Page 38 of Shattered & Returned

Sindy gave me a pointed look.“Yet he knowsyourname. And only yours. Think about it—he barely shows up to teach. His assistants do all the work. Butyou? He detained you after class.”

“So he’s doesn’t take his job seriously,”I said, frowning with disapproval.

“Rules don’t apply to him,”she said, then lowered her voice.“I might be wrong, but the tension between you two could cut through steel.”

“You’re imagining things,”I said too quickly.“He only knows my name because—”I caught myself, biting my lip hard enough to sting.

“I can keep secrets,”she said eagerly.“We might be roommates by chance, but I think it’s fate. Nobody notices me anyway since my magic’s too weak. I should be in Stardust Tower with my coven, but here I am in Tower Ravencrux with the other misfits.”

The confession slipped out before I could stop it.“I didn’t choose to come here. Ravencrux had me kidnapped and enrolled.”

Sindy froze mid-step.“No shit.”

“What am I supposed to do?”I gave a hollow laugh.“Report the man who answers to no one?”

“You can’t.”She grabbed my arm, glancing around nervously as we neared Midnight Banquet Hall.“Only Professor Kingsley stands against him, and?—”

“Sebastian, Kingsley’s protégé,”I finished.

She nodded.“They’re rivals. But even if you got close to Sebastian, Kingsley wouldn’t protect us. We’d just be pawns in their game.”

“Thanks for the warning,”I said, tilting my head back to take in Midnight Banquet Hall’s façade, a cathedral to gods long forgotten. The sheer grandeur of it stole my breath.

As we stepped into the hall, my breath caught once more at the sight of soaring arches and midnight-blue windows. Rows of onyx tables marched across gleaming herringbone floors, precise as a chessboard. Beyond the glass, snow dusted the evergreens, painting the hall in shifting patterns of frost

This wasn’t just a dining hall. It was a monument to power, steeped in centuries of tradition.

“This is a palace,”I said.

Sindy smiled.“Forsaken Academy is the wealthiest school across all seven continents.”

“Then why have I never heard of it?”

Her smile turned knowing.“Because it doesn’t exist for humans. Every student here was chosen. We’re special. The wanted.”

The hall hummed with low conversation, students moving through the space with effortless grace while I stood frozen, an outsider in this world of polished rituals.

“Come on,”Sindy whispered, tugging my sleeve.“Just find seats. The plates will appear once we sit—it’s all enchanted.”

We wove through the tables, searching for openings.

“Bloom!”

That voice. Smooth as fine whiskey, cutting through the murmur.

I turned.

Sebastian.

Sunlit hair like spun gold, eyes the impossible blue of tropical shallows. And he was…waving me over?

“Yes, you.”His grin was all lazy confidence.“Come sit by me.”

At his table, a circle of sharp-eyed students watched me, each radiating the kind of power that came from old blood and older money. The academy’s elite. And they were all staring.

Silence rippled outward. Then, like a tide turning, the weight of the entire hall’s attention crashed into me. Whispers coiled through the air, thick with disbelief.Her? On the first day?

I didn’t need to hear the words to feel them. The envy curdled into resentful glares that promised this wouldn’t be forgotten.

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