~x~ Chapter 43 ~x~

Throughout the rest of the time until my extra lesson ended, we discussed how we were going to help the twins change their relationship with little Trace and guide it towards a more friendly direction. I noticed how ever now and then, Drew would sneak a look at me and it was that same strange gleam of recognition. I did my best not to let it get to me and just pretended that I didn't notice. There was no way that I was going to confront him about it because chances were, he would manage to force the truth from my mouth and I definitely did not was him finding out any time soon.

Once the two hours were up, which passed a lot faster than usual since it wasn't actually a lesson, the others suggested that the sooner we got started on the work the better. Knowing us, we would take forever since we were all rather easily distracted. I agreed with the idea and left my books with the twins while I headed off back to the dorms to find the three dhampir girls. It didn't really matter if they had anything planned or not. I knew that as soon as I mentioned the royals would be there, they'd definitely join me in the library no matter what they had in mind.

As I walked through the school, passing the corridors that I recognised so well, I couldn't help but think that I was definitely getting better. For one thing, I was no longer thinking with a depressed mind set about the fact that my parents were no longer here at the academy with me. I still had two years in this place. It'd be a foolish thing not to try and make the most of those two years. There was so much I could learn, so much fun to be had.

I gasped when a hand suddenly latched onto my arm and instinctively I lashed out at the person. Eric stumbled back a few paces when my fist struck his shoulder and he released me. I was confused when a satisfaction slithered through me. Why would I be feeling satisfied that I managed to hit him? Maybe it was because he had an eerie ability in avoiding my hits and rendering me helpless. No matter the reason, I was at his side in an instant, watching him with an apologetic gaze.

"Sorry about that, old habits die hard." I told him earnestly. Despite the satisfaction I felt, I was sorry for hitting him hard enough to force him to stumble backwards.

I was surprised by the glimmer of fury that flashed across his eyes for a brief moment before it disappeared and was replaced by a playful gleam that always seemed to settle in his eyes. There was something else there as usual, a strange gleam of possessiveness and something else that I couldn't name. I'd always noticed it before but had ignored it as something to do with his pride, but I began to wonder if that was a mistake.

I stepped back when he approached me with a somewhat predatory movement and amusement shone in his eyes at my reaction. Silently I cursed as my back pressed up against the granite base of one of the statues. Thinking about where I was, I knew that it was one of the statues of St. Vladmir, the founder of this Academy.

His hands rested on either side of my head and his body was unnecessarily close. In the back of my mind, I wondered what had made me agree to this ridiculous compromise we had going. Eric wasn't my type. I didn't know what my type was, but an overly hands on type of guy who was constantly pushing me against something was definitely not it.

"Hello, Kylie," he murmured huskily.

"Hey, Eric." I replied casually, brushing his huskiness aside. "What's up?"

"I heard that you weren't particularly nice to one of my friends."

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Jayce."

"Ah, the not-so-nice Moroi bullying one of my friends."

"You're friends with Christian Chance?"

I frowned at the hint of disgust in his tone but didn't comment. "And if I was?"

"I just didn't think that you hung out with that kind of person but I'm not judging."

"If you weren't judging, then you wouldn't say it."

He ignored me and carried on. I didn't like that much. "Jayce wasn't very happy, he was complaining about it for hours."

"His mistake, he can face the consequences himself. Or is he such a baby that he can't handle his fights himself and has to get a big bad wolf to do the talking for him?"

"Big bad wolf?" he drawled. "Is that what I am?"

"Am I wrong?"

"Then that would make you red riding hood."

"Hm, I've always had a thing for the colour red." Which was true, it was my hair colour. I either hated it because it resembled blood, or I loved the colour because it was so beautiful.

"I could imagine you wearing a pretty little red cloak and dress. Perhaps I should organise a fairy tale themed party."

"Isn't that a little clichéd?"

"Most good themes are."

"Hm, point taken."

"What are you doing?"

"Going to get the girls so that we can head off to the library to catch up on our work. We're drowning in it."

