Bloodline Legacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 4), стр. 18
“We choose against forcing a boy to mate with someone he doesn’t care about,” Durin snarled.
Tiberius cackled. “Nephilim don’t mate.” The way he sneered at Durin made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “We all know the shifter alpha can’t be trusted to make a rational decision.”
If Griff and Jonah hadn’t held him back, Durin would have charged over there and sunk his claws into Tiberius. I had my fingers crossed for it to happen. But though he was half bear, Durin was also the head of the shifters. His left eye twitched when he turned and saw me standing there.
I tried to school my face into a neutral expression. He had too much honour to let this go. If I showed that I was distressed, he would knock someone’s head off. I tried to give him a reassuring smile. It must have looked deranged instead because suddenly a film of dark purple laced around him. Jonah’s magic. Griff’s sinewy arms bunched. Shit. I held my breath for a second until Jonah got his magic into Durin and convinced him he didn’t want to attack every Nephilim in the room.
Chanelle’s voice dragged me back into the conversation. “You promised,” she said to Kai. Her bottom lip stuck out.
“I don’t care,” Kai said. Chanelle’s eyes grew wide. They started to water.
“You don’t mean that. You’re a Pendragon. Duty is everything.”
“It does.” Kai reached behind him and grabbed hold of me. I squeaked when he pressed me to his side. “I just never understood what duty meant before. I can’t give you what you want, Nelle.”
She brushed the back of her hand over her cheek dramatically. I wasn’t sure if it was Astrid or Matilda who snorted. I was too busy trying not to wince at Kai’s tight hold.
Chanelle stepped forward. “You think that now,” she said, “But things change. We’ve both changed so much, who knows what we could be in the years to come. Your family wasn’t the only one that suffered from the attack. I understand what you went through. How it still haunts you. She doesn’t. She can’t. We could rebuild their legacy. Your legacy.”
I wasn’t sure when I’d stepped back into Nora’s embrace. I only knew that in this moment, I wanted to be close to somebody who understood the frailty of what it meant to be human beside these supernaturals. Something sharp prodded me in the hip. I turned to find myself at the pointy end of Matilda’s knife. She swiped the knife across her throat in the universal sign for death. The guards inched forward. She gave them a forced grin that showed teeth.
Kai turned back to me. I’d only known him for a short time, but somehow, he’d managed to weasel his way into the depths of my soul. The worst part was that I knew him just as intimately. That was kind of what happened when you almost died with someone.
In his heart, I knew he was desperate to fix what he believed was an unforgivable failure. I bit the inside of my cheek. Kids pick up things even when people try to pretend nothing is happening. I sure as hell picked up the vibes of resentment during my time in the foster homes. How long before he would resent me too?
Nora squeezed my side where her arm was placed. I shook my head at Kai. His eyes narrowed. His jaw set into a hard line.
“It makes no difference,” he said.
Chanelle’s perfect mask contorted for a second. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” she said. “Who’s to say that demon-spawned witch hasn’t cast a spell on you?”
“How is that any worse than forcing a child to sign a binding contract?” Astrid sniped. I would have appreciated it more if she hadn’t conceded the fact I was a demon-spawned witch.
“He was not forced,” Tiberius said.
Orin chuckled. “He certainly wasn’t in his right mind,” he said. “Everyone knows that.” If I had been sitting, I would have fallen off my chair.
“This is pointless,” Megan said. She rubbed absently at her temple. “The fact of the matter remains. Malachi is bound by a blood vow. I assume you will not retract it.”
“We cannot,” Tiberius said.
Megan looked at Kai. “And you won’t honour it.”
He shook his head. Chanelle’s right cheek spasmed. If we weren’t here, I imagined she’d fling herself on the ground in a raging tantrum. She saw me watching. Her top lip curled. I kept my expression blank.
“Then we’re at a stalemate,” Megan said.
“Only until Malachi turns twenty-five,” another of the Nephilim standing by Chanelle said.
“Believe me,” Kai said, his voice gone lethal. “You won’t get that long.”
Chanelle buried her face in her hands. When she glanced up again, a tear glided down her cheek. “You forsake your duty?” she asked.
“It depends where you’re looking at this from,” Kai said. She clutched at his mother’s necklace. Suddenly I was so tired. I wasn’t cut out for this kind of polite sniping. Somebody throw a punch already and get it over with.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one with that idea. “Why don’t you settle it in the arena?” Jonah said.
“It’s already settled,” Kai snapped. But Jacqueline was intrigued. So were some of the others. “We’re just about to begin a semester of Unity Games,” Jonah continued. “Why not settle this inside the contest.”
Tiberius laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Who would we pit against Malachi Pendragon? It would be a massacre.”
Jonah glanced at me. “Agreed,” he said. “But that’s not what I had in mind.”
Everybody turned to look at me. I wanted to smack them all across the head. “Alessia versus Chanelle,” Jonah offered. “Whoever lasts the longest in the games will determine the outcome of the bond. Malachi will obviously have to forgo the games.”
“No!” The refusal was out before I could stop it.
I wrenched myself out of Nora’s hold and