Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
AMbrOSE
The pressure behind my eyes is excruciating.
Instead of sitting in Copper Penny Pub, I’m now sitting in the library hoping Nori comes through.
This place even smells like her—vanilla, cinnamon and solitude.
I rub a hand down my face.
I’m such a fucking idiot.
I should have told her. I never meant for any of this to hurt her. Just the opposite.
I was protecting her.
When Maeve cornered me as a child, I thought I was helping Nori.
She was like a little sister to me, and I would have done anything for her.
The feelings I had for her were bottomless.
As time went on, those feelings included fear.
Not of her, but for her. I saw flashes of characteristics that made me wonder.
She had an edge, a defiance that stood out among the other girls.
I figured she’d outgrow it, and it was just her lashing out from the lack of a father figure.
So I stepped into that role, protected her, and chased away unwanted attention.
I gave more than one bloody nose over that girl.
As the years passed, so did the way I saw her. She wasn’t just a tag-along or someone I saw with sibling affection. It went deeper.
I let out a low, humorless laugh under my breath.
She burrowed beneath my skin, regardless of how hard I fought it. She wasn’t a gangly little tomboy anymore. She was changing, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. With her long red hair and vibrant green eyes always wide with wonder, she was stunning.
Add in the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose, and she was ethereal.
Her friendship was my lifeline, and I wouldn’t risk it for anything. I didn’t want to lose her, and I was afraid that if I let her know how she was changing in my eyes, that’s exactly what would happen. So I kept my mouth shut. And the other boys away.
The real danger was in the way her body was changing, though. She was growing into her long, skinny limbs. She no longer resembled one of the lads, even when she tried to discreetly hide her new curves behind baggy clothes.
She was fucking beautiful.
Dangerously so.
Now, she’s fucking lethal.
She could bring any man she wanted to their knees, and they’d thank her for it. I hate it. I have to share her with the world now. A small part of me wishes she had stayed tucked away in Brylan. Away from these unsatiable soldiers’ lingering looks.
Especially that bastard, Kingston.
I don’t trust him, and I don’t like the way he watches her.
I rub my temples, wishing I could rub away the last twenty-four hours.
Maeve had to throw a wrench in everything.
I shouldn’t have been drinking that night on the beach, but I was, and she caught me in a vulnerable state.
She said I wasn’t doing enough to keep her daughter pure, that she was slipping through our fingers.
I wanted so bad to tell her there was no “our,” and she was solely mine.
Maeve never deserved Nori. She was always cruel and cold to her.
I didn’t tell her that. Like the coward I was, I just watched through my hangover as her devious mouth formed the words that would all but bring my world crashing down around me.
“You have to try harder, Ambrose. Because there’s a darkness in Nori,” she said, her sharp eyes boring into mine.
“Her legacy demands her light be forsaken. Her father was a Noctryn.”
And that was when I knew I’d watch the world burn just to protect her.
I’d light the match.
Suddenly, everything made sense. All the years of defiance and angry outbursts.
It was her very core rebelling at the idea of her mother’s ideologies being shoved down her throat.
And right then and there, I knew I never wanted her to feel how I felt at that moment.
I wanted to shield her. If she thought for one second that she had dark lineage running through her veins, it would skew her results at the academy, and she wouldn’t place as a Veil.
Or worse, she wouldn’t place at all.
A death sentence.
They’d have to dig two graves because I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
That was before the results came out after Asylamation, and I learned about Liminals.
I’d never even heard of them up until that point.
How something like this was kept from us in our education is still beyond comprehension.
I never gave it much thought on how Nori had come to be because I was too focused on keeping her alive.
Maeve had to have known. And she decided to keep that information to herself.
General Porter and his forefathers before him went to great lengths to keep any and all information on the subject buried. Just like he does with anything that stands in his way, people included. I wouldn’t even begin to guess how many graves have been dug because of his family.
When Nori arrived at the academy, I was too far buried in the secrets forced upon me that I couldn’t tell her at that point. She’d hate me. So instead, I kept my distance. I didn’t know how to look her in the eyes and keep the lies from coming out.
She’d know.
I drop my head into my hands. Defeat presses down harshly on my shoulders.
Look at me now. Pathetically sitting in a library, praying for a glimpse of that red hair. I’d give anything to see her look at me with something other than disgust.
My hands slide down my face before clawing their way back through my hair.
Who am I kidding? At this point, I’d sever a limb just to have her look at me.
Dammit. Everything is fucked.
The chair moves back, scraping along the floor as I push up. I’m not going to just sit here and wait. We have way too much history between us to throw it away. We’ll figure it out. We always figure it out.
I make my way up to the hall where her room is, and rap my knuckles on her door.
There’s no movement from the other side.
I twist the knob and push. It opens easily.
Her bed is made and the room tidy. The books she bought from Moorechester sit on her nightstand, and a few notebooks for class rest on the end of her bed.
Nori, however, is nowhere to be found. Not surprising, though.
She’s doing a remarkable job of avoiding me.
I glance at the bed one more time. The memory of her writhing beneath me comes to the forefront. Her tiny moans and pleas not to stop ring through my ears. I firmly shut the door and head back to the first floor, wanting to get out of the Noctryn wing as quickly as possible.
The air is palpable with dirty magic.
“Ballard,” a feminine voice calls from up ahead. A first-year Noctryn, according to the marks on her uniform, skips down the steps toward me. “Hey,” she says out of breath, stopping a few steps above me.
I nod in acknowledgment, not in the mood to talk.
She tucks her black hair behind her ear and doesn’t retreat from my callous greeting. “Have you seen Nori? We were supposed to meet to study for an upcoming test for our Blood Magic class.”
An icy feeling works its way down my spine.
“When?” I ask sharply, forcing myself not to jump to any conclusions.
“About an hour ago, but she didn’t show.”
I can feel my shoulders stiffen, but I keep my composure. “Your name?” I demand.
She reaches her hand out to shake mine. “Mayline Zhou. Nice to meet you.”
I quickly shake it and start walking down the steps. “Where were you scheduled to meet?” I need details, and I need them quickly. It’s not like Nori to bail on someone, not even when her own world falls around her feet.
“The study hall. I waited well past our meeting time, but she just never showed.”
I push past classrooms and down corridors, not bothering to see if she’s keeping up.
I finally reach the study hall and throw the doors open.
Empty.
Racing back toward the main floor, Mayline at my heels, a foreboding feeling rises, heavy in my chest. I pick up the speed, almost at a full-blown run.
The sound of armor greets my ears as I skid into the foyer.
Kingston and a handful of others are suited up, weapons strapped to every inch of their armor.
“What’s going on?” I order, my voice carrying over the clinking of weapons.
Kingston turns his head toward me, his eyes full of hatred.
“Wraith attack,” he answers, sliding his helmet on.
Mayline’s worried eyes meet mine.
And then all hell breaks loose.