Page 175 of The Villain We Tempt

“When the mask comes off,” I growl.

She bites her lip as it twists up into a small smile. “Yeah,” Galina says softly. “When the mask comes off.”

27

GALINA

You know the saying…If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Or in this case, it’s more like “if at first someone doses your entire party with ecstasy and makes everyone super fucked up to the point where the college is looking into it…throw another party a week later because why not.”

Because here we are, exactly a week after the infamous “spiked absinthe” night at The Spire that resulted in a hundred dosed guests, three of whom went to the ER, and The Reckless are throwinganotherparty.

This one is being thrown at The Garrison, Knightsblood’s unofficial student-run bar and social club built into the ruins of Fort Hawthorne, which at one point stood watch over the Long Island Sound during the Revolutionary War in case the British decided to invade Connecticut.

…Which theydid, which is why Fort Hawthorne is now just stone ruins overgrown by the surrounding forest.

It makes for areallyfun place to party on campus, though.

“Galina!”

I grin when I whip my head around and see Bella waving at me from across the open space ringed by crumbling old stone walls.

“Willing to give us another shot, huh?”

I snort, holding up the can of hard seltzer in my hand. “Yeah…hope no one minds that I brought my own this time?”

Bella snickers. “Honestly, I’m surprised everyonedidn’tbring their own tonight after the last party. Especially since we’ve got the usual suspects here again,” she says dryly, arching a brow as she looks past me. I follow her gaze and see Kirill Tsarenko, Adrik’s number two, sitting at the bar set up on the far side of the ruins, trying to chat up aclearlydisinterested Yelena and Wren.

“The other two are around somewhere,” Bella grumbles, rolling her eyes.

She’s already filled me in on some of the “drama” at the first party. So I know that by “the other two”, Bella means Jude Nikolayev and Selene Drakos.

No one is clear on the details, but Jude and Kirill got into a huge fight in the middle of the party last weekend, whichappearedto be over the absinthe having ecstasy added to it.

Jude has denied any involvement. But, then again, Jude is also “Machiavellian tendencies” personified, and there’sclearlysome rivalry between him and Kirill that goes beyond The Order vs The Reckless.

That’s where the general campus rumor mill stops. But Bella has averyspicy theory that the whole thing involves her, Lochlan,and Achilles’ other cousin Selene in some love-triangle with Kirill and Jude.

It sounds too complicated to exist outside of BookTok to me, but who knows.

“Where’s your usual crew?”

“Oh, they’re around.” I take a sip of my drink and scan the party. I clock Lucia laughing with her new friends Aaron and his boyfriend Chris. Yelena and Wren are still over at the bar trying to ignore Kirill and his pick-up attempts. I mean, the guyisobjectively hot. But he also is known to fuck anything with a pulse, sooo…

Weirdly, Arianna has gravitated to the far corner of The Garrison, where a makeshift boxing ring has been set up. Two tattooed guys I don’t recognize are beating the living shit out of each as my friend watches with rapt attention.

Since when does Ari like sportsat all?

I point out my friends to Bella. “You know…” I shrug. “You should hang out with us all sometime.”

She makes a face. “Eh. Thanks, but…” she shrugs and looks away.

“Bella.” I grin as I prod her shoulder. “You said yourself you don’t have many female friends.”

She frowns. “True. The Reckless is a bit of a sausage-fest,” she grumbles. “But I dunno…” She frowns and kicks at a tree root poking through the crumbling stone floor. “Like, they’reyourfriends, right?”

I sigh. “Seriously, they’d love you.”