LOGINāSeraās POVThe breakfast tasted like cardboard though it was the same breakfast i have had everyday but now it tasteless. I chewed and swallowed mechanically, painful aware of the four powerful boys surrounding me. To any outsider, it might have looked like a normal morning for the Academyās elite circle, but to us, the air was electric, charged with the debris of the life Iād just blown up.ā"I can't do this," Luca muttered suddenly. He pushed his plate away; the chair let out a loud screech against the floor. He didn't look at meāand he walked out without another word.River watched him go, then looked at me with a sad, complicated smile before following him. "Give them space," River murmured as he passed Kael.Then there we were, two. Well, three, if you counted Alexander, who remained at the end of the table like a wall clock.ā"Alexander," Kael said, his voice dropping to that dangerous frequency whenever he was furious. "Leave."Alexander didn't move at first. He looked at me,
Sera POVI woke to the dull ache of exhaustion, the kind that sinks into your bones and doesnāt let go, even after hours of sleep. My pillow was damp from tears I hadnāt noticed falling, and my chest felt tight, like Iād been carrying some invisible weight all night.The dorm room was quiet. I stayed still under the blanket for a long moment, listening. There were no footsteps, no voices drifting in from the hall. I swallowed hard.Everything was out. The lie, the binder, the fake identity, the secret I had protected for months. Gone. Exposed to everyone in the dorm and worse, to Kael.I couldnāt stop thinking about the way he had looked at me last night before he slammed the door. The way his face had changed from confusion to something elseāanger, disbelief, something raw that I didnāt understand. I shivered at the memory and pulled the blanket closer around me.My phone buzzed on the nightstand. My stomach dropped before I even looked at it.Three messages from the SC. My hands s
Luca POVI didnāt remember how I got back to Riverās room. One second I was standing in that bathroom, staring at a truth I wasnāt supposed to see, and the next I was sitting on Riverās bed with my elbows on my knees, my hands hanging uselessly between them like they didnāt belong to me anymore.River stood near the window, staring out at the dark courtyard like it might give him answers if he looked long enough. He hadnāt said a word since Alexander kicked us out of the bathroom. Not one joke not one sarcastic comment. That alone told me how bad this really was.āSheās a girl,ā I finally said, just to hear it out loud.River flinched.āYeah,ā he said slowly. āI noticed.āI laughed, but the sound came out wrong. āFunny. I feel like my brainās still trying to pretend it didnāt.āHe turned away from the window and looked at me then, like he was trying to read my face the way he read people so easily. His own expression was pale, unsettled, out of its usual confidence.āI swear to you,ā
Kael's POVI didnāt stop running until my lungs burned and my chest felt like it was about to split open.The night air slapped against my face as I burst out of the dorm building. I bent over with my hands on my knees, breathing hard, trying to get my head straight.It didnāt work.Nothing worked.The image wouldnāt leave me, I kept replaying what I saw in the shower.I squeezed my eyes shut and swore under my breath.āNo,ā I muttered. āNo, no, no.āThis couldnāt be real. It had to be some sick joke or some misunderstanding. Some twisted joke the academy was playing on me like it always did. Because Seth wasnātācouldnāt beā a girl.My hands curled into fists so tight my nails dig into my palms.She lied to me.She lied to me every single day.She slept in my room, laughed with me. She let me look at herātouch her arm, corner her in hallways, want her like I was losing my damn mindāand she never told me.Never told me the truth I was questioning myself, about my sexuality not knowi
Sera PovI waited until the dorm was a silent, no footsteps in the hall or muffled laughter from the common room. I counted to three hundred after the last door clicked shut. Then I slipped out of the room with the towel slung over my shoulder as the chest binder already itching under my hoodie. The straps had been digging into my ribs all day and every breath was a reminder that I was living half a life.When I entered in the bathroom I locked the main door behind me with a click. I peeled off my clothes fingers trembling as they worked the binderās hooks. When it finally gave, I exhaled freely for the first time in hours.Cool air kissed my skin. My breasts were small but still visible. They ached from the compression. I rolled my shoulders, let my head fall back, and stepped under the spray.For one minute, I wasnāt Seth. I was just me. Sera, tired, terrified, and finally free of the lie for sixty seconds.I shouldāve known the peace wouldnāt last long when I heard the lock I
Sera POVI pressed my forehead harder against the door, the cheap wood cool against my skin, like it could soak up the panic that was invading my mind. Inside, Kaelās pacing had stopped it was silence now. Heavy, waiting silence that felt worse than the stomping or screaming.My hand hovered over the knob. One twist and I would be face to face with the guy I spent weeks pretending wasnāt existing. One twist and I will have to look at him after the hallway incidentāafter the way his eyes had stripped me bare without even touching me.I couldnāt do this.The phone in my pocket was a enough reason to make me talk with Kael to prevent things from going too far. Julietteās photo. Her threat.Back off, Seth. Or this goes everywhere.If I walked in there and told him, he will surely lose it and If I don't, she is gonna send it anyway. Either way, the fuse was lit.I sucked in a breath surpressing my fear, then pushed the door open. Kael was sitting on the edge of his bed with elbows on hi
Sera povKaelās grip was tight dragging me through the corridors like I was a notorious criminal being marched to execution. My heart hammered against my ribs, not just from his fury but from the eyes I felt on us as we passed. There were too many eyes. If anyone looked too closely if anyone saw
Sera povThe whole crowd had gone completely silent, the whispers and murmurs were fading as everyoneās attention was on us.Lucaās lips had barely left mine, but the audacity of the moment hung heavy in the air. He grinned like a boy who knew heād just caused chaos.Kael didnāt move immediately. H
Sera povI whipped around so fast that my heart nearly stopped.Alexander.He stood just a few feet away, his posture was casual, but his eyes were sharp, unblinking.My stomach dropped thinking of possibilities of how much had he heard?āAāAlexander.ā My voice cracked. āI was just...āHe tilted hi
Chapter 24 ā SeraāIs thatā¦?āThe voice came from somewhere in the crowd, but honestly, it couldāve been anyone. Everyone was whispering and staring.Because at the front gates of Virelade there was a car so polished, so sleek, so ridiculously expensive that half the boys were practically drooling.







