Narline leaned closer, making a small choking sound. “I think I’m delusional…is he staring at us?”
Yes, and across the long hall, through the noise and shifting bodies, I was staring back.
I tilted my head slightly, studying him. The hair was black, messy in a way that looked both careless and intentional. And he had that kind of face that one didn’t see often, all sharp jaw, distinct cheekbones, eyes deep and dark enough to make one feel uncomfortable or intimidated if he stared at them for too long. Just that careless kind of masculinity that made him look like he didn’t even try.
There was something…off about the way he looked at me though. Not in a creepy way, just in a...knowing way.
“He’s actually staring at us. Everyone’s staring at us, Chezir,” Narline whispered, panic creeping into her tone.
And she wasn’t exaggerating. People had started turning their heads, trying to follow his line of sight to see what caught his attention. Great.
I sighed with a brief roll of my eyes.
Grabbing Narline’s hand, I tugged her down the aisle, looking for an empty spot as far from the front as possible. The way he kept watching us made my skin itch, and I hated that he was making me feel that way when usually, I was the one who did that often to people.
“Do you think we did something wrong?”
“This is our first class with him,” I said flatly. “We haven’t had the time to do anything wrong.”
But...
It felt like I’d seen him before, not in ayou look familiarway, but in that disturbing,I’ve met you in my dreams but don’t remember the plotway. I’d never seen him in my life—at least, not that I remembered—but some part of my being reacted like it had.
Just then, he straightened, finally breaking his gaze. He slipped his hands into his pockets, eyes sweeping over the rows of students. The noise in the hall dimmed instantly, commanding silence in the hall without even moving his lips.
“Good morning, third year,” he said, not in a tone you’d expect with professors, but in the kind of deep tone that sounded toopersonalfor a classroom. “I’ll be taking you through Ancient Civilisations and Mythical Chronologies.”
I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed. His eyes swept over the room once more, then they landed on me.
Again.
I had sharp eyes for things, but I still wanted to admit that the distance might have dulled my vision because there was no way in hell I just caught a slight smile lifting the corner of the professor’s lips just before he looked away.
What the...
This wasn’t going to be a normal year for me, was it?
EPILOGUE II
THRAX
Chezir Montgomery.
A legacy heiress infamous for her attitude.
I had been going through the year’s history student applications the moment they landed on my desk, praying to the gods that she would be among them. I had promised myself that if, after three years, she didn’t apply, I would finally quit.
And she was here.
For the first time, standing inmyclass, inmyschool, I felt a staggering joy I hadn’t known in twenty-one years.
Chezir Montgomery had the same look she’d had in her past life—the same height, the same body, the same face. I had stared at her profile photo in the student record for hours, unable to look away.
Twenty-one years ago, Sanora had been reincarnated at the very moment her soul found me, and the scar on my chest had sealed into smooth skin.
She had been reborn, but with a new soul.Hersoul. This washerlife—her real life—beginning again after fulfilling the prophecy. And I too had been reborn, in my own way.
I was dead to the world.
