Chapter Five
Lochan
The dining hall is louder and more obnoxious than normal. Everyone is counting down the days until the Harrowing starts, and the nervous energy is clearly felt. There ’ s something about the potential of imminent death that makes people chatty.
It ’ s bizarre to be sitting here without Rory. Acting like nothing has changed. I know Brigid said he ’ s still alive, but I don ’ t trust anything I don ’ t see with my own eyes. All I know is that it ’ s fucking weird to be sitting down to dinner, just like it ’ s any other day, after what ’ s happened. As far as I can tell, no one really even knows that Rory ’ s gone, except the Council, and presumably our new dean. It meant nothing to them. Rory meant nothing to them. He has no family to notify—it ’ s just us.
I would have expected Tiernan to be more upset—he and Rory were like brothers, kind of like me and Callen. He ’ s strangely calm, though. He believes Brigid. Believes we ’ ll get Rory back. My problem is that even if we do manage to—somehow—get him back from wherever the hell Marius and Brigid sent him, that he might be different. Who knows what being sent into a rift in the fabric of reality will do to a guy?
I ’ m drawn from my thoughts by watching Callen and Tiernan look up yet again as someone walks through the door, each time not who they want it to be.
“ Would you two stop looking up every time someone walks through that fucking door?” I snap, my patience wearing thin. “ It ’ s getting annoying as hell.”
Callen ’ s eyes narrow. “ We ’ re concerned.”
“ She ’ ll get here when she gets here,” Tiernan adds, but his gaze drifts to entrance as he speaks.
I grunt, stabbing at the food on my plate. The constant swiveling of their heads is making me dizzy. Or maybe it ’ s the nauseating mix of doubt and anger churning in my gut.
The room bustles around us, a din of clattering dishes and overly-excited buzzing. A group of first-years at the next table burst into laughter, the sound grating against my nerves.
I see that sly, smug smile of Callen ’ s spreading across his face. “ You gonna bolt like usual when our little shadow witch shows up? Or have you finally grown a pair?”
I glare at him. “ Fuck off.”
“ I ’ m serious.” The fucker is too into himself right now. “ Should we tie you to the chair? I know you ’ re into a little BDSM.”
Tiernan snorts, nearly choking on his mood wine, which has turned a vibrant shade of beet red.
I grip my fork tighter, imagining stabbing it into Callen ’ s smug face. “ I said fuck off.”
“ Fine.” Callen leans back in his chair, bored. “ We have bigger things to talk about, anyhow. We ’ re all in agreement that Marius is a problem?”
Tiernan nods, his meticulous mind clearly churning. “ His actions have been... inconsistent. One moment he ’ s helping Brigid, the next he ’ s undermining her.”
I nod. “ We need to make sure she doesn ’ t get too close to him. Or his fucking shadow magic, since apparently the fucker has it too. He kept that a secret far too well.”
The words taste bitter on my tongue. Shadow magic. The very thought of it makes my skin crawl, memories of screams flashing through my mind. My family.
Callen leans in. “ Agreed. But how do we keep him away? I ’ m assuming we don ’ t want to slit his throat just yet? Or…?”
“ We watch him. Every move. And we make sure Brigid knows he can ’ t be trusted.”
“ And what about Brigid ’ s own shadow magic? It seems to respond to Marius.” Tiernan asks, his tone maddeningly neutral.
I struggle to keep my voice even. “ You both know how I feel about it. It ’ s dangerous. Unpredictable. To all of us. To Brigid. To the whole fucking academy.”
Callen ’ s eyes narrow, a calculating glint in their frosty blue depths. “ Speaking of threats to the academy, our new dean has decided to grace us with her presence.”
I follow his gaze across the tables. The dean stands near the staff table, but her eyes are directed towards us.
Something about her sets my teeth on edge.
“ We should find out more about her,” Callen muses. “ New players on the board and all that.”
Tiernan clears his throat. “ There ’ s also something we have to talk about. Dean Charling ’ s murder.”
I resist the urge to look over my shoulder.“ What about it?” I ask, keeping my tone low.
Tiernan ’ s hazel eyes are intense, analytical. “ Are we certain it was shadow magic?”
“ I think we can all agree that we ’ re not certain about anything these days.” Callen sips his wine.
I nod in agreement. “ Dean Charling knew about Brigid ’ s magic before it awakened. Before he sent us to get her. Why the fuck would he lie about that?”
I remember the overheard conversation between Dean Charling and a woman I couldn ’ t see.
