44. Bram

The room had the fucking audacity to continue spinning despite the seething fury coursing through my veins like poison.

Rage funneled down my throat with the whiskey as I sat on my bed with Dex and Skel beside me.

“Dammit,” I growled, the words slurred slightly from the alcohol, “who the Fates hurt her? She’s fucking nobility, and she’s powerful. What happened?”

My leg bounced with chaotic energy as I stared blankly at the wall, shaking with a mixture of anger…and desperation. Desperation laced with a fear that Pandora’s disdain for us might just be genuine. She hadn’t told us who hurt her. Did she hate us that much? It was a feeling I knew all too well, though I’d rather swallow my own fucking tongue than admit it.

Skel smoked his pipe, completely out of it since we’d found her. “She had so much blood on her,” he mumbled for like the fifth fucking time.

“Whoever did it meant to kill her,” Dex exploded, his shadows spiraling around the room, knocking something off on my roommate’s side as he stood up. “I’m going to fucking rip their hands off for touching Pandora!”

Nyx bolted upright from his sleep, instinctively sensing the tension that hung like a storm cloud in our room. “Pandora? What happened?”

“Someone beat the absolute shit out of her,” I spat out.

“She wouldn’t tell us who did it, but we took her to Sunstone Revive.” Skel took another hit from his pipe. “She was in bad shape.”

“We”re going to find out who did it,” Dex promised. “And I’m going to personally make them hurt as bad as she was. No, worse.”

Without saying anything, Nyx was on his feet, rushing out of the room without bothering to put shoes on. The door slammed behind him with a bang as he ran out of here like dragons were attacking.

They were close, but I hadn’t expected him to care that much.

I tilted the bottle to my lips, letting the liquid fire scorch its way down my throat. The burn was a welcome distraction, a momentary respite from the gnawing fury.

“How are we going to do that?” I asked Dex, but he was already gone, probably to figure out who did this to her.

Skel had succumbed to his high, continuing to smoke with a fervor that matched my drinking. It was impressive, actually.

Smoke and alcohol remained our respective escapes from a reality we couldn”t control.

“I can”t stand this,” I muttered, slamming the bottle down so hard it cracked. “Why didn’t she tell us?”

Skel didn”t respond, his eyes glazed over, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands clenched and unclenched as if he was about to go fight someone.

I stood abruptly, raking a hand through my hair. “I”ll create a damn storm of chaos if that”s what it takes to find who did this. No one hurts her that badly and gets away with it.”

The tattoos on my skin pulsed with my anger, the animals seemingly ready to leap from my body and join in my search.

“Good,” Skel mumbled in a fucking trance. “She hates us, but…I don’t want to see her like that ever again.”

With a snap of my fingers, Chaos materialized beside me, his eyes glowing with the same fury that consumed me. He was a manifestation of my power, a creature born of chaos and anger, ready to obey my every command.

“Find them,” I hissed. “Find the ones who did that to her.”

The wolf vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind only the faintest trace of ink on my skin.

I grabbed the bottle again, taking a few gulps that did little to quench the anxiety inside me.

I didn’t know why I even cared, but I’d burn the academy to ashes to find out who hurt her if I had to.