Their Hidden Princess (Zora) novel Chapter 128

128 /187

**Kairos**

“Did you catch wind of the chaos that erupted at the café the other morning?”

“Nah, what went down?”

“Wolfham and Blythwitch had it out. It was downright feral, shifting and all.”

“Gods be damned. Moonraiser, you heard about this?”

Kairos rubbed his forehead, his fingers pressing against his temples in an attempt to ward off the headache that was brewing. He had indeed heard the rumors swirling around, but the last thing he wanted was to get embroiled in yet another pointless drama. Not when he was nursing a particularly potent buzz. He took another swig of his beer, trying to drown out the noise.

“It’s nothing,” he muttered, waving a dismissive hand. “Just lads being lads.”

“No, mate,” Petyr interjected, shaking his head with a knowing look. “I heard it was all about Zora Smith.”

“Honestly, what’s so special about her?” Alexei, another of Kairos’s friends, chimed in, a hint of disdain in his tone. “She lost to Moonraiser after slamming her head into his so hard that she passed out. Kind of pathetic, if you ask me.”

Petyr let out a snort of laughter. “Doesn’t stop Wolfham and Blythwitch from drooling over her, though.”

In an instant, Kairos shot to his feet, his eyes blazing with frustration. He glared at his friends, his voice rising with barely restrained anger. “I’ve had enough of this fucking Zora Smith talk!” he snapped. “I don’t want to hear her name, I don’t want to think about her, and I certainly don’t want to acknowledge that she even exists!”

He punctuated his outburst by hurling his empty beer can against the wall. The can collided with a loud crunch, then ricocheted off, sending it skittering across the room. Petyr and Alexei flinched, exchanging uneasy glances before turning their attention back to Kairos, who was practically seething. His chest heaved with each breath, his heart racing in his ribcage.

“Fuck this, I’m going downstairs,” he grunted, grabbing another beer as he stormed out of the room and into the vibrant chaos of the party taking place on the first floor of his house.

Zora Smith had become an inescapable topic of conversation over the past week, and it was driving Kairos to the brink of madness. No matter where he turned, her name followed him like a shadow, whispered in hushed tones or shouted in drunken revelry. Between the ruckus at Basics on Tuesday and the brawl that had erupted yesterday, it seemed she was the singular focus of everyone’s attention.