Chapter 3

Tyler stepped in front of the two of us, blocking our way.

"Come on, Preston, look at you. Trying to sneak off to Nico's place and leave the rest of us behind? That's not how good friends treat each other."

Preston shot him a venomous glare. "I can manage not being selfish as a good friend. Can you manage not being shameless as a person?"

His words set off one of Tyler's flunkies.

"Preston, if you've got that much free time, go collect a few more bottles to scrape together some cash for your blind old mother instead of acting like a saint here!"

Preston and I were both on need-based scholarships. I'd been to his house before. His mother had an eye condition, and once it got dark, she couldn't see a thing.

The first time I visited, Marie Anders had carefully brought out the honey ham she only allowed herself at Christmas, just to treat me well. She'd been wonderful to me.

Hearing someone insult Marie made me furious, and I snapped back.

"Say one more word about Marie, and I'm not taking you to my house!"

Tyler's flunky burst out laughing so hard his whole body shook.

"Wow, you're really addicted to this act, huh? If it weren't for Tyler's sake, I'd have called you out ages ago instead of letting you keep this up for three years."

The moment he heard me start to give in, Tyler switched right back to his other face.

"Oh, come on, Nico, everyone's just messing around. We're only worried you'll take Preston and leave the rest of us behind! We're all classmates. We've known each other for three years; you can't play favorites like that!"

Preston opened his mouth to say more, but Tyler cut him off before he could.

"Listen here, Preston. If you keep getting in the way, I'll tell my father you scammed your scholarship, and then your blind mother can pay back every cent from the last three years!"

Preston clenched his fists, his eyes going red with anger. Watching him get bullied like this didn't sit well with me either. They just wanted to visit my house, that was all. There was no talking sense into people who were determined to get themselves killed.

"Fine. Go home and say your proper goodbyes to your families. I'll take you to my house in a week."

Someone in the crowd let out a cold laugh. "Say goodbye to our families? Do you live in the Hall of the King of Hell or something?"

Since someone clearly wanted to die that badly, I stopped pretending altogether.

"That's right. My family really does live in the Hall of the King of Hell. I'm the son of the King of Hell, Prince Nico of the underworld. Nico Wavell is just the name I go by among the living."

Tyler and everyone around him exchanged looks. After a few seconds of silence, they all burst out laughing so hard they doubled over. As far as they were concerned, I'd clearly lost my mind.

I cleared my throat. "Since you all want to come, then, welcome."

Tyler laughed so hard tears came out, and he still couldn't resist teasing me. "We're not paying our own way there, are we? Your Highness is surely going to send servants to pick us up!"

"And since we're going to a palace, that means Nico's gonna cover everything, right? We don't even need to bring cash?"

Human currency wasn't accepted in the underworld.

"Don't bother bringing money. It won't do you any good there."

Tyler said mockingly, "Hear that, guys? His Highness, Prince Nico, doesn't think our money is worth his time! Fine, let's all listen to him and not bring a single cent!"

Preston, shaking with anger, pointed at them.

"Going to someone's house without even bringing a gift is one thing, but not bringing any money either? You act like other people's money just falls from the sky!"

Damn, since when was Preston this sharp? How did he know that in my family, the money really did come blowing in on the wind?

Tyler's eyes turned sharp and vicious. "Preston, Nico already said it himself. Why are you sticking your nose into business that isn't yours?"