"Can't you wait half an hour? I could help you guys."

"Why half an hour?"

He chuckled and began to brush the back of his hand across my cheeks and his thumb swept across my lips softly. "I would've thought that that was obvious, Kylie. I haven't seen you much at all since our relationship started and I want some time together with just us two alone."

"We don't have a relationship, Eric." I told him firmly. "We have a strange compromise."

"Nonetheless you are mine for the time being, that was the deal."

"Relationships aren't deals." I narrowed my eyes at him. "I would stay, but the quartet has already saved us a seat."

He frowned in confusion and paused in his caress of my face. "The quartet?"

"Ozera, Dan and the twins."

Surprise shone in his eyes before they narrowed slightly. "I didn't realise you were so close with the royals. They've never been like this before."

"I didn't sleep with them, if that's what you were thinking." My voice hardened and I pursed my lips.

"I wouldn't make the same mistake as Nick, I assure you. I know that you wouldn't have slept with them. You have more pride than that."

"Damn right." I scoffed. "O'Connor was being ridiculous."

"He's rather predatory with his popularity."

"There are better ways to remain popular. At the rate he's going, he's heading for a serious downward spiral."

"Perhaps you should point that out to him, otherwise he wouldn't admit it to himself."

"I could, but he'd have to prove that he deserves the advice first."

"Come with me, Kylie," he urged, his voice lowering an octave. His other hand reached lower and hooked around my waist so that he pressed me up against him. Shock coiled through me when I felt his arousal and I gave a soft gasp. My eyes snapped up to meet his just as his head dipped and caught my lips in a burning kiss.

This was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I'd shared a fair number of kisses before, a couple with Eric, and none of them had ever felt like this. This wasn't the usual mind numbing or searing kiss that reduced a girl to mush. This was something quite different. It was more wilful and a little strange.

As his tongue curled around mine, warning slithered through me and I shivered. He pressed me harder against the base of the statue and he ground into me, a low growl grumbling from deep in his throat.

"Come with me," he whispered in between kisses.

"I can't," I breathed. I felt like he was literally stealing the breath out of me and I didn't have the strength to push him away. "Eric, stop." Kiss. "Eric." Nope still not stopping. I tried to push harder against his shoulders to get my point across. "Let me go."

"Half." Kiss. "An." Kiss. "Hour." His lips trailed down towards my neck and he sucked so hard that it was actually painful. It took me a moment to realise that he hadn't just sucked, he'd bitten. It wasn't hard enough to draw blood but the intention was there nonetheless. Shock slammed into me brutally and this time I did find the strength to shove him away as adrenaline rushed through me.

Anger and fury rose but as soon as I looked into his gleaming eyes, it dissipated instantly and I crumbled. For once in a long time, I didn't know what I was feeling. In fact, I didn't even know if I was feeling anything at all. I watched as he approached and just simply stared. He was about to pick me up into his arms when a familiar voice called out and I snapped out of it.

"Valentine?" I knew that voice.

"Guardian Jenson." Eric greeted with a polite nod of his head.

"Eric, good to see you. How did you find yesterday's training?" Crispin asked conversationally but I saw him glance at me with a mixture of surprise and concern.

"It was delightful," he replied and I sensed a double meaning in that. "I got an opportunity to spar against our new prodigy here."

"Speaking of Valentine, I'm going to have to borrow her." Crispin stated with a stern tone. "Valentine, I want to discuss about your training schedule."

"Sure thing." I murmured a little breathlessly and I coughed. "Let's go, Guardian Jenson." This time my voice was a little more solid and almost back to normal. "See you around, Eric."

"Oh you can be sure of that, Kylie." There was something strange in his voice again but I didn't know what that was. Without saying anything more, I followed Crispin away from Eric and neither of us spoke until we turned a corner and neared the dhampir dorms.

"What was that back there?" he asked, crossing his arms.

