Chapter 9 #2
"You didn't have to." I hate the way he says it. Like he knows how people like Magistra Voss work. Like he has learned from experience how predators look when they are still pretending to be polite.
I shift my cloak under my arm. "Why do you care?" The question slips out too sharp.
Valerius looks at me for a long moment. The bond warms between us, slow and unbearable. "I don't," he says.
It should hurt. It does, a little but he says it too late. There was a pause before he said it. A flicker behind his eyes. A tension in his jaw that doesn't match indifference. I notice all of it. I felt all of it too.
"Good," I say. "Then stop acting like you do."
His gaze drops to my mouth for half a second. The bond mark flares. I suck in a breath. His eyes snap back to mine, dark and angry.
"At dawn," he says, voice low, "you shouldn't be wandering alone."
"I was walking to training." I remind him.
"Then next time, I'll come get you." He tells me. Not asking.
My eyebrows lift. "Absolutely not."
"Not a request." He says firmly.
"I'm not your responsibility." I say.
Something in his expression sharpens. "No," he says. "You are my liability."
The words strike clean through me. Liability.
Of course there it is, the reminder I needed.
Whatever his strange moments are, whatever flickers through his face when danger gets too close, whatever his magic does when it reaches for mine, Valerius Draven still sees me as something that could ruin him.
A burden tied to his wrist by ancient flame.
I step back. The bond pulls. Like a thread resisting distance. His gaze flicks down, and I know he feels it too.
"Then let me make this easier for you," I say. "I'll try very hard not to ruin your perfect life today."
His eyes flash. "My life isn't perfect."
I sigh. "No. Just powerful. That must be such a tragedy." He moves so quickly I barely process it.
One second, space sits between us. The next, he is close, too close.
My back touches the cold stone wall beside the staircase, not because he pushes me, but because my body retreats before my pride can argue.
His hand lands on the wall near my shoulder, not touching me, but caging the air beside me with heat and shadow.
My breath catches. The corridor disappears. There's only him. His height. His chest. The clean, sharp line of his jaw. The gold in his hazel eyes. The scent of smoke and cedar and something darker beneath it. The bond mark burns so bright I'm sure it must show through my sleeve.
Valerius looks down at me, fury contained in every inch of him. "You know nothing about my life," he says voice soft. That makes it worse.
I press my palms against the wall behind me because if I don't anchor myself, I might do something unforgivable. Like notice how his body heat cuts through the morning cold. Like wonder what would happen if the inch of air between us vanished. Like forget for one second that he is cruel.
"You're right," I whisper. "I don't." His eyes flicker. I should stop, but I don't. "But you know nothing about mine either. And that never stopped you from deciding I was nothing."
His hand flexes against the wall. The shadows around his fingers ripple. For one impossible heartbeat, I think he will say something real. Something that begins with regret. Instead, Professor Thorne's voice slices through the corridor.
"If you are finished creating a scandal before breakfast, the ward chamber is waiting."
Valerius shuts his eyes for half a second. I turn my head and see Thorne standing near the south hall entrance, slate in hand, expression carved from pure exhaustion. Heat floods my face. Valerius steps back. Cold air rushes over me. I hate that I feel the loss.
Thorne's gaze moves from Valerius to me. "Miss Starling, are you unharmed?"
The question stuns me. Valerius goes very still. I straighten quickly. "Yes."
Thorne's eyes narrow. "Good. Then stop letting him loom."
"I wasn't letting him." I argue.
"Your back was against a wall." He reminds me.
My face burns hotter. Valerius mutters, "For fucks' sake."
Thorne points toward the hall. "Inside. Both of you."
I walk first because if I look at Valerius now, I may burst into flame from humiliation alone. Which would be ironic and impossible.
The ward chamber feels different today.
The three white lamps burn brighter, washing the black stone walls in cold light.
The carved circle on the floor has been altered since yesterday.
New lines cut through the old ones, filled with silver dust.
A second ring has been drawn around the first, wider and more complex, with symbols I do not recognize.
I stop at the edge. Valerius stops beside me. "What is that?" he asks.
Thorne glances up from his slate. "Additional containment."
Valerius's jaw tightens. "Why?"
"Because yesterday, your Shadowflame disobeyed you."
"It didn't disobey me." He says.
"No?" Thorne steps into the circle. "Then did you command it to wrap around Miss Starling's wrist?"
