DAMIAN'S POV
He stood in the same spot as his eyes followed the three girls. He gritted his teeth.
He hated it. Absolutely despised it.
Even if she could be helpful at times, Sibby was bad news. The whole Academy knew it. But apparently, a certain temperamental girl with these sparkly grey eyes and hair whiter than fucking snow didn't get the hint of staying away from trouble.
He couldn't understand why General Sylveryon had to bind him with such an annoyance.
"Calm down," came a low, mocking voice from behind him and he spun around to face its owner. Ty, his best friend, was leaning against the pillar, his arms crossed over his chest as a smirk played at the edges of his lips.
He rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what was coming.
Ty chuckled at the evident irritation written all over Damian's face and sauntered closer to him.
"You look like you're on the verge of exploding," he said, his infuriating smirk widening. "What's got your blood boiling this time?"
"Sibby isn't good news and you know it," Damian's other friend, Vlad chimed in and clapped him on the back, "I still don't understand why your father thought that the unhinged daughter of the Major Nightingale would be a good company to the new girl, Ty. What was her name again-?"
"Gwendolyn Evegheden," Ty replied, teasingly, "Apparently, the girl has our big old Dammy's pants on fire ever since she entered the academy."
Damian gritted his teeth. Yeah, right. Actually, it was even before she stepped on Mount Percival but these fuckers didn't need to know that. It took all of his years of experience to keep his cool and not pummel the life out of these two pricks.
Ty and Vlad were his best friends... and the two biggest pain in the ass he ever met. Just like him, they were the sons of Governor Generals of Kruvarys. Vlad was the second son of General Stryker and Ty's father was General Sylveryon, who was also the one due to whom Damian was in this situation at the moment.
"She's a nuisance. A walking disaster. I am stuck with her for the year because of your father, Ty. You think I need that right now?" he muttered, his irritation evident.
"Oh, but it doesn't seem like you're complaining about it. You practically marched all around the Academy the day she was attacked, fuming like a ruffian without a leash," Ty taunted, and Damian was about to snap at him, but Vlad, the wisest in our lot, beat him to it.
"Give it a rest, Ty," Vlad said, giving him a slight smack on the head.
Ty shrugged, rubbing his head where Vlad had smacked him. "Lighten up, fellas. It might do you both some good. Having a feisty girl around to keep you on your toes could be... exciting."
"Like you have Rose?" It was Damian's turn to rile Ty up a bit.
For a moment, Ty's eyes darkened and all the humor vanished from his face before he gained back his posture, a sly smirk playing on his lips.
"Don't go there," he said playfully but there was a slight bitter taste to his tone, "Rose is a different case. I prefer my girls manageable and less... lethal."
"Like there are any other girls who can manage you more than one night," Vlad snorted, amused at Ty's scowl.
Damian chuckled, looking at Ty knowingly, "Right. Because you're such a player yourself."
Ty smirked, "I don't need to be a player to know a good girl when I see one. Besides, I have my own standards."
Damian raised an eyebrow, his lips twisting in a teasing grin as he and Vlad exchanged a glance, "Of course you do. Your standards might as well be written in the stars at this point."
"Or scribbled on the forehead of a certain redhead," Vlad teased, bursting out in a laugh alongside Damian.
Ty's smirk faltered, as he shot Vlad a glare, "Watch it, V."
Damian chuckled, "Oh, come on, Ty. Don't get your panties in a twist. It's just a bit of harmless fun."
He huffed and crossed his arms, "Yeah, laugh it up, guys. Just remember who's the heartbreaker around here."
The boys continued in their banter before Vlad looked at Damian, all the humor vanished from his face, "She has the void stone, and bonded with the Monarch."
Damian straightened up, "I know."
"You know what that means, right?" Damian gritted his teeth. He damn well knew what that meant, and the fact that their fathers made Gwen skip her foundation year meant that there was more to their scheme than he thought.
Ty frowned, "They are brewing something again."
Vlad rolled his eyes, as he muttered, "I have a bad feeling about this."
They knew their parents well, and Damian was certain that they were up to no good. He still couldn't wrap his head around why his father was so obsessed with experimenting and playing God. It was like they were always on a power trip. Their tricks and schemes always had a stench of something sinister.
"The discovery of the Void stone is no joke. The power that thing possesses should never be meddled with. And yet..."
He trailed off, his mind filled with thoughts of Gwen. The girl somehow had a way of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and now she was caught in a dangerous web. There was a time when he was in the same situation as her. He too was frozen in a storm of vulnerability once when he manifested his own stone.
His eyes darkened at the memory. There was no way in hell that Gwen would be able to endure the same torture. The Governor Generals never spared their own sons and treated them like puppets, he could only imagine what they would do to Gwen. He tried to warn her that night with the three Generals but the stubborn girl was defiant at the wrong time.
"Seems like someone has a crush," Saya, Damian's female Nightstorm, chimed in his head making him groan internally.
"Not you too," he practically growled through the bond.
"Even though Zyre is a menace, his bonded one is a curious character, and she has managed to pique your interest," her tone hinted at a hidden meaning.
Damian was aware of the conflict going on between the Dragons as well. Due to the return of the Legendary Monarch, the Great Luther's position in the Circle was in danger and Saya was Luther's heir so it ultimately created animosity between her and the silver Starshade.
"I have no interest in her," Damian retorted, a hint of irritation in his voice
"Your thoughts narrate a different story," Saya's tone was teasing at the most.
Ty placed a hand on Damian's shoulder, snapping him out of his banter, "Calm down, man. You look like you're planning a murder."
Damian's gaze darkened as he looked at Ty, "And what if I am?"
Ty rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right. As if you could ever kill a girl. Especially this one."
His words hit home, and a flash of irritation flashed across Damian's face. He knew all too well the reason why he could never bring himself to harm Gwen. It was the same reason why he was in this mess to begin with.
Ty and Vlad looked at Damian with amusement plastered all over their smug faces. They could see right through him, and he fucking knew it. Trying to act calm and collected was pointless.
"Man, you've got it bad," Ty laughed, shaking his head with a smirk.
Vlad chuckled, "Yeah, you're practically a walking cliché. The whole 'I can't stand her but really, I'm secretly smitten' act is so last year."
Damian shot them a glare, "Can you morons give it a rest?" he snapped.
"Okay, okay," Ty laughed out, clapping Damian's shoulder, "We were just having fun. You know how it is." Ty grimaced and Vlad nodded.
Yes, Damian knew how it was to be a General's offspring in the academy. It may look all ideal and fancy from the outside when in reality, all of us were hollow from the inside. We had no goals, no aims of our own and were always used as pawns in our parents' game.
Even though General Sylveryon could be considered better from the rest, Ty still suffered the most out of them all. He was the illegitimate son of General Sylveryon's wife, that made even hard for him to prove himself. Vlad had his own share of traumas from his manic father and Damian had his own internal conflicts.
They were like lost pieces of a puzzle, trying to adjust in a hell their parents created.
Now, it seemed like their parents wanted to drag Gwen into the hell as well and Damian had a feeling that he would go to a few terrifying lengths to keep her protected.
There was no doubt that he still harbored his dislike for her and the feeling was quite mutual. Damian couldn't stand her stubbornness and her fiery nature, but at the same time, he was drawn to it. There was something about her that he found attractive and it infuriated him to no end.
That thought alone scared the living lights out of him.