Page 255 of A University of Betrayal

Damn it, why was she suffering!?Why was she doing this to herself? Why did she blame herself? What was it that was making her life a living hell?

I just let the tears come, let myself be overcome by the overwhelm and despair.

All my pain was deserved.But not hers.

I wanted to take her pain, wanted to be there for her, to hold her and take her into my arms, to protect her from the darkness of this world.

I slammed my head against the shelf behind me, as if all worldly pain would silence the one in my chest.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out J’s silver bracelet, clasping it with shaky fingers, trying to focus on it instead of focusing on all these grueling thoughts.

My gaze lingered on the tiny silver plate on the bracelet.

Silvers & Golds

My breath caught in my throat.

That was the name of a jewelry store in Blairville.

Chapter 44

Bayla

Living in the Dark

Myuu

I was in a room that smelled just like when you open old books. It was empty. No furniture,nothing. Just dark brown wooden floorboards, black floral wallpaper and a dusty golden chandelier on the ceiling, which gave the room its own charm. Just like the windows, which reminded me of the ones in Moenia. They were large, tapered and let a lot of light into the room.

My gaze wandered to one of the two open doorways, which probably led to other rooms on the first floor.

There was a draft, which meant that there must be several windows or doors open somewhere.

I moved cautiously through the room toward the old glass panes.

I didn’t even know how I had gotten here...

A spider crawled across the glass and I backed away, but the spider quickly disappeared, so I approached cautiously.

A glance outside showed me a matte black terrace with Victorian wooden ornaments surrounding the house and in front of it an untended lawn filled with dried autumn leaves, just like the street in front of it. The houses on the other side of the street were also colorful Victorian villas. It looked familiar to me...

“Bayla.”

I wheeled around, ready to defend myself, but all that stood before me was an old woman, almost certainly of Latin American heritage. Despite the wrinkles around her eyes, she looked very pretty for her age, with her black hair braided back. I looked at her black cardigan and the matte black pearl necklace she was wearing. Then I spotted the beginnings of a jet-black tattoo, made up of strange runic characters interwoven together, peeking out of her collar and traveling up her neck, stretching out in different directions like tendrils of a plant.

I looked at her face again. She looked grim, very serious and yet... relieved?

“Who are you?” I looked around briefly, but it was only the woman in the room. “Where am I?”

“You’renotsafe.”

Confused, I took a step back.

“They’re going to hunt you down!”

There was fear in her raspy voice and she stepped further toward me.

Panic spread through me.

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