“ Charling was talking to someone about the Morrigan,” I mutter, more to myself than the others. “ And Brigid being a vessel. But who was he speaking to?”
My gaze falls on the new dean. Brigid ’ s ‘ friend ’ Fiona. Could it have been her? The timing fits, but...
“ What if,” Callen ’ s voice interrupts my thoughts, “ the Council orchestrated Charling ’ s murder?”
I whip my head around to stare at him. “ What?”
He shrugs. “ Think about it. They ’ ve been manipulating the narrative around shadow magic for years. This could be their latest move. What better way to move someone they can control into a position of power here at the academy?”
I consider what he ’ s saying. It makes sense. But we still don ’ t know enough. And to the best of my knowledge, Dean Charling had been lockstep with the Council. He was one of theirs. I push my plate away, appetite gone.
A flash of platinum blonde catches my eye. Laria saunters past, her gaze locked on Callen like a predator sizing up prey.
She stops at our table, leaning in close to Callen. Her voice drips tainted honey. “ Mind if I join you, handsome?”
Callen ’ s face is the picture of boredom. “ Yes.”
“ Oh, come on,” she purrs, running a finger along his jaw. “ Surely you can spare a moment for little old me.”
Callen jerks away from her touch. “ Not interested. Especially after that fucking move you pulled in the assembly.” He turns to stare her down. “ You ’ re lucky I didn ’ t stake you right in your rotten heart.” His smile is cold. “ But there ’ s still time.”
Laria ’ s eyes flash with anger before she recovers, forcing a laugh. “ Playing hard to get? I like that.”
I catch movement from the corner of my eye. The new dean, watching intently.
Laria finally slinks away, her pride wounded. An idea sparks in my mind. Risky, but it could work.
I lean in, voice low. “ What if we use Laria? Make the dean and the Council think we ’ re not interested in Brigid.”
Callen raises an eyebrow. “ Go on.”
“ We pretend to be interested in Laria. As our potential mate. Not Brigid.”
Tiernan frowns. “ That ’ s...”
“ Brilliant,” Callen finishes. “ And bloody cold, Lochan.”
My gut twists. It ’ s manipulative as hell, and I know it.
Callen taps his fingers against the table, eyes narrowed in thought. “ Less scrutiny could be advantageous. Give us room to maneuver, dig deeper into the Council ’ s plans for Brigid.”
“ Think about it,” I say. “ While they ’ re watching Brigid, we ’ re free to—”
“ It ’ s wrong,” Tiernan cuts in, voice low but firm. “ And it will hurt Brigid.”
I clench my jaw. Fucking druids.
“ We ’ re trying to protect Brigid,” I growl.
Tiernan ’ s eyes flash. “ By potentially putting her in more danger? You really think Laria won ’ t retaliate when she figures it out?”
He has a point.
Callen leans back. “ The risks are considerable. But so are the potential rewards.”
“ If we don ’ t act, Brigid ’ s as good as dead anyway. You don ’ t really believe we ’ re just going to go back to classes, parties, like everything is fine? I don ’ t know why they let her—let us—go, but it wasn ’ t so that we could live happily ever after.”
The words hang in the air, heavy with truth.
Callen nods, his expression grim. “ We proceed. Cautiously.”
Tiernan ’ s shoulders slump in defeat. “ I don ’ t like it. But... I ’ m in.”
I nod, relief and unease warring in my gut. It ’ s a shit plan, but it ’ s something. If the dean ’ s eyes are off of us, we can find out more. We might be able to figure out what ’ s going on.
“ We keep this between us,” I say. “ No one else can know. We can ’ t tell Brigid.”
Movement at the edge of my vision catches my attention. My chest tightens as I spot Brigid entering the dining hall.
Fuck.
She walks toward us, hips swaying slightly. My eyes narrow as I take in her appearance. Hair slightly mussed. Cheeks flushed.
And her lips...
Swollen. Freshly kissed.
Rage boils up inside me. That fucking shadow-wielding bastard. Marius.
I clench my fists under the table, nails biting into my palms. The urge to hunt him down, to make him bleed, flows through me.
But I can ’ t. We need to stick to the plan. Keep our heads down. Pretend we don ’ t give a shit about Brigid.
Even as every instinct in me screams to claim her, to mark her as mine.
I force my face into a mask of indifference as she approaches. It ’ s for her own good, I tell myself. To keep her safe.
So why does it feel like I ’ m tearing my own heart out? Brigid slides into the seat next to Callen, her gray eyes wary as they scan our faces.
The scent of her hits me. Sweet and spicy. My cock twitches.
“ What did I miss?” she asks.