Page 82 of The Villains of Winter

Perseus surrendered with a final exhale of smoke. “Listen to me, James. We need to look out for each other as the same men who have endured similar experiences. We need to vow not to become corruptors like our mentors when we are the mentors. We could improve everything.”

James’s eyes glowered through the chemical fumes. “On the contrary, we are not the same men, we are diametrically the opposite. You voted for my best friend and you directly lied that your vote had been for me. Your word means nothing to me in a vow.”

Perseus extinguished his cigarette into an antique quill receptacle preserved from the Elizabethan era. “Lying to save one’s self hardly counts as a lie. However, I apologize for the betrayal.” He reached for James’s hand. “Truce?”

It was the first time Perseus Swann apologized as a known traitor. Perseus’s infamous smile of treason was eerily convincing. He’d fooled James once. He’d fooled Niall once. However, at that moment, Perseus didn’t intend to betray James in the slightest. He’d always considered James to be the only pledge of his caliber. Perhaps his only friend.

Which was significant in the reason why Perseus would have never voted for him. Perseus never wanted James to die.

However, James inherited his magnetic smile. “Consider it all forgotten.”

“Then it’s settled.” Perseus piqued a brow. “Before I forget, Elliott doesn’t know about our affiliations, does he?”

“Of course not.” James would silence a million reporters to keep it that way.

“There’s still time then.” Perseus set his eyes on the serrated arrow on the wall. “You need to plan to kill him if he ever learns the truth. Figure out how you will murder him.”

James didn’t dignify that statement with a response, but Perseus went on without deterrence.

“Elliott will kill you, if he ever discovers helpless people are dying. He won’t murder out of anger, but out of innocence. He will think he can stop the operations.” Perseus cautioned him. His words were tense, nearly prophetic. “If it will keep you from killing someone else–he will kill to save lives. That is the kind of person he is.”

Elliott didn’t have the heart to murder anyone.

James did have the heart for murder, but not with Elliott, which is why he didn’t dare think of that outcome. It was inconceivable. “Elliott will never find out.”

Perseus reminded him, “My childhood friend was innocent. His only mistake was that he overheard a conversation between Wulfram and I. He had no concrete evidence, no footage, not a shred of material, but his face went pale as a moth. I nominated him for the hibernal ceremony that winter.”

I did what was necessary.

​​ CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

JAMES HADN’T SLEPT IN ELLIOTT’S dormitory in the months they were apart. Elliott climbed into bed beside him, and since James was no longer an Æscwulf student, all of the textbooks and papers belonged to Elliott. James was grateful to be done with the College. He enrolled in Tiberian College in Mount Arcturus, Montana. In the autumn, he would study political science instead of philosophy.

James ruminated in silence. He had to appease a woman that devised his near destruction. He had to contrive his own humiliation ritual.

Concurrently, Céline Montclair scavenged the campus for Elliott’s blood. She demanded entry into Winterthur Hall. She blasted him across every media platform in every language she knew and in every country she had citizenship in. Therefore, Elliott missed his first week of summer courses.

He didn’t leave his dorm. He couldn’t bring that magnitude of attention to Kitty.

He was sequestered inside of Winterthur Hall for the moment.

Elliott laid beside him, still rambling about how he couldn’t wait to see Kitty. “When it’s safe, I want to sail her away for a while. There are sailboats for rent on the sound. She can read my letters I couldn’t send–”

“Elliott, I’m going to propose something strange to you.”

James hated himself for how rapidly his heart was beating in his chest as Elliott turned to him. His gaze almost made James change his mind. The window was parted to let in the sultry air of twilight. The dying sun fell in Elliott’s lighter eye. Which made his darker eye seem even darker in concern.

“Is everything alright?”

James only had a week before he flew to convention centers and rally arenas to shake hands with dozens of strangers who suddenly knew his name. Who knew more of him than he’d ever know of them.

He had bow to a vile creature in September afterward.

“There’s something that’s transpired and it’s been on my mind…”

“What’s wrong?” Elliott nipped the end of his tie in his mouth.

“I have an apology to give in a particular way and it might work.” James explained his plan for solatium. He would shear his head in contrition before the college congregation. He would offer a quarter of a hecatomb to be sacrificed. He would then tear his robes and plead forgiveness as a protégé.