The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (18 page)

“Ever since he strangled that bear with his bare hands, Hector seems to be quite popular with the ladies”, Charlie grinned and downed a glass of champagne.

He smiled and Cassandra had to admit that he was looking good again. Very good actually.

“You look like you have a headache”, Cassandra said and Charlie laughed.

“I don’t have one, at least not yet”, he said and toasted her with another glass. “But I can’t say that I am not prepared for the world’s biggest hangover.”

She found herself looking into his golden brown eyes and suddenly Cassandra had to refrain from grabbing his face and kissing him.

“Stop it”, she hissed and lowered her eyes, her cheeks red with embarrassment and sudden longing.

He laughed and quickly stroked her cheek.

“One day you will…”, he whispered in her ear and winced in pain when Cassandra twisted the little finger on the hand that had been grabbing her thigh.

“Ouch”, he cried and turned a little green when Cassandra twisted it even more.

“Try something like that again and I will break your fingers one at a time”, she hissed.

He sighed with relief when she finally let go.

“No need to be so hard on a poor, desperate man”, he said and grabbed the wine cooler to stick his injured hand in.

With his good hand, he took the champagne and drank straight from the bottle.

“Don’t you have to be downstairs with the others?” Cassandra asked and Charlie shrugged.

“The food and drink is better up here, but the real fun is downstairs”, he said and smiled his most winning smile at the girls at the next table who started giggling uncontrollably.

“I seem to have that effect on women”, he said and toasted them which made them almost swoon. Then he looked at Cassandra. “At least on some. I guess I will indeed test my luck with the ladies downstairs.”

With that he took another huge sip, smashed the bottle on the table, grabbed Cassandra’s face and kissed her full on the lips. He let go of her again and disappeared into the crowd before Cassandra could do any lasting damage.

Cassandra thought about going after him, when suddenly Ben stood before her, blocking her way. She immediately redirected her focus on him. His eyes were ablaze with anger and the grip on her arm was so tight it hurt. Somewhere she heard a glass break and a sharp intake of breath but her whole attention was on Ben. He looked like he wanted to kill her. Instead, he was directing her to the dance floor.

“Shouldn’t you ask me first whether I would like to dance?” Cassandra asked and almost shrank back when she saw the look on his face.

“Would you like to dance?” he said but it didn’t sound like a question, more like a command.

Without waiting for an answer he started to swirl her around the dance floor in a quick, sharp pace that felt like he was running away from something. Cassandra followed him. There was not much else she could do short of fighting him to release her but she didn’t want to spoil everyone else’s fun. So she went along with it. It was almost like learning a new fighting technique but with nice music in the background for a change.

From the corner of her eye she saw that Mia seemed to be tending to a cut on Alexander’s hand but didn’t have a chance to take a closer look. Ben’s face was a mask of concentration and stayed like that for the rest of the song. Cassandra was glad when the next one was a little slower. When she misinterpreted a step, she almost fell but Ben held her tightly. Too tightly for her taste.

“So have you thought about who you are going to bring to the next of the challenges?” Cassandra asked and tried to bring a little distance between them by stepping on his toes but he held on tight nevertheless like he didn’t even notice what he was doing.

“I think your nose looks pretty big from down here”, she said. “Maybe I should get totally drunk and dance naked on the table. Would you care to join me?”

When he still didn’t react, she stomped on his foot. He let out a small cry of pain but at least he refocused on her.

“Excuse me. My fault”, she said.

Ben gritted his teeth and released his grip on her a little but he still wouldn’t talk.

“I thought we were supposed to make conversation while dancing”, Cassandra said and tried to see what had happened to Alexander but was constantly blocked by other couples swirling past them. “You say something, I answer with something short and witty, then I ask a question and you enlighten me on…”

Ben’s eyebrows knitted together. Apparently he didn’t think her funny at all and Cassandra fell silent. Just when she wanted to tell him to let her go, he started to speak again.

“So does Charlie kiss you often?” Ben asked all of a sudden and Cassandra’s stomach performed a complicated dance all by itself.

“Can’t say that he does”, Cassandra replied and carefully caught her step when he suddenly stopped dancing. They stood there in the middle of the dance floor and he just held her very tight and very close and this time she didn’t mind at all. It was like being wrapped up in the coat all over again. She looked up into his eyes and something in there made her heart skip a beat.

“Tell him, that if he ever…” he started to say but all of a sudden he let her go and Cassandra knew why. Arissa had appeared at his side and didn’t seem happy at all. With no sign of his usual grace he held out his hand and they started dancing.

Cassandra stood frozen to the spot for a moment then made herself move to the side of the room. She somehow managed to get back to her seat without further incident and quickly drank a glass of champagne. She felt exhausted, like she had run a marathon. She watched Ben and Arissa dance in perfect unison and wished the whole evening would be over soon. Just then the dean announced that it was time for everybody to go outside and welcome the new year. Cassandra started to get up but was held back by Ben who had sidled over with a stony expression on his face when Heracles had started to make his announcement.

“Alexander wants you to stay in here for a moment”, he said and made to turn around.

“Thank you”, she said and touched the black fabric of her new cape.

He turned and looked like he wanted to say more but all he gave was a small curt nod. Then he was gone. Cassandra held on to the cape as if it could save her and waited for Alexander to wheel over.

“Excuse me for ignoring you all evening”, Alexander said and smiled his warm smile that looked only a little strained. “Protocol says I am to talk to everyone and say nothing all evening. It really makes you wonder whether being Zeus’s son is all that it is cracked up to be.”

Without thinking she took his hand that was wrapped in a bandage.

