LOGINI took her hand, squeezing gently. “Kitty?” I said quietly, leaning close. “Talk to me. Please. What’s happening to you? Tell me what to do.”She didn’t answer. Her lashes fluttered faintly, but she didn’t wake.I felt useless. Helpless in a way I hadn’t felt since I was a boy who didn’t know how to save someone who mattered.I squeezed her hand gently, and then, I felt it—the faint warmth spreading from my palm to hers. Her fingers twitched slightly, the chill receding just a fraction where our skin touched.Just slightly. Just enough that I felt it.I froze.I held her hand tighter, concentrating, and the warmth grew stronger, seeping slowly into her skin.A realization hit me so hard I sucked in a sharp breath.“Body heat,” I murmured. “You need body heat.”I ran to the bathroom, turning the taps on full, drawing a bath as hot as I could stand without scalding. Steam filled the room, fogging the mirror, the air thick with moisture. I tested the water—warm, not boiling—and walked ba
I carried her the entire way back to Norsen, her weight light in my arms and unbearably heavy in my chest. She barely stirred, her head tucked beneath my chin, her breath shallow and uneven against my throat.The forest gave way to stone paths and torchlight, but none of it registered properly. All I could focus on was how wrong it felt, like I was holding something already slipping away.Her skin was ice-cold, seeping through my shirt like frostbite, her shivers vibrating through me like aftershocks from an earthquake. I held her tighter, my steps careful but urgent, the moon filtering through the canopy in silver shards that lit her pale face.She looked so fragile, so breakable, and the thought that I might have been too late, that Valora’s jealousy had pushed her to this, twisted in my gut like a poisoned blade.Sius whined endlessly in my head, a constant loop of our mate getting hurt, of tearing the person who hurt our mate apart. I didn’t have the energy to shut him up but for
Fear slammed into my chest so violently I staggered, one hand shooting out to brace against the stone wall beside me. It wasn’t my fear. It was hers—raw and overwhelming, a terror so sharp it stole my breath. Beneath it was panic, confusion, a desperate plea that had no words but echoed all the same.My heart shattered.She felt unprotected.Exposed.Because of Valora. Because of me.Guilt twisted the knife deeper. I’d failed her. Just like Rivan. The bond that was supposed to protect her had only brought her pain—and now she was out there, breaking, because I hadn’t been there to stop it.The pain of that realization was almost unbearable. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to stay upright as I honed in on the thread connecting us, letting it guide me the way instinct guided a hunter. My feet moved before my mind could catch up, carrying me through the western gates and into the forest beyond, deeper than students were ever meant to go.The forest swallowed me whole—trees thick as to
I’d searched every gods-damned corner of Norsen, and she was nowhere.The training fields—empty, the mats still rolled from afternoon drills.The library—rows of silent shelves, dust motes dancing in the dying light, no sign of her curled in her favorite alcove.The gardens, the hidden rooftops where I’d seen her sneak off to think.Nothing.I had searched until my legs ached and my lungs burned. Every corner of the academy grounds mocked me with its emptiness.Courtyards I had passed a hundred times, lecture halls now dark and abandoned, dormitory wings where students laughed behind closed doors while the girl I was supposed to be bound to had vanished like she had never existed at all.The sky had already begun to dim by the time panic truly sank its claws into me. I stood at the edge of the eastern practice fields, hands braced on my knees, breathing hard as though I had been running from something rather than toward it.My chest felt tight, too tight, like my ribs were closing in
I was halfway through explaining a flanking maneuver to Dava when everything in my vision narrowed to two approaching figures.The courtyard had been loud a second ago, steel clashing in the training rings, students shouting over one another, Kiyan barking orders and the son of the Narthan minister of foreign affairs, Dava teaching the new drills he had learnt from his time down south during his time there as an exchange student and spy. Kiyan, Dava, and I stood in the shade of the old oak near the training fields, maps spread across a stone bench, debating flanking maneuvers for the upcoming inter-realm exhibition. Dava was sketching formations in the dirt with a stick, Kiyan arguing about supply lines, and I was nodding along like my mind wasn’t a warzone.But the moment I saw them, the noise dulled, like the world had decided to step back and let something important happen.Two girls were walking toward us.One of them looked terrified, her shoulders tight, hands fisted at her sid
I ran until my lungs burned and my legs shook, until the hallways blurred into a maze of stone and shadow.I didn’t know where I was going, I just needed distance from the lecture hall, from the commander’s shocked face, from the snickers that had followed me out the door.My pulse thrashed in my ears, drowning out everything but the compulsion to get away from the memory of a sharp-mouthed asshole with silver-grey eyes who had absolutely no business affecting me the way he did.My boots skidded slightly against the polished floor as I made a sharp turn, ignoring the sting of the cool air on my cheeks. I didn’t stop until I reached the right wing—too far, too quiet, and rumored to be cursed enough that most students avoided it unless they needed a place to nap or cry or hide. Or, apparently, have a complete breakdown.The right-wing bathrooms were infamous: two years ago someone had been maimed in here, a brutal attack no one could ever fully explain.The lights were dim, the mirrors
I barely slept. I tried to, I really did.It was not unusual, insomnia, and I have a long-term relationship, but this time it wasn’t the usual kind of restless. My brain felt wired into something else, like the world itself was trying to tell me it was time to face the past I buried four years ago.
I could barely focus, no matter how hard I tried to push through the curiosity that tugged at me; I just couldn’t stop thinking about the mysteries that haunted me. The assassin, the Narthish knife, and the amber green pair of eyes that burned into mine with such hatred that I didn’t think it was h
But because she had no regard for her own life and no real sense of danger, Kitty’s jaw tightened, and she made the mistake of opening her mouth. “Some of us don’t need to be glued to a man to feel relevant.”The table sucked in a collective breath. Even I winced.Seraphina blinked; her fork droppe
“Nothing,” I said instead. “Just tired.”Elsie arched a brow. “You’ve been tired for the past few weeks. Aklan really is a monster, isn’t he?”Pretty much accurate.She grabbed a small bottle and held it out to me. It contained a glowing purple liquid swirling inside.“For your eyes,” she said, a t







