someone just dropped a lead weight in my stomach and then pulled the rug out from under me?
“Manners, boy, I know I taught you them,” he seethes, his fists slamming down on his desk, and despite my rising panic, I manage to snap my mouth shut.
He waits a moment as if testing to see if I can keep myself in check before he nods and continues, as if I hadn’t spoken.
“Despite her unfortunatedudstatus, there is still a chance for her to offer good genetics, not to mention she’s smart. The brightest student we have enrolled, she plays seven instruments, speaks five languages, and graduated a year early, though she probably could have done so a few years earlier if her aunt had let her. She’s going to be performing one of her own pieces during the showcase in a few months. You’ll do well to make friends with her.”
The way he looks at me tells me exactly what he wants from me, and it’s not friendship.
I was supposed to ignore her.
This girl, who is Gavin’s rival and who Julian is already obsessed with.
This meeting was meant to be about getting her out of the dorm, but somehow she’s simply wormed her way further into my life and my space.
My annoyance grows by the second as he continues to ramble on about how great she is and how having our two families as allies is a good thing.
“If you can ensure that, I’ll give you your legs.” He says it so nonchalantly, as if he didn’t just toss everything I want and have been working for right at my face and expect me to catch it.
“What?” I force the question out past all logic, needing to know what the requirements are here.
“Keep her close, keep her happy, and if you can, find a way to keep her.” He shrugs as if to say it’s no big deal either way, but we both know that’s a lie. We both also know the ‘if you can’ is a load of shit. My father will expect nothing less.
