Diana’s POVSaturday morning stretched out like warm taffy, slow, soft, and sweet with possibility. The sun streamed gently through my curtains, gilding the room in a lazy golden hue. School was out, and boredom clung to me like a second skinMum had gone grocery shopping, as usual. Dad? At the barracks, always.I was alone. Again.I picked up my chemistry textbook, more out of habit than curiosity. I’d read and memorized it cover to cover so many times, the formulas haunted my dreams. I tossed it aside with a sigh that felt like it came from my bones.Maybe Mum was right when she said, “Diana, quit being a nerd. Enjoy your youth while you're still young.”For once, I agreed.I let out a sigh of frustration and that’s when I remembered I had a friend.Eva.Suddenly energized, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee, tossed my hair into a loose bun, and called a cab.What else was I going to do with the snack money my parents still handed me out of habit, even when we were broke and drow
Kael’s POVThe council chamber reeked of stale incense and the sweat of ancient, powerful men.The council members snarled and snapped like starved dogs fighting over scraps, their voices rising and falling in a cacophony of greed and ambition as they debated Diana's fate.I leaned back in my chair, my eyes gleaming with calculated interest beneath lowered lashes, watching the council members continue to argue and scheme, each driven by their own agendas and desires.“She must've known Renner, her would-be killer, is an Ashmoor teacher by now,” spat Elder Rian, his voice brittle as old bones. “We can't risk her exposing us or spilling Ashmoor's secrets to the world.”“Nonsense,” Elder Marrick snapped, his voice like a whip cracking through the air. “She was the killer. Don't forget she has dual hearts. She was the last person with the Seer. It cannot be a coincidence. She killed her to escape.”Carolina, the council's strongest witch, spoke up, her voice dripping with hunger. “Why was
Kelvin’s POVMe? Kill someone? What the hell was she talking about?But then I saw it, Diana’s face turned ghost-white, her eyes emptying like someone had reached inside her and yanked out the last bit of light. The morning air in the courtyard thinned, turning sharp and metallic, biting against my skin like sleet.That’s when it slammed into me… A gut-punch of truth.She wasn’t talking about me.She was talking about my brother, Kael.“Yeah… yeah. That was me,” I blurted, the lie spilling from my mouth before I could stop it.She’d said my brother did it. So I let her think I was Kael.I faked a chuckle, hoping to shake off the tension crawling up my spine like ants under the skin.“But I don’t think there’s anything to worry about…” I paused, searching for the right word. Something smooth. Something Kael would say. “... Because that’s not the version of the story we’re going to tell.”Her breath hitched, soft and sharp.“What version are we going to tell?” she asked, her voice so sm
Diana’s POVI didn’t even make it past the courtyard before my legs buckled beneath me, and I collapsed onto the wet green field, gasping for air like I’d been underwater too long. The cold biting through my knees like teeth.My chest heaved, sharp and desperate, while sweat mixed with the chill of the morning dew soaking through my school uniform, making it feel like wet paper wrapped around my body.Eva caught up seconds later, practically skidding to a stop beside me.“Diana!”She dropped to her knees beside me, her breath hitching, cheeks blotchy with wind and panic. Her hands were trembling as they reached for me.“What the hell? Why’d you run like that? You scared me!”I raised my head slowly, my hair clinging damply to my face. When our eyes met, the words tumbled from me before I could stop them. I couldn’t keep it inside. Not from her.“It was her,” I rasped.Eva blinked, her brows drawing together. “Who?”I pointed, my hand shaking, toward the courtyard notice board, where t
Diana’s POVI didn’t sleep.I couldn’t.Not with that message tattooed behind my eyes every time I blinked.HOW ARE YOU FEELING, DIANA?The words didn’t just echo. They crawled across my mind like insects, over and over. Too calm. Too calculated.Whoever sent it didn’t ask if I was okay, they already knew I wasn’t. It was a threat dressed as concern.My brain tried to logic It's way out: It’s Kael. He’s just checking on you. Simple. Harmless.But my gut screamed something else.Kael didn’t do gentle.He didn’t ask how you felt.He acted.He demanded.He protected or he destroyed.By 3 a.m., I was curled on the floor beside my bed, wrapped in a blanket that couldn’t keep out the chill eating at my bones. My breath fogged in the shadows. The silence had weight.By 6 a.m., dawn slipped through the blinds like ghostly fingers, stretching long gray bars across the ceiling. They looked like prison bars.By the time my alarm buzzed, I was already dressed up for school. I choked down a slice
Diana’s POVThe drive home was silent.The only sound was the soft hum of tires over the asphalt and the wind whispering through the cracked window, tugging at strands of my hair like it wanted to pull me back to everything I was trying to forget.The city fell away behind us, block by block, like the fading remnants of a bad dream.I held the bottle of juice she’d given me, now warm from my trembling hands, its slick surface damp with condensation. It sat heavy in my lap, half-empty, half-forgotten, like it had soaked up some of the fear still coiled in my bones.My body ached with bruises, but the real pain sat deeper in the part of me still waiting for Kael to explain everything… anything.I felt Eva glance over at me now and then. Quiet flickers of concern. Measuring. Waiting.“He shouldn’t have left you like that,” she said softly, finally.I didn’t look at her. “Don’t start.”She obeyed instantly. Silence again, thicker this time.Halfway home, she spoke up, her voice cautious,