35

ORION

SHE was more beautiful than I remembered.

Seeing her in dreams, wrapped in my shadows and warped by sleep had only fuelled my desire to lay eyes on her again. Seeing her in reality, under golden light like the Goddess she was, awoke something within me. A fierce hunger, one that would be unsated by its usual preference—death.

I watched from the sidelines as she struggled with the blocks I had Blythe reconstruct between us. Her pain tasted terrible, but it had to be done.

“Pathetic,” Layla muttered, eyeing my little flower in disdain. “They’ll let anyone in here.”

I lifted my chin, though my rage wanted to rip out her throat. “If you can’t taste the power in the air, then that is a fault of yours, not the witch.”

Layla sneered up at me. “I only sense a whisper of what you call power , Orion. Maybe it’s you who has a problem.”

She was goading me for her own desires. She wanted to be chosen by me. She wanted me to grab her by the throat and remind her that I was prince of Luna Court, not she, and that her place here at my side was fragile. I knew she got off on it, like the others before her. So, I did none of that.

Let one of her playthings sate her desire.

It would never be me who did such a thing.

I turned back just as my flower was guided away by another witch. Soon, the two shadows she’d arrived with followed. I clamped down on my own need to see her. That break in the block between us had been more difficult for her than I realised. It also told her I was here.

Hopefully she would see it as a game. I still had work to do before I could be hers again. And I hoped it would be enough to sate her until then. I shuddered at the reminder of what happened the last time I reached out. The scorching pain that followed testing our bond.

It still remained a frayed, darkened mess on my end thanks to Blythe.

The corridor emptied and I started for the dorms. The fourth floor was ours, and as the lowest number of students, the Fae had more space. It was part of the agreement between the Courts and the Queen. I welcomed the space away from these...leeches.

The only one I remotely liked was Blythe. But she would be off to her own floor.

A floor she’d be sharing with Ivy .

I couldn’t wait to say her name again, to feel it roll off my tongue. Over the years, I hadn’t given myself permission to say her name. If I spoke it, I feared she would appear, and that would mean danger for her.

Blythe parted from our group with only a nod and started for the left stairwell that would take her to her dorms, while the rest of the Fae and I took the right. The vampires—Born and Changed—lived on the floor below us, so their bloody scents clung to the stone. We passed their floor and continued up to our hall. One half belonged to the Seelie, the other to the Unseelie. But I longed for the silence of my room.

I started towards my Court’s door, but a body appeared in my path. Layla fluttered her lashes, but she didn’t move in closer. Like the others, she knew better than to touch me.

“I’m sorry, Orion,” she purred. “Let me make it up to you?”

“You have nothing that interests me, Layla,” I replied, cocking my head. “You should know that by now.”

Her jaw clenched, and her eye twitched. Like the rest of her Court, she could take the form of the Wild. She fought against that instinct now, despite it twisting across her olive-toned face.

“Control would suit you well,” I muttered, stepping around her. “Best learn it before it gets you killed.”

As I stalked off, I heard her huff, and the muffled sound of laughter followed in my wake. They might have been leeches, but they understood I held all the power. More than I ever had before. Since the awakening of Ivy’s magic, my own had responded out of need. It was a terrible, dark entity in my chest, one that ate at me every day I wasn’t with her, but it was pain I was used to.

Pain I would accept so long as she never had to feel it.

My father paid a large sum to the academy to ensure I had a private suite, and so it became my sanctuary. As soon as the door closed and locked behind me, I curled my hands into fists. Most days I forgot about the gloves. The black leather was part of me now, as much my skin as my own flesh. I flexed my fingers, flecks of blood falling to the ground from the action. Perhaps it was time to clean them after the last...mission.

By the time the dining hall opened, I’d managed to cleanse myself of the deep, ferocious need to reclaim my mate. I hadn’t expected to feel so restless with her proximity. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. Ever since she found me in that cabin, I’d been drawn to her, like moth to flame. I’d been hers as much as she’d been mine.

We’ll be together again , I thought, glaring at my reflection in the mirror of my bathroom. I stopped and closed my eyes.

The block between us was a painful reminder, but it was strong as the day I’d asked Blythe to build it. Perhaps I wasn’t strong enough to purposefully keep myself away. But she had certainly grown in strength over the years. If it weren’t for the sudden force of our meeting again, the block she’d erected would have remained in place.

I planted my hands on either side of the sink and stared ruefully at myself in the mirror. She wouldn’t recognise me now, not without the glamour. I’d thought about donning it again, the facade of Ry , but no. I didn’t want our meeting to be a lie, not again.

When we met again, she would see me, and only me.

Perhaps she would notice the darkness. Would it frighten her? It lived in the violet of my eyes, a swirling shadow surrounding the pupil, the only physical expression of the magic. Cocking my head, my white hair fell over my forehead, and a sigh of irritation escaped my lips. If it weren’t for the fact she liked playing with my hair before, I would cut it. The length was an issue considering my work, but for her, I left it.

Straightening, I smoothed my gloved hands over the front of my black button up. I checked the cuffs of the shirt before donning a jacket and left the comfort of the bathroom.

