Chapter 73: What she does.

July 13 2026, 12:43pm.

For about two days, Nyx’ara spent most of her days locked up in her room, attending to her assignments, catching up with the rest of her peers since she was over six weeks behind them, and refusing to meet with any of the quadruplets even when they personally sent for her.

She dreaded the thought of seeing them after what had happened two days ago at the dining hall, but besides that, what she dreaded the most was Sunday evening.

Today’s evening.

She hated the idea of smiling even when she knew deep down that she didn’t mean it. She hated having to pretend to the world that she loved these men who were nothing but her tormentors... and she hated most that beyond all of these, they would always see her as one thing:

A murderer.

Maybe not one thing per se.

Because they saw her as a tool as well. A tool to satisfy their very carnal needs.

So when she stepped into the living room and found Seraphina literally gulping down Draven’s large cock— and hell, it was large!— her heart fell.

She could not understand why— even though she knew she didn’t care one bit about these men— a searing pain tore through her chest, tearing all the way down to the base of her spine.

The pain made her double over and heave in anguish. Her jaw dropped in shock as well and so did the phone clutched tightly in her hands, and she didn’t realize all of these until the loud sound of the phone clattering against the marble floor jolted her out of her thoughts.

She took a staggering step back just as Draven shoved Seraphina off his thighs. But at the time, it was already too late.

Nyx’ara had already seen the abominable scene. She had already felt the agonizing pain of his betrayal through this pesky stupid mate bond... and she could already catch the smug smile playing at the corners of Seraphina’s lips.

"W-what are you doing here?!" Draven snarled at her, his voice caught between being embarrassed and infuriated.

His heart pounded against his chest and his eyes never left Nyx’ara’s face as he watched her go from shocked to absolutely disgusted.

And that stung.

He didn’t know why but it made him feel as though his heart was being ripped out and squashed into the ground.

His hands balled into fists as he stepped away from Seraphina, and with a voice relatively softer, he murmured; "Why are you here, Nyx’ara?"

Nyx’ara, who had half forgotten the reason she left her room in the first place, blinked up at him in surprise. Her eyes travelled from his twisted expression to the smug one on Seraphina’s face.

When Seraphina caught Nyx’ara staring pointedly at her face, she made a show of cleaning something off her cheek— there was nothing there— and then she went ahead to stick the finger into her mouth.

"Hey, what you saw was nothing over the top. I and the quad Alphas have a special kind of relationship..." Seraphina began to say but Nyx’ara actively blocked out the rest of her sentence.

Seraphina’s action, coupled with her words, twisted the knife deeper into Nyx’ara’s chest, but for some reason, she did not react more than she already had. She did not cry— goddess, she had been through this before with Flynn and Elara— and she did not say a word about it.

All she did instead was bend down to pick up her phone and after she had done that, she turned and left the room, disappearing up the stairs and hating herself for ever letting it get to her when it shouldn’t have.

She tried HARD not to think about it but no matter how much she tried, it was impossible.

She could not dispel the image of them cozying up to each other from her mind and she definitely could not help replaying the way Seraphina’s head had bounced over Draven’s cock... once... twice... before they noticed her presence.

And hell, that hurt.

—

A couple of hours later, Nyx’ara walked down the flight of stairs clad in a dress so exquisite, it rivalled the beauty of the planet Saturn.

The dress was made from a sheer burgundy silk material that billowed behind her with each step that she took. It hugged her curves like a glove and accentuated her body in such a way that it made her appear fuller, sexier. Hell, even the slit by the side of the dress rode all the way to the top of her thigh but it wasn’t high enough that it would be too scandalous.

Key note: too scandalous.

It was already scandalous enough.

The top of the dress was built in the form of a mermaid corset with tiny emerald stones decorating it in such a way that it gleamed when she stepped into the light.

Her bosoms appeared fuller and rounder, and coupled with the dress and her silver hair styled into a messy bun at the top of her head, her blood red lips looked... vampiric.

I think that’s the best way to explain it.

She slithered down the stairs with the pace of a reptile about to attack, and as soon as she landed, all eyes in the room turned to look at her. All men and women moving around stilled in their tracks. And from the corner of her eye, she saw Eloise give her a thumbs up, as if to say:

’This is exactly what I mean!’

She smiled.

Earlier, she had not wanted to be dressed up like a doll while she hung around men that saw her as nothing more than a trophy or a toy, but after a lot of persuasion, she had been forced to wear this and now, she cannot help but be grateful that she had allowed herself to be persuaded.

Because damnnn... she looked like a goddess. She was everything Eloise said she was and more.

Draven, who had been busy with his phone the entire time before she stepped out, felt his blood run cold as soon as he perceived her scent. His eyes slightly rose from his phone and that was the last time he looked at it.

For some reason, something in his chest felt tight and he couldn’t seem to breathe. It felt as though she had sucked out all the air.

And before he knew what he was doing, he walked up to her and hissed into her ears;

"These are too revealing."

Nyx’ara visibly flinched at the sound of his voice. She lifted her head slowly, not hiding the disdain in her eyes as she spat back;

"Oh yeah, I g-guess it is. B-but I also know it is not as revealing as t-the way I’d found you several hours ago in this s-same living room."

And before Draven could come up with a quicker retort, she walked away from him and began to cat-walk down the hall, loving the way different pairs of eyes bore onto the skin of her flesh like a thousand lasers all at once.

Tonight would be a long night, she could already feel it.