Heart of Glass [manxman]

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Typical," Rainier said, glancing over at me with an eyebrow raised. "No one wants you."

I said nothing and stared straight ahead, already knowing damn well that everyone was going to choose me. Being unwanted was nothing I hadn't grown used to. Besides, I was banking on that in order to execute my plan.

"They traded away the one person that could've stopped all of this just so they could get rid of you."

I fought to keep my face neutral and let it roll off me. It almost worked too, until I heard some of the demons chuckle.

"Something funny?" I looked back at the fear demon behind me, cocking a brow.

"Shut up, Rivian." Rainier snapped and a sharp, white hot pain ripped through my abdomen, putting me on my knees. I clenched my jaw, biting back a scream as I rode out the wave, keeping myself silent.

"Stop that!" Louis. Gods, couldn't he butt out of this? "We don't have to surrender anyone or anything to you."

"Oh, but you do," Rainier said.

I opened my eyes, the pain subsiding a bit. Rainier was walking toward Louis, slow and predatory. The very look of it made me nauseous.

"Rivian is either going with me or everyone in this courtyard will be executed simultaneously. You have nothing to bargain with."

That's what he thought.

"This is all very simple, Professor Blanc," Rainier said, coming to stand in front of him. "The academy will surrender Alexei Rivian. No one will protest, follow us, or attempt to rescue him. If anyone attempts to do any of these things, we will still take Alexei, but the academy and everyone in it will be destroyed. If everyone complies, the academy and everyone here will be given immunity by all creatures of the Underworld. Those are my terms."

"No, I—"

"Shut up, Blanc," I snapped, hating myself a little more. "Stop pretending like you're some kind of hero, like even though you hate me through and through you'd disregard all of that just to save my ass." I rolled my eyes. "Why the fuck would I stay somewhere I'm not wanted?"

Louis's face fell a little. Confusion and hurt settled on his face, breaking my heart that much more.

"Alexei—"

"You heard him, Blanc," Jackson said, speaking up for the first time. "He doesn't see what you're trying to do for him, and I'd bet he doesn't even care. It's better to let him go anyway. He was the one that drew Rainier, the one that endangered the school—"

"Bullshit. You were the one that brought Rainier, that framed Alexei, that set the Aquireign loose on our campus. You're a disgrace to the Covenant."

"And you're not?" Jackson raised a brow. "Exposing yourself to half the faculty, manipulating them so you could have your way, and putting your soulmate at risk by exposing him? If that leaks to Director Verllion, they'll expose you."

"That doesn't even compare to what you did. You framed a professor, a—"

"If the man I framed hadn't been your soulmate, you wouldn't have said a word." Jackson looked over at me. "In fact, you would've sided with the Covenant, sworn that Alexei was the one at fault by luring Rainier and putting everyone at risk. It sounds just like something he would do, does it not?"

Louis frowned, because like it or not, Jackson wasn't wrong. And just like that, a seed of doubt had been planted in everyone's minds. While I had nothing to do with it and everyone aware of the situation knew that, they also knew that it didn't sound wrong.