Page 49 of Shattered & Returned

The academy’s charity kept me afloat, just as Angelina had pointed out. After being kidnapped and brought here, I owned nothing. The reminder bit deep, but I shoved it away.

For a while, we ate in silence. The tea was fragrant with spices—good, but I could’ve brewed better. Plants and herbs were my affinity, though I kept that to myself.

“Bloom,” Sindy murmured, “do you think the killer’s watching us right now? Scanning the crowd for the next victim?”

Dread coiled tight in my stomach. I set my teacup down, fingers shaking.

“We should stay alert,” I said quietly. “Angelina wasn’t the target. She was a message.”

“To who?” Sindy’s eyebrow arched, her tiny black brow ring glinting.

“To me,” I whispered. “Maybe to you. To every redhead.”

Her auburn hair billowed in the draft. It was darker than my fiery red but a shade brighter than Angelina’s had been. The memory of Angelina’s broken body, her red hair matted with blood, was seared behind my eyes.

My gaze darted around the café, my eye twitching in warning. I couldn’t shake the feeling of someone watching me, goosebumps crawling over my skin. The killer was still here within these walls, still hunting.

“We don’t go out alone, Sindy,” I said. “Safety in numbers. And no night outings.”

She widened her eyes. “Not even parties? We’ll be social pariahs. Hiding in fear just to be safe isn’t a life worth living.”

The memory of a decade of caged “safety” wheeled back—locked away, shielded from every shadow. I’d sworn never to be trapped again, not by love or fear or manipulation, the day I entered Forsaken Academy.

“You’re right,” I said, relaxing my grip on the teacup. “But we stay sharp.”

“We will.” Sindy smiled faintly. “Glad we’re roommates. And friends.”

Through the window, a figure strode toward us. Orren, his face etched with its perpetual worry, pushed inside. The door’s bell clanged like a warning as he halted at our table.

“You’re summoned. Both of you. About Angelina.” His voice was grim, his eyes lingering on me as if willing an unspoken message across.

“By who?” I asked. Dread trickled through my veins.

“Whom,” Orren corrected.

Chapter

Eighteen

Bloom

Under Suspicion

The administration door gleamed like a black pearl as we reached Founder’s Spire. Sindy waited on a hallway bench, her fingers knotting together in restless twists.

Before Orren could knock, voices sliced through the heavy wood.

“Carl Kingsley is furious you barred him from this interrogation,” the headmistress said. “Perhaps you should be more lenient toward him.”

“Be soft on him?” Ravencrux’s voice could have flayed skin.

My stomach plunged. After last night’s silent courtyard exchange, being in the same room with him would be its own special torment. Sindy’s hurried whispers during our walkhadn’t helped—interrogations with Ravencrux left even the confident walking out damaged.

“This feud has gone too far,” the headmistress sighed.

“It ends over his dead body, or mine,” Ravencrux said, his tone flat and final.

“You know that’s impossible.” The headmistress cut off as Orren ushered me inside.

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