25

W e are so close. So, so close to having sex. If I had power, I’d snap all their necks and order Dane to screw me already.

Dane growls into my ear in annoyance before throwing a blanket over my naked body as the guards continue filtering into his dorm room. The bathroom door is slightly ajar but open enough that they see us without having to search.

Whatever high we were climbing to is instantly diminished, even though my pulse is still spiking and my body aches for him to kill them all, toss aside the blanket, and sink into me until I’m seeing stars.

Instead, I’m panting and watching Dane pull up his pants, catching a glimpse of the glowing tattoo on the underside of his cock again. He cracks his neck, readying himself.

I cradle the fabric to my sticky skin and press my back to the bathtub, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest as the building high is slowly replaced by terror.

The guards don’t hesitate to shackle Dane, and he doesn’t fight against them, chuckling at their efforts to drag him away.

My breath hitches as a black mass smashes into one guard’s chest as he attempts to cuff me. He lets out a string of swear words, groans, and slides down the wall, holding his fist to his body and wincing as he tries to stand.

Dane glances over his shoulder at me. “If any of you look at or lay a finger on her, your body will be unrecognizable by the time I’m done with it.”

That shouldn’t set my pulse into a frenzy, but it does. Dane threatening someone on my behalf is almost… hot .

None of the guards approach me for a moment, but then one curses under his breath and points a sword in my face. “Stand.”

I clutch at the blanket and do as he orders, making sure all of my private areas are hidden.

“Are you armed?”

I raise a brow and look down at myself . “Where am I supposed to keep a weapon?”

Dane tugs at the magical handcuffs he’s in as the guard steps towards me with a sneer. “Careful, or I’ll have you arrested for aiding a murderer. I could think of a number of ways you’d find yourself useful down in the dungeons.”

As soon as the words are out, a snake of a shadow wraps around his throat, and I nearly drop the blanket covering me as he’s hauled out of one of the windows with a parting scream.

Another deep chuckle comes from the shadow prince as the remaining guards pull him out of the room.

His voice is in my head a few seconds later. I’ll send the twins for you. Don’t you dare leave the room alone.

Staring at the empty space of the room, I try to fathom the last hour. My heart is beating too fast to be healthy, with a mix of emotions choking me.

I press my palm to my forehead and walk over and sit on top of his bed, trying to breathe, to come to terms with everything that just happened. We were seconds from screwing, and now he’s been arrested.

And how exactly will you send the twins when you’re being dragged to the dungeons for murder?

Who did he kill?

He must be too far away to hear me or respond, so I toss the blanket aside, quickly wipe myself down with a cloth, and pull on a pair of his briefs and a black shirt that smells exactly like him.

The shadows are all still here, not with Dane. They usually follow him around, but they’re gathering on the walls with the ones that usually keep me company in my own room.

A knock sounds twice, and Mel pushes the door open. “Oh, great. I was fully expecting you to be chained to the bed.”

I grimace. “Why would I be?”

She hesitates then shrugs. “It’s Dane.”

A spike of jealousy stabs into my chest at the thought of him with others. I glare at the four-poster bed then back to my friend. “Nice to know.”

She inspects me with wide eyes. “Dane said he found you in the forest. Are you injured? We tried to look for you, but it was like you’d vanished off the island.”

“I’m unscathed, but I have no memory. We need to go to the headmistress—she must not know Dane has been apprehended.”

“She knows. The notice that a student was found in pieces has been all over the school. They’ve been hunting for the killer, and when they found evidence, Dane admitted to his crime. His mother gave him a few hours to speak with you before they came for him.”

That must have been when he came in and said I was a headache. He spent his time left in freedom with me?

Dane hates me. Why the hell would he do that?

And who the hell did he kill and why?

I make his bed, flattening the wrinkles in his blankets. “Speak with me about what?” I ask, fluffing his pillows.

“Did he not mention anything when he came back?”

I shake my head, and she hums, looking me up and down. “You smell like him. Please tell me you didn’t fuck Dane while he was covered in someone else’s blood?”

“We didn’t have sex,” I say, popping my hip out as I cross my arms. “Do you know who he killed?”

“A student. He was from the Fire Realm—that’s all I know.”

I nod. “Should I be freaked out? I mean, I’m not used to any of this, but I feel calm?”

She gestures to my hands. “Could be the curse Dane has been trying to extract. Me and Poppy have been doing our research, and we found that it tries to channel darkness, like it’s hunting for evil within one’s soul. Your emotions will be partially muted and your inhibitions lowered as a result, and you’ll have quite erratic dreams.”

I lift my hands, the tendrils barely visible from Dane taking most of it. It’ll get worse again, but for now, it’s manageable. “It’s a good thing I’m human then. The darkest my soul will ever get is from dodging my taxes.”

She blinks at me.

“We should go. We aren’t allowed on this side of the castle, especially not in the heirs’ tower.”

I snort. “Can the heirs be any more spoiled?”

“Well, Orsen did get offered a newer uniform, and even added that he could eat with the professors, but he said no because then he won’t see me.”

