God of Malice (Legacy of Gods #1) by Rina Kent

“Barely,” Jeremy answers on his behalf, then heads to the minibar and pours himself a drink. “An art student nearly beat him to death first.”

“Bullshit!” Nikolai jumps up and points his ice pack at Jeremy. “I was only taking it easy on him at the beginning. And that bitch is no ordinary art student. He obviously works out.”

I raise a brow and blow out a trail of smoke. “Superhuman art student?”

“Maybe one of those comic book superheroes, huh?” Jeremy prompts. “Posh rich boy by day and vigilante by night.”

“With a mask, a cape, and a bat car.”

“Maybe a suit, too?”

“Fuck you both simultaneously.” Nikolai flops back against the sofa. “For your information, Landon was the reigning king in all the championships he participated in AND he’s the current leader of the Elites.”

Jeremy props an elbow on the counter beside me and takes a sip of his drink. “Our Niko actually knows information like that? Since when?”

“Since Gareth was whispering in my ear. And what the fuck? I know all the information.”

“That implies you’ll use violence.”

“Of fucking course. Why would I need to fill my head with other boring information?”

I tap the cigarette in the bottle of water, letting the ashes tarnish the pure liquid. “Landon?”

“Landon King,” Nikolai offers. “Creighton’s cousin, or second cousin, or what-the-fuck ever. I say if his bitch clone brother hadn’t shown up out of thin air, he would’ve kept the fight going all night long. That crazy motherfucker smiles when he’s beaten up, like you, Satan’s heir.” He kicks the table, and it tumbles down, all the glass shattering to minuscule pieces. “Let’s fight, Killer. I still have energy to purge.”

“Pass.” Not only will he go for hours on end, but I’m also in a good mood and don’t want to fight.

It’s not my preferred purging method, anyway.

“Control your temper.” Jeremy sits beside him and offers him his drink. “It’s going to get you killed one day.”

“One day isn’t today.” He swallows the contents of the glass in one go. “And it’s not temper, it’s energy, Jer. Goes all the way to my dick. I should’ve gotten laid tonight.”

“So Landon and his twin brother ruined your night?” I circle back to the topic at hand.

“Fuck those rich little boys, especially the dainty one who looked no different from a lotus flower. He shared Landon’s looks but had the aura of a weakling.”

“Not to mention, he stole your fun,” Jeremy points out and Nikolai tsks.

“Stole your fun, how?”

“Well, cousin, as soon as that dainty lotus flower showed up, Landon hiked up the aggression and went all in. But when he left, Landon actually lost. Just like that. Talk about weird twin shit.”

He was probably scaring his brother.

Well, fuck.

Maybe Glyndon is right and her brother is on the spectrum. I know Eli King is for sure. We met as kids through our parents, and he was the only one who had a look that mirrored mine.

Irrevocably bored.

Now the question is whether to eliminate Landon or not. Let’s wait and see if he forms an obstacle in my endeavors with Glyndon first.

“I swear to fuck I’m done with twin fuckery after dealing with Mia and Maya’s swapping shit. Speaking of my sisters, let me make sure they’re in their dorms and not sneaking somewhere and causing someone to lose their lives.” Nikolai fishes out his phone and taps a message—probably to his bodyguards. Being part of the Bratva gives both Jeremy and Nikolai special security that even the campus can’t interfere with.

“Make sure to tighten security.” Jeremy’s brow furrows. “I caught Anoushka sneaking around in the fight club with her new friends.”

“Shouldn’t have let her go to the enemy’s territory,” Nikolai says absentmindedly. “Now, she’ll start developing habits of fraternizing with those posh kids.”

“Over my dead body.” Jeremy takes a long drink. “I don’t like her friends. Especially that loud silver-haired one.”

“Cecily Knight,” I supply for him. “Her father owns an investment corporation and her mother is some higher-up in social services.”

“And you know all of this because?” Jeremy asks.

“I do my research about our neighbors. Besides, I told you Aiden and Elsa King, Creighton and Eli’s parents, are friends with my folks. And so are Cole and Silver Nash, Ava’s parents.”

Nikolai pulls the ice pack away from his face, revealing a purple bruise near his temple. “How about fake lotus and Landon’s parents?”

“Never met them. Heard of them, though. Their father has half of the King fortune. The other half belongs to Aiden. Their mother is a renowned artist.” I type her name in the search bar of my phone and show them the sketch paintings of people, places, and memories.

Nikolai whistles. “Don’t understand shit about art, but these would look sick as tattoos.” He snatches the phone to stare at a family picture taken at some opening of a gallery.

Levi holds Astrid by the waist as she smiles at the camera, seeming happy, fulfilled, like Mom does whenever Gareth and I show up to her charities.