Chapter 10 #3
I glare up at him. "I hate when you do that."
"Good. I rather you be alive and hate me." The words steal the anger from my mouth.
Seren goes quiet. Valerius crouches in front of me. The motion startles me so much I forget to breathe. Valerius Draven does not crouch. He does not lower himself in front of anyone but yet there he is, one knee bent, his face level with mine, his dark eyes scanning me with sharp, furious attention.
"Show me your wrist," he says. I hesitate. His jaw tightens. "Valentina."
I give him my hand. His fingers close around my wrist carefully. So careful it hurts. He pushes the sleeve back. The mark glows gold. The shadow ring is darker than before. Seren inhales sharply. Valerius's face becomes a mask of violence. Not toward me. Toward whatever this is.
"Did Voss touch you?" he asks.
"No." I say. "Her stones reacted."
"I saw." He says still looking at my wrist.
"What are they?" I ask.
"I don't know." He looks at Seren.
She shakes her head quickly. "Council focus stones, maybe? Some Magisters use them to detect magical traces."
My stomach twists. "Detect?"
Valerius's thumb presses lightly near the shadow ring, and heat spreads up my arm. The mark steadies. That's the only word for it. Steadies. Like it calms because he is touching it.
His eyes lift to mine. We both feel the realization hit.
Seren looks between us. "What?"
Neither of us answers because how do we say that his touch makes the strange mark settle? How do we admit that the boy everyone fears might be the only thing keeping the fire beneath my skin from drawing every predator in the academy?
Valerius releases me slowly. His fingers drag once over my pulse before he lets go. The bond hums. My heart trips. His gaze drops to my throat.
"You're staying near me today," he says.
I blink. "Excuse me?"
"No arguments." His eyes widen.
I laugh, breathless and disbelieving. "You can't just decide that."
"I just did." He says.
"Valerius."
His eyes snap back to mine. The sound of his name changes the air. It always does now. I hate that I know it.
He leans closer, voice low enough for only me to hear.
"Something in that woman's stones reacted to you. Your mark is changing. The council wants you examined. Your mother is hiding something. Your father is useless."
I open my mouth. He keeps going. "And every time someone corners you, your bond reacts hard enough to break glass, wards, or ancient relics. So yes, Valentina, until we understand what the hell is happening, you are staying near me."
The words should make me furious. They do but beneath the fury, something warmer moves. Something terrifying because he isn't saying it like I am a liability anymore. He is saying it like he has already decided there will be consequences for anything that reaches me.
Seren folds her arms. "I don't like agreeing with him."
"Then don't," I say.
"I don't like lying either." She says. I stare at her. She winces. "For today, maybe he's right."
"Seren." I say in defeat.
"I said maybe. Don't make me repeat it. It burns."
Valerius stands, offering me his hand. I stare at it. Then at him. He looks down at me, expression hard, and impatient.
"You are impossible," I say.
"Yes." He agrees.
"I still hate you." I remind him incase he forgot.
"I know." He almost laughs.
"You aren't in charge of me." I say.
His mouth curves faintly. "Keep telling yourself that."
I narrow my eyes. Then I take his hand. The bond flares.
Gold warmth rushes through my palm into his.
His fingers close around mine, strong and steady, pulling me to my feet with effortless strength.
I rise too quickly and sway. His other hand catches my waist.
His hand is warm at my side. His body is close.
His eyes drop to mine, and the corridor, Seren, the office, the council—everything fades beneath the weight of that look.
Tension stretches between us, heavy and electric.
Too close to breaking. His thumb shifts once against my waist.
A tiny movement. Enough to ruin my breathing.
Then Seren clears her throat loudly. "Still here," she says. "Deeply uncomfortable. Fully witnessing."
Valerius releases me immediately. I step back just as fast, face burning.
Seren smiles sweetly. "Wonderful. Now that we've all pretended that was normal, where exactly are we going?"
Valerius looks down the corridor. His expression hardens again. "Somewhere the council cannot listen."
My stomach tightens. "Where?"
He looks at me. "The old dueling gallery."
Seren blinks. "That wing is restricted."
Valerius turns and starts walking. "Not to me."
Seren mutters, "Of course not. Why would rules apply to the walking murder prince?"
I shouldn't laugh but I do. Valerius glances back at me. For one brief second, the corner of his mouth threatens to move. Then it disappears, but I saw it and worse— I liked seeing it.
We walk after him, through corridors growing darker and older with every turn.
Students thin. Then eventually vanish. The academy's polished beauty fades behind us, replaced by narrow halls, unlit sconces, and stone walls carved with old battle marks.
The old dueling gallery sits in the west wing, closed to most students after a duel decades ago left permanent scorch marks on the ceiling and three portraits refusing to speak for a year.
Naturally, Valerius has access.
He stops before a pair of black doors chained with silver. The chains loosen when he lifts his marked wrist.
I stare. "Why do they open for you?"
His eyes flick to me. "Draven blood built half the warding systems in this wing."
"Of course it did." The doors open.
Cold, dry air spills out. Inside, the dueling gallery waits in darkness.
Valerius steps in first. The torches ignite black.
Not orange. Not gold. Black flame, rimmed with red, throwing eerie light over a long hall lined with cracked mirrors and old weapon displays.
The ceiling is high and scarred, the floor a polished black surface marked with faded dueling circles.
Dust hangs in the air like ghostly smoke.
Seren stays close to me. "Cozy."
Valerius walks to the center of the gallery and turns. "In here, no council stones work. No portraits. No listening wards."
"How do you know?" I ask.
"Because this is where people like me go when we don't want to be found." The answer settles heavily. People like me.
I wonder what kind of boy needs to know every place in the academy where no one can hear him. I wonder what he has done in this room. I wonder what has been done to him. Valerius's gaze sharpens, as if he can hear the questions forming.
"Don't," he says.
I blink. "Don't what?"
"Look at me like that." He says.
"Like what?" I ask.
"Like you're trying to make me human."
For a second, none of us speaks. Even Seren goes still. Then the bond mark pulses. A sharp flash of heat.
I gasp and grip my wrist.
Valerius moves instantly. "What?"
The torches flare. The mark burns brighter beneath my sleeve. A whisper slides through the gallery. So faint I almost think it is dust moving.
Seren turns. "Did you hear that?"
Valerius's Shadowflame appears in his hand. The black torches along the wall bend toward us. The whisper comes again.
This time, clearer. Not words. A sound like fire speaking through stone. The cracked mirrors lining the gallery flicker one by one. In their dark surfaces, shapes move. Not our reflections. Stars. Gold light. A flame burning white at the center of a black sky.
My chest seizes. Valerius steps in front of me but the mirrors brighten.
All of them and in every single one, for one impossible heartbeat, I see myself.
Not as I am. Not pale and trembling in a black dress.
My eyes glow silver-gold. Light burns beneath my skin.
A crown of fire hovers above my head like a ring of stars. Then the mirrors shatter.
Seren screams.
Valerius's arm wraps around me before the glass can fly. His Shadowflame erupts around us, swallowing every shard before it touches my skin.
His voice in my ear, rough and furious. "Don't move."
I don't because I can't, because across the broken mirrors, in the last trembling shard still falling to the floor, I see one final flash of gold and hear a whisper inside the bond. A whisper that sounds like my name.
Not spoken by Valerius. Not spoken by Seren. Spoken by the fire. Valentina. The shard hits the floor. The gallery goes dark and Valerius holds me tighter.