Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
At some point, I’m supposed to decide which House I want to try out for. When I first came to college, I was thinking I’d eventually infiltrate the Vesuvios from within, but I’m not sure if I can pull that off.
I want to stay with my friends, but Raine is already a Saint. I don’t know which House Honey will go for. She’s smart and loyal. She could be a Sword or a Saint.
I’m probably a Serpent. I feel like a snake.
I close Time for a Truce: The History of Unitas University. I can’t focus on this stuff. I’ve got too much on my mind.
Pandemonium was a cluster, and I missed it. Does Kaiser know what I did?
He hasn’t said anything about it. Maybe he doesn’t know.
Will he find out? And if he does, what will he do to me?
A few more days pass without him mentioning Club Empire, and I think I’ve gotten away with it. Kaiser and I have settled into a routine: I wake up and get some gardening in while he sleeps in, he takes me to orientation and picks me up, and we eat dinner together like an old married couple.
Something’s changed, though. It feels clichéd to say it, but he looks at me differently now that he’s taken my virginity.
I don’t feel different. Not like Luna, the werewolf queen, when she has a one-night stand with an evil vampire. Or Delilah, who fucks Thorbjorn on the Moon Altar to unlock her Valkeryie powers. Virginity is a social construct.
But something is different. I can’t be sure, but… he looks at me like I’m his equal.
Friday night, we’re eating in the dining room, and I’ve done everything I can to make it a nice candlelit affair. White linen tablecloth and my mother’s fine china. I even picked some lovely red flowers and placed them in a beautiful vase for a centerpiece.
Kaiser doesn’t cook, and he refuses to eat anything I make him—which is smart—so we ordered Thai and then I plated it under Kaiser’s watchful eye. He wouldn’t even let me add a garnish. Again, he’s being smart. He doesn’t know the difference between cow parsley and hemlock, so it’s good he’s suspicious of anything green I bring into the house.
His caution hasn’t kept me from poisoning him slowly and upping the dose more and more every day. Not through his food, though. He’ll never guess how.
I smirk to myself as I finish my pad thai.
“This is nice,” I say, and I mean it. It feels very chill. Very old married couple.
“I have something to show you,” he says, and brings out his phone. “We need to talk about Club Empire. I’m going to show you some footage from Pandemonium.”
Oh no. Here it is.
I am curious, though. I know it wrecked my friends’ social lives, but I am a teensy tiny bit excited to see what actually happened.
He plays the video, fast-forwarding through the footage. You can tell the minute the drugs take hold. People stop fucking and start laughing. A few of them get on all fours, crawling and pouncing like they’re pretending to be cats. They keep trying to catch the lasers.
He slows the speed and gives me volume. “I can see god,” someone screams to the soundtrack of hysterical laughter.
“Oh wow.” I try to keep the delight out of my voice but can’t. “Guess that’s why they call it Pandemonium.”
He puts down the phone. “Do you know how this happened?”
“If I had to guess, someone gave out some drugs to people. Like MDMA or something.”
“Something with Salvia divinorum? That’s right, someone put it in the punch. Atticus had it tested.”
Oooh, busted.
I shrug. “Sounds like a good time.”
He leans in, grips the back of my neck and pulls me close. “I know you did it.”
All the breath whooshes out of me.
This is it! He knows. And now I know he knows. And he knows I know that he knows. And… wait, I’m confused.
BUT OH MY GOD THIS IS SO EXCITING!
“You’re in big trouble,” he growls, and I suppress a squirm. He’s big and angry and not fucking around. He’s a beast I’m training, but he’s not fully tamed yet. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl.”
I’m panting a little. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Go upstairs and prepare for me.”
My stomach swoops in the way it always does when he says that. I’m instantly wet. Just as he’s trained me to be.
Every step I take toward my bedroom only makes me ache more.
I reach my bedroom and smile. Showtime. Here we go…
I light the candles and inhale their strong scent. By the time Kaiser comes upstairs, their incense will permeate the air.
I strip naked and rinse off. When I’m done with my shower, I go through my ritual of oiling my body for him. It’s my own recipe. I even labeled it as a love potion—my idea of a joke. The label is funny, but the contents are serious. And they’re working.