The memory hits too vividly. Black flame curling around my skin. Heat without pain. His fingers closing over my wrist. The white flash inside me. My palm against his chest. His heart hammering under my hand.
I look away. Valerius says nothing. Thorne's gaze cuts to him. "That is what I thought."
He gestures to the circle. "Inside."
I remove my cloak and set it on the bench with more force than necessary.
Valerius notices because noticing me seems to have become one of his most annoying talents.
We step into the circle. The wards rise immediately.
Today, they feel stronger. Heavier. The air presses against my skin.
The bond mark warms beneath my sleeve, but slowly, like it is testing the new boundaries.
Professor Thorne takes his place outside the circle. "No Shadowflame manifestation today," he says.
Relief moves through me so quickly my knees almost weaken. Valerius notices that too.
"Today," Thorne continues, "we test proximity."
My relief dies. "Proximity?" I repeat.
"Yes." Thorne confirms.
Valerius's expression darkens. "No."
Thorne doesn't even look at him. "I have not given the instruction yet."
"I know where this is going." Valerius expresses.
"Then you have an advantage." Thorne says.
"This is unnecessary." He states.
"This is supervised." Thorne says, speaking as if I'm not even in the room. As if I have no say.
"Those aren't the same thing." Valerius face looks deadly.
Thorne looks up. "Mr. Draven."
The room chills. Valerius falls silent, but the air around him darkens with restrained anger.
I glance between them. "What does proximity mean?"
Thorne's eyes shift to me. "The bond reacts to touch and magical output. It may also react to closeness. We need to determine range."
Of all the humiliating things I expected to do this morning, standing in a ward circle while a professor measures how close Valerius Draven can get before my body starts glowing was not on the list.
I fold my arms. "Wonderful."
Thorne's mouth almost twitches. "Stand at opposite ends."
We do. The circle is large enough to place several feet between us. At this distance, I feel the bond only faintly. A warm awareness, nothing more.
"Describe the mark," Thorne says.
"Quiet," I answer.
Valerius says, "Same."
I look at him. He looks back. My heart does something irritating.
Thorne writes on his slate. "Step forward once."
We both move. The mark warms slightly. "Again."
Another step. Heat slides into my wrist.
"Again." Valerius moves at the same time I do.
The air tightens. A pull beneath my ribs.
A pressure in my chest. Like the space between us has become a living thing and resents being stretched. My fingers curl into my sleeves.
"Miss Starling?" Thorne looks at me.
"Warm," I say.
"Only the mark?" I hesitate. Valerius's gaze sharpens. "No," I admit.
"Where?" He asks.
"My chest." I answer.
Thorne writes. Valerius says nothing, but his mouth tightens. "Mr. Draven?"
"Same." The word drops low. My eyes flick to him before I can stop them.
His chest? He feels it in his chest too? Something about that knowledge moves through me like heat spreading under glass.
Thorne's quill scratches across the slate. "Again."
We step. Closer now. Too close for indifference.
Valerius stands only a few feet away, arms at his sides, posture controlled, but control looks different when I am close enough to see the tension in his hands.
Close enough to notice how his breathing has shifted—not much, but enough.
Close enough to see that his calm is not natural.
It's built, held, fought for. The bond mark pulses.
A soft gold glow seeps through my sleeve.
Valerius's eyes drop to it. His sigils darken in answer.
Thorne notices. "Hold."
We stop. The chamber is silent except for my breathing. Too quick so I force it to be slower. Valerius watches me do it.
"You're staring again," I say, because my mouth apparently has no survival instinct.
His eyes lift. "You keep glowing."
My cheeks heat. "I'm not doing it on purpose."
"I know." The answer is too immediate. I blink.
Thorne's gaze moves between us. "Again."
My pulse jumps. "How close are we supposed to get?"
"Until the bond reacts significantly." Thorne informs me.
"It already is." I say.
"Then it can react significantly sooner and spare us all the suspense."
Valerius's mouth tightens like he wants to say something violent but he steps forward.
So do I following his lead. Now there is only a narrow space between us.
Less than an arm's length. The bond ignites fully.
Heat floods my wrist, my chest, my throat.
The air between us trembles. The lamps flicker once, white flames bending toward the circle.
My skin prickles beneath my sleeves, and for one terrifying moment, I think the gold threads will appear again.
They don't.
Valerius inhales through his nose. His eyes are locked on mine.
Dark. Focused. Unreadable. I hate how tall he is.
How much space he takes. How his presence wraps around me even when he doesn't touch me.