That earns me a ripple of horrified whispers from the stragglers who haven’t scurried out yet. Creed doesn’t so much as twitch.
We step into the corridor, the heavy doors sealing behind us with a solid thud. Out here, the air is cooler, and the sound of the class vanishes into a silence thick enough to chew. The hall stretches long and vaulted, ribbed with black stone arches and lit by braziers that burn with slow green fire. Every step echoes like the building’s judging me.
Creed’s pace is measured, unhurried, each stride a study in control. I match it out of pure spite, refusing to jog just to keep up.
“Is this the part where you lecture me about playing nice with the other kids?” I ask, dragging my fingertips along the rough stone wall. It hums faintly under my skin, old magic prickling like static.
“This is the part,” he says without looking at me, “where I decide if you’re worth the trouble of keeping you alive.”
I grin. “Aw, that’s practically a compliment. You must really like me.”
“I don’t,” he says flatly, and gods, it’s so dry I almost laugh. “But my brother does because he’s not in his right mind.”
That digs under my ribs in a way I don’t like. I mask it by sighing dramatically. “Oh, so this is about Legend. You’rejealous.”
That gets me the faintest flicker of his eyes in my direction, cool as winter steel. “Jealous implies wanting something he has.”
“Right,” I say. “You just wish you could pull off black leather like I do.”
His mouth twitches. It’s tiny, but it’s there. Victory.
We pass through an archway into a side hall, this one lined with narrow windows that leak pale light onto the floor in broken stripes. Creed stops without warning, turning to face me. “You will not kill another student.”
I tip my head. “Even if they deserve it?”
“Especially if they deserve it.” His voice is calm, but there’s a razor under it. “This place is held together by politics and the illusion of civility. If you shatter either, you make my life harder. Make my life harder, and I will ruin yours. You agreed to behave. We had a deal and you are not holding up your end.”
I pretend his words don’t draw a hint of panic, tapping my chin. “So what you’re saying is…kill them where no one can see.”
“Haide.”
“Creed.” I mirror his tone exactly, mocking him with a straight face.
For a heartbeat, we just stare at each other: the cold, immovable king and the chaos he probably wishes he could catapult back to Exile. Then he exhales through his nose like he’s had enough of me for one lifetime.
“I don’t have to tell you that you don’t belong here. You know it as well as I do. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re the one in control. There is something going on and you are at the center of it. I will find out what it is, what you did or the part you’ve played, and I will end you if that’s what it takes to fix—” He cuts himself off, his chin lifting as his eyes harden.
He’s clearly said more than he wants to.
Not that I’ve got any fucking clue what he’s trying to say, butwhatever.
I just need to pee. “Are you almost done?”
His mouth thins into a hard line. “You’ve got classes again tomorrow,” he says. “Be on time. Wear the uniform. Try not to cause chaos in the first five minutes.”
“Okay, in my defense, the professor said fight. He didn’t tell me not to kill him and back home,fightmeanskill…because you know we can’t die there.”
His expression grows thoughtful. After a moment, he gives a small nod. “Okay. Fine. That’s fair. Still, I am telling you now and my word overrules anything youthinkyour professors want you to do. Or what you’re used to. If you’re not sure about something, ask. Trust your Pathway Codex. It won’t lead you astray. It’s incapable.”
He watches me closely, and then his head tips slightly. I feel a brush of something against my temple. No, it’s in my mind.
He’s in my fucking head!
“Dude!” I jolt, shaking myself as if that will change anything. I think of that one time back home when Zevryn and I hid in the trees and threw animal bones at a couple getting down in the mud until they spotted us. One of them slipped trying to get to us and broke his wrist. Zev laughed so hard he fell out of the branches. He dislocated his shoulder. I reset it with a rock.
I force the image into my head on repeat like a war drum.Bones. Blood. Zev’s unhinged cackle. Anything to keep Creed from sniffing around in places he doesn’t belong. Not that I have anything to hide.
Creed’s brows snap together and he takes a step forward. “Who is he?”