I blushed and looked away from him in embarrassment. "Uh… sorry you had to catch us like that…"

"I've seen countless couples making out without a care in the world, Valentine." Crispin stated bluntly. "That wasn't what I meant. Why were you on the ground?"

"My knees buckled." Well it wasn't a lie but it wasn't exactly the truth either and the withering look he gave me said that he didn't believe a word of it. "I don't know." I grumbled eventually.

"You don't know?" he asked softly, voice full of worry. "Isn't that bad?"

"I'm still trying to work it out. Anyway, let's discuss the schedule. I'm not exactly used to talking about this kind of thing amongst friends let along a grown up and a guardian."

"I didn't actually pull you away to discuss the schedule. You just looked like you wanted to get out of there so I lied."

I stared at him in surprise for a few seconds before I burst into laughter. "I knew I liked you for a reason." I wheezed as I tried to catch my breath. "Thanks for that, Guardian Jenson."

"If you'd like, you can just call me Crispin."

I stiffened and sobered instantly. I looked up at him with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. He just sighed and ran a hand through his hair which made me narrow my eyes at him in suspicion even more. "Was that a guardian speaking?" I almost growled but managed to refrain, just barely.

"That was me trying to make things a little more comfortable considering you call everyone else by their given names."

I thought about what he was talking about for a moment before I understood and I relaxed. Looking at him again, he looked so honest and sincere that I had to believe him. "Only if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't be suggesting it if I did," he scoffed. "But only when we're not in public, just like the others."

"I know, otherwise we'd cause a large bundle of rumours and I certainly don't need any more of those."

"We should probably talk, Valentine," he suggested. "Otherwise, you'd be giving me suspicious looks forever."

"I wouldn't do that all the time." I protested.

"Maybe not, but I'd rather avoid it completely."

"We do need to talk." I agreed wholeheartedly, because we really did. "Perhaps tomorrow, in our training? Joey would be there and we could just ask him nicely to shove off for a little bit while we talked. Either that or end our training a little earlier and then just talk afterwards if you aren't too dead."

"Thanks," he said dryly. "That's a good idea. Are you heading off somewhere?"

"Going to get the girls so we could go to the library and catch up on our work."

"Ah, the break out finally catching up on you guys, huh?"

"It's so unfair, the quartet have all caught up so why haven't us four?"

Confusion flickered for a moment as he pondered before realisation dawned and he chuckled. "Maybe it's to do with the fact that the four royals are at the top ten consistently?"

"They're all geniuses?" I gaped in disbelief. I'd known that Drew was at the top, but I didn't think that all four of them were. Geez, they weren't revered as the four prodigies for no good reason…

"They care about their studies."

"I care!"

"Do you?"

He pinned me with another unconvinced stare and I huffed. "Okay, maybe not as much but I do care for my reputation's sake. I don't want to be an academic drop out if I can help it. That would be embarrassing."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "You have great teachers around you, use them."

"Oh I intend to. The quartet is helping us with our work so that we can get it done faster."

"Why do you call them the quartet?"

"It's boring to call them the royals since everyone else does and I don't really want to call them royals for various reasons." I explained. "So I decided to choose something a little more original."

"Your secret being one of the reasons?"

"Sort of." I nodded. "Being identified as 'the royal' isn't really a nice feeling. Being labelled anything often isn't, but it's annoying to have to say all four of their names all the time since they're usually together so it was easier giving them an impartial name which works."

"I quite like it, the quartet. That applies to you and the three girls as well. Before, they were a trio and now they have become a quartet with you joining them."

"The quartet duo." I gloated proudly. "That has a nice ring to it."

"That it does," he laughed. "If you have already made arrangements for work then you'd better get to it otherwise you'd never get to the library."

"Thanks for helping me out earlier, Crispin." I told him earnestly. "See you around."

"Don't mention it and stay safe."

"Oh I will." I reassured him. "And feel free to call me however you want. The others have so many different variations of my name, another one wouldn't hurt. Just keep it away from public ears."

"Rest assured, I won't be the reason it becomes exposed, Val," he scoffed.

