Chapter 24 #2
“Jeez, Ruin,” he breathed, moving closer and placing a hand above my head, his forehead nearly touching mine. “Don’t do that again, okay?”
“Why?”
“Because I said so. He could have easily killed you.”
“But he didn’t,” I shot back. Something in him snapped. Aiden stepped closer and dropped his forehead to mine. His eyes closed for a moment before he pulled away.
“Not this time, he didn’t,” he growled. “But he could. And if he did, Ruin…” He stopped, reaching up and cupping my cheek, his thumb slowly dragging over the bone.
The bond hummed deep under my skin, responding to his touch as though it were alive.
“Then I die, too,” he finished, tone rougher now.
“And if that happens, then I can’t destroy him for hurting what is mine. ”
Mine.
The word came out like a warning. Like a vow.
It sent a shiver shooting down my spine, stealing whatever comeback I had.
“Do you understand?” he asked. All I could do was nod.
My voice had abandoned me completely. His eyes lingered on my face for a long, heavy moment before he finally released me and stepped back.
My heart was a wild drum in my chest. My skin still buzzed where he’d touched me.
And my body, a traitorous thing, wanted more. But it was the bond.
It had to be. Right? Shaking the thought off, I forced myself to turn away and headed back into the sparring room.
The academy was cast in silence tonight.
Only the occasional groan of the ancient stone walls reminded me that the place was alive, barely.
Darkness clung to everything like a second skin as I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Gia.
I grabbed my cloak and a dagger, padded barefoot across the cold floor, and eased the door shut behind me.
A soft flame bloomed in my palm, no brighter than a flicker.
Luna stood right outside my room, still in her pajamas: black leggings, a baggy shirt, and…
bat slippers? I blinked and arched my brow.
“What? They are comfortable,” she said, wiggling her feet. A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
“I just never expected you to have something so cute,” I whispered, shaking my head.
She rolled her eyes. “Hey, there is nothing wrong with comfort, okay.”
I lifted both hands in mock surrender, grinning.
“Alright, fair enough.” We moved quickly through the empty halls, the eerie quiet making our footsteps sound far louder than they were.
We headed toward the deceased girl’s dorm.
Even from the hallway, a wrongness pressed against my senses.
Like the room had soaked in the fear and death left behind.
Luna positioned herself next to me to keep watch, just in case a third year was making their rounds.
The patrols became a little more frequent after the deaths.
I knelt at the door and pulled out my lock pick kit.
A few precise clicks later, the lock gave, and the door creaked open. We slipped inside.
The air hit me like a wave, thick, heavy, cold. Not temperature-wise, but spiritually. As if something still lingered here. Watching. Waiting. “Well, this place definitely seems off,” Luna murmured beside me.
I nodded, stepping deeper into the room.
We split up: I searched around the bed while Luna dug through the dresser.
Everything was empty, stripped, boxed, and shipped to her family with whatever lie the academy deemed appropriate.
A tragic accident, an illness, certainly not the truth, that their daughter had been drained of every drop of blood with no wounds left behind.
I forced the thought away and focused. When something glinted behind the bedpost. I crouched, reaching into the shadows until my fingers brushed a black rune, small, smooth, and unnaturally cold.
The moment I touched it, the fire in my veins stirred, snapping awake like it had recognized a predator.
My magelight flared, and the rune pulsed back, alive, writhing against the warmth of my power.
Darkness. Pure. Ancient.
Luna was still searching the dresser, unaware, so I slipped it into my satchel, heart hammering. Whatever it was, it wasn’t from this realm. And I needed to understand it before dragging my friends deeper into something undeniably dangerous. I did one final sweep of the room.
Nothing. No journals. No hidden messages. Just an emptiness that felt like a scream trapped between the walls.
“Well, that was uneventful,” Luna sighed as I closed the door behind us with a soft click.
“Yeah, well, maybe that’s a good thing,” I replied, shrugging.
“Maybe. Anyway, I should get back to my dorm. See you in the morning, Ryn.” She gave me a two-finger salute before padding down the hall in her bat slippers. I watched her disappear into the darkness, the rune in my satchel suddenly feeling heavier than stone. I began making my way back when—
“You know it’s bad to break into dead girls’ rooms.” His voice curled like smoke behind me, and my heart nearly stopped.
