Shattered Legacy : A Dark Bully Romance (Gravestone Elite Book 1) by Caitlyn Dare (red seas under red skies TXT) 📕

Thankfully, he called for a car to take me back to the dorms, and with no doubt another party somewhere on campus last night, the hallways and our communal living space are empty.

I don't bother knocking on Alex's door to see if he's back. Something tells me he'll come and find me as soon as he can so we can share intel.

Dropping my shorts to the floor, I march straight through to my bathroom and turn the shower on without looking in the mirror. Right now, I'd rather not face reality. It's all too unbelievable.

What Marcus told me is just a drop in the ocean as far as Quinctus and the Electi are concerned, but what he did explain did start to help me fill in some spaces.

Quinctus heirs—the Electi—are unable to choose the woman they're to spend the rest of their life with. Their archaic tradition is that girls descending from verus bloodline are put forward for the Eligere, and Quinctus know how they arrive at their decision.

Well, the woman who was chosen for my father wasn't my mother. But it turns out that it was too late by then because she was already pregnant with me, although my father didn't know that at the time.

She fled to Sterling Bay, met my father, and allowed him to believe that I was his in order to protect me. She was happy to lie, for me to grow up as a Danforth so that I wouldn't be subjected to all of… this.

But things changed. I changed, and things started unravelling around me.

My home life was hell back in Sterling Bay. My parents’ constant arguments were one of the reasons I turned to drugs. That and the pressure they put on me, that everyone put on me.

I had a talent, I knew that. But too much was expected of me.

It was all just too much, and in the end, I cracked.

So when things got out of control and I needed a way out, up popped Marcus—who had long discovered the truth—with a plan my mother had no argument against.

So here I am.

The latest pawn in Cade Kingsley's need for power.

The water stings my tender and broken skin as I stand there with my head down and my shoulders dropped in defeat. Marcus is worried about Cade's need for control—and I must admit that part of me is too—but I'm not sure I'm the one to go head-to-head with that motherfucker in an attempt to bring him down a peg or two.

He's already shown that he means business. And he's already breaking the rules and long-written traditions in order to break me.

He wants me to walk away. And I should, I do know that.

I've got enough money sitting in a trust fund to up and leave this town—this country—and never look back.

But that's not who I am.

I'm a stubborn motherfucker, and Marcus has just laid down the challenge. I might have failed in Sterling Bay, I might have disappointed everyone, but I refuse to be that man again.

I hated Cade Kingsley on sight, and now I understand why.

If he wants a fight, then he's going to fucking well get one.

He's seen nothing yet.

I curl my fists, my knuckles splitting open and the muscles up my arms burning as I tense them. Cade might think he broke me last night, but he's about to learn that it takes a lot more than a brutal beating to take me down.

I will not submit to him.

Easton blood reigns supreme, and I intend on showing him so.

Alex and I spend the rest of the weekend hibernating in my room while the worst of our injuries heal.

We were half expecting a visit from our new rivals after we escaped from the basement. I find it hard to believe that after everything, they'd let us walk out like that. But they've made no attempt to come to us.

By Monday morning, our cuts have scabbed over. Our bruising is as gruesome as ever, but it's time to show Gravestone that it will take more than Friday night to scare us off.

Side by side, we walk toward our first class of the day. Heads turn in our direction as we walk, and students start gossiping. Some even go to the extreme of pointing us out.

I learned from Marcus that most things about Quinctus are hidden from the wide population. Families of the verus bloodline know some things and are welcomed to some of the ceremonies. But it's only founding families who know everything.

I can't believe they're showing their faces.

I heard Cade is after blood.

Did you see the way he went down? Fucking pussy.

Look at them, walking here like they suddenly own the place. They're nothing. No one.

Alex growls beside me as the gossip filters to us as we make our way down the hallway.

"Ignore them," I whisper.

He might still have been the same Alex over the past two days, but since talking to his mom yesterday morning, I've seen a darker side to him. He's suddenly harboring anger that I don't think he's ever experienced before, and he has no idea how to deal with it.

I should know, because I’ve been there. Hell, I’m still there.

My steps falter as Cade, Ashton, Brandon, Channing, and Tim appear at the other end of the hallway.

A ripple of anticipation flows through the students lining the walls.

My heart pounds in my chest as my eyes lock with Cade's. Fury bubbles up inside me, pulling my muscles tight, and it only becomes worse when he pulls Mia into his side and places his lips to the top of her head.

"Bex," Alex warns. "Play nice. We've got a plan, remember?"

Fuck our plan. I'm going to take his fucking head off.

14

Mia

The second I see Bexley enter the room, I try to catch his eye. My stomach flutters, waiting for the moment he spots me. But the hope in my chest withers and dies when I see the anger swirling in his eyes. The hatred.

He hates me.

And I don’t