But this body wasmine.Always had been.
Shut up!
I was Bea. IamBea. My name was Bea —
Bianca —
Beatrix Gadreel —
Guzman —
Havenglow.
I was so fucked. Holy shit!
“Sorry for the intrusion, but I can’t stand it anymore,” a voice rasped beside me, taking me out of my head. A tall, beautiful man stood there in the dim light, with bright silver eyes and long, black hair that went down to his hips. He looked pained as he sat on my bed, and he reached out with both hands, pullingmyhands out of my hair.
Hands that had been gripping my head so hard that pink hair strands fell when I moved, my palms reddened.
He placed them on my lap before he let go to wipe away the tears from my cheeks.
Tears?Had I been crying?
“Who are you?” I asked anyway despite the strange sting in my throat.
“Felix,” he muttered, thumbing away unshed tears from my eyes. “And you’re Bea.”
He didn’t look like a student, nor a school staff, with his loose-fitting robe and pants. He was in his pajamas, which made sense since it was probably three in the morning.
“But how did you get here?” I had to ask, because for all the talk from the administration that they spelled the dorms to be safe and protected, a lot of men had already barged in unstopped by the wards at all. Although they did say it would let in people I trusted.
I had never met this man before, so how could I have trusted him?
“My Unique let me,” he admitted with a smug grin. “But don’t tell anyone that.”
So it was possible to bypass wards if you had the right Unique, since Unique triumphed over magic, which the spells were made of.
I stared at his face, trying to recall if he was one of my classmates in case he was a Compton in the making, but the easiness of his presence comforted me instead. A strange yet familiar feeling …
It clicked. “Are you the one watching me?” In the dark, whenever I was alone.
He startled. “You felt it?”
Nodding, I explained, “I can feel a presence whenever I’m alone like this. Just watching. Waiting for something? Apparently it’s a cute guy. Creepy but not creepy because cute.”
He chuckled, thumbing another wayward tear from my face. “Did you just say your inner thoughts out loud?”
“Maybe?” My brain was empty. I had no idea what I was doing or saying anymore.
He laughed a little more before schooling a serious expression. “I’m the Guardian of the Realm.”
Oh.
“My work involves watching over and protecting the realm from any anomalies.”
Oh, no.
Felix stroked my hair away from my face. “I’ve been watching you since you arrived almost two months ago.”
