Chapter 26
Valen
“What the fuck have you done?” Dean Thornfield shouted at me the moment the door closed behind us.
I just stood there, unsure of what to say. What was there to say? What could I possibly do to defend myself when they’d caught me red-handed, with Archer, my student, half-naked in my bedroom?
“Do you have any idea how bad this looks?” he continued. “How bad it’s going to get? The Quinns are one of the most powerful witch families in the world. They will not stop until both of our heads are on the chopping block.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to find some semblance of composure.
When I opened them again, Thornfield was still glaring at me with the kind of fury I’d only seen him direct at truly problematic faculty members.
The ones who ended up quietly dismissed and blacklisted from academic positions anywhere respectable.
“I know exactly how bad it looks,” I said finally, my voice rougher than I intended. “But it’s not what you think.”
“It’s not what I think?” Thornfield’s laugh was bitter. “Valen, I found you in your bedroom with a half-dressed student whose father is now threatening to destroy this entire institution. What exactly am I supposed to think?”
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to organize my thoughts into something that wouldn’t make this worse. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated?” His voice rose again. “You’re a three-hundred-year-old vampire, Valen! You should know better than to get involved with a student, regardless of the complications!”
The accusation hit harder than it should have, probably because there was truth in it.
I did know better. I’d spent centuries learning to control myself, to maintain appropriate boundaries, to never let my nature put others at risk.
And yet here I was, having thrown all of that away for a twenty-one-year-old witch who’d looked at me in just the right way.
“You’re right,” I admitted quietly. “I should have known better. But what Archer and I have... it’s not what his father is making it sound like.”
“Then explain it to me,” Thornfield said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Because right now, all I see is a professor who abused his position to seduce a vulnerable student. And frankly, that’s exactly what the Quinn family’s lawyers are going to see too when they bring this before the Elder Council. ”
I stared out the window of his office, watching students move across the quad like nothing had changed. But everything had changed. In the span of one morning, my entire life had been turned upside down, and I had no idea how to put it back together.
“I love him,” I said, the words feeling strange and desperate when spoken to someone other than Archer. “I know how that sounds. And I know what you’re thinking. But it’s true. This isn’t some feeding addiction or power play. I’m in love with him.”
Thornfield was quiet for a long moment, studying my face with the kind of intensity that made me want to squirm. “How long?” he asked finally.
“How long what?”
“How long has this been going on? The relationship, the feeding, all of it?”
I swallowed hard, knowing that honesty was my only option now. “A few weeks. The feeding started first, then...” I shrugged helplessly. “Then it became something more.”
“A few weeks.” Thornfield rubbed his temples like he was developing a migraine. “Jesus Christ, Valen. Do you understand what you’ve done here? What this is going to cost the school?” He paused, his brows knitted tight. “This won’t just affect you. This could cost me my position as well.”
The guilt hit me like a brick. I’d been so focused on my own feelings, on what I stood to lose, that I hadn’t fully considered the collateral damage.
Thornfield had been nothing but supportive since I’d arrived at Widdershins.
He’d given me a chance when other institutions wouldn’t even return my calls, and now I was repaying that kindness by potentially destroying his career.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and meant it. “I never intended for any of this to happen. I tried to stay away from him, tried to maintain professional boundaries, but—”
“But you couldn’t help yourself?” Thornfield’s voice was sharp with sarcasm. “Is that really the defense you’re going with? That your vampiric nature made it impossible to resist a student?”
“No,” I said firmly. “That’s not what this is about. My nature had nothing to do with it. I fell in love with him because of who he is, not because of what he could provide me.”
“And yet you were feeding from him.”
I couldn’t deny that. The feeding had been part of our relationship from almost the beginning, and trying to separate it out now would only make me look like I was lying. “Yes. But it was consensual. Fully consensual. He understood exactly what was happening.”
“A student cannot give informed consent to a professor, Valen. You know that. The power dynamic makes it impossible, regardless of the magical aspects.”
