Chapter 2

Before leaving Blood Thorn, I decided to return everything that belonged to them.

Dante Voss, heir to the War House, had given me his first Blood Trial medal when we were twelve.

He’d won it after taking down an opponent twice his size.

I found him at the combat hall.

He was helping Mira get ready for Nocturne, adjusting the straps on a new set of training armor.

Weapons cases, boots, and unopened gear were scattered across the bench beside them.

“Too tight,” Mira complained, rolling one shoulder.

Dante immediately loosened the strap.

“Better?”

She nodded.

Only then did he notice me.

“What are you doing here?”

I held out the medal.

“Giving this back.”

He stared at it.

“Why? You’ve had it forever.”

“I’m leaving. I don’t want to keep it for you anymore. I might not get another chance to give it back.”

He clearly didn’t understand what I meant.

He tossed the medal into one of Mira’s open gear bags.

“Fine. Still mad, huh?” He shook his head. “You’re going away to school, Avery. Stop acting like it’s the end of the world.”

“I’m not mad.”

He didn’t answer. His attention was already back on Mira’s gear.

“Perfect timing. Help me carry these cases to her car. You’re stronger than Mira.”

I didn’t move.

Mira quickly stepped in.

“It’s fine. Avery’s leaving for Ravenwood. She probably has packing to do.”

“She can pack in ten minutes. She always does.”

Then he nodded toward the cases.

“Come on. Grab those.”

I still didn’t move.

This time, he finally looked at me.

“Avery, seriously. Stop making such a big deal out of this.”

I turned and walked away.

He didn’t follow.

He didn’t even ask when I was leaving.

All I heard as I walked out was Dante’s voice behind me.

“She seriously can’t help with one little thing?”

That afternoon, I found Julian in the library.

I placed the old debate files and Council trial notes he’d kept at my house on the table.

Julian looked down at them.

“Avery, how long are you planning to stay angry?”

“I’m just returning your things. You wouldn’t want me to lose them, would you?”

Julian frowned.

“You’ve taken perfectly good care of them all these years. Why return them now?”

Before I could answer, Mira appeared between the shelves.

“Julian? Can you help me with my Nocturne enrollment forms? I don’t understand the Council clearance section.”

His attention shifted to her immediately.

“Yeah. Give me a second.”

Then he looked back at me.

“Stop doing things you’ll regret just because you’re angry.”

He gathered the files and walked toward Mira.

Apparently, returning what belonged to them was now something I would regret.

After I left the library, Adrian caught me near the gates.

“Good. I was looking for you.”

He tossed a hard drive into my hands.

“It has all our old videos. You’re the best editor out of all of us. ”

He paused.

“Mira’s graduation party is coming. She wants a graduation memory reel.”

I looked down at it.

“She just came back. She wasn’t here for any of this. What memories are you even making a reel of?”

“That’s why we need the old footage.”

He said it like the solution was obvious.

“Cut yourself out where you need to. Add some pictures of Mira. Make it work.”

The drive held everything.

Our first trip into the human world.

Our first night hunt.

Every birthday the four of them had spent with me.

Now they wanted me to erase myself from those memories and put Mira in my place.

“No.”

Adrian blinked.

Maybe because he genuinely hadn’t expected me to refuse.

“It’s just a video, Avery. Mira only just came back to the vampire world. This is the least we can do for her. Show a little kindness.”

“You’re asking me to cut myself out of my own childhood. Why would I do that?”

His expression hardened.

“How long are you going to keep this up?”

He pushed the hard drive back into my hands.

“Just finish it and let me know.”

Then he walked away.

Apparently, even my no could be ignored.

Not one of them seemed to care how I felt.

That night, Cassian took me to dinner.

He called it the date he’d promised me.

The way he said it made it sound like a favor.

I only went because I had something of his to return too.

He took me to the restaurant we’d been going to for years, but spent most of the evening looking at his phone.

Mira needed help choosing classes.

Mira was worried about her dorm.

Mira didn’t know anyone at Nocturne.

His phone buzzed again.

I took the ring from my finger and set it on the table.

The soft click finally made him look up.

“I’m giving this back.”

Cassian froze.

His eyes dropped to the ring.

A dark bloodstone sat in its center, surrounded by the crest of House Nightborne.

He’d had it made the year he was officially named heir to the Blood Throne.

He had slipped it onto my finger himself.

When I become King, I want you beside me as my Queen.

Back then, I had believed him.

Cassian stared at me.

“What are you doing?”

“Returning it.”

“Avery, we had one fight. You don’t need to give the ring back.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Something shifted in his expression.

“Tomorrow?”

For the first time all night, I had his full attention.

He opened his mouth—

Then his phone buzzed.

Cassian glanced at the screen.

Mira.

And just like that, his eyes dropped back to his phone.

“Fine. I’ll hold onto it for you.”

He picked up the ring.

“When you come back, I’ll give it back.”

“I might not come back.”

He didn’t hear me.

His fingers were already moving across the screen.

“Once Nocturne enrollment is over, the five of us will come visit you.”

The five of us.

Which means Cassian, Dante, Julian, Adrian, and of course, Mira.

Once, when he said the five of us, he meant me and the four boys I had grown up with.

Now Mira had taken my place so naturally that Cassian didn’t even notice.

I left before dinner was over.

Cassian didn’t ask why.

When I got home, I connected Adrian’s hard drive to my computer.

One by one, I uploaded every video to my private cloud.

Tomorrow, I would send it back exactly as he had given it to me.

I didn’t owe Mira the childhood she never had.

And I sure as hell wasn’t going to erase myself from mine just so she could take my place.