Page 73 of Shattered & Returned

But Angelina had died within the walls, and as far as I knew, the school hadn’t properly investigatedor caught her killer.

“We’re safe.” Mabel adjusted her hat with forced calm. “Professor Ravencrux mobilized the defense corps. They’re containing the breach before those monsters reach the perimeter.”

Beyond the windows, steel clashed against something harder. Now I understood the distant clamor. Ravencrux and his team were out there right now, fighting monsters in the dark.

My stomach churned as worry for him twisted into a knot. Sweat beaded on my nose. I hadn’t expected to care about Ravencrux’s survival, yet my lungs constricted, and my breath came ragged at the thought of him being wounded.

“What if they’re outnumbered?” I asked, fighting for calm. “Shouldn’t Professor Kingsley be out there too? Is he helping?”

Mabel shook her head, her eyes distant as she peered out the window at the roiling fog. “They’d rather watch each other bleed. Kingsley’s probably drinking mulled wine by his fireplace right now.”

The thought of Nero, Orren, and the others fighting alone sent a sliver of ice through my veins. “We should go to the gate. See if they need?—”

“They’ll have our heads,” Sindy interrupted, though her fingers twitched toward her wand pocket.

Before I could argue, Headmistress Stardust’s voice thrummed through the library, boosted by magic that made theair vibrate: “Curfew commences in five minutes. All students to their towers immediately. Those who disregard this warning will find the night’s terrors most educational.”

“There’s your answer,” Mabel said. “I’ll be in Stardust Tower withShield of Sparrowsand a pot of chamomile.”

I nearly forgot the monsters as my eyes lit up with interest. “Is it a gothic romance?”

Sindy yanked my arm hard enough to pop a button. “Run now, fangirl later.”

My nose pressed against the freezing glass as crimson light split the fog. Three monstrous riders circled a lone combatant—Nero, his obsidian sword trailing shadow and hellfire.

He leapt to an unbelievable height, swinging his longsword, hellfire bursting from its ebony surface. It struck true, and the head of one giant figure separated from his neck, blue blood shooting upward in the mist. A second rider darted to Nero’s blind spot.

Before I could cry out a warning—useless even if I wasn’t shouting from behind the library window—the rider had flung his ax toward Nero’s head. The three-headed hellhound I’d encountered in the study slammed into Nero’s attacker.

Everything happened in a second before the impenetrable fog rolled in again and shrouded the battle. My heart thumped in my throat. The acrid taste of burning worry fell on my tongue.

“Bloom!” Sindy called from the stairs. “We have to run.”

I peeled away from the icy glass. A plan formed: see Sindy safe, then slip through the wards.

I couldn’t just watch Nero and his team battle those things alone.

I was more than a wind-wielding novice, and it was time to test what else slept in my blood.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Bloom

His Lover

My nails carved crescent moons into my palms as I paced in my chamber. The images of Nero standing alone against those hunters burned behind my eyelids—three monstrous figures on winged steeds, their very presence warping the air.

Sindy had said Forsaken Academy perched atop the thin veil between the mortal realm and Hellgate, but those hunters weren’t demons; they were something worse.

I shouldn’t worry about Nero Ravencrux to the point of sickness—he remained on my list of murder suspects, the one killing redheads, and I could be next. Yet fear for him twisted my insides into a thousand knots.

I couldn’t sit on my hands and let him face danger alone. Just as I formed a plan to sneak out to the gate to aid him with my wind magic—at least I could use the wind to blow away a hunter or two—a familiar power shuddered through Ravencrux Tower.

My heart stopped, and relief washed over me.

Nero was in the tower. Alive. Home.

---