"Val?" I ran it over in my mind a few times and grinned. "I like it."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair again. "Good, because it's sticking."

"See you around."

I gave a little wave before heading into the dorms. In record time, I made it upstairs and strolled into my room first to get my books. Once organised, I stepped across the corridor and knocked on their rooms. Els opened the door with a lollipop in her mouth and I grinned at her.

"Yo, pack your stuff up guys. We're heading to the library."

"Since when?" Roxy called out from her spot on the bed.

"Since fifteen minutes ago when the quartet agreed to help us finish up our work."

"The quartet?" Ingrid pondered.

"In your words, the four royals." I explained bluntly. "Now let's go, or do you want to keep them waiting? Personally, I'd rather get this stuff out of the way as soon as possible so I can chill again."

"The four royals are helping us?" Els balked.

"Is that bad?"

"No, Kai." Roxy scoffed. "It's brilliant!"

"Glad we agree, now let's go." I urged, gently pushing Els back into her room so that she could get her stuff together.

"Please tell me you brought food." Jacks demanded as soon as he saw us approach.

"I wouldn't dream of trying to work without food." I scoffed and placed my bag of snacks on the table they'd kindly reserved for us. It took us nearly five minutes to find them since the library was so big and there were so many floors. We were on the second landing in the history section. They'd gotten a large table by the window and I casually tugged Dan out of his seat so that I could sit beside the window. "Sorry but I prefer to be by the window."

"Don't worry about it," he laughed. "You're the one working so you need more comfort."

"You guys better help or else this might take forever." I warned him.

The other three tentatively sat themselves at the table and the guys scattered so that we were all mixed up forcing the girls to be a little more normal. They were a little awkward at first, I noticed, but then they began loosening up and ogled at the guys a little less. I smiled a little at that. It was reassuring to see that they were capable of being normal around a royal. It gave me hope that once my secret was exposed, I wouldn't be feel so lonely like some revered legend or something. It gave me hope that everything would be okay.

I noticed Drew watching me carefully across from me and I blinked at him. "I know you said I was interesting, Ozera, but staring at me like that is going to get old pretty soon."

Amusement gleamed in his eyes and he scoffed. "Somehow, I doubt that. What were you thinking about? You were watching them with a strange look."

"I just think it's nice that those three have come out of their shell and stopped being so reserved around you guys. It felt a little awkward, after all."

Drew looked away from me briefly so he could observe the six of them and a smile stretched across his face. "I see what you mean. We were wondering how long it would take those three to get settled and not take too much notice of our status."

"The initial awkwardness is of course to be expected. After all, you guys spent your time up till now not really interacting so much but then bam suddenly we're one gigantic bundle."

"And it was all thanks to you." Drew told me honestly. "If it weren't for you not caring our statuses so much, I doubt they would've ever pushed our differences aside."

"What can I say? I don't think that someone should be solely judged by the family they come from but rather more from what they're really like."

"It's a good outlook."

"I know and I'll stand by it."

"It's going to get you into trouble, one day."

"It already has, Marissa being the prime example." I scoffed.

"I suppose everything does have its disadvantages."

I thought about it for a moment and agreed. "There probably isn't anything that doesn't have a down side of some sort. Then again, I usually only ever notice the disadvantage after I'd made the choice."

He gave me another one of his strange looks again. "Is that referring to something in particular or just in general?"

"You're being creepily probing again." I said pointedly before replying to his question. "In the general sense."

"You seemed a little more comfortable than usual so I thought I'd take my chances." Drew gave me a sly grin and rested his chin on his palm.

"Are you going to help me with my work at all or are you just going to analyse me some more?" I asked before he went any deeper with his questions and I slipped up. Slipping up with just him around would be horrific enough, but with the whole gang here, I didn't even want to think about the consequences of that.

He gave me a devilish smirk that made my heart stop and winked. "I can multitask."

I hope you've all liked it and please R&R! Wait for the next chapter to find out what happens with Trace!

Lyn xx