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“Feels wrong, ditching them,” I confess, the guilt gnawing at my insides.
“Sometimes you have to look after number one, Ever.” He shrugs as if it’s that simple.
I know he’s right. Cass did. We all have to. I’m grateful for his help, but it feels like accepting a lifeboat while knowing others are still on the sinking ship.
“Where is this place?” I ask, shouldering my bag. It feels heavier now, laden with more than clothes and books—like each item is soaked in the night’s chaos.
“Not far.” Alex avoids my gaze, and I sense he’s not telling me everything. But I’m too tired to dig deeper.
“Fine.” My reply is short, clipped with the edge of my fraying nerves. There’s no room for softness right now, not when the world’s turned brittle.
“Let’s go then.” He leads the way downstairs, and I follow, the guilt trailing me like a shadow I can’t shake off.
I hit the bottom step and almost collide with Lila. Her phone is glued to her ear, brow furrowed as she nods along to whatever her mum’s saying on the other end. Sasha’s sitting on the floor, scrolling through her contacts like they might magically conjure up a spare room.
“Any luck?” I ask, my voice hoarse from the smoke and the shouting earlier.
Lila pockets her phone and manages a small smile. “Heading home for the weekend. Mum’s freaking out. She thinks I’m about to turn into a fireball or something.” She rolls her eyes, but I can tell she’s relieved, she’s back to her old self, mostly. “I’ll sort something once I’m there. If I have to commute, it’s not that far. Couple of hours either way.”
Sasha looks up from her phone, a resigned sigh escaping her lips. “My cousin’s going to let me crash in her dorm. It’s tiny as hell, but it beats sleeping out here,” she says, gesturing out to the cold, unforgiving street that’s become our temporary refuge.
The tight knot of panic in my chest eases a fraction. They’re not going to be homeless because of this mess. But the relief is bittersweet. Our lives are scattered now, like the ashes that must be settling in the burned-out kitchen.
“Good,” I murmur, trying to infuse some warmth into the word. “That’s good you guys have places to go.”
“You?”
“Alex has sorted something out for me.”
Lila gives me a one-armed hug, her body trembling slightly against mine. “Thank fuck. This is not how I thought our last year would start off.”
“Me either. Be safe.”
She nods, and Sasha rises to also give me a hug. “We’ll see you on the other side.”
Whatever that means.
“Yeah. We’re good,” I lie because I’m anything but okay. I’m crashing at a stranger’s place with no idea what to do next.
9
ALISTAIR
Smoke curls into the sky, like a signal fire warning me of what’s coming. I stand at the window, my hands shoved in my pockets, breathing evenly, slowly. This isn’t just another day at KnightsGate; it’s a reckoning.
The Gaight name weighs on me, heavy as the stone walls that surround this place. Dad was a cruel bastard who loved power more than his own child. Now that title is mine, and it’s a beast I have to tame, or it’ll eat me alive just like it did him. But I won’t be him. I can’t be.
I’m here, stuck in the thick of this ancient university’s politics, because of a legacy that’s both a curse and a privilege. The expectations are suffocating. Lead, succeed, dominate—those words are etched into my brain, carved there since I was old enough to understand that failure isn’t an option for a Gaight.
It was drummed into me since I was old enough to understand words, maybe even before, that one dayI’ll be here, with the responsibility of the sect on my shoulders. I was told to lead with the iron will no one will ever see coming, and if anyone dares to cross me, they’ll learn quickly that I’m every bit the force to be reckoned with.
It’s not that I don’t want this responsibility. I want it. Ineedit. I need it more than I need air to breathe because it’s my legacy. But it comes with a ton of shit that I sometimes wish would just fuck off.
Like this moment.
It’s too early. It’s too soon. This plan was several months away, and yet here we are because some fucking worthless pricks think they can take what’s ours.
Adapt, pivot and move forward.
