Chapter 5

Lydia told our parents about Cassian Voss. For the past few days, Mother had watched me as if I were some stolen relic waiting to disgrace the family.

“Do not shame this house,” Mother said. “A girl seen leaving with a Voss boy after dark does not get to explain herself. Not in our world.”

I almost laughed. In my mind, Mother's scolding had already faded into background noise. She sounded less like a parent and more like a cruel side character in a bad romance serial, so I ignored her.

After class, I did not go home immediately. It was not because I wanted trouble. It was because trouble was already waiting at the academy gate.

Cassian Voss stood beneath the black iron arch, his expression dark. When he saw me, he pushed himself away from the wall.

"Eleanor," he said. "Your sister told me something interesting."

Cassian stepped closer. "She said you keep refusing me because you think I'm beneath you." Cassian stepped in front of me, blocking the path to the main gate.

“Not here,” he said. “You and I are going to talk.”

Two boys from his circle stood behind him. They did not touch me. They did not need to.

I looked at the corridor, then at the students watching from a distance.

If I refused now, he would only make a bigger scene.

So I followed him.

We walked through a side corridor and into the old armory beside the training hall. The old armory had been turned into a storage room years ago. Teachers used it for detention, extra drills, and whatever they did not want in the main classrooms.

He shut the door behind us. "What exactly do you mean by looking down on me..."

"Are you helping Lydia hurt me too..." I asked softly. Cassian froze. "What..."

I lowered my head. "She told you I despise you. She told my parents I spend time with improper men. She told just enough people to make them stare. And now you brought me here alone."

I covered my face with both hands and began to cry.

Cassian's expression shifted from fury to confusion, and then to panic.

Lydia had found Adrian Blackthorne outside the library and asked him to help her with a blood-law assignment. Then she suggested the old armory.

She had not only brought Adrian. She had gathered several classmates too. Then she sent a message to our parents. "Eleanor left with Cassian Voss. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen."

By the time they marched toward the armory, Lydia was almost glowing. She must have already imagined the scene: me alone with Cassian, our parents furious, Adrian disgusted, and my classmates whispering about the beautiful elder sister ruined by her own face.

The group reached the armory door just as hurried footsteps sounded from the other end of the corridor. Mother and Father were coming too.

Lydia saw them and smiled. Then she grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

Before she even looked inside, she cried out, “Mother, don’t go in. If Eleanor is really in there with Cassian…”

The corridor fell silent. Our parents rushed forward, their faces twisted with anger. Father shoved past the stunned students, then stopped at the doorway. Mother stopped beside him. Lydia's smile froze.