XXI | Not the Prude You Took Me For

Persephone's point of view

♕︎ ♕︎ ♕︎

My skin is burning like a volcano where he touched me, even though I'm layered up in the thick hoodie, I felt it as if his skin had touched mine and the fact that my body didn't soared in alarm to throw him far away or that I didn't feel disgusted and scared by his tough, made me way too wary of his entire being too near me. Why did he had to have such a soft touch when he hates my guts so much? He should have left me choking on my own, instead of helping. Fuck. Why did he had to do that? I would never have helped him, this isn't fair.

Why the hell is he reading the exact book I was reading this weekend? And he's on the second one at that? Since when does he read dark romances? He was always one to read thrillers, suspense, mystery, epic fantasy, and when he read romances it were all rom-coms. Now, all of a sudden, he's reading the same kind of books I read in secret, and so openly? Is he shameless or something?

Gods above, to think he's read all that much of their story already, all the filthy smut that happens on it… it makes me feel weird. Weird in a way I only feel when I'm reading those said books. I don't like it. I hate it.

Again, Pride-Niklaus is messing with me in a way no one does. I don't want to cross the line and go there. But for that not to happen, he needs to stop what he's doing to me. He needs to stop messing with me like this. Why didn't he stay back and only messed with me when angry? Why does he has to be all naughty and indecent now? Feigning innocence won't take back the truth on his words.

Is he horny? Is that it? Why doesn't he just fuck someone and get over it?

Fuck. Why do I feel angered by that idea? It's not like he probably hasn't fucked anyone in here, but for some reason I don't like it. The idea of him fucking any person, especially someone in our class, doesn't sits right with me. If anything, it makes me nauseous and gives me a murderous feeling.

But why wouldn't it? Is it 'cause if he dates someone, that someone may want to avenge him after I kill him, and I would have to kill them too?

Hah, of course that must be the reason. No need to overthink.

Anything other than that is out of question.

It's already infuriating enough that the only person who makes feel anything and any kind of sexual attraction is the one I swore to kill. How messed up is this? I can't let him in like that 'cause I don't want to possibly like it or even get addicted to it.

Something dark inside of me tells me that's precisely what would happen.

And what did this fuck just called me? "Did you just called me a prude?"

Laughter came from the door as everyone got inside the classroom at once, their attention on us. "What? You didn't know of you infamous nickname in the campus, drakyre?" Kai Nova purred as he sat with Adeline behind us, that mocking grin on his damn lips.

"Excuse me?" I glared at him. "What nickname?"

"The Prude of Hearthstone!" Primrose beamed behind Kai Nova. "You are definitely the biggest prude in the entire Sky-Eden Academy."

What the hell? How didn't I know of that? "And why is that?" I blinked.

But they all stared at me as if I had grown a second head, even my brothers. "You doesn't do anything," she exclaimed matter-of-factly. "Date, party, runaway to someone else dorm, get drunk, go to the pub, fuck anyone."

"You're a virgin!" Kai Nova chuckled.

"Everyone knows that, sis, it's alright," Apollo brushed away.

"It's okay to be innocent and pure on those matters," Atlas winked.

I felt nauseous, and I swear my blood drained from my skin, my eyes got shadowy and my vision blurred. "Yeah," I said bitterly. "I wish that was true. I truly wish I was the prude you're taking me for. Innocent, pure," virgin. I turned my back to them, opening and closing my fists, sickness taking over me. "I miss the time where those words held some truth when it came to me. Plus, I can't get drunk. I've tried, but no matter how much I drink, I can't get fucking drunk."

"What? You're not a virgin?" More than one of them asked is dismay.

"Who was it?" Pride-Niklaus asked disgusted, angry? "Who was it?"

I said nothing. And the more they asked, the more nauseous I got. So much that I got up, dizzy, when the professor arrived in class. My breathing uneven. "I… professor, can I go to the bathroom, please?"

"You have 10 minutes, Persephone. No more than that!"

Opening a portal to the bathroom in my penthouse, I left the class and as the portal closed, I fell to my knees hugging the toilet seat, throwing my braids behind to my back, and emptying my stomach. For the third time in five days.

Using my magic to slow time around me down, I felt cold shivers running down my spine, and agony took over my entire soul as the memories of the horror I went through in Draki Mountain swarm into my mind like a bloody tsunami, and I hit my back on the wall. Eyes closed, I refused to let the tears roll down even with my body shaking badly.

Again, I bend down on the toilet seat and let the second nausea wave take over me, throwing up everything that I still had in me. The bitterness of it all spread through my throat, making me even more nauseous.

