THE BRUISES YOU DONT SEE
Noelani didn't sleep that night.
She laid curled beneath the sheets, the moonlight carving soft shapes across the ceiling. Her fingers curled against her stomach, breath shallow, like if she breathed too deeply, she'd shatter.
The strangers voice still echoed in her head.
It's waking.
That blood of yours.
She didn't know what that meant.
Didn't want to know.
But her skin hadn't stopped tingling since. Like something beneath it was shifting, crawling toward the surface. Not pain. Not quite safe either.
She turned her head, eyes catching on the tiny sapphire pinned to her uniform on the chair. It glowed faintly, as if reacting to her heartbeat.
The Academy was supposed to be safe.
So why did it feel like something here wanted her broken?
?
The next morning, she dressed slowly, her limbs leaden. Her uniform hugged her a little to tight across the shoulders, and she kept tugging at the sleeves like they might turn invisible if she wished hard enough.
The mirror showed someone she didn't know.
Hair like ocean glass. Skin kisses by too many stars.
Eyes too wide for someone who'd spent her life being unseen.
She hadn't meant to be beautiful.
She just wanted to be invisible again.
?
By the time she reached the dining hall, the low hun of morning chatter rolled through the vaulted space. Floating chandeliers swayed overhead. Students moved in packs, loud and wild.
Noelani hovered near the entrance, clutching her satchel.
Then Rowan saw her.
He rose from the far table with easy grace and strode over, snowy hair brushing his collar, a calm smile on his face.
"You're late," he teased softly.
"I didn't sleep," she admitted. "Too many thoughts."
"Want me to fight them for you?"
She blinked. "The thoughts?"
"Mm." He leaned close. "I'm very good with imaginary battles."
Before she could reply, he took her hand gently—fingers warm and calloused—and led her to the table.
The others were already there. Caeden, sprawled like a lazy flame, sipping black coffee. Aeryn, brooding but alert. Lysander, playing with a silver ring between his fingers, sparks dancing up his arms like embers waiting to burn.
Noelani sat down slowly. The table fell quiet as she did.
Caeden looked her over. "You didn't eat."
Her stomach twisted. "I wasn't hungry."
He leaned in just enough to make her pulse skip. "You smell hungry."
Her cheeks burned.
"I—I don't even know what that means."
Caeden's grin was all teeth and sin. "It's okay. You'll learn."
Rowan elbowed him in the ribs without looking. "Stop making her blush."
"I didn't make her do anything."
"I'm not blushing," she lied softly.
Aeryn finally spoke, voice like shadows at twilight. "Did he touch you?"
She looked up. "What?"
"The man in the greenhouse," he said, watching her too closely. "Did he touch you?"
She shook her head. "No. Just... looked at me like he was trying to see through me."
Lysander's jaw flexed.
"He knew," Rowan murmured. "About her blood."
"Of course he did." Aeryn's eyes darkened. "They're always watching for cracks."
Noelani didnt ask who they were. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
?
The room stank of sweat, metal, and adrenaline.
Noelani stood on the padded floor, heart pounding. Professor Ashbourne—a woman with a single blade strapped to her back and scars down both arms—stalked the perimeter.
"Combat is not optional," she barked. "Magic without survival is suicide. Partners. Now."
Noelani turned—only to find Aeryn already behind her, silent as death.
She flinched. "Oh. Um—"
"I won't touch you unless you say so," he said flatly.
That shouldn't have made her chest flutter.
But it did.
They squared off. Aeryn raised his hands lazily. "Hit me."
"What?"
"You heard me. Hit me. Or try."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't."
She hesitated. Then lunged.
He dodged effortlessly, sidestepped, and before she could blink, had her pinned—not roughly, but firmly. His hands braced her lower back.
Her breath caught.
"You move like a dancer," he said softly. "Not a fighter."
"I—I don't know how to be either," she whispered.
A moment passed.
Then—so quietly she barely heard him—he said, "Your allowed to be both."
?
She didn't mean to fall asleep in the library. But she did.
Curled into a velvet armchair, arms wrapped around a book she didn't remember choosing. Dreams flickered behind her eyes. Hands reaching. Voices murmuring.
You're a gift.
You were made for us.
Sing, little thing.
Sing.
She whimpered in her sleep.
And someone touched her shoulder.
She bolted upright with a gasp.
But it was only Rowan.
His touch vanished the instant she flinched.
"Sorry," he said, kneeling beside the chair. "You were dreaming."
"I didn't mean to—I didn't mean to fall asleep, I—"
"It's okay," he soothed. "You're safe here."
Her lip trembled. "People always say that. 'You're safe now.' But then... it would start again."
Rowan was silent. Then gently reached out, and—
Pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She froze.
"I won't say you're safe," he whispered. "I'll just make sure of it."
She didn't know what to say. But her fingers reached out, caught the hem of his sleeve. Just for a second.
Just to feel something warm that didn't burn.
