Chapter 15
Morning comes wrapped around Valerius. Not in the way stories make it sound, with sunlight and soft music and hearts confessing things before minds are ready.
This is not soft. This is heat at my back.
A heavy arm across my waist. Black hair brushing the pillow behind me.
The steady rise and fall of his chest against my spine.
The bond humming beneath my skin like it spent the night learning the shape of him beside me and decided it prefers the sound.
I wake slowly, somewhere between sleep and awareness, with my fingers still resting over his hand. Sometime in the night, our hands must have shifted together. His palm is spread against my stomach, warm through the blanket, and my fingers are threaded through his.
My eyes open.
The room is dim with early morning light.
Pale grey dawn spills through the curtains, softening the edges of my desk, my wardrobe, the chair by the window that Valerius no longer uses.
The candles have burned down to small golden flames, steady and calm.
Only him. Only me. My heart gives one hard, traitorous beat.
Valerius shifts behind me.
His arm tightens for half a second before he wakes fully, instinctive and protective. Then his body goes still, as if he has realized exactly where he is and exactly how he is holding me.
I feel the moment he thinks about moving away. I feel it through the bond before he does it. A tiny pullback.A wall trying to rise. My fingers tighten over his.
Don't. The thought slips before I can stop it. His breath catches. So does mine. For a second, neither of us moves.
Then his voice comes low behind me, rough with sleep. "You're getting louder."
My face heats. "So are you."
"That wasn't me." He tries to correct me.
"It was your body." I say still feeling the hardness of his length against me.
His silence is so absolute I smile. Then his thumb shifts once against the back of my hand, and every fragile piece of humor disappears under something warmer.
I close my eyes for one more second, letting myself feel it.
Just one. The safety of him behind me. The weight of his arm.
The way my fear feels quieter when he is near enough to touch.
The academy bell tolls. Reality breaks open.
Valerius releases me and sits up, already turning toward the window, the door, the dark corners of the room.
His Shadowflame flickers once at his fingers before he pulls it back.
I sit up too, pulling the blanket to my chest.
The cold rushes in where his warmth was. I hate that I notice.
He glances at me, then looks away immediately. "Get dressed. We have Thorne."
"Good morning to you too."
His mouth almost moves. Almost. "It was a good morning," he says quietly. My breath catches. He stands before I can answer.
Coward.
I don't know whether the thought is mine or his.
His shoulders tense. Mine, then. I bite back a smile and slip out of bed.
We have become very good at not looking at each other while pretending we aren't aware of every movement.
He faces the window while I dress behind the privacy screen.
I hear him checking the wards again. Door.
Window. Corners. Ceiling. The same pattern as last night, methodical and silent.
When I step out in my uniform, his back is still to me. "You can turn around," I say.
He does. His eyes flick over my face first. Only my face. It does something to me every time. "Did you sleep?" he asks.
"Yes." I smile.
His gaze sharpens. "No nightmares?"
"No." I shake my head.
"No whispers?" He asks.
"Nope." I say.
"No shadows?" He gives me a look.
I soften despite myself. "No."
Something loosens in him. Barely visible but through the bond, I feel the relief, dark and warm, spreading before he can bury it.
My chest tightens. "You?" I ask.
He looks away. "Enough."
"That means no." I correct him.
"That means enough." He says.
"Valerius." I sigh.
His name changes the room. It always does now. The bond pulls tighter. His gaze returns to mine, heavy and alert, as if some part of him still hasn't adjusted to hearing his name in my voice without hatred wrapped around it.
I say softly, "You can sleep, you know." His expression hardens. "I mean it," I continue. "You don't have to stay awake all night just because you're here."
"Yes," he says. "I do."
My heart twists. There is no arrogance in the answer. No drama... Just fact. The kind of fact shaped by things I still don't know about him. Before I can ask, a knock strikes my door. Three rapid taps. Seren.
Valerius relaxes slightly before I do, which tells me his ward recognizes her now. That thought shouldn't warm me but it does. Seren pushes the door open with a tray balanced on one hip and a determined expression on her face. She looks from me to Valerius, then to the bed, then back to my face.
Her eyebrows rise. "Good," she says. "Everyone is clothed and alive. Progress."
I groan. "Seren."
"What? Those are my standards now. They have been lowered by recent events." She waves between me and Valerius.
Valerius takes the tray from her before she can drop it. "You are loud before breakfast."
"And you are in my best friend's bedroom before breakfast." She gives him a look.
"I was here all night." He says confidently.
"You think you're the first one to spend the night?" She smirks.
My face goes hot. Valerius actually pauses. Seren smiles like she has won something.
I point at her. "No teasing before food."
"Fine." She sits on the edge of my bed as if this is completely normal now. "But after food, there will be questions."
"There will be no questions," Valerius says.
Seren looks at him. "Did I ask you?"
"No." He looks back at her.
"Then we agree on something." She nods.