The words stung because I’d told myself the same thing dozens of times. Every rational part of my brain had screamed warnings about the inappropriateness of what we were doing, but I’d ignored them all. I’d let my heart overrule three centuries of hard-learned wisdom.
“What happens now?” I asked, dreading the answer.
Thornfield sank into his chair, suddenly looking every one of his forty-something years.
“Now? Now I have to figure out how to salvage this mess. The Quinn family is demanding your immediate termination and criminal charges. The school board is going to want a full investigation. And depending on how this plays out to the rest of the paranormal community, we could be looking at a hearing in front of the Elder Council.”
My stomach dropped. “You said yourself there’s nothing criminal about this.”
“That might be the only thing they can’t get you on.” He rubbed his face with both hands. “The fact that Archer is twenty-one makes the whole minor thing a non-issue. But that’s not going to stop them. The Quinns have resources. Lots of resources. And they’re not going to let this slide quietly.”
I thought about Archer’s face as his father’s compulsion overtook him, the helpless fury in his blue eyes. He’d tried to defend me, tried to speak up, but his father’s spell had silenced him completely. The memory made my hands clench into fists.
“What about Archer?” I asked. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“That’s not your concern anymore,” Thornfield said sharply. “Your concern should be what’s going to happen to you.”
I let out a long sigh, collapsing into the chair across the desk from him. “I’m sorry,” I said at last. “And I mean that. I didn’t… I didn’t mean for anyone else to get dragged into this.”
Dean Thornfield sighed in return, shaking his head. “Look. It’s not like I don’t get it, Valen.”
I looked up in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“My husband and I had a similar issue.” He shot me a look.
“We were both students at the time, but a relationship like ours was definitely taboo, if not completely forbidden, since he’s a werewolf and I’m a witch.
” He leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands over his chest. “Nothing anyone said could’ve stopped us though.
We didn’t care about the consequences. We were in love.
And we still are. But it’s not been an easy road and there were a lot of close calls along the way.
Even today we don’t tell anyone at the academy that we’re together. ”
“It’s Coach Flannery isn’t it?” I asked. “I saw you two at the start of year faculty event last year. You looked… close.”
“Clearly, we need to be more careful.” The Dean looked down at me now. “So I’m not your enemy here, Valen. I understand what a bond feels like and how it makes you do crazy things that other people won’t understand. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be able to save you from all this.”
“I… I don’t expect you to.” I hung my head in shame. “And I’ll tell them you knew nothing about it. I’ll do whatever it takes to let you keep your job. But I have to find Archer. I need to make sure he’s alright.”
“No, that’s not what you need to do right now,” he corrected. “What you need to do is go back to your cottage and cancel your classes for the week and start packing your things. I can’t imagine they’re going to wait very long to act on this.”
My stomach sank and I realized he was right. There was no way of getting out of this mess now. My career at Widdershins Academy was over.
“And Valen?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not going to place a security team around your cottage, so if you feel the need to run…
” He paused, letting his meaning sink in.
“I don’t want to see another of your kind persecuted.
But just know this, if you run and they catch you, the consequences will be far worse. So make your decision wisely.”
I nodded, understanding exactly what he was telling me.
Run now and maybe have a chance at freedom, or stay and face whatever punishment the Quinn family and the Elder Council decided to dish out.
Neither option was particularly appealing, but at least running would give me some control over my fate.
“Thank you,” I said, standing up from the chair. “For everything. For giving me this job, for understanding... for giving me a way out.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Thornfield replied grimly. “You’re not out of this mess by a long shot. And Valen? Whatever you decide to do, be smart about it. The paranormal community is smaller than you think, and the Quinns have connections everywhere.”
I left his office feeling like I was walking through a dream, or maybe a nightmare.
The hallways of the administration building felt surreal, like I was seeing them for the last time.
