Page 15 of Shattered & Returned

With one last lingering look that seared through my three companions, he turned. One moment there, the next, gone. Vanished into the storm’s gathering fury.

Yet the spell didn’t break. The imprint of his presence remained.

A deep ache filled my chest, like my heart was shattering, every piece trying to escape my chest to chase that man.

“Bloom?” Orren’s voice seemed to come from far away. “Carrot?”

I blinked, the world rushing back with dizzying clarity.

“Uh,” I cleared my throat, willing my voice steady, “who was that scary man?”

“The devil.” The new voice dripped like honey laced with arsenic.

I turned to find a golden-haired boy sauntering toward me, all predatory grace and feline confidence. His lion’s gold eyes gleamed with amusement, a stark contrast to the storm-eyed stranger’s intensity.

“Take my advice, new girl,” he purred, circling me like a shark scenting blood, “if you want to survive here? Stay far, far away from the devil.”

Orren lunged forward, his features twisted into a snarl. “Fuck off!” His fists clenched so tight I heard knuckles crack.

The golden boy merely smirked, stepping back gracefully. “Relax, guard dog. I’ve no interest in stealing Nero’s newest toy.” His eyes flicked to me, lingering on my trembling form. “Let’s hope you mongrels finally brought home the right stray this time.”

My breath caught. If the dark stranger was the devil, then hell burned colder than his gaze. That lightning strike hadn’t been natural—I’d seen shadows coil around his fingers like loyal serpents, felt death’s whisper in the static-charged air.

But that was madness. Only the Death God wielded such devastating power if one dared believe what the ancient texts claimed.

The dark clouds dissipated as suddenly as they’d appeared, pale sunlight washing over the obsidian campus. Yet instead ofsoftening the academy’s edges, the light carved deeper shadows between the towers, stretching across the courtyard.

I was sure now that Forsaken Academy wasn’t your average school. I squared my shoulders. Frail lungs and a weak heart didn’t make me weak. I’d survive this place.

Then the scream tore through the air.

I whirled in time to see a girl drive a dagger between another student’s shoulder blades. Blood arced in a crimson spray as she wrenched the blade free, only for the wounded boy to tackle her to the ground with a snarl, his injury seemingly forgotten.

“What the hell?”I lurched forward.“He’ll bleed out!”

Morrigan’s grip on my arm was iron.“Leave them.”

“But—”

“If they’re too weak to survive,”she said,“they don’t deserve to walk these halls.”

Horror iced my veins. “That’s just cold.”

Before I could do something, Dante and Orren closed ranks, steering me away as casually as if we’d just passed a minor squabble.

“Cheers, Carrot!”Orren beamed, his earlier fury gone as if a switch had flipped.“Nothing like a little bloodshed to brighten the day.”

Behind us, the sounds of tearing flesh and cracking bones faded into Forsaken Academy’s ordinary hum.

Chapter

Seven

Bloom

Ghosts in the Tower

Autumn leaves crunched under our feet on the gravel path, their burnt-orange hue the only color in a world of obsidian stone and pale sky. When the charcoal tower loomed close enough to see ivy trembling in its cracks, Morrigan and Dante melted away, leaving me alone with Orren.

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