I shook my head. It couldn’t be. If he was Hades, then his queen was Persephone. I wasn’t her. I was just Bloom, a shy homeschooled girl who’d been kidnapped and dumped in this supernatural academy.
But the dead had called mequeenwhen I settled in Ravencrux Tower, and I’d dreamed of women who looked exactly like me, dying again and again by drowning, by blade, by flame.
For a second, I entertained the theory that I was Persephone, reborn cycle after cycle, and that Nero was Hades, waiting for me each time. The idea was so vast it felt absurd. Whenever I tried to hold it in my mind, my skull pulsed with a needle-sharp pain until I had to let it go.
Nero kept his body wrapped around me, a shield against the intruders. His power lashed out relentlessly, even though it could not break free of the net. Then his shadows stretched to cover me like a cocoon, obscuring me from view.
The beings outside snarled in displeasure. They’d been straining for a look, hungry for their voyeuristic satisfaction. But Nero’s darkness turned our prison into a pocket of absolute night, at least to those outside.
Within the barrier, I could still see him clearly. His face was twisted with fury, and beneath it, something worse—anguish. The mocking laughter from beyond still reached us, fueling Nero’s rage and his crushing misery.
Not for himself. For failing to protect me. It tore at him that he had been caught unprepared, that I lay exposed and vulnerable.
“It’s not your fault, Nero,” I whispered, my heart aching. I dreaded what came next, but seeing him like this hurt far more. “Please don’t blame yourself.”
His dark gaze flickered to me, emotions too profound to name passing through his eyes in a second. Then he turned his predatory glare back on our enemies with pure hatred.
My heart twisted. My own rage began to burn in my chest. I could no longer stand to see my lover ridiculed, attacked, and trapped like this. I wanted to carve the mocking laughter from the invaders’ throats.
My power was only a flicker compared to his, but I had to try. I reached toward the net, intending to lift it. The moment my intent became clear, the golden threads tightened around us, searing my palm on contact, blistering my skin. The pain was immediate and sharp, like being branded.
I hissed. Nero pulled my hand back, his grip rough but careful.
“Don’t touch it,” he said, voice strained. “No one can break it. But it won’t hold us forever. I’ll find a way.”
Just then, a new commotion stirred beyond the shadows. I couldn’t see through Nero’s barrier, but the air shifted, growing heavier with a different kind of magic. The mocking outside fell abruptly silent.
A fresh ward wrapped around the room, its magical signature familiar. I’d felt it when first crossing through the academy’s gate. I recognized the headmistress’s presence an instant before her voice cut through the tension.
“What is the meaning of this?” Headmistress Stardust demanded.
“We caught him in the act,” Kingsley offered smugly. “Flagrant violation. Could hardly miss it.”
“You should not invade a professor’s private quarters,” Headmistress Stardust said in a sharp tone. “You’ve overreached, Kingsley. This will mean war.”
“Let him bring it,” Kingsley sneered.
“All I want is peace within my school!” she snapped. “You should’ve run this by me first.”
"Ah, yes." Kingsley practically purred the words. "And give your precious Ravencrux time to slither away? Again. I think not."
What did he mean by “again”?
His words echoed in my skull. Had this happened to Nero before? With another woman? A spike of jealousy shot through me, sudden and nauseating, even as I lay trembling in his arms.
“You overstepped, Kingsley,” the headmistress hissed. “This is still my domain. I am its headmistress.”
“And you are too obsessed with playing house with monsters,” Kingsley replied, dismissive. “Regardless, we caught Ravencrux violating the cardinal rule. He fucked his student. While we may not be able to punishhimfor such deeds—old treaties being what they are—we can certainly make his little whore pay. The punishment is death.”
The words struck me hard.
Sindy had warned me—punishments for fucking a professor ranged from public stripping and whipping to a death sentence. I had known the risks. I had dreaded being found out when Nero buried his face between my thighs and pleasured me until I fell apart. I had resisted him after learning he was a professor. I had tried.
But in the end, here I was—in his arms, beneath him, exposed before predators who now demanded my life.
I sucked in a cold, sharp breath, my lungs burning in protest.
“Touch her and I will unmake you!” Nero thundered. His shadows writhed violently, pressing against the net until the golden threads groaned. “I will scatter your atoms across nine hells.”
