“With what evidence?” I said with a sardonic laugh. “I felt my neck where he bit me and there’s no marks, no blood. Even if someone would believe me without any of that, it’s my word against his.”
“Shit,” Shadrie muttered, plopping back down into her chair. “You’re right. He’s a Dreadgrave, he’s almost as immune to discipline here as Vallynn and Zypher.” She paused for a moment, her eyes lighting up.
“Why do I feel like that look on your face means you’re about to tell me something I won’t like?” I asked.
“Zypher is the solution, B,” she replied with a smug smile. “You’re mated to the Demon Prince. The administration might not do anything if you report it, but there’s a reason they play nice with the demons on campus. Nobody outside of their own really knows how powerful they are with the deals they make, and rumor has it Lucifer Morningstar could burn the entire realm to the ground if he felt like it.”
“I’m not going to use him like that. I haven’t even decided if I’m going to accept this mate bond between us.”
Shadrie groaned in frustration and rolled her eyes. “It’s not using him; he’d happily deal with Gabriel for you. It’s kind of a whole thing for demon males to prove themselves to their mates before completing the bond.”
“No, Shadrie,” I said more firmly.
“Well, you can’t leave the academy.” Her eyes flitted to my duffle bag in a pointed look. “No matter how much you may want to, it’s not allowed unless you have your magic bound. Do you really think Professor Thrackborne is going to do that for you after forcing you to meet with him almost daily to work on tapping into and controlling your power?”
My mind shifted to the grumpy professor. Shadrie had a point; that man was too much of an asshole to bind my magic after he’d invested so much time into helping me with it. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.
“If you’re not going to tell Zypher, you need to make Gabrielthink what he did had no effect on you. People here view fear as a sign of weakness, so don’t let him know that you’re afraid.”
I considered her words for a moment. They weren’t too far off the lessons I learned on the streets back home. Even in the human realm, there was always going to be someone stronger, someone better connected, someone who would take satisfaction in crushing you simply because you were afraid. Not showing that fear was a type of power in and of itself, and exactly why my instincts drove me to taunt Gabriel before I spiraled.
“You’re right,” I replied finally, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin defiantly.
Shadrie’s face split into a grin. “There’s the bad bitch I’m getting to know and love. Now, unpack your bag, boss up, and show that fucking vamp he’s not even close to scaring you away from the academy.”
Less than an hour later, my room was set to rights, and I was on my way to face Gabriel in combat class. The closer I got to the training grounds, the harder my heart pounded against my ribcage, but I kept my resting-bitch-face firmly in place. My composure nearly cracked when I found Gabriel absent from class. Even as a wave of relief washed over me, I wondered if his absence meant he was plotting something worse for me.
Shaking off the unwanted thoughts, I turned my attention to the lesson at hand. Rumlock was teaching us basic combat maneuvers. After walking us through them a handful of times, he paired us off and sent us to the mats to practice with a partner. I found myself paired up with the girl who’d accidentally struck the bear shifter I’d been against on our first day with lightning.
“Kiri,” she smiled as we took position on the mats. “Nice to meet you.”
“Bechora,” I replied with a smile of my own. “I think I owe you a thanks for our first day of class. Even if it was an accident, you saved my ass.”
Kiri leaned forward conspiratorially. “It wasn’t an accident.Esmara bullied me all last term, so when I saw my chance to get a little revenge without consequences, I took it.”
I barked out a laugh. “Fuck, that’s cold. I like you.”
Kiri let out a tinkling laugh and winked just before Rumlock’s whistle blew, signaling for us to take our positions. The rest of class flew by. Kiri was a great partner on the training mats. Between her taking the time to make corrections to my stance and movements and the tidbits she gave me about the other students, I left class feeling like I’d gained another ally in this strange realm. She managed to erase the lingering doubts I had about remaining at the academy by the time we parted ways after class.
I found Shadrie perched on the couch in our common space, as if she’d been waiting for me. “How’d it go?”
“He wasn’t in class,” I shrugged.
“Oh?” she asked, arching a single brow. “Well, that’s interesting. Maybe he saw you headed to class and went back to his dorm to nurse his ego over not scaring you away.”
“Whatever it takes for him to leave me alone, I guess,” I chuckled. “Class was actually really great without him there.”
Shadrie waggled her fingers in a “gimmie” motion, and I filled her in on the time spent on the mats with Kiri.
“Kiri Forrester?” Shadrie asked, though her tone said she already knew the answer. “Her mother writes the most popular gossip column in the realm. Rumor has it that after the way Esmara treated Kiri last term, her mother went nuclear and used her connections from the column to completely destroy the Tarrene family’s reputation and business.”
“Should I be worried?”
“Nah. Kiri is a sweetheart and a good source of information on people. The kind of ally you want in your situation,” Shadrie replied.
“So, stay on her good side,” I said, blowing out a breath. “If class was any indication, that will be easy enough.”
Shadrie stood from her perch and clapped her hands together. “Alright, enough of that kind of talk. I wasn’t justwaiting for you to see what happened in class. I forgot when we made plans to binge trash TV with Miles and Zypher that I already had plans for tonight. I already talked to the guys, and they’re fine with hanging out tomorrow instead. But…” she paused to look me over, “if you’d feel safer with me staying in tonight, I can cancel, and we can have a girl’s night.”