The room itself was bare of anything personal. The bed was made, and my trunk with the few belongings I’d carted here from the Luna Court sat at the end of it. I wouldn’t let an attendant pack anything away. I preferred that my own belongings were handled by myself. I had a small, separate study room, which held the few books I required for the semester, a desk, and a bookshelf that was otherwise empty.

As I left my room, I was greeted by the rest of my people, who waited by the stairs. They perked up as I passed, but I hadn’t the energy to give them the attention they desired. So, cruelty they received, and they ate it just as eagerly.

The halls were busy as students made their ways down to the dining hall. Most floors had common rooms with private dining spaces available, but there was always something about the first meal of the new semester that had everyone excited. Usually, there was a show of definite power. Someone stepped in to rule over the populace and others would rise in retaliation. Popularity and power were the coin of these people, and the more you had, the better you fared. And with it being the last year for many, they had the most to prove and our underlings had to figure out who they needed to emulate to survive.

Ivy had been left with a witch who had some decent power of her own, but not enough to help her should the need arise. And with the way her other mates hadn’t rushed to her side before, I couldn’t be sure if they were here in some other capacity. They were here as protectors, but not as mates, which worried me.

She was otherwise alone.

Stalking through the hallway towards the dining hall, the Fae pushed through the throng of bodies, and I ignored the gasps of outrage that usually followed. I was looking for one person, and one person only, but it seemed as though she wasn’t here yet.

Or maybe she isn’t coming . The thought made my heart clench, and I gritted my teeth. It took a lot of restraint not to check on her through our bond. Instead, I let Layla guide our group to one of the long tables that lined the hall. There were three in total that spread the length and each overflowed with a selection of food hailing from each of the different worlds that made up Nyx.

Blythe sat on one side of me, and I was grateful when Finn, one of the Aither Court prince’s, took my other, leaving Layla to sit across from me. She was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

“Are you feeling okay?” Blythe asked under her breath. She didn’t look at me as she added a few small morsels of food to the plate in front of her.

I sighed through my nose, grabbed one of the meat-stuffed bread pieces and tossed it onto her plate. “Likely better than you.”

She gnashed her teeth in a feral sort of way, but she took what I’d given her and began eating.

Despite my own stomach being in knots, I forced myself to fill a plate. The dining hall was obnoxiously loud as groups began their debates on who was stronger. A shifter jumped up onto a table and howled like the moon was out.

A tingle ran down my spine. Soft laughter met my ears, and I looked up as she entered with her new, pink-haired friend. She still wore her off-white turtleneck, though she’d thrown a dark red knitted cardigan over the top. Was she cold? I frowned. There wasn’t much of a chill in the air, and it made me nervous that she wasn’t okay.

But upon first glance, she was. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes bright, and she seemed to be liking the witch just fine.

They made their way down the tables until they were standing by mine, only several seats down. The pressure of being so close to her weighed on me. I could almost scent her sweet fragrance in the air.

But I forced myself to look away. I had to before I exploded.

That didn’t mean I didn’t listen.

“What’re you feeling like, Ivy?” the witch asked.

My sweet flower hummed under her breath. “Hmm, I’m not sure I’m that hungry, honestly.”

I wanted to deflate, fighting the urge to go over and fill her plate for her. I knew what she would like. The meat-filled bread I’d given Blythe had a bite to it, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She’d enjoy it dipped in the sauces lining the table. Or there were the savoury pies topped with a rich, buttery pastry. Meat that melted on the tongue. Crisp, fresh salad.

“At least have something small,” her friend said.

Ivy didn’t like being pressured when it came to food. Where Blythe ate out of spite of my forcefulness, Ivy grew shy, nervous. She always had. But she sighed. “I’ll try...this.”

I glanced up carefully to see her pick at the roasted vegetables and sighed through my nose. Their conversation turned hush after that, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make out their words.

But it wasn’t like it mattered as a loud, piercing voice cut through the hall. A vampire fell to the ground as their screams echoed through the air. Some hesitantly rose to get a better look. My flower jumped up, her magic awake, alive, and clearly powerful—though different to how it should have felt.

It was like instinct, the way she cut through the flames. A tingle of desire and excitement ran over me as her magic erupted out of her. It was barely an ounce of what she was capable of, but it was enough to silence the room. All she’d done was douse the flames of a mage.

She started for the vampire, her desire to see if he was okay clear on her face, but her friend grabbed her by the arm and whispered something in her ear. Ivy then looked off towards where her shadows watched, and after a beat, she stepped back until she was at her seat again. Anguish lined her face as she watched the few on-sight guards collect the vampire and place him onto a gurney to be taken to the infirmary.

There was total silence as they carted vampire off, and then they pounced.

The power hungry, ass-kissing, station-grabbing creatures descended upon her. They wanted to know which bloodlines she belonged to. Was she related to any powerful witch? And who was this new girl who ’d been seen cowering in pain from a mind-witch attack?

But Ivy didn’t cower. She eyed the leeches and shook her head, disappointment filling her eyes as she turned and stalked out of the dining hall.

Perhaps that was the best show of power she could have given.

Turning her back on those she deemed unworthy.

At that, I ducked my head and smiled to myself.

Thorns. She’d certainly grown them.