My jaw tightens. “I’m aware.”
“The prophecy is in motion. We have seen the signs.” His voice turns razor sharp. “Now she dares to enter the Forbidden archives. Your presence was supposed to deter that. You were supposed to stop her.”
I keep my face neutral. But I feel it. That shift. That crackle of magic, like an echo bleeding through stone and realm. She’s there now. In the chamber. The air between us pulling like a thread being tested for strength.
I don’t let it show. Not the pulse beneath my skin. And certainly not the need to go to her.
“You were chosen because you were the coldest of us all,” my father says. “Do not make me regret that.”
I bow my head deeper, though the words blister.
“Contain her,” he commands. “Before her choices write the end.”
The dismissal is silent. But final. My brothers do not look at me as I turn to leave. Only when the chamber door closes behind me do I exhale. Just once. Just enough.
I step through the crossing shadows that split dimensions, back toward a world that burns warmer than it should. And toward a girl I was never supposed to understand, but I do.
Even before I brought her to the Academy. Before I knew her name. At that diner.
The place was small. Mortal. Reeking of grease and burnt coffee. But she stood behind the counter like she didn’t belong to it at all. Neon blue hair coiled up in a messy knot, strands falling around her face like paint spilled across canvas. Too much curve for the uniform she wore, a low level of magic that the humans never seemed to notice. But I did. She used it casually—subtly—every time a customer grew irate or impatient. A flicker of suggestion in her gaze, a hum in her words. And they smiled. Every time.
She smiled, too, fake and brittle, but they never seemed to notice. But not at me.
Her eyes caught mine, just once, as I sat in the back corner, pretending to be no one. Blue, luminous, and knowing. Like she was seeing through the glamour I held. Like sheknew.
Even then, something pulled at me.
And when I stepped through the wreckage of her apartment hours later—Veilshadows still curling in the corners—she looked the same. Messy. Bright. Terrified.
Hair falling out of that neon twist, baggy sweatshirt slipping from one shoulder, chest rising with fear, lips parted in a startled breath that tasted like power.
I told myself then it was proximity. Curiosity. Strategy. An eagerness to prove myself to my father.
But I haven’t stopped watching since. And that wasn’t part of the instructions. Hell, saving her from the wraith hounds… fromthe assassination attempt… from the book… from the Council’s binding—I shouldn’t have done any of it.
The prophecy can’t happen if she’s dead. And yet, something makes me step in. Every. Single. Time. Like now.
I don’t head back to my chambers. I head to the Forbidden Wing—where her energy is still spiking like a flare in my veins. The magic lingers like smoke in the air, clinging to the walls, to my skin. The chamber door groans open beneath my hand.
Inside, the light from the book has faded to a pulse. Nolan stands at the center, tucking the damn thing under his arm like he’s about to take it on a joyride through the academy. Tamsin’s beside him, wide-eyed but smug, like she knew this was a bad idea and came anyway.
And then there’s her.
Lindsay.
The glow from the pedestal still clings faintly to her skin. She’s not touching the book, thank the cursed skies, but she’s too close. Always too fucking close to danger.
“Well,” I say flatly, “I believe Ispecificallysaid stay out of the Forbidden Wing. But sure. Let’s ignore the demon’s one damn request.”
She turns toward me slowly, chin tilted, arms crossed. “What is it with powerful men and Forbidden wings, anyway?” She lifts a single brow. “What are you, theBeast? Should I be worried there’s a rose dying upstairs somewhere? Or that you are going to lock me in a cell?”
Despite myself, my lips twitch. Just once.
Tamsin groans. “Oh no. We’re doing the snark-foreplay thing again.”
Nolan stiffens like he’s considering using the book as a shield if I threaten any of them.
I take a step inside, gaze locking on Lindsay’s. “This place is dangerous.”