Later that evening, Rowan walked her back to the dorms, only leaving when he was sure her door was locked behind her. She stood there for a long moment, staring at the wood like it might come alive And drag her back to sleep.
But she didn't want to sleep.
The dreams had been louder lately.
So she wandered.
She found the Academy's bathing chambers by accident—steam curling from a tall arched doorway, moonlight slanting over pale marble and warm, enchanted pools.
No one was inside.
She stepped in slowly, letting her boots fall away, then her cloak. Her night clung to her legs as she sat on the edge of the water, dipping her feet in. The heat rushed up her calves, soothing and slow.
For the first time in days, she felt... soft.
Not hunted. Not held too tightly. Just a girl in a quiet room with nothing chasing her.
Until the doer creaked.
She turned.
Lysander.
He stopped when he saw her, one brow lifting. "Should've known you'd be hiding here."
"I'm not hiding."
He walked toward her anyway, boots echoing against the tiles. "Then you're resting. Which is almost worse."
She narrowed her eyes. "Why worse?"
"Because if you rest, you'll realize how tired you really are. And then you'll break."
"I won't break," she said, quieter now.
He crouched beside her, elbow on his knee. His voice dropped lower. "You already did."
She turned away.
But then—
He reached out, slow and deliberate, and ran his knuckles down her arm. Just once. Just light enough to make her shiver.
"You're still beautiful," he said, "Even broken."
Noelani flushed. "I don't know what to do when you say things like that."
"You don't have to do anything," he murmured. "Just let it sink in."
?
Far above the dorms, in the highest tower, the headmaster stood at his window again.
The moonlight bathed the gardens path below, where trails of magic shimmered faintly through the grass. He could see her aura from here—barely awake, flickering at the edges like a candle flame too close to the wind.
He'd told himself he wouldn't intervene.
That if he got too close too soon, he'd snap the bond.
But the others were already circling.
Rowan. Caeden. Even Aeryn.
And Lysander—Lysander had touched her.
He felt it like lighting down his spine.
Not yet, he told himself.
She wasn't ready.
And neither was he.
?
"Focus!" Barked professor Myra, who was niy a morning person and made no attempt to hide it.
The students circled the gravel pit, each assigned to practice aura alignment and energy balance—terms Noelani still didn't understand but nodded at like she did.
Her assigned partner today was Caeden.
Which was a problem.
Because Caeden didn't do gentle.
"Alright, sweet thing," he drawled. "Let's see what kind of magic you're hiding in those pretty bones."
She blinked. "I don't think I'm hiding anything."
"Oh, you definitely are."
He stepped close. Very close.
And placed one hand on her chest—right over her sternum.
She froze.
Her breath stuttered.
"I—I don't like being touched—"
He stepped back instantly, hands raised. "Shit. Sorry. I forgot."
Noelani hugged her arms to her chest, trying to keep the quiver in her bones from showing.
"It's not—" she swallowed. "You didnt do anything wrong. I just... wasn't ready."
His expression softened, the usual wickedness gone, replaced by something quieter. Almost regretful.
"I push too hard," he admitted. "Sometimes I forget that not everyone burns the same way that I do."
She gave a small nod. "I'm still figuring out what I am. What any of this is."
Caeden tilted his head. "You really don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he extended his hand again—but this time, palm up, open. Waiting.
"I'll ask this time," he said gently. "May I?"
Her heart thudded loud enough she was sure the others could hear. But she nodded, slowly, placing her hand in his.
His skin was warm. Too warm. Like holding fire that hadn't decided whether it wanted to hurt her or not.
But her didn't pull her closer. Didn't do anything except close his eyes.
A hum built in the air around them—low, resonant, ancient. The kind of sound that felt like it had always been there, just below the surface of silence. The gravel beneath their feet trembled, faintly. Noelani gasped as something in her chest stirred in response.
It wasn't pain. It wasn't fear.
It was recognition.
Then the pull started.
From the space between her ribs. A thread of magic, thin and silvery, unwinding from her and curling toward him.
She yanked her hand back with a cry, stumbling. The thread snapped. Caeden exhaled sharply and staggered, like he'd just been punched.
Professor Myra's head snapped toward them, eyes narrow.
"What the hell what that?"
Noelani's voice shook. "I—I don't know."
Caeden didn't speak. He just looked at her like she was the answer to a question he hadn't dared ask until now.
Noelani looked down at her hands.
They were glowing.
Not bright. Not obvious. But veins of soft, cerulean,
light shimmered under her skin, flickering like starlight caught in the water.
And in that moment, she knew something for certain.
Whatever was waking inside her—
It wasn't done yet.
??
A/N
hi my loves, I know y'all probably read the warnings but aren't seeing any smut.
I promise it's coming. I wanted her to have a tiny bit of a slow burn because of all the trauma she went through and things like that.
it's definitely coming soon though, again if you have any questions or advice or something you'd like to see in this book feel free to comment to let me know about! 33