Claiming Her Crown (War Songs of the Courts #2)

Chapter Ten

"No." 

I openly ignored Demetri's sharp tone and watched the rest of the rooms reactions with my head held high and unwavering purpose expertly etched into my expression.

"How do you even know about that?" Zaria asked, watching me with keen eyes.

I impassively stared back at her, biting back the answer that sat on the tip of my tongue. I played with the idea of letting it slip out of my mouth, but instead I just smiled pleasantly, savoring the untold truth as a small secretive smile pulled delicately at my lips.

She slowly absorbed my expression with a furrowed brow and a quickly deepening frown that transformed her face from cutely confused to adorably annoyed. She let out a small huff and looked around the room, silently imploring the others for answers. Alec covertly tilted his head down and stared at his shoes with forced interest, folding his arms tightly crossed against his chest as he shifted against the wall he was leaning against. I bit my lip over a growing grin, anticipation over the potential drama gnawing at me as I watched them.

Her eyes floated over Lincoln who just shrugged before sending a knowing look my way. She continued and came to a stuttering halt when she reached Alec.

"Alexander," she said in a small disappointed sighed signaling he'd been caught.

He lifted with his eyes with a look of oblivion, everything in his forced casual demeanor revealing his guilt. His eyes flickered around the room and the faux innocence he wore began to dissolve when it became obvious that he wasn't fooling anyone. He exhaled loudly and let his head fall back to meet the wall behind him with a solid thump. 

Zaria let out a disbelieving sound. "Alexander!" 

He threw his arms outwards before letting them fall to his side. "What? It's the Winter fucking Solstice. It's twelve glorious days of non-stop celebration. How am I supposed to not mention it when she kept going on about how boring we are?"

I hummed and nodded in agreement, a wicked part of my being thoroughly enjoying the moment. I hadn't known it at the time, but I had practically driven Alec into spilling this tidbid of information that, apparently, I wasn't supposed to know about.

I must've gone on for hours about how boring this bullshit history book was, unintentionally offending him all the while, until finally Alec snapped. His face went flush and a thin sheen of sweat decorated his forehead, as if he was holding his breath to prevent the words from escaping. A vein in his forhead had started visibly pulsing before he finally caved and went on an hour long tirad about the things I didn't learn in the history books, and I genuinely don't think he breathed enough during it.

"Yeah, this really is Reed's fault if you think about it. The dickhead thought it was funny to beat my brain with an old book that read more like a painfully extended version of the rules to bingo than the history book of four magical species," I said, my tone darkening as I reached the end of the sentence.

My jaw clenched and I felt the muscle in my cheek tense at the memory.

He was definitely on my shit list.

"You're not going," Demetri said quietly at my side, causing my head to gradually turn in his direction.

"I wouldn't suggest that," Lincoln muttered in a half-assed attempt to warn him as he lifted of the couch and passed us, leaving the room.