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“Do I really seem like I need help that much?”

“Sometimes?” I laughed.

He nodded resignedly, both hands in his pockets, and looked at the ground.

“The students at Vanderwood probably often wonder how I, of all people, became director.”

I couldn't help but grin.

“Is that a yes?”

I prayed it was. He couldn't leave me at Nash's mercy. Not just like that, out of the blue.

Alarik looked up again and studied me.

“Do you want to train with me?”

What kind of question was that? Everyone else on this property ignored me, avoided me, or gave the impression that they were plotting my demise, except for Tania and Mia. And Emely studied all day in the law library.

Alarik was the only person here who made me feel safe. My only reasonable contact, who also knew that something was seriously wrong with me.

“I would have thought you were tired of it,” he continued, raising an eyebrow and scrutinizing me intently.

“No... I... I just thought you’d give up because I... I’m not a Senseque...”

He stared at me.

Suddenly, his jaw began to work, and he stepped closer. So close that there wasn’t even an arm’s length between us, and I held my breath.

“Listen,” he began quietly, swallowing so that his Adam's apple moved. “Here's the thing.”

He lowered his voice further, as if someone might be listening.

I wanted to check my surroundings, but Alarik was quicker.

“Don't look around. Focus on me. Nod once, as if you agree with something.”

The itching in my wrists reached a new peak, but I couldn't help but stare at him, suppressing the urge to swallow as well, and finally obeyed.

“Nickolas is watching you from his study window.”

Unease spread through me, but I nodded again, trying not to let on how nervous I was feeling, or even to look toward the terrace and the large windows on the ground floor.

“It triggers me.”

Alarik pressed his lips together. His chest rose as if he were carrying a burden that weighed him down. I was that burden.

“Because all I actually wanted was for him to see that you were integrating, so that he wouldn’t become suspicious. That’s why Nash.”

I nodded again.

“You wanted to show me off in front of your brother?”

Alarik looked at me intently before smirking down at the ground.

“Something like that?”

He stepped back, and the tension immediately disappeared from the atmosphere, although I could now clearly feel Nickolas’s gaze on me.