A Wicked Game [The Crown Saga II] (Under Editing)

Streets of the Elite

"Stay behind me, Tristan," I whispered, his small hands clinging to my jacket.

I would rather that he'd stayed behind with our parents and Keagan, but he'd refused to let go of me despite his trembling fingers.

A single bead of fearsome sweat trickled down my damp forehead as we moved closer to the corner. My heart was pounding painfully in my chest, pulsing surges of skittish heat through my tense muscles to prime me for battle.

We finally rounded the corner and spotted three boys standing further down the street. Two of them appeared older than the young boy they were violently pressing against the wall. They were a lot taller as well.

The young boy's dark hair was ruffled, and tears flowed from his swollen eye. A reddish tint shaded his bruised cheeks as he clung to the blond-haired boy's fist curled around his collar.

"Levy!" Tristan suddenly exclaimed before letting go of my jacket to run past me.

The three boys lifted their heads in reaction to Tristan's exclamation as I reached out to catch him.

"Let go, Will!" Tristan shouted, fighting my grip on him. "They're hurting Levy!"

"You're only going to get hurt, Tristan," I said, squatting to wrap my arms around him so he couldn't escape.

I probably shouldn't have been proud of Tristan for wanting to help his friend despite knowing he wouldn't stand a chance against the bullies. I'd done the same a thousand times before, but I didn't have a big sister to protect me back then.

"Tristan!" the freckled one shouted with a smile that made my skin crawl. "Have you come to play too?"

"Let Levy go!" Tristan shouted, violently fighting my grip again.

"Did you hear that, Levy?" the blond one said, chuckling as he bent down to level with Levy's beaten face. "Your little fire brother has come to rescue you."

So that was the Levy Tristan had mentioned yesterday.

"Run, Tristan!" Levy shouted, struggling against the blond boy's grip. "Save yourself!"

"Shut it, Punk," the blond boy sneered, thrusting a knee into Levy's stomach that left Levy breathless.

"Hey!" I barked, my fingers twitching as anger gradually replaced the fear that had numbed me before.

The boys looked up again, their smiles remaining as wicked as before. "Are you scared, Tristan? Is that why you're hiding with that girl?"

I couldn't imagine those two blockheads being interested in the Crown Trials, so it wasn't surprising that they didn't immediately recognize my face.

"Tristan," I said, turning him around to face me before he could shout a provocative curse. "Look at me. Who are they?"

Tristan pouted his lips, seemingly unhappy about how I handled him.

"I'm trying to help, Tristan," I said, shaking his shoulders, "but I need to know what I'm dealing with first."

I could feel Tristan's body tensing like mine. "The one beating Levy is Baxter. The other is Dixon. They're juniors in my school. I don't know anything more about them, but they always pick on Levy because he's a First-blood and likes the Fire Brothers Saga," Tristan explained, unable to look at me.

I swallowed an abrasive lump in my throat. "Do they pick on you too?" I asked, whispering the words as if I feared the answer — which I did.

Tristan nodded hesitantly, making my blood boil in anger beyond hurt. I guess he'd forgotten to tell me about that specific detail when I asked him about his new school yesterday.