Page 7 of Soulless Rivalry

The sound of feet shuffling on the floor made my eyes snap open. It was dark, and although we could probably see the moon better than anyone on the continent, all the trees around me made it hard to see anything. A shadow was advancing towards me, but I didn’t know if it was him or if I’d just gotten busted.

“I have what you asked for.”

My shoulders slumped and a breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding finally made it out.

“Do you have the money?” he asked.

I nodded, unable to form any words. Shame clogged my throat, made it impossible to speak properly. I was doing something that could cost me my place in this school, that could cost my aunt and mother a good beating if I got busted and my grandfather came to know about it.

But the alternative wasn’t much better.

It was either cheat and pass this fucking test, or fail and never be allowed to come back here again.

I had to take the risk.

Silently, I handed him the money, three grand that I had to borrow from my cousins, and he took it hurriedly. Henson all but threw the manila envelope containing tomorrow’s test answers at me, and I scrambled to catch it so it wouldn’t hit the damp ground.

“If you talk, you’ll regret it,” was all my maths TA said before turning on his heels and going back to where he came from, quickly disappearing towards the castle.

My breathing was ragged.

I had never cheated in my life, never needed to.

But this was an exception.

Given everything that had been happening at home that week, I hadn’t had the time nor the drive to study for tomorrow’s final. And since my whole stay at the Academy depended on my grades, I couldn’t fail.

“It’s okay. It’s survival,” I muttered under my breath, my fingers playing with the bangles on my wrist that I never took off, not even to sleep.

I could feel myself starting to calm down, right before a cold voice emerged from between the trees.

“Is that how you want to call it? Survival?”

I stopped breathing, my whole body felt numb as I waited for him to appear in front of me. I would have recognized his voice anywhere, but I fooled myself into thinking I was mistaken.

Only, when Konstantin Korolov appeared, I knew I was fucked. His face was lit up by the moonlight, eyes digging holes into my skull, and he was standing there, like a king ruling over me, looking down on me.

“So that explains it, then,” he stated, eyed me up and down in what could only be described as disgust. “That’s how you managed to even compete with me.”

White hot anger burned deep in my stomach at his assessment. Of course he would think that, this egocentric, self-centered, holier-than-thou son of a??—

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I gritted my teeth, trying my best not to let tears of anger, shame and anxiety stream down my face.

Konstantin chuckled humorlessly, taking a step closer to me. “Of course I don’t. It’s always best to fool yourself into thinking you’re doing the right thing than to think you’re a fucking cheater.”

“Shut up.” I had been on edge for days, my brain was foggy thinking about mom’s health, about my future at the Academy. I couldn’t talk to anyone about this because no one truly understood. The last thing I needed was fucking Konstantin Korolov calling me names.

Something that usually would have made me laugh to piss him off, now only made me want to cry.

“Tell me, what’s keeping me from going to the Dean right now and getting your ass thrown out of this fucking school, Ayaari?”

Ayaari.

He always called me that and not Bianchi like the rest of the school because he thought it pissed me off. Little did he know it was quite the opposite.

His eyes bore into mine. They were always so full of anger, full of contempt. Often, I found myself admiring their color and their depth, but I never let it go too far.

The last thing I needed was to feed the tiniest crush I had on Konstantin. Someone so cold and ruthless. Incapable of love.

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