Page 30 of Blood Oath
“So you’re Maven Oakley?” Angry Girl snaps, looking over me with hatred practically glowing in her eyes. “I can’t believe he was matched to this.”
I open my mouth, ready to tell them I don’t even care which of my matches she’s referring to because they’re not my matches anymore since I rejected them. But I pause, realizing this is an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted. I’m trying to play head games to get those guys to hate me, and here are three pissed-off, jealous girls.
All I need to do is piss them off even more.
Child’s play.
I tip my head. “Problem, ladies?”
Sierra scoffs. “Yeah. You’re the problem. Take a look at yourself. Gods, you just got matched with the hottest fucking legacies in existence, and you’re still dressing like that?”
“I didn’t know my worth as a keeper was determined by my wardrobe.”
Angry Girl pipes up, glowering at me. “No, it’s determined by how useful you are—and you’re not. We did some digging, and we know what you are. I can’t believe that four of the most powerful legacies in the world got matched with a weak, germaphobic little asscaster.”
Germaphobic?
Oh. She must think that because of the gloves.
“You’re nowhere near their caliber—and you’ll just get yourself killed trying to pretend otherwise,” Angry Girl emphasizes as if she wouldn’t gleefully kill me herself this second but for the danger of getting caught by the faculty, who would cut her ranking down as punishment. “Legacies like you are destined for administrative support and shit like that—far away from anything remotely dangerous. Far away from your quintet since everyone knows they’re destined for great things. Far greater than you.”
Sierra lifts her chin. “And forget about having anything but a platonic work relationship with them. Think you have what it takes to hold their interest? You’re wrong. And you can take my word for it because I fucked Baelfire and Silas Crane this semester. I know what they’re into, and you’re not it.”
There’s a weird clench in my throat that I actively choose to ignore. Meanwhile, Harlow glances at the redhead, resentment flashing across her face. Clearly, they have a catfight on the horizon.
But I’m over this conversation. It’s time to wrap it up, bait them, and move on.
Sierra is the easiest target.
“And you think you are what they’re into?” I look her in the eye.
She sneers and steps forward, getting far too into my personal bubble but I hold my ground.
“Yeah. I am. Because they might’ve been matched to you, but you will never be enough for them. You’ll always be the asscasting little bitch they have no choice but to come home to—they might even fuck you once or twice out of pity. But make no mistake, they’re not yours. Virile legacies like them will always crave someone who can satisfy them—someone like me. Now that they’re facing the bleak prospect of you for the rest of their lives, I could have any of them with a bat of my eye.”
An emotion I’ve never experienced before wells in my gut, but I push it out of mind and lift my chin.
“Prove it. Steal them from me.”
For a moment, I think she’s debating attacking me right here in this hall, but Angry Girl cuts in with, “We will,” and marches past me, fuming. The other two follow after Sierra spits on one of my black boots.
A real charmer, that one.
I take a deep breath and try to relax my gloved hands, which I realize clenched up without my notice. There. If this situation were a chess game, I’ve just sent three pawns to stir up trouble with the quintet. That should do some damage.
For a moment, I consider how each of my so-called quintet members would react to someone like her trying to seduce them. I barely know them, but I’ve seen a small snapshot of their personalities, and I’ve heard plenty of rumors, some of which I’m now sure are true.
Silas is intense. Merciless. He hooks up with girls sometimes, but they say he’d just as easily slit their throat if he thought they posed a threat to him. Still, he might go for her.
Everett won’t. Everyone knows Professor Frost ignores women completely, especially university students. He equally ignores the advances of men, ruling out any whispers about him being gay. He’s basically an icy, rich, off-limits sex icon educator who would probably freeze Sierra without a second of remorse if she bothered him.
Crypt is…Crypt. I doubt anyone knows what the Nightmare Prince’s sex life is like, but he’s far from predictable. He strikes me as someone who acts purely on impulse, meaning seduction will probably be effective where he’s concerned.
And Baelfire has a reputation for having a sky-high sex drive, even compared to others in his House. He’s hot-blooded, which makes sense. Shifters are said to experience emotions far stronger than others. When they’re sad, they’re inconsolable. When they’re angry, they’re murderous.
And when they’re a horny, cocksure dragon who has been sexually frustrated by a mate who rejected him…
It all comes down to animal instincts.
