Chapter 2. Banished

Raven POV

I didn’t sleep that night. My mind kept running in circles until dawn finally broke. When I did close my eyes, it was only for a short while. The peace didn’t last.

A loud bang on my door jolted me awake. Not a knock. A bang. My heart jumped. I slid out of bed, my body heavy, and opened the door, only to get slapped so hard my head snapped to the left.

Pain burned across my cheek.

I turned back and locked eyes with the last person I wanted to see, my stepmother and Lily. Her eyes were wild, her chest rising and falling fast.

“You bitch!” she screamed. “How could you? How could you do that?”

My cheek throbbed. “Do what?” I asked, still half in shock.

“You dare question me?” She grabbed my arm like a claw and yanked me into the hall.

I stumbled, confused, until I saw the pack guards waiting. My stomach twisted. And then I saw him. Ares. My heart fell into my feet. Behind them stood a man I’d never seen before, dressed too neatly, he looked like some kind of professor.

“There she is!” Lily shouted, pointing at me with a fake cry in her voice. “Seal her fate already. She’s a murderer!”

“Murderer?” My head spun. What the hell was going on?

Ares stepped forward, his shoulders broad, his eyes blazing with disgust. My chest tightened when his gaze locked on me. My mouth went dry.

He stopped inches away, his voice cutting through me like a blade. “How dare you kill my lover, you weak, pathetic omega.”

My lips trembled. “I didn’t kill anyone,” I said quickly, desperate for him to believe me.

He raised his hand as if to hit me. I flinched, but at the last second he lowered it, his jaw tight. “I won’t stain my hands with your filth,” he spat. His words stabbed deeper than a slap ever could. “Pack your bags. You’re leaving this pack.”

I froze. My world spun. “What? Leaving? But I did nothing—”

“Start packing!” My step mother screeched, yanking my hair so hard I cried out.

I couldn’t fight back. Not with guards watching. Not with Ares standing there like I was dirt. I sighed, walked into my small room, and pulled out the bag I had hidden under my bed. My hands shook as I packed the little I owned. Clothes. A small book. Nothing else.

I was rejected. Cast out. Again.

What worse could they do to me now?

I walked out with my bag in hand. My heart was numb, but anger burned low in my gut.

The strange professor stepped forward. He had sharp eyes and a cruel little smile. “I am a professor from Rivaldrelle Academy,” he announced. “I’m a fae. And you’ve been assigned to the academy.”

I froze mid step. My bag almost slipped from my hands. “What? Rivaldrelle Academy?” My voice cracked. “No. No, I can’t go there.”

Everyone knew about Rivaldrelle. It wasn’t a school, it was a battlefield. Brutal. Dangerous. Worse than any pack rejection. Wolves, fae, vampires, they all went there. Few came back alive.

“No, please. I didn’t do anything!” I begged, panic rising in my chest.

Lily only smirked. “Take her,” she ordered.

I jerked free from the guards’ grip and spun on her, rage boiling up. “You’ll regret this. All of you will regret framing me, especially you, wannabe Barbie.”

Her face went pale, then red with anger. Good.

The guards shoved me forward until we reached an old, beat up car. I was thrown inside, and the professor climbed in next to me. The car rattled down the road, the ride dragging on like forever. My chest tightened with every passing mile.

When the car finally stopped, I lifted my head and my breath caught.

The academy stood in front of me,

massive black towers that pierced the sky. Spiked gates. Nails perched on the edges, watching like predators. Rivaldrelle Academy.

My heart pounded. My palms were damp.

The professor leaned close, his voice a low whisper. “If you want to live here, if you want to avoid danger… you’ll need me.”

I shot him a sharp look. “What do you mean?”

He smirked and slid closer, his hand trailing across my thigh. His fingers slipped higher, brushing the edge of my skirt. I shivered in disgust, but he didn’t stop.

“It means…” he whispered in my ear, his voice dripping with filth, “all you have to do is give yourself to me from time to time. I’ll protect you. You won’t face any harm.”

My stomach turned. My skin crawled.

I glared at him. “No thanks.”

I grabbed my bag and swung it hard into his face. It smacked him with a satisfying thud.

His head whipped to the side, his smirk gone. I shoved the car door open and jumped out. The air outside was sharp and cold.

I took a deep breath. If I was going to die here, then so be it.

But I would die fighting.

I stepped toward the academy gates, my knees shaking. That’s when it hit me. A white flash seared through my vision, blinding and hot. My head exploded with pain, my body stiffened, and I dropped to the ground.

Darkness swallowed me whole.