I take the tea before they can escalate. For a few minutes, the morning almost feels ordinary. Seren complains about Eli being too cheerful at dawn. Valerius stands near the window and eats nothing until I silently push a piece of toast toward him on the tray. He stares at it. Then at me.
Eat,
I think. His eyes narrow. I smile into my tea. He takes the toast.
Seren stops mid-sentence. "Oh, that is horrifying."
I look at her innocently. "What?"
"You two just communicated silently. I felt the awkwardness of it."
Valerius says, "You felt nothing."
"I felt everything. Spiritually." She says. I choke on my tea.
For one fragile second, the room holds something almost light. Then the second academy bell tolls. The warmth dies. The day waiting like a blade outside my door.
Professor Thorne isn't in the ward chamber when we arrive. That alone is wrong. He is always there before us, slate in hand, disappointment prepared. Instead, a folded parchment waits at the center of the repaired ward circle. His handwriting scratches across the front.
Final-year bonded pairs report to the lower glasshouse for adaptive trial assessment. My stomach drops.
Seren reads over my shoulder. "That sounds awful."
Valerius takes the parchment from my hand. His expression darkens. "What is the lower glasshouse?" I ask.
Seren answers before he can. "Old botanical trial chamber under the winter garden. Veil students use it sometimes. It can simulate hostile environments."
"Wonderful." I say.
Valerius's jaw tightens. "This isn't Thorne's usual assessment."
"You think someone else requested it?" I ask.
"I think the council did." He looks at me.
The air seems to thin. Magistra Voss. Her focus stones. The way she smiled after the window cracked. My wrist burns beneath my sleeve.
Valerius notices instantly. He steps closer. "Don't touch it when we're there."
"I know." I say softly.
"Stay near me." He adds.
"I know." His eyes hold mine, sharp and worried. I lower my voice. "I know, Valerius." That seems to reach him. His expression shifts.
Seren folds her arms. "I'm coming."
Valerius says, "No." She glares. He continues, "If this is a council test, they'll separate spectators from trial pairs. You won't get inside."
"Then I'll wait outside." She says.
"Fine." He accepts.
She blinks. "That was too easy."
"I don't have time to argue with you." He tells her honestly.
"That has never stopped you before." She gives him a look.
We head toward the lower glasshouse together.
The path takes us through the west corridors, past classrooms already filling for morning lessons, down a spiral stair carved beneath the winter garden.
The deeper we go, the colder the air becomes.
Frost climbs the stone walls in delicate white veins.
Pale blue roots push through cracks overhead, glowing faintly with contained life magic.
The lower glasshouse sits under the academy like a secret garden buried beneath stone.
Its doors are made of silver-framed glass, fogged from within.
Beyond them, I glimpse shapes moving. Trees, vines, light, shadows and people. A lot of people.
My steps slow. Valerius notices, his hand brushes mine. I curl my fingers once.
I'm okay.
His gaze flicks to me.
Liar.
The word brushes my mind, faint and controlled. I don't argue because he is right.
Professor Thorne stands just outside the glasshouse doors, face severe. Beside him is Professor Vale and beside her, wearing pearl-grey robes and a smile thin as wire, stands Magistra Voss.
My stomach turns. Valerius's entire presence changes. He doesn't step in front of me. Not yet but he becomes sharper.
"Miss Starling," Magistra Voss says. "Mr. Draven. How punctual."
Valerius's voice is cold. "You requested this trial."
"Final-year bonded assessments are within council observation rights."
"Observation," he says. "Not design."
Her smile doesn't falter. "And yet, here we are."
Professor Thorne's eyes cut to Valerius in warning. Not now. I feel the words in the silence. Valerius does too, because the Shadowflame at his fingertips doesn't appear, even though the air around him darkens.
Professor Thorne turns to us. "Today's assessment is adaptive environment navigation. Each bonded pair will enter the lower glasshouse and retrieve a branch token from the center. The environment will respond to emotional and magical instability."
My mouth goes dry. "Meaning?" I ask.
Professor Vale answers gently. "The glasshouse creates obstacles based on the energy it senses. Fear may thicken shadows. Anger may sharpen growth patterns. Panic may trigger defensive wards."
"So it punishes feelings," I say.
Valerius mutters, "Efficient."
Magistra Voss's gaze rests on me. "It reveals control."
Of course it does. Control. Always control.
I glance toward the glass doors. Inside, mist curls over black soil. Silver leaves press against the glass like fingers.
"Are other pairs doing this?" I ask.
"Yes," Professor Thorne says.
The answer is true. Valerius's mind brushes mine.
Careful.
I don't know if he sent it on purpose. I answer before thinking.
Always.
His eyes flick toward me. Something passes between us. Magistra Voss watches. Too closely. Professor Thorne notices her noticing.
His voice sharpens. "You will enter together. You will not use excessive force. Mr. Draven, Shadowflame is permitted only as defense. Miss Starling, report any bond reaction immediately."
Magistra Voss smiles faintly. "Good luck."