“What happened?“ she asked and noted that his hand seemed oddly cold to the touch.

“I was… clumsy”, he said and Cassandra remembered hearing glass break and a sharp intake of breath.

Cassandra withdrew her hand. He looked at her with a sad expression and then asked her to follow him towards the back of the room. Eventually, they arrived at the door to a balcony. Cassandra carefully wrapped her cape around her shoulders and stepped outside.

The view of the gardens was beautiful from above. Torches were lighting the way and there was a bonfire crackling. Everyone was standing together in small groups, waiting for the big clock on the palace to strike twelve. It was a cold, clear night and the sky was full of stars. Servants were going around passing out glasses of champagne to everyone and the mood was light and cheerful.

“What are you thinking?” Alexander said who was watching her instead of the crowd below.

“That I wish there wasn’t such a big gap between Claimed and Unclaimed”, she said.

“What if there wasn’t?” he said and sounded genuinely interested.

“I think there will always be differences between people”, she said and turned around to look at him. “But they shouldn’t already be determined by birth. There should be room to become more, to be judged by your merits, not your parents. Or the lack of them.”

“I agree that is indeed unfair. But we have seen a fair amount of change within the past decade. Twenty years ago, almost no Unclaimed were admitted to this university. And now look, this year we even have two participating in the challenges. I call that change.”

The clock above them started chiming. Cassandra looked down at the others waiting for New Year. Ben stood next to Arissa, holding her in his arms and she had let her head fall on his shoulder. Cassandra felt a knot in her stomach and quickly averted her eyes.

“I can be more than your friend”, Alexander said quietly and she knew how much it must cost him to make himself so vulnerable.

Without thinking about it, she stretched out her hand and he took it into his. He quickly brushed the back of her hand with his lips, then they turned to watch the fireworks that had started with the twelfth stroke of the clock.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he said and she smiled a sad smile she hoped he wouldn’t see.

They stood like that until the fireworks were over.

“Happy New Year”, he said, when she bent down to kiss him on the check, and his voice caught in his throat.

Just then they heard a “tststs” from behind and the moment was over. Cassandra stepped back, carefully avoiding Alexander’s eyes. Then they were all over him. Bear and Wolf almost overthrew his wheelchair and gave Alexander big slaps on his shoulder. Arissa kissed her brother on the cheek and whispered something in his ear that made him smile. Sol, River and Beatrix all bent down to kiss him on the cheek and when Ben awkwardly stretched out his hands to him, he was drawn into a hearty embrace by Alexander. Cassandra quietly retreated and finally turned to go inside. There was no place for her there.

She quickly walked through the now deserted ballroom and made her way towards the stairs. She was still pretty shaken by the fact that she had almost kissed Alexander, had wanted to do so very much, at least at that moment. Now she wasn’t so sure any more. Just then Ben appeared beside her. They were on the edge of the stairs and he seemed hesitant about something. Cassandra waited for him to say something but his eyes were a river of conflicting emotions. When she looked down at his hands they were clenched so tight his knuckles shone white. So she had been right. The foremost thing he felt was reluctance. Cassandra felt very sad all of a sudden.

“Happy New Year, Ben”, she said softly when he still didn’t say anything. “May the gods bless you.”

And with that she went downstairs. He didn’t follow her but she could feel his eyes burning into her back. When she turned to take one last look back up again, he was gone. She tried to shake the acid feeling in her stomach but couldn’t.

With a sigh, she went looking for her friends. The people in the downstairs room were in full party mode: everyone was either dancing or drinking excessively and the music was so loud you couldn’t hear your own thoughts. Cassandra first found Pandora, who was smooching what turned out to be Madame Margot’s beautiful receptionist and who wasn’t interested in anything but that girl’s lips. Hector had brought two of the Claimed girls with him and was holding them very tightly, swaying from one end of the room to the other, smiling contently. She kept looking for the rest of her friends but without much success. She was pretty sure that she identified Charlie in one of the shadier corners kissing at least two, possibly more girls. Finally she found Summer and Jim sitting at a table close to the exit where the noise wasn’t quite as bad, nursing their water glasses and battered egos. Cassandra thought they looked exactly how she felt and joined them wordlessly. They greeted her with a short hello and then went back to wallow in their misery.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Cassandra asked and Jim shot her such a dark look that Cassandra had to laugh despite herself. “I was just kidding. I know you are as old as we are.”

Jim mumbled something about having enough of being teased all evening and that he would all show them one day. Just then Cassandra saw that there was another person at the table. It took a moment for her to realize it was Mia. She was hunched over and murmuring something to herself. When she looked up, her face was drawn into such an animalistic scowl that Cassandra had to fight the urge to reach for her knife. When Mia realized that Cassandra was looking at her, a jolt went through her and she seemed to force herself to smile.

“Oh, it’s you”, she said in an eerie, unnatural voice that made the hair at the back of Cassandra’s neck stand up. “You look nice tonight.”

Mia’s smile was just a little too bright. “I bet Alexander thought that as well.”

Somewhere at the back of Cassandra’s mind alarm bells started to ring. There was something seriously wrong with Mia. She needed to talk to Alexander about that. Soon.

“You know, ever since he met you, he has been different.” Again, her smile was much too bright for her words as if someone had told her that she needed to show teeth when she was saying something nice.

“Good different?” Cassandra asked and tried to get Mia to meet her eye. But Mia was avoiding looking at her directly and looked down instead which made it hard to read her true emotions.

“You know that I take care of him?” Mia said looking up again and this time Cassandra was sure her mouth would split from smiling so hard.

“I didn’t know that”, Cassandra said carefully.