Lahat ng Kabanata ng MATED TO THE ENEMY: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

I stood frozen for a second after Aklan walked out of the Dean’s office. The echo of his boots against the marble hallway trailed behind him like some kind of arrogant soundtrack. I clenched my fists, staring after his tall, broad-shouldered frame as he moved, unbothered, silent and, infuriatingly calm.Every step he took just fueled the heat in my chest until I finally snapped and went after him.“Hey!” I called out as I jogged a few steps to catch up. “What’s your plan?”He didn’t stop walking.I quickened my pace until I was right beside him. “Are you going to talk to the Dean? Tell her you can’t do it? Maybe appeal the decision?”Nothing. Not even a glance.“Are you listening to me?” I pressed.“You ask too many questions,” he said flatly, his eyes still forward.I blinked. “Yeah, I do,” I shot back, “because they’re necessary! There’s no way we can be within a five-meter radius of each other without setting something on fire.”That finally made him stop.He turned toward me, slow

The alarm didn’t ring.It took me exactly three seconds after waking to realize that I was late—spectacularly, fatally late. My room was too bright for dawn, too quiet for a 4 a.m. call time, and the knot in my stomach began to twist before I even reached for my wristwatch.6:02 a.m.For a full moment, I just sat there staring at the time like I could somehow blink it back two hours. Then my body kicked into panic mode.No.No, no, no.An entire hour passed Aklan’s call time.“Shit,” I muttered, scrambling off the bed so fast my sheets tangled around my feet. The room was cold, the floor colder, and my heart wouldn’t stop racing. Aklan Draven was going to kill me. Not figuratively—he’d actually promised to show me what death felt like if I was late.I was so, so screwed.I didn’t even brush my hair. I splashed water on my face, ran a half-hearted shower, and threw on the first uniform I could find still slightly damp from yesterday’s wash. My hands were shaking so badly I buttoned the

The physical torture lasted for a week, and I thought once the general cleaning exercises Aklan was making me do were over, it would get better, but no, it got worse. Everything he did was designed to make me fail, to make me quit. I barely got to see Elsie and Ferna anymore because I always left the dorm before they got to wake and got back when they were asleep. My life stopped being my own; still, he wasn’t teaching me what I needed to know or learn.He basically turned me into his unpaid personal assistant, and every single time I ever complained, he was quick to remind me who exactly was the golden boy of the school. I was summoned to the dean’s office twice and let go with stern warnings; I knew for sure a third one would not be tolerated.So I had to play the fool for the time being, till I could achieve everything I wanted. Aklan’s death was inclusive.“I said you were to stay around if I needed something, not stand right beside me.” Aklan’s annoying voice rang out loud enoug

The eerie feeling I had since morning still hadn’t left me alone, and for some reason, I couldn’t sleep. Well, sleep was usually a stranger, but this was different; it felt like the world was more silent than usual, a silence that was deep and loud.It was a few minutes past one A.M, and I felt a strangeness in my heart, an unsettled feeling in my chest. Despite how I felt, there was just one face that kept recurring in my mind every time I closed my eyes. The little feisty kitten that I had taken under my wing for only twelve days and she had managed to annoy me so much, it took me all the willpower I had not to smash her head into the nearest wall.She had a way of making me feel smaller, less perfect than everyone else thought me to be. Her words had a way of piercing through the thickest walls I had. She was a reminder that I wasn’t perfect, and she saw right through me. I hated it, hated her.I set her up to fail more than thrice in twelve days, I tried to make her life miserable

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 humanly possible. A hatred so raw it felt like a blade pressed to my throat. Murderous and unrelenting.I pushed a piece of roast around my plate, the fork heavy in my hand. I hadn’t eaten more than a bite; I just couldn’t. Everything I put in my mouth tasted like cardboard, or maybe my brain was too fried to process flavour. I had never felt hunted before; it was my first, and so my focus was shot; it had been all day. Even in training, I had fumbled a basic drill, nearly let a second-year land a hit, and nearly sliced off Kiyan’s eyebrow. He laughed it off, but the look he gave me afterwards was sharp and curious.I missed. Me. The prince who’d led an army at seventeen, who’d never missed a