ログインAria’s POV: By the third hour, I was beginning to understand why Archer had insisted on starting so early. The magic trials were going to be brutal. We practiced defensive barriers, timed attacks, and combinations of magic and physical movement. Archer was relentless, but he was also surprisingly patient when it came to explaining things. He never talked down to me or treated my lack of experience as a weakness. When I made a mistake, he showed me how to correct it. When I managed something particularly difficult, he gave me a brief nod of approval. It was irritating how good he was at this. “Again,” he said. I stared at him. “Do you know any other words?” “Several.” “Try using one.” “Again, Wildfire.” I groaned. He laughed. I raised my hands, pulling the magic from somewhere deep inside me. A violet shimmer spread across my palms before forming a barrier in front of my body. Archer launched a controlled strike against it. The impact sent a vibration through my arms, but th
Aria’s POV:I was going to kill Archer Nightblade. That was the first thought that crossed my mind when my alarm went off at five in the morning. The second was that I hated six o’clock. The third was that I hated Archer Nightblade even more.I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, seriously considering pretending I hadn’t heard the alarm. I could already imagine Jasper’s reaction when I told him I’d decided to skip training. He would probably encourage me, offer to make breakfast, and then spend the next hour teasing me about being afraid of my assigned partner.Lucien would simply raise an eyebrow and remind me that I had agreed to participate in the trials. Unfortunately, neither of them was going to save me from this. I dragged myself out of bed.After showering and pulling my black hair into a high ponytail, I changed into a pair of black leggings, a fitted sports top, and my training shoes. I glanced at myself in the mirror, adjusting the silver streak that had fallen a
Jasper’s POV: We spent the next hour going through everything we had. Lorie’s messages. Darian’s account. The ballroom footage. The names of students who had worked at the ceremony and the staff members who had access to the drinks. Most of it led nowhere. The student assistants had been assigned through the academy’s event office. The drinks had come from an outside supplier, but the compound itself hadn’t been part of the official inventory. Someone had arranged for it to reach Lorie separately. That meant there was another person involved in the supply chain. I rubbed my forehead. “This is getting ridiculous.” Lucien stood behind me, studying the list on the screen. “Who approved the event’s external suppliers?” I scrolled through the records. “There’s the event coordinator, the academy administrator, and someone from the Council’s liaison office.” “Name?” I clicked the document. “Let’s see.” A list of signatures appeared. I scanned the first few names, then stopped. “That
Jasper’s POV:I was beginning to hate secrets. Which was ironic, considering how many I had kept over the years. But there was something particularly unpleasant about knowing someone was deliberately targeting the woman you loved and having to pretend everything was perfectly normal while you figured out who was responsible.Aria wasn’t stupid. Far from it. She’d already noticed the strange behavior between Lucien and me, and judging by the way she’d been watching us lately, she wasn’t going to let it slide for much longer. We needed answers. We needed them quickly.I sat behind the desk in my room, scrolling through the messages we’d managed to recover from Lorie’s phone. There wasn’t much to work with. Whoever Mr. S was, he knew how to keep his identity hidden. No full name, no identifiable number, and no obvious connection to anyone at Ebonveil. Just a collection of carefully worded instructions and brief exchanges.“Make certain she doesn’t become a problem before we are ready.” I
Archer’s POV: The following morning, I was sitting at the edge of my bed when my phone buzzed.A message from Ryker.“Where are you? Training starts in twenty minutes.” I glanced at the clock.I wasn’t going to training. Not yet. I had something else to deal with. The professor had announced the magic trial pairings, and I’d spent most of the evening thinking about one particular name.Aria Veyne….My partner.I’d almost laughed when the professor announced it. Not because I found the situation funny, but because some part of me had been waiting for an excuse to spend time with her again. I’d wanted a reason to approach her that didn’t involve apologizing or asking her to forgive me.Now I had one. The problem was that I had no idea what to do with it. The trials weren’t ordinary classroom exercises. They were designed to push students beyond their comfort zones, testing magical control, combat ability, and cooperation under pressure. Some challenges required physical coordination. Ot
Chapter 90 — The Things I Can’t ResistI hadn’t stopped thinking about the kiss.Four fucking days, and I could still feel her hands gripping my shirt, her fingers twisting into the fabric as she pulled me closer. I could still remember the way she had looked at me when we finally broke apart, her violet eyes wide, her lips swollen from mine, and her breathing uneven.I’d replayed it so many times that I was beginning to lose count. The first time, I’d remembered how surprised she had been when I kissed her. She hadn’t moved at first, and for one terrible second, I’d thought she was going to push me away. Then her hands had found my shirt, and she’d kissed me back with an intensity that nearly brought me to my knees.The second time, I’d remembered the way she’d looked at me afterward. And that was where the memory always turned sour. She’d pulled away. Told me she couldn’t do this right now. Then she’d walked out of that classroom without looking back.I’d wanted to follow her. My wo







