Page 9 of The Never List
“Choosing night,” he says, a wide grin stretching his lips.
I shake my head, but I feel the corner of my mouth tug up slightly, unable to stop the effect his adventurous energy has on me. It’s better than the rage my father invoked.
“Aren’t you even a little excited?” he asks, sinking onto the couch opposite me. He reaches for the decanter in the middle of the table and pours two glasses of amber liquid, sliding one toward me. “It’s your year to pick.”
I take the glass, clinking it against his before throwing back the contents in one gulp. The burn is just what I need, so I pour myself another. “About that…”
“You two about ready?” Kal calls, sauntering into the room, his dark-brown hair perfectly combed, his face clean-shaven, looking every inch the part of the golden boy. If we hadn’t grown up together, I’d probably hate him for his ability to make calm, collected, and confident look effortless. Lucky for him, I love him like he’s blood.
“We’re waiting on you and Pierce,” Axl says, pouring himself another drink. “It doesn’t take much to make me look this damn good.” He stretches his arm over the back of the couch, crossing an ankle over his knee.
Kal laughs, straightening his red suit jacket. “My father held me up,” he says. “Pierce’s, too—”
“I’m here,” Pierce interrupts, joining us. “Did each of your fathers express the urgency of selecting correctly this year? Or just mine?”
Kal nods. Axl groans and drops his head back dramatically. I can only smile bitterly.
“They’ve never been quite this invested in our pursuits,” Pierce continues. His dark-brown eyes go distant in that way they do when he’s analyzing a situation. His nickname is “the Mind” for a reason—he sees angles others don’t and has more knowledge rattling around up there than a hundred Lumathyst historians. “Why do you suppose that is?”
I set down my empty glass, and the crystal clinks against the table. “Baydel mentioned appeasing our mothers’ wishes.” I sigh. “And a threat from Erithmore.”
“My father mentioned the offerings, too,” Axl says.
“Did Baydel refer to a particular group in Erithmore?” Pierce asks.
“No,” I answer.
“How vague,” Pierce says, brows pinched.
Axl grips the back of the couch a bit harder. “What fools would have the courage to threaten the kings?”
“That’s the question,” I say. We fall silent, and I immediately feel restless. “But about tonight. Axl, why don’t you take my pick?”
“Why would I do that?” Axl shrugs. “It’s your turn.”
Kal rounds the sofa, sitting in the armchair next to me. Pierce smoothly leans against the armrest of Axl’s sofa.
“You know me,” I say, as if that’s explanation enough. “I don’t care either way.”
“But if we pick right…” Axl’s voice trails off. “Imagine,” he continues. “A mate strong enough to handle all of us? It’d be—”
“A fairy tale,” I cut him off. Not that I haven’t thought about the benefits of having a mate before—having someonewho understood us in a way only a mate could. Someone who could take on all of us and beg for more, someone who wouldn’t cower in fear beneath us…
Again, a fantasy.
There hasn’t been a potential yet who could handle each of us on our own, and notonehas ever actually enjoyed our company enough to choose us. None earned our tokens—our sacred items that we’d award the potential at the end of our individual months with her, a symbol of our promise to her. We tried, though. We alwaystry.
A fuck is easy to find, but a mate?
Not that I’ve ever fucked any of the potentials before. I left that to Axl, Pierce, and Kal. Sure, I watched, but not one of the potentials has ever been brave enough to try to seduce the Nightmare. Not when they know what I can do, what I’ve done to anyone who has crossed me.
“You don’t think this year will be any different,” Kal says, not asking. He presses his lips together, his blue eyes going allbroken hearton me.
I glare at him. “Maybe I’m not excited to select another potential only for them to reject us before reaching the Athanry.”
Kal’s shoulders drop, and I instantly regret the outburst. He’s chosen twice, and both of them left the instant they could. Our mothers made the contract magically binding but would never force anyone to love us, so they included the option to leave after a month. So many have left us then, taking their compensation and never looking back.
Kal takes it the hardest out of all of us—not that we don’t all feel the sting of rejection—but that’s Kal, the Dreamer. His heart is his weakness, though it’s about theonly one he has.
