“Maybe,” I admitted with a shrug. “But that doesn’t make the threat any less real. Someone wants to hurt you, and whatever else is between us, I won’t let that happen.”
For a moment, we stared at each other, and I felt her acceptance. She wasn’t an idiot, or under any delusions. But what she didn’t know was that right now, it was taking every ounce of my willpower not to sweep her up into my arms.
“Get out please, Aiden,” she said, not unkindly but firmly. “I want to be alone.”
I nodded and backed toward the door. “Lock this behind me. The shield quarters are warded, but better safe than sorry.”
After I pulled the door closed, I heard the lock click into place. Through the bond, I felt her emotions—exhaustion, resignation, and beneath it all, a sliver of relief that she wasn’t alone tonight. That sliver gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, this forced arrangement might eventually become something more.
I walked to my own room and closed the door, leaning against it as I exhaled slowly. The bond between us pulsed with her proximity, stronger now that she was under the same roof. I could feel her more clearly than ever before and it made something in my chest feel crazy.
FOURTEEN
Juno
I wokeup to Noodle staring at me from the foot of my bed.
‘You slept late.’
“I know, I know,” I groaned, rolling over to check my phone. 5:45 a.m. I’d been living with the Nightfall Shield for a week now, and somehow I’d fallen into a routine that included pre-dawn jogs with Eris and Draco. If someone had told me a month ago that I’d willingly hang out with any of them, I’d have laughed in their face.
Yet here I was.
I dragged myself out of bed and changed into leggings and a sports bra, pulling a light running jacket over it. The mornings were cooler as autumn deepened across the campus. Noodle watched me with his usual unimpressed expression, if snakes even had expressions.
‘Not going,’he declared, coiling himself more tightly on my pillow.
“Didn’t invite you,” I replied, tying my hair back. “Stay out of trouble.”
‘Always trouble,’he hissed.
Draco and Eris were already waiting in the common area, both dressed for running. Eris tossed me an energy bar as I approached. “Eat. You burned too much magic yesterday.”
I caught it one-handed. “Thanks, dad.”
He shot me a narrow eyed look, but his lips twitched.
The morning run had become something I actually looked forward to. Just the three of us as the sun broke over the horizon. The academy grounds were absolutely stunning bathed in gold.
When we returned, sweaty and pleasantly exhausted, Percy and Aiden were already in the kitchen. Percy was making coffee, while Aiden was scrolling through his phone, occasionally shooting me glances when he thought I wasn’t looking.
The day passed in a blur of classes and training. The routine was becoming familiar. Shield combat in the morning, specialized magic training in the afternoon, and regular check-ins with the healers monitoring our bond. The Assembly’s interest in us hadn’t waned; if anything, it had intensified as our bond continued to strengthen.
By evening, I was drained. I’d managed to create a spatial distortion field large enough to encompass all five of us during combat practice, something I’d never been able to do before the bond.
After showering, I collapsed on my bed, letting the day’s tension seep out of my muscles. My phone buzzed with a text, which was nice and normal rather than telepathically weird.
D: Movie night? Found a scary one.
I smiled. Draco had been making an effort to find common ground between us, and somehow he’d remembered my offhand comment about loving horror movies.
J: Give me 10. I need to change.
I donned a pair of soft black pajama shorts and a cropped t-shirt. My hair was still damp from the shower, so I gathered it into a high ponytail. No makeup—we were well past the point where I felt the need to impress any of them.
When I walked into the common room where Draco was setting up the movie. He looked up as I entered, and his eyes widened slightly, gaze traveling from my bare legs to my exposed stomach, lingering too long to be casual.
The heat there made my skin warm, and through the bond I felt him slamming a wall down between me and whatever he was thinking.
