10

“ C ongratulations to all students who have so far passed tasks one and two,” the professor says as she sits on her desk. “And a very well done to Orsen and Princess Melina. Eight tasks covered so far.”

I look at my friend. “You have some nerve to complain about me keeping secrets.”

She shrugs. “I got bored and he was there.”

“No. Since when are you a princess?”

She shrugs again, scribbling on her paper.

“You’re a princess too?” I ask Poppy, who nods with a grin. I stare at my so-called friends. “So you’re both technically royalty and you”—I nudge Mel—“are sleeping with Orsen.”

“I’m not sleeping with him,” she drawls.

“Oh, sorry, I must’ve gotten the part where he’s been sleeping in your bed for the best part of two weeks wrong,” Poppy adds, leaning forward on her desk. “He made himself invisible when I came in to speak to her about homework. What if I farted? Like, what the hell, sis?”

Mel rolls her eyes. “Stop trying to speak like a human.”

“Stop sneaking around like one then! You know everything about me and my partner.”

Mel begins writing down notes from the chalkboard. “And that has been a horrifying experience.”

I have no idea how these two are sisters. One is moody and scary, and the other looks like she’d climb a tree to save a kitten before handing over every bit of money she had to a homeless man. Kindness drips from her.

Across from me, Dane sits with his legs parted wide. His pencil twirls around his fingers. Not once has he looked at me in the six days since leaving my room.

We passed each other in the hallway and neither of us paid any attention to the other. I could sense him behind me while waiting to get my lunch, and when Valin took me aside in class and apologized for his behavior, especially when he told me to be careful who I’m friends with.

In classes where we’ve had to sit together, we’ve stuck to solely focusing on the work. If words were used, they were short and necessary. In mortal studies, he had to show he knew how to call me, so that night, he rang once and hung up.

The communication between us is limited, and it’s weird, to be honest. I’m used to him firing rudeness in my direction or tripping me up, knocking my work from my hands or turning my food into dead animals.

That seems to have stopped, along with everything else.

It’s like I’m a stranger to him now.

Which is fine. I can’t stand him either.

It seems having his dick rubbing against me is a forgotten dream. Just to play tricks and piss him off, and to see if he’s trying to pry into my mind, I think about Valin and I training as he holds a sword to my throat. He tells me that Dane isn’t good enough before bringing his lips to mine.

Dane’s shoulders tense, and I try not to chuckle.

Slut .

My pencil falls from my fingers, and I glance back over to him. Did he say that out loud? No one bats an eyelid in our direction, and the teacher is still writing on the chalkboard.

Well, drawing several stick figures in different positions of giving oral.

Dane continues to write, and I glare at the back of his head. Asshole .

He stops and looks over his shoulder at me. We both frown, and slowly, he turns to face the front of the classroom.

He… heard me? And I heard him? What kind of weird witchy crap is this?

Then I remember the voice in my head when Valin was in my room. I had involuntarily wanted Dane, and the distinct deep voice had said, Where the fuck are you?

Oh God. Is this a paired-up thing? Can Orsen and Mel talk to each other?

I go to ask my friend, but the sound of the grandfather clock halts me.

It’s the end of class, and I aim to drag him into an empty class with my nonexistent vines and demand answers. But when I get into the corridors, he and his group of friends are gone.

I walk to the food court with the twins, holding my leather satchel against my chest.

Can you hear me?

Nothing.

Dane?

Nothing.

I guess that’s good. Maybe I imagined it, imagined it all, or it was just a coincidence that he looked at me after I called him names in my mind.

Once I’ve eaten, I excuse myself and make my way to the bathroom. I freeze as Dane turns a corner, nearly smashing into me.

Our eyes lock, and I wait for it. The name calling. The bullying he’s put me through since I got here. But no vines snap out to restrain me, and no black masses of shadows try to swallow me into an abyss.

Your hair is stupid.

Dane wets his lips and tucks his hands into his pockets. Waiting. He’s waiting for me to say something.

I want to punch you.

“Why are you staring at me, mortal?”

I cross my arms, acting as indifferent as he is. “Task three is due by Tuesday.”

His half-lidded eyes drop to my chest for a split second before looking to the side. “I’m aware. It’s Friday.”

“I’m aware.”

Dane snaps his gaze to me. “Do you always act like a child?”

“You know, I may be older than you, or I could be a baby compared to you. What if you’re like a thousand years old? I like older men, but not that old.” I raise a shoulder. “Unless you’re Valin.”

“The monster who tried to fuck you. Of course you’re fine with him. A few apologies and you forget the way he approached you?”

I smile. “Apparently so.” Lie. Valin gives me the creeps, but I like to push Dane’s buttons. It seems he doesn’t like Professor Mallory too much. “Was that you who spoke to me before you blasted into my room and wrecked everything?”

“What would your boyfriend think of you being so open about fucking someone else?”

My brows narrow, and confusion sets in before I remember I lied that I had one before, so I tip my chin and stay silent.

Dane stares at me for a long moment before scoffing. “I’m needed elsewhere. Be gone, human. I don’t need people seeing me conversing with you.”

I raise a brow. “Because you’re the prince of shadows and I’m a mere mortal?”

“No. Because I’m the heir to an entire realm and you are nothing.”

I smirk, spinning on my heels and walking away from him. “One day, you’re going to realize repeating yourself gets you nowhere.”

I’m away from him as soon as I turn the corner, and I press my back to the brick wall to catch my breath. Something was tugging on me when I was in front of him, like I needed to touch him, to run my fingers through his hair and feel all of him against me again.

The rush to approach him was like bad adrenaline.

That’s new.

Maybe as the tasks are completed, the magic that was cast for our pairing grows stronger? If so, I’m not sure what things will be like in a few tasks’ time. It would explain Orsen and Mel jumping from hatred to barely being able to take their eyes off one another.

As I head for my dorm, I stop near the library. It could be a good idea to know more about Dane. His powers and history and what caused his world to perish.

Each realm has a different story, but they’re all linked to one source of power. Poppy once explained to me that it was like a missing piece of a jigsaw. One broken element, and the worlds are slowly falling apart.

I rush to the library and hunt for a book on the Shadow Realm. He said he was the heir, so surely there will be information on him? His family?

It takes me nearly three hours, but I eventually find one. It’s at the top of the shelf, so I grab a ladder, slide it over, and settle my bag at the bottom of it.

The book is heavy and full of dust, but I manage to carry it down to the bottom. I drop to the floor, crossing my legs and leaning my back against the bookshelf.

The hard cover cracks as I open the front page. I cough into my sleeve and screw my eyes up from the dust. The smell is rancid, like it’s been through wars and drains and death. The writing is in a different language altogether, but there are some illustrations.

I skip pages until I reach one that looks familiar. A symbol, similar to the yin and yang yet distorted. The lines of the shape are written words. Handwritten. These symbols have been drawn into the book instead of being natural to the edition.

Dane has this one on his wrist. The exact same. I try to read what it says beneath, but it’s not a language I’ve ever come across in my world.

I flick more pages, until I see another symbol, another Dane has on his skin. There’s the tiniest line of words beneath it.

The divine darkness does not exist without her.

It’s handwritten in English. A language some creatures here are still learning. I frown at it before turning the page to an animal, like a bull. A snake wraps around it, with two broken hearts trapped between its horns.

And handwritten again is, The heir of all the realms will wield the power of darkness until its love returns . Death to her, death to all.