breenick hq

a king & her knight 👑🤺⚔️ | a safe space for fans of bree matthews and nicholas davis from the Legendborn series

[king bree @breesirene]

By the time my second class is over, one thought has burrowed in my mind like a splinter:
Someone used magic to hide what really happened the night my mother died, and I’m not going to let them get away with it.

[king bree @breesirene]

“Briana Irene Matthews!”
I freeze, then pivot slowly to look for the sort of asshole who calls out someone’s full name in public to get their attention.

[king bree @breesirene]

“Want to help me with the follow-through?” I snap.
He smiles, shoves off the wall with one foot, and strolls toward me. “You’re hard to pin down.” He looks up briefly, as if considering. Eyes back on me. “And rude, too, leaving me on read all day.”

[king bree @breesirene]

My eyes fall shut as I mutter, “You’re the babysitter.”
“Does that mean you’re a baby?” My eyes snap open to find Nick Davis standing right in front of me, eyes twinkling with barely contained mirth.

[king bree @breesirene]

I turn on my heel to leave. This boy is not part of the plan. Not the beginning, middle, or anywhere in between.
“Briana, wait up!” Nick jogs to follow. “I’ll walk you to your dorm.”
“It’s Bree, and no thanks.”

[king bree @breesirene]

“Being clever and being creepy are not mutually exclusive.”
“Oh, I agree.” He scratches at his chin. “There’s probably a Venn Diagram or a graph of direct proportionality in there somewhere—”
I groan. “This is, by definition, using your intelligence for evil.”

[king bree @breesirene]

“So, Dean McKinnon said you enrolled with a friend?”
This boy is intuitive. Unnervingly so. “Alice. She’s always wanted to come here.”
He eyes me. “And you didn’t?” I blink, unsure how to respond, and he takes my silence as an answer. “Then why did you come?”

[king bree @breesirene]

“Well, which one did you join? So I know which one to avoid.”
“A second sidestepped question. Cricket Club.”
“Cricket. Club. In basketball and football country?”
He shrugs. “I knew it would piss my dad off.”
Something twists in my heart, tight and sharp. “Oh?”

[king bree @breesirene]

Suddenly, irrationally, the twist in my chest transforms into something more aggressive. “He just wants a connection.”
Nick scoffs. “I’m sure he does, but I don’t care.”
I stop on the pathway and turn to him. “You should care.”

[king bree @breesirene]

Nick stops walking. Uses my earlier response against me. “Oh?”
“Yes,” I challenge.
We lock eyes, brown to blue, and something unexpected passes between us. A tug of friendship, a dropper full of humor.
“You’re pushy,” he observes, and smiles.

[king bree @breesirene]

I don’t know why it bugs me that Nick doesn’t want to connect with his father. We’ve only just met, we barely know each other, and he doesn’t owe me any details about his life. It shouldn’t irritate me.
But it does.

[king bree @breesirene]

Contempt and jealousy intertwine and slice through my stomach like jagged claws. I want to aim them at this Nick so that he can feel what I think of his wasted luxury: a parent who’s still alive for reconciliation.

[king bree @breesirene]

I turn to him, the words on my tongue, when I catch a flash of unearthly light in the distance, just over his shoulder.

[king bree @breesirene]

I’m running past him before any other thoughts fully form. I hear him yelling behind me, asking me what’s wrong, but I don’t care. I can’t care.

[king bree @breesirene]

Someone’s screaming.
Me, I think.
The world bleeds black, flowing like ink to the center of my vision.
The last thing I see is Nick, yanking his sword free, then driving it deep into the creature’s skull.

[king bree @breesirene]

VOICES FADE IN and out.
What happened?!
Hellhound saliva.
Feels like my head is dunked underwater. Drawn up. Under again.
On campus? Corporeal? That’s impossible—
Help me get her on the table!

[king bree @breesirene]

Falling. Falling down to the cold and the dark. The voices grow faint.
Who is she? Aether isn’t meant for Onceborns. If she—
It’s eating through her bones. Do it. Now.

[king bree @breesirene]

I try sitting—and fail spectacularly. My arms aren’t working.
“You’re all right.” A gentle palm presses my shoulder down. Nick withdraws his hand. He’s standing beside the bed, one sleeve of his hoodie torn to shreds.

[king bree @breesirene]

I finish drinking. Nick puts the glass down and moves to the window seat to sit, his expression solemn. Nothing like the Nick I met outside Lenoir. “What do you remember?”

[king bree @breesirene]

I frown, images coming in quick flashes: light in the sky. Running. Nick, wielding a sword. A monster. My eyes key to his in an instant. “You killed it.”