I stare back at Anya, my inability to keep my mouth shut getting the better of me despite my efforts, as she snorts.
“My Willow would never,” she insists, planting a hand on her chest as she sneers at me, and it only serves to fuel my fury.
“Fuck off. The Obsidian Circle may have aided in healing me so I didn’t die, but the scars still remain,” I hiss, grabbing the hem of my new hoodie. I tug it up just enough to reveal my ribs, the scars still raised along my flesh.
Having Anya see them feels like they’re being sliced open all over again, and I may be sick. Cordelia balks in surprise at the scars that line my skin, but I quickly tug the hoodie back down.
“Any wolf could have done that,” Anya insists, sniffing with an air of arrogance as she waves me off.
“No other wolf felt the need to,” I bite back, refusing to allow this woman to make me out to be a liar.
“We’re getting off topic,” Toman mutters with a sigh, drawing my attention back to him.
“Are we?” I challenge, cocking a brow at him.
His lips part, but his response is interrupted by the thunderous boom of a door slamming behind me. I jolt on the spot, spinning toward the sound in panic, but horror quickly seeps into my bones, my blood running cold as I blink at the new arrival.
Kael storms toward us, his eyes wide and raging as his nostrils flare.
“What are you doing here, Mr. Forrester?” Saken grunts as my heart beats wildly in my chest.
I continue to gape at the vampire in disbelief as he paces right past me, only coming to a stop when he’s positioned perfectly between The Sanctum and me.
“Why are you continuously questioning her without her guardian present?” he roars, planting his hands on the table top, just like Anya had done earlier, only this time, the wood creaks and groans as it snaps right down the middle from the force.
I blink at him, uncertainty warring in my chest. He might be trying to help me, but it’s for his own gain. I’m in a room full of enemies with nowhere to turn. I’ve never felt the cliché statement as hard as I do right now: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
“These matters don’t concern you,” Toman states, and Kael scoffs, the sound rugged as The Sanctum remain in their seats, unfazed by the shattered table between us.
“I think they do,” Kael snaps back, standing tall as he takes a blind backward step so he’s perfectly at my side.
“Unless you have any further details to share about the student in question, you can leave,” Anya muses, steepling herfingers together as a wicked gleam bursts in her eyes, watching my every move.
“Further details?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve fallen straight into the trap she laid out as she preens, sitting straighter as she glances at Kael out of the corner of her eye.
“Oh, didn’t he tell you? He’s been keeping tabs on you and informing us when necessary, Miss Blackwood. You know, for the interest of The Sanctum, of course,” she informs, cutting through the final tether that connected me to the vampire at my side.
I don’t bother to look at him. I already know it’s guilt I’ll see in his eyes, and I’ve seen that look from him once too many times. I never wish to bear witness to it ever again. Instead, I turn for the door, focused on the exit as Rikard hollers from behind me.
“We’re not done here, Miss Blackwood.”
I scoff, waving him off without even bothering to glance back. Kael can stay here for all I care; they deserve each other.
“Take it up with my guardian. I’m done.”
12
ELODIE
Every step I take away from The Sanctum fuels the anger that’s been ignited inside me. Up is down, left is right, and everything in between is just as jumbled. Instead of stealing my breath like it usually does, it sends my pulse thrumming wildly, echoing in my ears.
I’m mad, I’m furious, but worse than that, I’m numb.
Not in the way I would usually shut down my entire emotions and pretend the world doesn’t exist, but in a sense of shutting down the pain and heartache, leaving only fury in my veins.
The interruption I expect as I march toward the portal doesn’t come, but as I stride through the magical vale, acting as though I know what I’m doing, I startle when it’s Institute Thirteen that comes into view instead of the dark, wooden halls of the academy building that I anticipated.
My breath lodges in my throat as a sense of déjà vu washes over me. It takes me a second to understand, but it quickly hits me like a ton of bricks when I realize this is where I had stood at Kael’s side when I first arrived.
