But it’s what he doesn’t say that lingers, what still burns behind his eyes as I climb away.
He let me go.
For now.
TWELVE
KAEL
Her footsteps fade,swallowed by the stone. She doesn’t look back. Good. I’d rather she didn’t see what’s in my eyes.
The shadows settle around me like an old habit, curling close, whispering secrets only I can hear. Her scent lingers—bright, wrong in a place like this. Like warmth bleeding into a room that hasn’t seen it in years.
I close my eyes for a breath, then open them again.
Sunshine. Too bright for a place like this. A cruel kind of joke, if the Veil had a sense of humor. Or a twisted prophecy, depending how deep you want to dig into the bones of fate.
She doesn’t know what she is. Not really. But the Veil does. I felt it the moment she called to it, like something ancient stirred awake and looked back through her. Hungry. Curious.
The mark was only the beginning. She shouldn’t have survived that summoning. She shouldn’t have burned those creatures out of existence. The energy she wielded wasn’t trained. It wasn’t shaped. It was instinctual. And raw instinct doesn’t burn that clean unless something older is guiding the fire.
I let her go. Not because I care—not in the way she thinks. I let her go because the Veil isn’t finished with her yet. And neither am I.
I drag a finger along the stone wall, the pulse of old wards brushing up my arm. They don’t burn me the way they used to. Another perk of growing teeth where you once had a soul.
She’s light.
But something’s already pulling her into the dark. And when it finally takes her? I’ll be waiting.
THIRTEEN
LINDSAY
The door clicks shutbehind me, too loud in the quiet.
Tamsin looks up from her bed, one leg tucked beneath her, a book resting on her thigh. Her expression flickers—from relief to suspicion to something else entirely. The rest of the room is empty.
She shuts the book. Slowly.
“Where the hell have you been?”
I blink. Just stand there. She doesn’t sound mad, but…
Setting her book on the edge of the bed, she pushes to her feet. “Lindsay, I’m serious. I looked for you after Runic Arts at lunch, and you were just…gone. I thought you snuck away with Nolan…but then I caught sight of his tail end as he left the lunch room. Without you, I might add.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Because where do I even start? The Veilbinding? The library? The almost-kiss? The kiss-kiss? The hallway where Raiden bit me?
Tamsin crosses the room, arms folding across her chest. “You’ve got that look—like you either killed someone or kissed someone. Which is it?”
I bark out a laugh. It sounds wild, even to me. “You’re going to need to sit down for this.”
She doesn't move. “Try me.”
I stare at her for a second. “I was forced into a Veilbinding.”
That gets her. Her arms drop, face going pale. “Wait—what?”
“Yeah. Surprise.” I rub my forehead, suddenly exhausted. “Headmaster Veyne pulled me out of the lunch line and just…announced it. Like, ‘Oh, hey, time for your life to implode.’ Professor River was there. And Raiden. You remember that magic freakout in the Undercourt? Turns out my power sort of...latched onto him. They say he’s the only one who can stabilize it. So now I’m Veilbound to him, like it was all part of some cosmic matchmaking ritual.”
