Chapter 19 #2
Professor Thorne arrives with my mother. Neither looks at us directly at first.
Maybe because we are sitting on the floor beneath the mirrors, my back against Valerius's chest, his arms around me, our joined hands resting over my stomach like neither of us knows how to let go. Maybe because they understand what they are here to do.
My mother's voice breaks. "It's time."
Valerius's arms tighten. I close my eyes. We stand slowly. His hand never leaves mine. Not as we walk from the gallery. Not through the corridors. Not while students stop and stare because everyone can feel something terrible happening, even if they don't know the shape of it.
At the east tower stairs, two council observers wait. Silver cloaks. Black stones.
My room is above. His wing is across the academy.
Too far. The bond has already started to ache.
Valerius turns to me at the bottom of the stairs.
The entire corridor watches. I don't care.
His face is calm now, too calm, the kind of calm people wear when they are being torn apart and refuse to give their enemies the pleasure of seeing blood.
His hand lifts to my cheek. "Listen to me." I nod, though I can't breathe. "If anything happens, you call me through the bond."
"What if I can't?" I ask with a shaky voice.
"You will." He nods.
"What if they block it?" I ask, tears forming in my eyes.
His eyes darken. "Then I'll know because I'll feel the silence." A sob catches in my throat. He leans closer, voice low enough for only me. "And I will come."
The council observer shifts. "Mr. Draven."
Valerius doesn't look away from me. "Let them try to stop me."
My tears fall. He wipes one away with his thumb. So gently, so unlike the boy everyone thinks he is.
"I don't want to let go," I whisper.
His face breaks, he presses his forehead to mine. "I know."
The observer steps closer. "Mr. Draven."
Shadowflame flickers. Professor Thorne's voice cuts low from behind us. "Valerius." The warning holds a thousand things. Don't give them reason. Don't make it worse. Survive tonight.
Valerius closes his eyes. Then he kisses me. His mouth touches mine like goodbye is a word he refuses to speak. Like every part of him is being carved open and the only thing he can do is leave a piece of himself with me before they take him away.
The bond glows. Warm. Gold. Dark. Sorrowful. Like in the gallery enveloped by darkness. I hold him with both hands, memorizing the feel of his mouth, the shape of his breath, remembering his body on mine, the warmth that has become safety.
When he pulls back, I almost follow. His hand catches mine. For one last second, our fingers stay linked.
Then the observer says, "Now."
Valerius lets go. The pain is immediate. Not as violent as the chamber. Not tearing , but aching. A deep, hollow wrench beneath my ribs. He feels it too. His jaw clenches so hard I see the muscle jump. My mother reaches for me. I flinch. Pain crosses her face, but she doesn't touch me.
I start up the stairs. Each step away from him makes the bond stretch.
At the landing, I look back. Valerius stands below, surrounded by shadows and council silver, his eyes locked on mine.
He looks like a prince being dragged for war.
He looks like a boy losing the only place he has allowed himself to belong.
Through the bond, his voice reaches me.
Still there.
I grip the railing. Smiling through my tears. I sent back.
Still here.
The council observers escort him away. I feel every step. Every inch. Every unbearable length of corridor between us. By the time I reach my room, my chest aches so badly I can barely stand.
Seren is inside, waiting because my mother must have allowed it. She takes one look at me and opens her arms. I fall into them. This time, I break.
I sob into her shoulder while the council observer stands outside my door and pretends not to hear. Seren holds me fiercely, whispering that she's here, that I'm not alone, that the night will pass but she's wrong.
Not about being here. About not being alone because the bed is empty.
The chair is empty. The window is too dark and across the academy, Valerius is being forced into a room without me.
I know because I feel the moment he reaches it.
The bond pulls hard, then steadies slightly.
He is sitting. No. Standing, pacing, furiously, devastated.
I wipe my face and sit on the edge of my bed. Seren kneels in front of me. "Can you feel him?"
I nod.
"Is he okay?" She asks.
I close my eyes. Valerius's emotions are walled off, but not gone. Controlled pain and rage. A dark, endless devotion pressed against the bond like a hand against glass.
"No," I whisper.
Seren's face crumples. "But he's there." She squeezes my hands.
Outside, the council observer's stones clink softly.
Inside, my candles burn low. I lie down because everyone tells me to.
Seren stays in the chair because she refuses to leave but the bed is too big.
Too cold. My body turns instinctively toward the side where Valerius should be. Empty. The ache returns, sharper now.
I send through the bond..
Valerius?
Silence. My heart stops. I send again.
Valerius?
Nothing. I sit up. Seren jolts awake in the chair. "Val?"
I press both hands to my chest. The bond is there but muffled. Not gone. Blocked.
"They're blocking him," I whisper.
Her eyes widen. The candles flicker. My wrist burns. Outside my door, the council stones hum. No. No, no, no. Panic surges. The room tilts. The shadows in the corners stretch.
Seren stands. "Valentina."
"I can't feel him." The words tear out of me.
The candles flare white. The observer outside curses. I hear movement. A hand on my door. The black council stones hum louder, pressing against the bond, smothering it, cutting him away. They didn't just separate us. They silenced him.
Something inside me wakes screaming. Starfire.
White-gold light bursts beneath my skin.
Seren throws up a Veil shield as every candle in the room explodes into flame.
The door cracks down the center. The council observer shouts and then, through the choking silence, one word tears through the bond so violently it feels like a blade breaking glass.
Valentina.
Him. Valerius. I gasp. Across the academy, something explodes. Not here. There, his room, his wards, his Shadowflame. The bond rips open. His voice slams into me, dark and furious and alive.
I'm coming.
The door to my room blows inward. Not from him. From the shadow at the foot of my bed. It stands there again. Tall and thin. Its pale mouth opens, but this time, I'm not alone. Seren screams my name. Council bells begin to ring.
The shadow whispers, "Awake."
And far across Arcana Academy, black fire answers.