Page 86 of Shattered & Returned

Shame bred moreshame when Nero Ravencrux, the powerful immortal professor was involved.

Dante and Orren marched me back to the tower like a prisoner. I kept my eyes on the uneven cobblestones, my cheeks scalding

“These things happen, Bloom,” Orren said, his attempt at comfort falling flat. “Don’t feel too bad.”

“It’s okay to feel bad,” Dante countered. “Dwelling builds character.”

They exchanged glances over my head, that silent communication I’d been excluded from.

I whirled on them. “Why is it that everyone’s exchanging stealthy looks? As if everyone knows the joke I’m not in on?”

Dante opened his mouth, then choked, his face flushing dark. He staggered back, gasping as if the words had been ripped from his throat and erased.

“Are you okay, Dante?” I called.

He stepped back, closed his eyes, and muttered a curse. A moment later, his breathing steadied.

“You’ll just have to figure it out on your own, Carrot!”

“I figured,” I snorted.

When we entered the tower, the ward admitting us, every student in the hall turned to stare. Some drank; others played cards or chess. If any of them had been in Tabula Rasa, the illegal underground club, and seen me, at least they hadn’t witnessed Ravencrux spanking me.

A small mercy.

I didn’t have to shove my way through; the crowd parted for Dante and Orren. Not just because they were both giants of men, but because they now carried broadswords strapped across their backs. In all my previous encounters, they’d never been armed like this.

The witch librarian had mentioned Ravencrux and his team were fighting intruders. I would’ve asked them about it if I weren’t in such a foul mood.

I didn’t make eye contact with anyone as I rushed up the black stone stairs. Witchlights glowed beneath the ceilings.

“I’m in the tower now,” I said. “You don’t need to escort me to my room.”

“An order is an order,” Dante countered. “Nero said ‘tucked in,’ remember?”

“I had a few drinks. Danced a little.” My control snapped as we reached the middle of the staircase. “Yet everyone acts like I committed a capital offense while no one holds you accountable for kidnapping me. On my first day here, I watched a student getstabbed in broad daylight and the whole school barely blinked. And when that redhead was murdered?—”

Both men stiffened at the mention. Their reaction was instant, telling. Of course they knew.

Should I press them for answers or dig deeper on my own before tipping them off?

“No one seemed concerned about the redhead,” I emphasized, watching Dante and Orren flinch, “being thrown past my window! What the hell is going on? What’s wrong with this school? What is fucking wrong with everyone?”

Orren scratched his nose, and for a second, I swore a flicker of hellfire sparked in his nostrils.What was his tie to the hellhound?But I couldn’t ask, not without revealing I’d broken into Ravencrux’s study.

Sebastian had pressed me for updates on the investigation he’d set me on, but before I could respond, the other immortals swarmed in, all eager to punish me for those drinks. Never mind that I wasn’t the only one who’d ignored curfew. Just the only one who hadn’t known the rule.

“I’m sorry you’re upset, Bloom,”Orren said.

That was it? No explanation, no apology? I bit back the urge to scream. But Orren had always been the kindest; lashing out at him wouldn’t help.

We reached the door of my chamber. Before I could pull out the key, Orren pressed his palm on the door, and it swung open.

“Magic,” he said, smiling.

I narrowed my eyes. “You can open anyone’s door?”

“Yeah,” he said.

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