I turned slowly. Erebus. He stood half-swallowed by the shadows, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
The darkness clung to him in a manner that made it impossible to tell where he ended and the void began.
My pulse quickened, but I forced myself still.
“It’s also bad to lurk in the halls like some creep,” I snapped back, keeping the tremor in my voice down.
He smiled, an imitation of one, a hollow curve of lips that never reached his eyes.
“It appears we’re both breaking the rules tonight.
” The air around him shifted, thickening, darkening.
It reminded me of Aiden’s shadows, but where Aiden’s felt more like shields, Erebus’s were like chains. I stepped to move past him.
“Well, enjoy your midnight stroll. I’m heading out before we both get caught—” His hand shot out, cold and unyielding, wrapping around my arm with inhuman strength.
I refused to flinch. His eyes locked onto mine, black, ancient, wrong.
Under the flicker of my flame, something rippled through his features.
For a moment, I didn’t see a cadet. I didn’t see a boy.
I saw age. Power. A predator pretending to wear human skin.
His grip softened strangely, almost thoughtful, as his fingers brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
The touch sent an involuntary shiver sliding down my spine.
His gaze searched my face, not like he was seeing me, but the ghost of someone else he’d once known.
He pulled me closer. Close enough, I could smell him, charcoal and pine, earthy and cold.
“Be careful how far you dig, Rynlee,” he warned softly, his breath ghosting over my skin. “The deeper you go into this mystery, the more your light will dim. And we wouldn’t want that, would we?” His words slithered around my heart, colder than his fingers, tightening with an invisible threat.
I straightened anyway, lifting my chin. “No. But I’m not afraid of the dark.
” Something flickered across his lips. Barely there.
Amusement. Recognition. And beneath it, a presence far more dangerous.
Then he moved. His hand shot out, gripping my throat and slamming me back against the wall with brutal force.
The impact rattled my teeth. My pulse roared in my ears as his fingers tightened, cutting off my breath. He leaned in, inches from my face.
“You should be, Rynlee,” he said coldly.
“It’s na?ve not to be.” His grip tightened just enough to remind me how easily he could end this.
My lungs burned as panic clawed up my spine.
“You put up a good fight today in sparring,” he continued calmly, almost conversational.
“I was impressed. But you still lack confidence. You still lack control.” His breath brushed my skin, intimate and wrong.
I scraped at his wrist, fingers digging in. “Let me go,” I rasped, the words breaking apart as I struggled to breathe. He smirked.
“Do you know why the moon’s chosen resents you, little sun?
” His voice dropped lower, darker, as he stepped closer, eliminating the last inch of space between us.
The shadows seemed to press in, thick and suffocating.
“Because you are everything he could never be.” Rage surged through the fear.
I drove my knee up hard into his abdomen.
He staggered back with a sharp grunt, releasing me.
I gasped, sucking in air, one hand flying to my throat as I glared at him, chest heaving.
“You don’t know anything about Aiden and me,” I snapped, forcing my voice steady despite the tremor in my hands.
Erebus only smiled. “I know you’re behind something,” I said, fire flaring in my veins as I found my footing again.
“And I will figure it out.” The darkness around him deepened, responding as if it were a living thing. His dark eyes locked onto mine.
“You’re welcome to try, Sunbound girl.” He stepped in once more, slower this time, lifting a hand to cup my cheek in mock affection. His touch was almost gentle, almost worse. “But remember this,” he whispered, his voice cold enough to seep into my bones, “even light can be swallowed whole.”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. Not with my heart still racing, not with his darkness hooked somewhere deep beneath my skin.
I pulled away fast, purposeful, flame clenched in my fist like a weapon.
My pulse thundered as I rounded the corner and vanished into safer shadows.
Gods, he was terrifying. And whatever Erebus truly was… it wasn’t just a student.
I hadn’t slept a wink. Erebus’s voice still echoed in my mind like a curse: low, chilling, and cryptic. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt it again: the pressure of his hand around my throat, the way his darkness crowded my space, deliberate and controlled.