All Chapters of CHOSEN BY RUIN: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

My fingers slip from the top of the gate.And before I know it - my body drops hard, slamming into the ground with a force that rattles through my bones. Pain shoots up my leg and into my spine, knocking the breath clean out of my lungs. I can’t scream or I will call attention.I barely have time to gasp before I feel him approaching, his presence carrying heavy malice with him. I panic. “Oh, no…” I mutter.I lift my head, dread already tightening around my throat, and my eyes meet his. This is the perfect timing for him to kill me like he’s promised.Liam. The storm weaver stands a few feet away, half-shadowed by the dim light spilling from the academy walls. His white hair catches the faint glow, making him look almost unreal… almost inhuman. But it’s his eyes that freeze me completely—those dark, onyx eyes, void of warmth.He found me. I thought no one was near.“Perfect timing,” he says like a predator who can’t wait to hunt his prey.My survival instincts snap back violently.I

“Seriously?”Darian’s voice jolts me out of my mini trance state. I don’t know what to say, so I shrug and smile. “Liam…likes to play rough.” I hope I sound as honest as possible. He can’t know I look like this because I tried to escape.“I don’t buy that.” He says, his tone hardening. I swallow fearfully.“Do you mean we lied?” I try to manipulate him, my brows pinching.He scoffs. “I mean, he tried to kill you…when? Just a bit over twenty four hours ago, and you expect me to believe he suddenly likes you now and made out with you?” I shake my head. “I don’t understand why you’re so concerned.” I start to walk past him but he blocks my way. “I’m concerned because I know his intention is to kill you. Your mother killed his junior sister, the only family he had left. So don’t expect me to buy that bullshit about rough makeouts and all.”I meet his gaze heads on even though I’m way shorter and barely reaches his shoulders area.“Well, Darian. I am not dead. So can I return to my room

XADEN The moment the silver touches my skin, it burns. A sharp, vicious heat cuts through everything else that’s been messing with my mind all day. Good. I wrap it around my arm, watching the skin redden instantly. The pain bit deep into my skin. Then my other arm. My torso. Each coil is tighter than the last, each burn dragging a rough sound from my throat. It hurts. God, it hurts. But it keeps my mind on the pain, rather than wanting to kill and destroy things I wouldn’t be able to mend later. They already hate me. But I don’t care. They are all corrupted beyond rots in this academy anyway. This…I’m only doing it for myself. I lean my head back against the cold stone, eyes closing as the silver tears through my skin, grounding me. Until it directs my mind elsewhere. Into the world where my father’s cold and disappointed voice called me useless and told me I would never be Alpha… I see myself as a child, kneeling on stone, knees bruised and bleeding while

The Professor’s gaze flicks between me and Liam, and I can’t help but wait for the worst to come.Liam just implicated me. I would probably be banned from this class indefinitely.Professor Dean eventually speaks. Finally. “Dominion Liam, I know better than to allow you distract my class.” Then his gaze shifts to me. “You may take your seat. But you won’t be lucky if there’s a next time.”I stand there for a moment longer than necessary, my mind struggling to catch up.Did he just spare me because Liam asked? And he hadn’t even asked politely.“See you after class, Ann,” Liam says with a low voice, looking at me like there’s something really going on between us. I watch him walk away.“You want to remain standing?” The professor’s voice jolt me back from my dazed state.And I quickly rush down the curved steps of the lecture hall, aware of every pair of eyes tracking me.The classroom is built like an amphitheater—rows of dark wooden desks descending in layers toward the center where

LILIANA"What is going on?"The question escapes me when Sloane didn’t bother to share why Luna Gwen called for me. Liam hadn’t bothered to ask questions. He had simply walked away.Sloane and I are currently standing outside the enormous assembly hall on the academy's first floor, where tall obsidian pillars stretch upward into a ceiling lost beneath floating chandeliers of pale blue crystal. The bronze doors before us are twice my height, engraved with wolves, ravens, dragons and symbols I still can't recognize.My pulse begins to pound."Sloane..."She finally turns toward me.Every trace of warmth has disappeared from her face.She looks...heartbroken."I'm so sorry, Hannah."It does nothing to reduce my fear. It only heightens it.My eyes search hers desperately. If she's still calling me Hannah, then at least she doesn't know.A tiny breath leaves my lungs.Maybe...Maybe Luna Gwen hasn't discovered my identity after all."Why are you sorry? Please, tell me…”She walks past me a