The Weight of WhispersThorne’s POV“Eyes on the board, Miss Elara.”The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, but the girl didn’t even flinch. Her gaze was fixed.. no, her eyes were drawn towards the window as though something outside was pulling her apart strand by strand.Her pen hovered above her book, unmoving. Her lips moved faintly, she said words not loud enough to be heard, but enough for me to notice.I followed her gaze. Nothing. Just sunlight spilling over the courtyard, students moving lazily below. Normal. Or it should’ve been.Beside her, Lily leaned over, whispering something. I caught the soft edge of Elara’s voice.“Can you hear that?”Lily blinked, puzzled. “Hear what?”“The noise…” Elara’s voice faltered. Her fingers tapped nervously on the desk as Lily moved her head in a way to say no. “…Oh. Okay. Never mind.”I immediately masked my frown and continued the lesson, but every detail of her unease lodged itself like sharp little thorns beneath my
Hide and SeekLily’s POV “Do you really have to drive this slow, Rowan?” I teased, stretching against the passenger seat and fighting back a yawn. “At this rate, I’ll be old and gray before we even make it back to school.”Rowan smirked without glancing at me, one hand draped lazily on the wheel. “Patience, Sunshine . Not everyone’s rushing to get locked up in a classroom again. Besides..” he slowed even further just to spite me, “..the world looks better when you don’t race through it.”“I actually agree.. you do not want to see Rowan driving fast and furious Lily.. it’s a kind of trauma you don’t easily recover from”I rolled my eyes, but a small smile tugged at my lips. The weekend had been… eventful. Strange. Beautiful in some ways, heavy in others. Now, as the miles stretched between Rowan’s villa and the academy, I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or disappointed to be going back.The car was quiet, unusually so. No banter from Kael, no humming from Elara. Just Rowan and me t
Laughter in the GardenElara’s POV“This house…” I paused, squinting against the sunlight as I stepped onto the stone path that led deeper into the garden. The vines clung to the old walls like secrets, the roses seemed brighter than they had last night, and the fountain at the center sparkled as though it had been polished by dawn itself. “…it looks prettier under daylight.”Kael glanced sideways at me, his lips twitching. “Prettier?”“Much less haunting, last night it took all my guts not to collapse from fear, especially the way it looked so eerie” I added quickly.He let out a laugh, warm and sudden. It startled me, and I couldn’t help but join in, our voices bouncing off the walls of the courtyard. For once, the shadows didn’t seem to linger.Kael tilted his head, watching me as his laughter faded into a softer smile. “Imagine how I felt the first time I came here as a child and was told to pass the night.. but hey I like that sound,” he said.I felt my cheeks heat. “What sound?
Blue Green Blue(Rowan’s POV)“Of course,” I muttered drowsily, as I opened my eyes and glared at the flickering credits on the TV, “the one time I let someone else pick the movies, they fall asleep halfway through.”No response.Well.. except for the soft, steady rhythm of Lily’s breathing against my shoulder.I tilted my head slightly, glancing down. Her hair brushed my jaw, tickling my skin, the faintest whisper of lavender rising from her. Her lips were parted, her lashes so dark against her pale cheeks that they looked like beautifulstrokes of ink.“You’re really just gonna knock out on me, huh?” I murmured, keeping my voice low. “Figures. Rowan the pillow. That’s all I am.”‘You don’t sound mad about it,’ Lior’s deep voice rumbled from the back of my mind.“I didn’t ask for commentary,” I hissed silently.‘Didn’t say you did. Just pointing out the fact that you like it.’My jaw tightened. Of course I liked it. A little bit too much.Because here she was, curled against me like I
I didn’t sign up for this.Veronica’s POVIf there’s one thing I didn’t wake up for this Saturday morning, it was this.This girl..“Veronica,” Seraphina groaned out again, dramatically throwing herself onto the velvet couch beside me, nearly knocking over my cup of tea in the process. “Do you know how exhausting it is? First, Elara slinking around like a snake, trying to seduce Kael, then the Blood Oath Ball. Then. And then me.. having nothing to wear!”Her voice rose on that last bit as if it were the end of the world. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes so hard they’d fall out of my skull, hit the ground then explode. Instead, I stirred my tea calmly, the silver spoon clinking gently against the porcelain cup, my face was miraculously still a mask of patient serenity.Beautiful despite the odds of the child whining like a toothless pup in front of me.“I didn’t think my Saturday morning would be filled with.. complaints,” I murmured, keeping my tone sweet and calm, “about a matte
The Pool’s ConfessionKael’s POV”Elara”The sound of water slapping against the pool’s edge filled the night air, mingling with Elara’s cute uneven breaths.Her lips were still wet from mine, her chest rising and falling as if she’d just run a marathon.Gods, she was beautiful like this.. flushed, wide-eyed, cornered against the smooth pool wall, her hair plastered beautifully against her skin.And me? I was lazily drowning, not in the water, but in her.I leaned closer, bracing one arm beside her head, feeling the tension crackle in the air like a live wire.“Tell me to stop,” I murmured, with my voice low, testing her, begging her, daring her.Her lips parted, but instead of words, a shaky laugh escaped. “Kael… this isn’t.. I don’t think what you’re doing is fair.”My chest tightened. “Fair?” My voice came out rough, and a bit mocking, but my pulse was a storm. “Do you really think I play fair when it comes to you?”She swallowed hard, her eyes darting down to my mouth, then back u