Page 16 of Godless Saints

What did his room even look like? Would the ivory roses look right on his nightstand? I wanted to know what coffee he drank. Who sat across from him at breakfast. Whether I’d have to remove that person. Because if anyone was sharing breakfast with Moon, it was going to be me.

I should find out his classes. Walk him there. Sit across from him while he ate… who was I kidding? Snobby avocado toast. Black coffee. Learn his schedule. Learn everything. I should ask Misha to dig around for me. For the Blood Writ.

Bang. Bang. Bang. “Ashbourne! Boy at the door for you!”

A boy? Moon? I tore the door open, heart pounding. The senior Thorn kid just pointed downstairs, annoyed. “Front door. And maybe say thank you next time.”

I was already halfway down the stairs. Front door flew open.

A small, shivering kid stood there clutching a bouquet. Not Moon.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I—I’m Oswald. These are for you.” He shoved the bouquet at my chest and stumbled backward off the steps.

An Aster kid. Ballsy as hell coming onto Thorn property with flowers.

I tore the paper off. Ivory roses. One black rose dead center. My flowers.

A card slipped out. I caught it.

If this was meant to charm me, I’m embarrassed for both of us. —Moon

A laugh tore out of me. Then it settled into a feral smile. He kept the flowers. He sent them back. Even if it was just to be a little shit about it.

Yeah. It was official. Moon Hyun-seo was thinking about me. Now the real fun started. What should I send him next… and how far could I push him before he stopped pretending he didn’t want it?

CHAPTER 5

MOON

Coercion. The classroom smelled of chalk dust and old wood. Tall windows let in cold gray light.

Professor Korolev wrote the word on the chalkboard in sharp, unforgiving strokes. Tall. Dark messy hair. Stubble. A scar cutting through one eyebrow. He turned and fixed those wet-stone eyes on Sawyer beside me.

“At what point does persuasion become coercion?”

Kaelan de Valois from Vesper Court answered first, practically preening. Dark wavy hair fell into sharp light eyes, his expensive watch flashing every time he gestured, that permanent smug tilt to his mouth.

Always hungry for the spotlight.

“When it serves the greater stability of the institution, Professor,” he said. “Power must sometimes bend the unwilling. Isn’t that right, Noah?”

Kaelan leaned back in his chair and shot a smile toward the back of the room. I looked over my shoulder. A thin Dahlia boy with messy light-brown hair and oversized black glasses adjusted the frames with one finger, voice small. “Eh… yes, Kaelan.”

Kaelan grinned.

Typical Vesper bully shit. Sawyer waved a hand, dismissing Kaelan completely, voice edged with mischief. “Or when the persuader starts enjoying how prettily the other person resists… right up until they don’t.”

A few people laughed. Korolev’s jaw flexed. He didn’t smile.

I kept my voice even, clinical. “When refusal is no longer an option. When it becomes a liability.”

Korolev looked from face to face. No one breathed easily.

“Mr. de Valois mistakes coercion for governance.” His voice sliced clean. “Mr. Whitlock mistakes it for something far more intimate.”

His eyes flicked to Sawyer, pinning, gone, then locked on me. “Mr. Moon is closest. But even that underestimates how sweet the slide into true coercion tastes… for the one who seizes control and the one who finally stops lying that he wants to fight.”