Enemies Watching

I wasn’t used to silence being this loud.

The moment we stepped into the dining hall the next morning, every conversation dimmed. Students turned, eyes tracking us like hounds scenting weakness. No one spoke. No one smiled. But I could feel the tension ripple through the air like static before a storm.

Lucian walked beside me, arms crossed, jaw tight. The tether stretched like a pulled thread between us—annoyance, discomfort, pressure—but beneath it was something colder.

Surveillance.

“They’re watching us,” I muttered under my breath.

“I noticed,” Lucian said, without turning his head. “Half the witches think you’re sleeping with me to gain favor. The other half thinks you cursed me to become queen.”

“Great,” I said. “So I’m either a whore or a power-hungry witch. Love that for me.”

“And the wolves,” he added, nodding toward a table of broad-shouldered, sharp-eyed boys with silver rings, “think I’m being manipulated. Softened.”

I followed his gaze. I remembered one of them—Axel Vane—locked eyes with Lucian and didn’t blink. There was no respect there. No loyalty. Just challenge.

“If they come for me,” I said, “will you let them?”

Lucian turned his head slowly to look at me, and his voice dropped low enough that only I could hear: “No one touches you. Tethered or not.”

Something fluttered in my chest. I hated it.

I sat, ignoring the looks, the whispers. My tray barely held anything—I didn’t trust what they served us anymore. Poison would be a coward’s path, but then again, cowards were plentiful here.

Across the room, Morganna was watching me.

The High Priestess of the witch contingent never spoke to me directly, never even acknowledged my existence. But now her silver eyes were locked on mine, unmoving. Measuring.

And near the back, Commander Kael loomed like a gargoyle—half-shadow, half-smoke. The man never blinked, and I couldn’t decide if he was the academy’s watchdog or warden.

I turned my focus to the eggs on my plate. They were cold.

“I need to train,” I muttered.

“You need to rest,” Lucian countered. “You’re getting slower in sparring.”

I scoffed. “You're getting predictable.”

That made his lips twitch—almost a smile.

“Fine,” he said. “Meet me at the south yard after dusk. We’ll see who’s predictable then.”

I was late, of course. Deliberately.

By the time I reached the training grounds, the sky was bruised purple, and Lucian was already practicing with a weighted blade, sweat slicking the curve of his neck. I hated how easy he made it look. How graceful his anger could be.

“You’re late,” he said without looking up.

“You’re bossy,” I replied, and dropped my satchel.

We trained without speaking much after that. My magic flared hotter than usual—too hot—and Lucian scolded me under his breath more than once. But there was no real venom in it.

Until Axel Vane showed up.

He brought two others with him, all wolves with the same golden eyes and sneering grins. They didn’t bother pretending it was a coincidence.

“Didn’t know we were allowed to date our assigned witches,” Axel said, twirling a blade between his fingers.

Lucian stiffened. “Walk away, Vane.”

“Or what? You’ll bleed when I gut her?”

I stepped forward before Lucian could. “Try it. I’ll set your tail on fire.”

They laughed, but it was tense. Lucian moved faster than I could track—one hand on my arm, pulling me back, the other raised in warning.

“Leave,” he growled.

Axel studied him for a long moment. Then his eyes flicked to me. “She’s going to be your ruin, Lucian.”

“I hope so,” I said sweetly.

They left.

Lucian took a slow breath, then turned to me once they were gone. “You’re reckless.”

“And you’re overprotective.”

He looked at me like he wanted to argue. Then, softer, “I’m responsible for you now. Whether I like it or not.”

That stung more than I wanted to admit.

“I don’t need you to save me,” I said.

“No,” he agreed. “But I think you’re used to being alone. And you’re not. Not anymore.”

We stood in silence, the wind biting cold and the stars starting to wake overhead. I didn’t know what I hated more: how he said it, or how badly I wanted to believe him.

Because every day, the eyes watching us sharpened.

And I wasn’t sure how long we could survive being enemies to everyone.