✵ ✵ ✵

Only after scrubbing my body clean three times, brushing my mouth five times, and getting ready again, I allowed time to flow normally again. Perks of having time magic. When I was ready, only 10 minutes of the real world time the professor Dorothée Gainsbourg gave me had passed, and feeling better, I opened a portal to the classroom again and walked in refreshed, as if nothing had happened. Then I sat down on my seat and opened the class notes on my iPad, ignoring all the eyes on me.

"What the fuck was that?" Pride-Niklaus groaned under his breath.

"Never saw a girl with cramps?" I lied.

"That was not it and we both know it!" He scoffed.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm trying to have a serious conversation here, Scarlet."

Is he now? "And I'm trying to subtly avoid it, Pride-Niklaus."

But before he could say anything, professor Dorothée strode towards us, "Oh, I see that you have a book with you today, Pride. Do you care to explain to us what the book is about, since our class if of literature?" Oh no.

Oh fuck no. Avoiding to even look at the book, I picked my bottle from the ground and took a sip of it, both to put something in my now empty stomach, and to focus on anything but the arsehole and the book in question. Let him deal with the embarrassment of reading that book in public. He brought it to himself.

"Of course," he purred and looked at the wall on my right instead of him or the professor, feeling my face burn. "It's a dark porn romance about a billionaire stalker and the girl he's obsessed with. Both are morally grey characters and both are also horny as hell. The most interesting point to me is that he's 15."

I choked on my drink again. Knowing exactly what the bastard is talking about. Gods above doesn't he has any sense of preservation? How shameless.

"15 years old?" The professor frowned.

"15 inches," I muttered under my breath and all the eyes turned to me.

The professor raised an eyebrow, "Have you read it too, Persephone?"

"Of course, not. My aunt told me about it. I'm not into that stuff," I lied.

Apollo choked on whatever is it that he was drinking, "Has aunt Nyx been telling you about those dark porn books she's been reading again?"

I side-glared him, "She needs someone to talk about it."

"She our aunt!" He gasped.

"And this is just a book," I rolled my eyes and turned to the professor. "According to my aunt who was reading this exact same book two weeks ago, they are both adults, but the male protagonist, is very…" I swallowed, conjuring all of my will power to keep a straight face, "biologically gifted."

"Got up to her belly button," Pride-Niklaus grinned filthily.

The professor turned crimson red, "And your aunt just told you about it?"

"She likes to talk about what she reads and she doesn't has friends," I said while taking a sip of my drink doing everything I can not break my blank face. "She has a questionable dark taste in books."

"Questionable is an understatement," Atlas groaned.

"Seems like Pride has something in common with our aunt," Apollo said with a dirty grin, but the arsehole wasn't even fazed.

"But so what if Scarlet read the books too?" He questioned to my surprise. "She's 19 already and she's turning 20 soon. And some people have dark tastes like this, it's normal," but then he grinned mischievously, "especially when they are as fucked up as she is."

Hah, of course he was going to add that. " Not my case though," I lied. "This is not my type of book at all. But your words probably suit you more, no?"

"If you say so," he purred licking his lips, and turned to the professor. "But before anyone reads this book, it's good to watch out for all the triggers because there's a lot of dark and illegal stuff going on in the story. The characters are all darkly complex, and if you aren't aware of the triggers, it might not be so pleasant."

"Where did you learn about this book, Pride?"

He arched his eyebrows at the professor question, "I heard about it."

"And what book have you been reading now, Persephone? I always see you reading something, so I take you're also reading one, no?" I was reading the exact same as him, but there's absolutely no fucking way I'm telling her that.

Thankfully krakens can't speak telepathically or she would know I'm full of shite and lying. "I started one this morning called The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford, but as I never read synopses, and I just started, I also don't know much of the book yet."

To be honest, this is a book I saw in the office of Freya's house yesterday, since I really am solely reading smut stuff in the last years. I just hope this book doesn't have smut too, 'cause I can't think of another. Even Fourth Wing, which is the book I'm reading physically, has smut on it, so, it's better not to mention even if it's a dark academia fantasy centered on dragon riders.

And by how the professor beamed, I think I chose it right. "Oh, that book is really good, Persephone. As always, with an amazing taste in books."

She wouldn't know, since I've been lying to her all the times she asked me about it in freshman year. "Of course," I exclaimed condescendingly, not guilty at all for lying to her.

But when my eyes met Pride-Niklaus's, I had a feeling he knew exactly what I'm doing and that I'm straight up lying. However that would be insane, no? There's no way of him possibly knowing what I'm actually reading. I'm probably just seeing too much in it.

"What?" I frowned at him when the professor went to other students.

"Just wondering how full of shit you are," he taunted.