Chapter 24 #3
I snap my eyes between the four men crowding my room with anxiety curling around my spine. Surely they won’t kick me out for missing two days of school. . . ? Because the two men who entered with the Dean are the same two out of eight people who sentenced me to this school.
I swallow thickly as I nod. The two councilmen watch me with blank expressions and exit first. The Dean gestures for me to next and then he and Professor Asier take places behind me.
Along the walls of the hallway are even more guards.
All of them pulsing with powerful aura and strapped from head to toe with weapons. Several, I see, are actual guns.
Who needs guns when magic is the deadliest weapon out there?
They lead me down the hall and stairs. Most of the guards strapped in tactile gear exit through the open doors of the dorm building and I follow. My bare foot is about to cross the doorway onto the stone path that’ll lead to the main building when I’m jerked back.
Fingers curled into the back of my pajama shirt grip tightly and pull, causing me to crash into a warm wall.
The two councilmen who are right outside the door – both of whom are right under the blaring sun – turn to see what the commotion was.
I had almost just followed them outside – right into the rays of the sun.
Fingers that were curled into my shirt shift and wrap around my neck from behind. Flaring red eyes glare right at me.
“Are you trying to kill yourself?” he growls. Actually growls – like a fucking beast. His fingers squeeze the tiniest bit harder around my neck but my heart doesn’t double. It stays the same, even beat as I stare Professor Asier directly into the eyes.
His flare a bit wider before he shoves me away – not towards the sun lit doorway. Rubbing the back of my neck, I glance at the Dean and one of the guards behind him comes forward with my umbrella. I open it before exiting the building and everyone resumes walking.
Students around us watch and whisper. Jullia hasn’t come down from the room so I’m assuming they’re keeping her there.
They’re gonna kill me.
It’s finally come.
That’s all I can think about as my bare feet step over the pathway burning. My pajama pants are long enough that if I were standing still I could cover my feet with them, but walking as I am my skin flashes free.
There’s a slight hiss every once in a while from where the sun’s rays hit more than once and I’m unable to heal the slight burn fast enough.
One of the councilmen – this one slightly shorter than the two, with light brown hair and burnt golden eyes – glances back with lowered brows. I’d say he looks concerned, but his eyes meet mine and at my blank expression he turns back around without saying a word.
They could have at least let me get dressed or put some shoes on.
Though, of course, if I’m about to be killed then it doesn’t really matter.
It would be easier if they just let me burn here and now, though.
I wonder why they don’t. Maybe they suspect me for burning Thorne’s rooms down and want to question me before hand? Not that they’d have proof of anything.
They lead me through halls and courtyards I’ve been through before. Students milling about before their classes gawking at the spectacle. But at a certain point, they start leading me down a way I’ve never been to before.
Rounding another corner, we’re greeted by a large expansion of space that leads to a set of double doors made of gleaming marble. They’re pulled open faster than what I would have been able to given how heavy I’m sure they are, and we all pause as dark wrath glows within golden eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing with my fated?” Something within me jerks towards him as he takes careful steps towards us. His voice had been dark and cruel but not consumed by his true devil. “Father. . . ?”
And my eyes snap to the man who had glanced back at me. His hair and eyes are darker, but now focusing on even just his side profile I can see the resemblance.
Shock ripples through the air as the devil councilman takes a step towards his son.
The other one whips his head towards me and red eyes with a ring of darker red right through his iris glare at me.
The expression seems so familiar. The point of his brows, the twist of his lips, the power and aura and. . .
“Let the councilmen deal with this,” a lazy voice drawls. It’s accompanied by slow footsteps and then hard red eyes look over to me.
Thorne’s face is neutral as his father whips his head to him before righting his expression. He pulls on the lapels of his suit and clears his throat.
“Thorne. Callahan. What exactly do you mean – “
“Why,” Callahan interrupts the demon chairholder of the Mage Board, his voice a deadly viciousness as his aura explodes through the space, “is my fated wearing sleep clothes and barefoot? And why do I smell burning flesh?”
I curl my toes into the floor as I grip the handle of my umbrella tighter. I hadn’t closed it even after we came inside. I didn’t want to risk someone taking it since I didn’t technically need it anymore. It would be my only physical weapon.
Pain strikes through my feet up to my legs from where blisters have formed on my feet. It’s a feeling I don’t make a face to, however I do clench my jaw against the heat. Callahan’s fuming eyes that have not left my face slit at it.
I force my shoulders to relax and twist my neck to look at the Dean behind me.
I don’t bother looking at Professor Asier.
For a split second I contemplate fighting my way out.
I’d be able to do it, but my bones still ache.
My body is just barely alive after the nightmare and the fury from Monday night.
Turning back around I give Callahan a resigned look.
“It’s fine,” I call. Ignoring his magic seeming like it wants to rip through the walls. “It doesn’t hurt.”
Which is the biggest lie I could ever tell. It always hurts. I always hurt. Pain coincides with existing and for so long I’ve unfortunately wanted to continue on existing. Except now my time has come.
“Can someone please tell me what is happening?”
Callahan takes another step forward with all his raging power but his father steps up to him and blocks his view of me.
“She’s being questioned for the destruction of Stone House, son.
” His voice is gentle and comforting. “Varian is just going to ask her some questions, we’ll get some answers, and then all will be fine.
If she has nothing to hide she has nothing to worry about. ”
Silence greets him and off to the side I can see Thorne’s brows twitching before he’s glaring at Callahan. They must be speaking within their minds.
Two presences approach closer to my back and a hand grips my shoulder. I blink and instead of directly seeing the back of Callahan’s father’s head I’m now staring at a black t-shirt over a wide chest connected to a head with dirty blond hair and golden eyes.
My nose is practically touching said chest, and if I were to take a full breath my nipples would scrap against it too. That tug coils tightly within and the idea of dragging my chest down his makes my thighs clench.
A wisp of floral hinted berry sweetness wafts up and the chest before me vibrates.
“Take. Your. Hand. Off. Her. Now.”
The hand that had been resting on my shoulder disappears and for some reason hearing those words being snarled out heats a fire in my core.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to take a breath to calm myself but my nipples, which had sharped to points graze the chest in front of me. I dig my nails into my palms to center myself from the feeling but that fire in my core blazes hotter.
The body in front of me tenses and I clench my jaw and hold my breath to keep from moving.
“Get out.”
“Mr. Armani – “
“I will not repeat myself.”
There’s silence for a moment before, “Callahan. . . “
Then more silence, and then all the presences I had felt suffocating me disappear. All I’m left with is a warm fire and serene woods. Comfort and warmth. I’d breath in the scent but I can’t risk any more of my nerve endings being sparked.
The last presence here takes a step back from me. His voice much calmer and much softer than he had been speaking to the others.
“You can open your eyes now, firecracker.” He sounds like he’s smirking.