Page 70 of Severed Heir

Could he still be alive?

“I need a distraction,” I murmured. “Tell me about your time at the academy, when you were a student. Was it hard learning your shadows?”

His jaw ticked. “Not really. What do you want to know?”

I hesitated, then asked, “Was Klaus your best friend?”

He gave the faintest nod. “He was my only friend. When I bonded with Ciaran, it took us weeks to figure it out.”

“Why?”

A flicker of memory softened his gaze. “He’d kill me for admitting this, but Klaus was a flirt. A really bad one. I heard him in my head trying to charm a professor into bumping his shield grade up. It was… painful.”

I laughed, leaning into the railing. “And you? Were you the Academy’s heartthrob?”

“Who I was before I met you doesn’t matter.”

I arched a brow. “That sounds like a yes.”

He didn’t deny it. Just tilted his head, a slow grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You sure you want to know what I was like back then?”

“Only if it’ll completely ruin my perception of you.”

“Oh, it would,” he said, voice low and amused. “But I think you’d enjoy it.”

My breath hitched. I looked away first. “You know,” I muttered, “maybe this is a good thing. Starting over. Actually getting to know each other. Like finding out you were the reckless golden boy of the Academy.”

He leaned in slightly. “Not golden, Blanche. Shadow-born.”

I pressed into Archer’s side. “Happy birthday,” I whispered.

He didn’t look at me right away, just exhaled slowly, his gaze fixed on the city below. When he finally turned, his eyes were silver-washed and soft. “That’s not fair,” he murmured.

“What isn’t?”

“You saying that first. Now I owe you something equally devastating.”

I smiled. “Try me.”

“You were never part of the plan, Blanche. But if I could rewrite the stars, I’d burn the whole sky just to make sure you were.”

A breath caught between us.

“Happy birthday,” he said.

Chapter Thirteen

Archer Lynch

Serpent Academy — Skyfall.

Klaus slung an arm around my shoulders just before the annual Skyfall race.

“You sure you don’t want to know who wins?” he asked, flashing that crooked grin of his. But there was weight behind the teasing.

I shook my head. “No thanks. I’d rather not get expelled for cheating.”

“You’re no fun.”

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