Which I probably was. Even if I didn’t run, even if I stayed to face whatever consequences were coming, I’d never be welcome at Widdershins again.
The walk back to my cottage felt endless. Every student I passed seemed to be staring, whispering, though that was probably just my paranoia. News traveled fast on a campus this size, and by now half the school probably knew that Professor Crowe had been caught with a student.
When I finally reached my front door, I stood there for a moment, my hand on the knob, trying to process everything that had happened in the last few hours.
This morning I’d woken up with Archer in my arms, feeling happier than I had in centuries.
Now I was facing the end of my career and possibly my freedom, while the man I loved was being dragged back to a family that would do everything in their power to keep us apart.
I pushed open the door and immediately froze.
The cottage still smelled like him, like us, like the love we’d made just hours ago.
His scent lingered in every room, a constant reminder of what I was about to lose.
The rumpled sheets upstairs, the wine glasses still sitting on the coffee table from last night, the comfortable domesticity I’d never thought I’d have again.
I sank onto the couch, burying my face in my hands.
For the first time in decades, I felt truly lost. Running meant abandoning any chance of seeing Archer again, but staying meant facing a system that was designed to punish creatures like me for daring to love someone above our station. Either way, I lost him.
In the far corner of the room, I was vaguely aware of a figure stepping out of shadows. I didn’t have to look up to know who it was.
“Are you alright?” I heard Lila ask without preamble.
“No,” I replied, not bothering to hide the truth. “And I don’t know if I ever will be again.”
Lila sat down next to me, her slight form barely sinking into the cushion at all. “They took her away from me too, you know,” she said. “Amelia. She was in my room when they came.”
“You and her?”
She nodded. “Yeah. For about a week now.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, letting out a long sigh. “But I’m not going to give up on Amelia. I can’t. She’s… too special.”
“I know the feeling,” I said quietly, thinking about how empty the world felt without Archer in it. “How long do you think we have before they make their next move?”
“Not long,” Lila replied, her voice grim. “Families like them don’t waste time when they want something handled. And they definitely want this handled.” She paused, studying my face. “Thornfield gave you an out, didn’t he?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice. The weight of that decision was crushing me. Stay and face whatever punishment they deemed fit, or run and spend the rest of my immortal life looking over my shoulder.
“Are you going to take it?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” I scrubbed my hands over my face, feeling every one of my three hundred and sixteen years. “Running means I’ll never see him again. But staying...” I trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
“Staying means you might not survive what they have planned,” Lila finished for me. “The Elder Council doesn’t exactly have a reputation for mercy when it comes to vampires who step out of line.”
She was right, and we both knew it. The paranormal justice system was heavily skewed against creatures like us. A powerful witch family’s word against a vampire’s would hardly be a fair fight, especially when there was actual evidence of inappropriate conduct.
“What about you?” I asked. “Are you going to try to get Amelia back?”
Lila’s expression hardened with determination. “I’m going to try. But I need to be smart about it. The Quinns have resources I can’t compete with directly.” She looked at me meaningfully. “But maybe together we could figure something out.”
“Together?” The word sparked something in my chest that felt dangerously like hope.
“Yes,” she nodded leaning forward. “But before we decide anything, there’s something important I need to tell you. Something you don’t know about me.”
“Okay…”
She took a deep breath. “I was placed at Widdershins Academy by the Elder Council after the attack by Damian Cromwell. My job is to keep an eye out and report back on Purity Front activity in and around the school.”
My jaw fell open and I stared at her, struck speechless.
“And I don’t think the attack and the Quinn patriarch showing up at nearly the same time was a coincidence.
I heard the things he said about our kind.
Everyone did.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice.
“I think he’s part of the Purity Front. And if we can prove it, the Elder Council will have no choice but to let us keep our partners and try him for treason. ”
I opened my mouth to respond, but I was cut off as a loud boom echoed across campus, rattling the glass in the windows.