Fae Fiefdom - M. Sinclair Page 0,27

ACT.

Honestly, if I hadn’t gotten in I would have assumed it was because my stepmother had tried pulling some strings to stop me. She wasn’t a fan of me attending university but that was probably because of the overall weirdness that this town had towards leaving.

It didn’t help that the high school’s scheduling was set up to encourage independent thought. I know, that sounded odd. But no one felt pressured at our school. We had block scheduling so you had three classes each quarter, choosing whatever you want after the mandatory first two years.

Every three months they changed. The classes were longer but you had less of them plus a massive part of the day was usually available for independent study. It was probably actually very constructive, but I wish that we had a bit more structure. It was tedious trying to find things to do in these last few weeks.

At my locker, I exchanged my books so that I had my physics notes and textbook. I closed my locker and jumped slightly coming face to chest with Kirin. I felt an annoyance flare because these three were really pushing my buttons today. My head tipped back all the way because of our insane height difference, so I was looking at him and I could see the guilt in his eyes. Ugh! This was the shit I didn’t understand. What was with the weird look?

“I need to apologize,” he stated, his low elegant accent drawing attention from those around us. They quickly looked away as I offered them a curious look. See? I hadn’t even given them a bitchy look!

“No need.” I closed my locker and locked it. “We’ve been through this, Kirin. You don’t need to explain yourself to me. It’s not new. People not wanting to hang out with me. But you’re making it really weird and frankly cruel, by continuing to show up and ditch me especially considering our circumstances.” I knew I’d hit my bullshit tolerance because everything that flew out of my mouth was absolutely true. His eyes widened and instead of walking away, I wanted to see what he would say.

“I couldn’t go into that coffee shop.” He stated his eyes closing as if he was really fucking frustrated. Join the club, buddy.

“You suggested it in the first place,” I pointed out as we came to stand outside my physics classroom. I had my books in my arms and I could see people watching us, my frustration growing knowing that Denise would hear about this shit once again.

“I didn’t realize…” He looked as though he had no idea what to say.

“That classmates would be there?” I offered softly.

“Yes,” he stated, his jaw tensing, I swallowed as his hand gripped my arm and it looked like he was about ready to plaster me to his chest. I was about to let him if his chest kept rumbling like that.

“So this is about being seen with me,” I concluded, trying to not be hurt by that. I was.

“No, I just can’t be where they are with you, it would end poorly and I don’t want to make your life more difficult…not until it’s time," he explained, his voice rough. For a moment, sympathy hit through me because I didn’t think he was lying, yet his words made no fucking sense.

“Why?” I stepped into him, “You literally go to school with them. And what time?”

“It’s complicated,” he met my gaze and stepped back, shaking his head. “Just please understand, it’s not you.”

“It’s me,” A voice mocked as my spine tingled in awareness, a dizzy rush surrounded me. My head snapped up to find Merrick looking at Kirin with amusement and a slight dark glint. He didn’t touch me but I could feel his energy encasing me.

I would be a smart woman to run far, far away from this man. I wasn’t dumb, and I knew that this was not the type of man you played around with. Any man that could make you feel perfectly at peace without a single word was one I wanted to stay far the hell away from. If Kirin had me wanting to bare my fucking neck, then Merrick had me feeling stoned. The man could easily push me to any limit and I would take it in stride. He could tie me up and I probably wouldn’t bat a lash except to moan out his name.

As I said. Dangerous.

Honestly, being between the two of them was dangerous itself. With Kirin’s refined