Page 21 of Revenant

Elias lets out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, well, she sure acted like her. I’m not going near another lunatic. One Veil in my lifetime was enough.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“She did what?” Eryx inquires.

“Oh, brother, it seems, once again, I got the punishment for your actions.”

“The little spawn absolutely laid into Elias, thought he was you,” Bastian says, grinning. “Shouting something along the lines of…‘how dare you humiliate me in class.’ It was adorable.”

“Oh, and she highly recommends you apologize before she tears your eyes from their sockets,” Koen adds, far too amused.

“Not just any eyes, though,” I say, pausing for dramatic effect. “She specifically said gorgeous.”

“And hypnotic,” Bastian throws in.

And even Eryx—twat of an asshole that he is—can’t stop the corner of his mouth from twitching upward.

“Regardless,” Eryx says, trying—and failing—to hide how the admission hits him. “I said keep your distance, but that’s not the current issue at hand.” Eryx turns to me, eyes narrowing as suspicion lights up his face. “You compelled her, right?”

It’s simple enough, slipping into the minds of a crowd and smoothing over what they think they saw. Forty-odd witnesses, and by morning not one of them will recall a thing.

“Sure did,” I say matter-of-factly. “Along with everyone else.”

“You’re certain it worked?”

“Who exactly do you think you’re talking to? Of course it worked.”

“Nothing surprises me anymore. Your compulsion obeys intent, and you’re probably holding back. We stay vigilant until we know for sure,” Eryx says. Everyone nods, the whole Bastian disaster getting shoved aside with a kind of grim, shared agreement. “Now that we’re all in understanding…back to recruitment. We select only the strongest bloodlines; the graduating class took half of the society.”

“I think there’s only one that matters now,” I state plainly, and Eryx’s brows pull together like he genuinely doesn’t understand. “Alicent. Obviously.”

“Have you not been listening to a single thing I’ve said?”

“What better way to keep an eye on her?” I muse.

Bastian lets out a breath that might be a laugh. “They do say keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“She’s not our enemy.”

“For now,” Eryx pushes through clenched teeth. “There’s no way in hell we’re letting her in.”

My laugh is humorless. “I think you need to be knocked down a few pegs, your highness.”

“And I think she has you so pussy-whipped you can’t see the truth that’s staring you right in the face!”

“I thought we were done talking about her?”

“You brought her back up, not me!”

“Because this shouldn’t be up for discussion, Eryx! This was the bloody plan, you imbecile. And just because she resembles Veil, doesn’t mean you can pussy out and back out now.”

He has nothing to say. Of course he doesn’t. Because he knows I’m right—all four of them. They act as if ignoring her will make the whole issue disappear. Like she’s some stain they can scrub out if they just pretend hard enough.

But she isn’t a problem.

Not yet, anyway. In fact, she very well might be the solution we need.

“Whatever,” I snap. “I’m done with this. I’ve had one hell of a night, and now I get to clean up Bastian’s mess. Again. Some things never change.”