Chapter 18 #2
My stomach twists. That is what she wants. She wants him angry. She wants him terrifying. She wants every person in this room to look at him and decide I need to be removed from him. I squeeze his hand. I call for him through the bond.
Valerius.
His eyes flick to mine. I say through the bond.
Don't. She's baiting you.
His jaw tightens. He answers.
I know.
I narrow my eyes and say.
Then don't bite.
A flicker of dark humor crosses the bond despite everything. He asks.
Did you just compare me to an animal?
I almost choke but I still answer.
This is not funny.
He sends back, voice like shadow inside my mind.
No, but you are less terrified when you are annoyed at me.
My chest aches because he is right, even here, in a room trying to split us apart, he is finding ways to keep me standing.
Magistra Voss looks between us, eyes narrowing. "Interesting," she murmurs.
Professor Thorne immediately steps forward. "If the council's concern is whether proximity stabilizes or destabilizes, then test it."
My mother's gaze snaps to him. Valerius goes still. My own pulse stumbles.
Voss turns. "You propose an assessment?"
"I propose evidence before judgment." Thorne says.
"Very well." Voss agrees. Too fast.
Professor Thorne notices.So does Valerius. I feel his warning through the bond. Trap.
Voss gestures to the center circle. "Then we test separation." No. The word rips through me. This time, I don't know if I think it or say it. Valerius steps closer, shoulder brushing mine. Voss lifts a hand. "Only a measured distance. Nothing harmful."
"That depends what you measure harm by," Professor Vale says quietly.
A few heads turn. I had forgotten she was there.
Magistra Voss's gaze cools. "We will begin with ten paces."
My throat closes. Ten paces. It sounds so small. It sounds survivable but the bond hears separation and begins to burn. My wrist throbs beneath my sleeve. Valerius's sigils darken along his hand.
Professor Thorne moves close enough to speak quietly. "Listen to me. Both of you. If the bond begins to tear, you tell me immediately."
"Tear?" I whisper.
His face is grave. "Immediately."
My mother's eyes shine with fear. My father stands behind her, stiff and silent, and for once I can't tell whether he is afraid for me or of the spectacle I have become.
Valerius turns toward me. The chamber fades.
His hand lifts to my face, then stops before touching because everyone is watching. The restraint hurts.
"I'm right here," he says. Out loud, for them, for me.
My voice shakes. "Not for long."
Something breaks in his eyes. Only for a second, then the mask returns, colder than I have ever seen it. "If it hurts, I will come back."
"What if they stop you?" I ask water building in my eyes.
His gaze burns into mine. "They can try." A dark smile forms on his face.
Magistra Voss claps softly once. "How moving. Mr. Draven, step back."
Valerius doesn't move. The chamber waits. "Valerius," I whisper. His eyes stay on mine.
I hate this but if he refuses outright, Voss wins.
If he loses control, she wins. If we look like we can't obey even one instruction, she wins.
So I force my fingers to loosen around his.
It feels like peeling my own skin back. His hand resists for half a second, then releases.
Cold rushes between our palms. The bond screams.
I gasp. Valerius freezes. Every head in the chamber turns. I press a hand to my chest, fighting for breath. It's fine. It has to be fine.
One step. Valerius takes one step back.
The bond pulls so hard my knees nearly buckle. His jaw clenches. His eyes stay locked on mine.
Second step.
Pain sparks under my wrist. Tearing pain. Like the golden thread between us is being stretched beyond what it was made to bear.
Third step.
My vision blurs. Valerius's face flickers with agony before he buries it. He feels it too.
Fourth step.
I hear him inside my head.
Hold on.
I answer without thinking.
I am.
Fifth step.
The chamber tilts. The three colored rings on the floor flare: blue, green, red. Wrong colors. Wrong laws. Wrong cage. My Starfire wakes beneath my skin, not in rage, but in panic. White-gold light flickers under my sleeve.
My mother moves. "Stop this."
Magistra Voss lifts a hand. "Continue."
Sixth step.
A sound escapes me. Small. Broken. Valerius stops. Black flame erupts at his fingertips. The chamber explodes into motion. Guards step forward. Council members rise.
Professor Thorne shouts, "Draven, control!"
Valerius doesn't look at them. Only me. His voice tears through the bond.
Say the word.
My breath shudders. He means it. I feel it.
Say stop, and he will burn whatever stands between us.
Council law. Guards. The chamber. The world.
For one terrible, beautiful moment, I understand devotion as something frightening.
A blade offered handle-first. I could take it.
I could let him become the monster everyone thinks he is. For me. My eyes burn.
