Page 34 of Gothikana

She just touched her friend’s shoulder, initiating contact, something she didn’t do at all. The silver-eyed devil probably didn’t even realise how unusual it had been for her to initiate their kiss. She shook off her thoughts and addressed her friend. ‘Then trust me. I’ll be okay.’

Reassured enough by that, Jade and Troy waved her away as she picked up her navy woollen skirt and ran to the driveway, her flat brownboots smacking the cobblestones with each step, the envelope clutched in her hand.

A black, sleek SUV was purring in the driveway, its driver waiting for her.

Rounding the front, she opened the passenger side door and climbed in. ‘Sorry to keep you waiting.’

‘Put on your seatbelt,’ he commanded.

Corvina glanced at him, taken aback by the light grey Henley shirt he was wearing, sleeves pushed up his forearms.

‘I’ve never seen you in non-black,’ she commented, putting the envelope in her lap and her bag between her feet, and clicking the belt in place.

‘And I’ve never seen you in light,’ he muttered casually. That was true enough.

‘I like dark colours.’ She shrugged, watching as he navigated the curved road toward the large gate. ‘Is this your car?’

He glanced at her for a second. ‘Yes. I got it two years ago.’

‘So, you’re allowed to leave campus whenever you want?’ she asked, settling in her seat.

‘The entire faculty can,’ he informed her, pausing as the main gate came into view. Clouds gathered in the distance, a blanket over the sun, casting the entire view into a misty grey that looked both mesmerising andmenacing.

A guard checked Mr Deverell’s card and opened the gate, letting them through. After two months on the campus, Corvina realised how free it felt to suddenly be out.

‘Do you mind if I roll down the window?’ she asked him before her claustrophobia could set in.

He gave her a slightly puzzled look before pressing a button on his side that rolled her window down entirely. Cold, frigid air whipped through her braided hair, and Corvina smiled at how it filled her lungs. Distance flew as he expertly weaved the vehicle around the curves, his speed definitely higher than the taxi’s had been on the way up. And this time, since she was sitting up front, she could see the plunging valley at each turn over the nose of the car, almost as though they would fly off into it before swerving at the last minute.

‘Thank you for taking me, Mr Deverell,’ she told him sincerely. ‘I truly appreciate it.’

He stayed silent for a long moment before speaking. ‘Vad. When we’re alone, you can call me Vad.’

When. That was the first thing she noticed before his name.

Vad. The urge to taste the syllable on her tongue was overpowering, but she resisted for the moment. ‘What does it mean?’

‘Untamed.’

She turned sideways, giving him a once-over. ‘Huh. You don’t seem untamed at all.’

The side of his lip twitched as his eyes flashed her a heated look. ‘You have no idea, little crow.’

Despite the cool wind on her face, she could feel her skin flush. ‘You give me mixed signals, you know?’ she told him quietly. ‘When you say stuff like that, it’s one. Then you warn me away from you, it’s another. You need to make up your mind about what you want from me.’

His response wasn’t one she expected.

He chuckled, the sound rich and warm with a bite of cold.

‘Who’s the letter to?’ he asked, changing the topic, taking them round another treacherous bend.

Corvina looked down at the envelope before gazing out the window at the darkening sky.

‘My mother.’

She felt him cut her a look she couldn’t decipher. ‘Your file says your parents are unavailable. Usually, that means dead.’

Corvina looked up in surprise. ‘You read my file?’

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