Saving Year Three (Grim Reaper Academy 3)

He thought for a second. “Err… no. I think he’s genuinely proud. You’re mortal enemies, sure, but you know how it is in movies and comic books… Mortal enemies can be civil with each other. Even friendly.” He stole a glance at Crassus. “Who’s that?”

I sighed. “My bodyguard.” I stepped aside and waved at the fay. “Crassus, this is my friend, Klaus. Klaus, Crassus, my loyal guard. His job is to make sure I don’t bone GC or slash and Paz.”

“Hi there!”

I giggled. Crassus didn’t make a move, let alone a sound. He didn’t even nod in acknowledgement.

“Is he deaf or something?” Klaus whispered.

I laughed out loud. “No. Morningstar just needs to pay him more if he wants him to talk to me. And why would he want that?” I took him by the arm. “Come on, I’m starving.”

“You missed dinner by three hours.”

“I bet Patty saved something good for me.”

That cheered him up. “To the kitchen!”

CHAPTER TWO

I saw GC and Pazuzu the next morning, at breakfast. Sure, my father could prohibit me from seeing them on vacation, but there was no way he could control what happened in class and in the dining hall. The VDC students always had classes together now, and at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we all sat at the same long, wooden table. The VDC table.

I walked into the dining hall and stopped dead in my tracks. Corri almost fell off my shoulder. If I’d been in a better mood, I’d have made a joke about how she needed a safety belt, but I hadn’t stopped abruptly because I was in a good mood. Crassus halted two feet behind me. I must have taken him by surprise, too.

“What the fuck?!”

The four long tables were gone. The MDC, RDC, NDC, and VDC students who’d arrived before me were all scattered around the room, each at their own tiny plastic tables. Square and big enough for one tray of food, each table had one plastic chair. The distance between the new tables was considerable. This way, it was nearly impossible for the students to talk to each other while they ate. They could, but they’d have to shout, and that, as I was soon going to learn, would cost them about 50 worth points. The professors ate at their usual table, up on the dais, and Valentine Morningstar occupied the Headmaster’s tall, fancy chair. What a delight!

“It seems they have redecorated,” Corri said.

“They? Who’s they? My father has redecorated,” I spat between gritted teeth. I shot him an angry glance, but he just raised his glass of orange juice and smiled at me. It wasn’t enough that he had me followed around twenty-four seven, now he was doing everything in his power to have me completely isolated. Or to have us all completely isolated.

I grabbed a tray and went to get some food from the open buffet. I wasn’t hungry anymore, but I knew I needed to eat if I wanted to stay strong and healthy. The Violent Death Cabal had PE later, and if I knew my father at all, then I knew to prepare myself for a serious workout. He’d probably changed every professor’s class curriculum by now, including Mrs. Charon’s. Plate filled with pancakes and bacon, I looked around the hall. GC and Pazuzu were each at his own table, facing each other. They didn’t talk, and they didn’t have to. Since I’d started dating them both, they’d developed a strong bond, and they could now communicate via glances, grins, and subtle gestures. There was one table relatively close to theirs that was empty, and I instantly guessed the other VDC guys had saved it for me. Back straight and chin up, I headed over there and claimed it.

Pazuzu’s intense green eyes fixed me with a gaze that went right to my core. A mix of lust and impatience that made my heart ache… GC waved at me, and I dared to wave back. His eyes were blue one second, and light green the next. His blond curls caught the shy sun rays filtering through the windows and turned them into red gold that framed his handsome face perfectly. I bit the inside of my lip. Oh, how badly I wanted them! My appetite was gone. No, it was transformed. I didn’t crave pancakes anymore. I craved them. GC’s big cock teasing my entrance as I teased Pazuzu with my lips and tongue. I closed my eyes, unsure whether I wanted to deepen the fantasy or chase it away.

“Are you feeling okay, Mistress?” Corri flew around the table for a minute, then settled next to my plate. She eyed it suspiciously, as if she wanted to make sure the food hadn’t gone bad. But I hadn’t taken a single bite yet, she must have noticed as much. “You look like you’re running a fever.” Right. I was flustered.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” I pushed the plate closer to her. “Have a pancake. I loaded too many.” But my fingers didn’t release the edges of the plate. I wanted to let go and relax in my chair, but I couldn’t. The more I looked at my gorgeous boyfriends, the more anger seeped into my veins, turning my blood into pure fire. Who was Valentine Morningstar to order me around? To prohibit me from dating who I wanted? He called himself my father, and for the sake of appearances, that was what I called him too, but he wasn’t my father. He’d never been there for me. He had no right…

I squeezed my fingers around the edge of the plate. In one swift motion, I pushed myself to my feet, grabbed my chair with the other hand, and swung it around, smacking it down right across from where GC was sitting. He jumped in his seat, startled. He looked at me in shock, then stole a glance at the professors’ table. For a moment there, I thought he was going to run away. But he didn’t.

“Hey there, goddess. Whacha’ up to?”

“I’m sitting with you.” I motioned at Pazuzu to join us, and after a moment’s hesitation, he did. I could feel Crassus tensing up behind me. Normally, he would have reacted in some way, but my father was there, after all. He didn’t need to react. If Valentine didn’t do anything, then I could sit and eat with my guys. For a minute or two, he didn’t. I shoved two strips of bacon in my mouth and smiled up at them. “Tell me how much you missed me.”

Pazuzu reached under the table and squeezed my thigh possessively. I melted under his touch. Oh, I wanted more. So much more.

“You know I missed you more than anything,” he said in a low, sexy voice. I bit down hard on my lower lip. All I wanted to do was to run my fingers through his raven black hair. It reached his shoulders now, and it seemed he wasn’t interested in getting a haircut.

“I missed you more,” GC said in a whisper.

I grinned at them. “I got more tattoos. Can’t wait to show them to you.”

They didn’t have the reaction I expected. Instead of shooting me a string of naughty innuendos, they fell silent. I was getting ready to ask them what was up when I heard shuffling behind me. It wasn’t Crassus, because his black and green uniform didn’t shuffle. I looked up, my heart beating wildly in my chest. Not because I was afraid of Morningstar, but because I was going to confront him, and when it came to confrontation, years of abuse had trained my body to believe that any kind of argument was a good reason to trigger my fight-or-flight response. I squeezed my hands into fists and held my ground, willing my heartbeat to slow down and my bladder to behave.

“Mila, you arrived so late last night,” Morningstar started in a sweet, calculated tone. “Did you have time to review the new Academy rules?”

“I’m afraid not. I didn’t have time to visit any of the chapels.” I could only guess these new rules he was talking about were displayed in the Holy Chapel and the Unholy Chapel, probably next to the worth scoreboards.