The word slips through the bond.
No.
His face tightens. Begging through the bond.
Valentina.
I send it again, even though my chest is breaking.
No! Don't let them make you into proof.
The black flame trembles. Then it shrinks. The effort it costs him hits me through the bond like pain. Magistra Voss watches, eyes bright.
Seventh step.
I can't breathe. The room becomes soundless except for my heartbeat and his. Not together now. Not aligned. His is too far. Mine is too fast. The distance feels wrong in my bones. Like something essential has been pulled out of place.
Eighth step.
The bond tears. There's no other word for the feeling. Something sharp splits through my chest, and I cry out, stumbling forward. My knees hit the stone before I can stop them.
Valerius breaks. He moves. Fast. Too fast for guards.
Too fast for law. Shadowflame roars around him as he crosses the distance in a blur of black fire.
A guard reaches for him and is thrown back by a wall of darkness—not burned, but shoved aside like the room itself refuses to hold Valerius away from me.
Then he's here, on his knees in front of me. Hands on my face.
"Valentina." The moment he touches me, the pain stops. Not fades. Stops.
Air slams into my lungs. The white-gold light beneath my sleeve collapses back into my skin. The bond floods with relief so intense it almost hurts worse. I grab his wrists, shaking. He presses his forehead to mine, breathing hard, uncaring of every council member watching.
"I got you," he whispers. The room spins around us.
Voss's voice cuts through it. "A dramatic reaction. As expected."
Valerius's head lifts slowly. His eyes aren't hazel now. They're black with a rim of gold. The chamber goes silent. My hands tighten around his wrists. No. He hears me. His gaze stays on Voss.
Professor Thorne steps between them before Valerius can rise. "You have your evidence," he says sharply. "Separation causes immediate bond destabilization."
"Or withdrawal," Voss says.
My mother's voice cracks like thunder. "Enough."
Power fills the room. Not Starfire. Not Shadowflame. Dean Amara Vale Starling. The three branch rings on the floor flare beneath her command.
Voss turns toward her.
My mother steps forward, every inch of her shaking with fury. "You were warned separation could be dangerous. You continued after visible distress. This review is no longer an assessment. It is harm."
A murmur moves through the chamber. My father says nothing.
I look at him past Valerius's shoulder. He's pale.
His eyes are fixed on me where I kneel on the floor, still holding Valerius like he's the only thing keeping me inside my own body.
For once, my father looks less like a judge and more like a man watching the consequences of a lifetime of absence. It's too late to matter.
Voss doesn't look shaken. She looks satisfied.
"Then perhaps," she says, "the bond is already too unstable to remain active."
"No," I whisper. Valerius's hands tighten on me.
Professor Thorne's voice drops. "Magistra Voss."
She looks at the council seats. "The bond between Valentina Starling and Valerius Draven shows signs of dangerous dependency, uncontrolled energetic exchange, and emotional volatility. The council recommends immediate containment separation pending deeper inquiry."
Containment separation. The words rip through me.
Valerius goes still. The chamber doors open.
More guards enter. Not academy guards, council guards.
Silver cloaks. Black stone cuffs at their belts.
My mother's face goes white. Professor Thorne swears under his breath.
Valerius stands slowly, bringing me with him.
His arm goes around my waist, holding me against his side.
A council guard steps forward. "Valerius Draven, remove yourself from Miss Starling."
The room becomes deathly quiet. Valerius smiles. It is the cruelest expression I have ever seen on his face. "No."
One word. The guard reaches for a cuff. Valerius's Shadowflame explodes. It fills the floor between us and the guards in a black line of fire edged in red. It doesn't spread. Doesn't touch anyone. It simply says one thing. Cross and burn.
My mother moves to intervene, but Professor Thorne lifts a hand. Wait. My pulse hammers.
Voss's eyes gleam. "You threaten the council?"
Valerius's voice is calm. "I am standing still."
"With illegal flame drawn." Voss accuses.
"Defensive flame." Valerius corrects her. "You are obstructing a safety order." His arm tightens around me. "She collapsed when I stepped away."
"Which proves the problem." Voss yells.
"No," Professor Vale says suddenly. Every head turns toward her.
She steps from the council row, calm but pale.
"It proves separation worsens the condition. If this were a typical unstable bond, distance should reduce reaction. It did the opposite."
Magistra Voss's eyes narrow. Professor Vale continues, stronger now.
"Containment separation may cause permanent energetic rupture."
Voss says, "Speculation."
Professor Thorne steps beside her. "Expert assessment."
"And yours?" Voss asks.