Dark Angel Academy (The Complete Series) - G. Bailey Page 0,38
away, and as I come back, Vesnia is there, already on Teagan.
“Why do you look angry?” she asks.
“Let’s fly, and I will explain,” I reply, jumping onto Ayda’s back. Ayda neighs once before running off through the trees and to the back of the cliff where she jumps off. I used to be scared of this fall, but now I just love the feel of the air against my cheeks until she straightens up and glides across the air. We fly around for a good hour before Vesnia whistles and points at a patch of grass on the other side of the forest by the academy. We both land and tie the horses up before sitting on the edge of the cliff, watching the thick clouds pass by.
“Riley was kissing a girl behind the stables,” I tell her. “And still he acts like I’m doing something wrong by liking other guys.”
“I think Riley is clinging onto you because you are the only bit of home he has here. I’d do the same, but maybe not as bad,” she suggests, and I think about it for a moment. Even if what Vesnia suspects is true, he still needs to stop acting like I’m his childhood toy that he doesn’t want to give away. I’ve never been his, and I never will be, I’m sure of that. I knew deep in my heart as I saw him kissing that light angel…because I felt nothing, nothing like jealousy or heartbreak.
If I saw Henry, Thallon or even Ren the ghost kissing someone…I don’t know how I would feel.
Okay, I do.
Murderous.
I clear my throat, trying to distract myself. “What is your home like?”
“We had a small two-bedroomed house, and everyone knew everyone else in our town. I actually loved my upbringing,” she tells me. “I miss pizza though. We used to handmake it every weekend and have a family board game night.”
“I can play board games, and we could sneak into the kitchens to find stuff to make a pizza on Sunday. No one is in there then,” I suggest, wanting to make her feel more at home than I can tell she isn’t feeling right now. It might not be much, but it will be fun.
“Where are we going to get board games though?” she asks with a big smile that lights up her whole face.
Thinking back to the board games I saw in Thallon’s house, I smile. “I know just the place and a third player while we are at it.”
“Another boy?” she asks, and as I nod, we both laugh. I rest my head on Vesnia’s shoulder, and she whispers to me.
“Thank you for being my family when I needed it more than I realised.”
I smile, knowing Ves is slowly becoming part of my family anyway. I couldn’t imagine my life without my crazy red-haired friend. “Always.”
Chapter 21
Tugging the heavy book into my lap, I rest back against the bark of a tall tree in the academy gardens. I have to pull my knees up to hold the weight of the book as I turn the page over from the pregnant woman to the next image. This is one of an almost naked man sitting on a throne with three women on their knees in front of him. Each of the women has different coloured, long dresses on, but the interesting part is how they all have their heads tilted to the side, and on their neck is a bite mark that drips blood down in a line to their chests. Each of the women is extremely beautiful and different from each other. I glance back to the man in his throne, no crown to be seen to name him a king. I turn over the next page, hearing the wind picking up speed as it blows my blonde hair off my own neck.
The next painting makes me nearly drop the book in horror. The floor of the room is made of bodies and blood, littered together until you can’t see the floor. Broken parts of the wall behind them hang in tatters, and right in the middle of the ruined, death-filled room is two people kissing. The man is the same one as the previous image, but the woman is new. She has fiery red hair and a very naked body that is covered in blood as much as the man’s clothes are. They kiss like there aren’t bodies all around them, like there isn’t pain or death.