I follow her out of the room, closing the door with a click. “That’s kind of sweet.”

Looking at my friend and how she’s not towering over me like before, I frown. “Am I taller?”

My arm bumps hers, and she sniffs her skin, ignoring my question. “Please bathe when you get to your room. I can smell Dane on you. Why is it all over you if you didn’t have sex?”

I try to cover the last few hours as inexplicitly as possible as we make our way down the tower. The spiral staircase feels like it goes on forever.

Poppy joins us when we reach the bottom, and we go into the closest empty room so I can change into the clothes that don’t scream, I fucked someone last night !

I’ve done the awkward walk home on numerous occasions from Grayson’s apartment, but this is nothing like those times. We didn’t have sex, but I came with such a force that it’s still an echo in my nerves.

It wasn’t like any other orgasm. Each time I unraveled, it bounced off Dane, and then his orgasm sent tingles all over my body. It was like we were connected, a bridge of pleasure, a never-ending cycle of my pussy clenching around his fingers while his cock pulsed in my hand.

If our orgasms from foreplay were like a game of ping-pong, then what the hell is it going to be like when it gets more intimate?

The twins take me to the medic, and she checks me over, staring at the curse spreading on my hands, but her main concern is the strong trace of Dane all over my body.

I tell her I consented, especially since everyone currently thinks he’s a murderer.

She grows uncomfortable and asks if I’m on birth control when she realizes Dane’s cum is inside me, but when I try to explain we didn’t have sex, it opens up even more questions I refuse to answer.

After she gives me a contraceptive shot that makes me gag on fresh air at how large the needle is, she gives me more tampons than necessary. Poppy asks for some too so she can study them. Then the medic tells me to leave and rest, sending slips to all my teachers saying I’ll be off for a few days.

Poppy asks me again what I remember about Valin, but I come up empty. The same sequence of events he imprinted in my mind comes out instead.

Maybe he accidentally erased what my old foster family looked like too? Come to think of it, I can’t even remember their names. I try to picture them all, but it’s foggy, like there’s a blank canvas staring back at me.

“So you can’t remember anything Valin said or did?”

I shake my head. “I don’t even remember seeing him.”

Mel takes a deep breath. “We go to Valin and ask him straight out what he did. I can’t promise not to kill him, but I promise to wait until we have answers.”

If I was a powerful immortal with a violent, deadly bone in my body, I would try to kill him too. But if I even attempted to, he’d probably kidnap me again.

I thank my friends for walking me to my dorm then shut the door, rest my back on it and close my eyes. I breathe in the calm air, the smell of my room, the smoke from the candles.

Can you hear me?

It’s a long shot, but maybe he can tell me what to do to get rid of this curse on my own.

“Took your time.”

His voice makes me open my eyes. Dane is sitting on my bed, ankle crossed at his knee, reading a textbook from the Fire Realm. He throws it down. “You’ve underlined the wrong letters by the way. You need to emphasize the D in zedorphia , not the Z.”

“How are you here?”

He shrugs. “One of my powers—”

“No. I mean, why are you here, in my room, when you should be in the dungeons?”

“The only strong connection I have for materializing is to your room. I can’t leave through your door; it’s like I’m locked in here. I can go back to the dungeon if I travel, but that’s all.” Then he stands, tilting his head. “It’s probably a good thing, since I need to siphon that nasty curse from you every few hours.”

I glance down at my hands, which are already staining again. “Will it eventually kill me?”

“Yes,” he says, and my eyes go wide. Dane closes the distance between us, and my heart gallops from his proximity and towering height. “But as long as you let me do this, I can slow it down until I find a solution. There is always a loophole.”

Electric shocks rush up my arms as he takes my hands. “Why?”

His green eyes are on me, studying my face, and his stare feels like a soft caress on my soul. “Why what?” he asks.

“Why are you helping me?”

He massages my palms with his thumbs then circles his fingers around my wrists. The pulling sensation has me gasping with pain as he grits his teeth, transferring what he can of the curse to himself. He keeps his eyes on my face until the staining fades, his own veins injected with ink as his pupils dilate.

Before, the veins in his neck turned inky; this time, the dark vines crawl up the side of his face and his right eye turns entirely black.

He forces out, “Like I said, you haunt me.”

We break away, and as I press my palm to my chest, he slams his against the wall, causing the room to vibrate like we’ve been struck by an earthquake, focusing on filling his lungs until the burning stops.

“Are you okay?” I ask when he stays silent, his back turned from me.

He straightens. I bite my lip nervously as he turns and looks at me again with a contorted expression. “You should take that bath now, mortal. As much as I enjoy the scent of you covered in my cum, I need to go back and pretend to be the imprisoned heir.”

My cheeks heat, and I turn away from him to hide my blush. “Did you do what they say? Did you kill someone?”

“I might as well have.”

I slant my head. “Meaning?”

He comes up behind me, shivers wracking my body as he whispers against my ear, “Be a good girl for me, little mortal. I’ll return in the evening.”