AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As he sat down, he pulled me into his lap, and I couldn’t help smiling at him. He was whispering things in my ear as we waited for the Saintling on duty to bring us our lunches. Even Florence made use of the Saintling delivery service, despite her protesting just the existence of the Saintlings in the same breath.
Someone cleared their throat behind us, and Apollo pulled his head out of my hair to see what they wanted. It was a Magdalen that I’d seen him with before.
“Macey?” Apollo said, an expectation that she state her business and move on quickly in his voice.
“Do you want me to meet you in your room?” she asked him.
I had to admire the audacity of this bitch. Here was his princess, sitting in his lap, and she just walked up and expected to lure him away. I admired her, but it would be a cold day in Hell before I let that happen.
Before Apollo could respond, I just shook my head at the Magdalen.
“We have a…date,” she said to Apollo, clearly wondering atmyaudacity. “It’s my time.”
“Not today,” I told her before he could reply.
She looked at Apollo like she expected him to leap to her defence. As though her pussy was so unimaginably extraordinary that he would drop everything just to get another taste of it. I couldn’t help but be just a little impressed; I wished I had that much belief and conviction about any part of me.
Apollo kicked his head to indicate she leave. “You heard your princess,” was his answer.
The Magdalen huffed. “Fine. Next week then.”
I levelled my gaze at her. “We’ll see.”
There was a shrewdness in her eyes. It was dangerous. I knew it was dangerous to provoke the Magdalens. Me, who until now hadn’t said boo to a fly. But then I was surviving attacks by Black Bloods and forging my own future for myself. Annoying a few little girls who had to sleep with men for power was the least of my worries.
And this Magdalen didn’t argue with her princess. She walked away, head held high, like she hadn’t just lost something she might never get back; namely her chance at being something better than she was. Unless she was one of the ones with daddy issues. But, in a lot of ways, weren’t we all?
“That,” Apollo murmured in my ear, “was fucking sexy.” And he nipped my earlobe playfully.
I chuckled against the tickle and batted him. “Just testing my authority,” I told him.
He wrapped his arms around me and groaned appreciatively. “Keep testing it, baby, and I might take a knee before you.”
I liked the sound of that very much. If God himself thought I was worth his fealty, then our future was indeed looking like it was coming up Harlow.
On my way to the boys’ dorm after school, I might have been on a high from my win with Apollo at lunch, but I was under no delusions that the Magdalens weren’t suddenly watching me far too closely and talking to each other behind their hands whenever I passed. They didn’t like me flexing my authority, especially over them. I was looking forward to seeing what they were going to do about it.
As I walked into Apollo’s room, I found him sitting on the couch with his Angels, and they were all staring intently at something on the coffee table between them. They were all dour-faced and Valen looked particularly grumpy, with a steady stream of hazy smoke above his head. Then again, that could have just been Valen’s face.
“Who are we killing this time?” I asked, aiming for a joke.
All five of them turned to me and the looks on their faces suggested that they might have actually been planning to kill someone.Greattime for me to try to test out that new authority I’d been waving around.
“Uh…” I hurriedly tried backpedalling. “I will leave you to it.”
Apollo sighed. “Gage, get the car ready. Valk, take Harlow back to her room and meet us at the garage.”
Us? Apollo was going on whatever ‘errand’ they were running? Again?
“What’s happened?” I asked.
“Let the men handle it, babe,” Apollo said, his father coming out again.
I stiffened but knew better than to argue. “Fine.”
Gage stood up and walked towards me, still standing in the doorway. He stopped next to me, crowding my space. I almost felt threatened by it, but this was one of Apollo’s Angels and, if I didn’t believe I would always be safe with them, then I didn’t think I’d feel safe with anyone.
He looked me over intently and I knew I was still lacking in his eyes, still the little princess in her ivory tower. So separate and other to their world, yet so very firmly at the centre of it as well. I would almost say he hated me for it. Hated me for having a place he had to work so hard for, and yet he couldn’t be sure I even wanted what I was being handed.
