Page 20 of Darkness and Deceit
And that?
That undoes me more than anything else.
Simon glances between us like he’s just read a page in a book he wasn’t supposed to see. “I’m supposed to teach a defense class in ten minutes,” he says, clearing his throat—too casual to be accidental.
I blink at him. “You’re teaching?”
“Yeah. Defense rotation for third-years.”
Vaughn snorts. “Poor bastards.”
“They’ll survive,” Simon mutters. “Barely. But I figured since everyone’s so on edge, I’d run drills.”
He looks at Vaughn, and the message is clear:come with me.
Vaughn exhales like it’s an inconvenience. “There are other things I’d rather do,” he says and wiggles his eyebrows at me. I snort and the tension in my chest lightens just a little.
Before he can say anything obnoxious, I pluck the cigarette from behind his ear, toss it to the stone floor, and grind it out beneath my heel. “That’s a terrible habit, you know,” I say, giving him a sharp look. “One you should quit.”
He pauses like he might argue. Then huffs a quiet laugh. “So bossy lately, Fox.” He winks, then—softer, just for me—“You sure you’re okay?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Quit stalling.”
He grins, a real crooked smile. “Fine. I’ll join him.”
Their footsteps echo down the corridor, fading into the hush that follows.
And then there were two.
Seven
LILITH
The wordstill rings in my ears.
Mate.
Kai said it out loud. In front of the others. In front of me.
I stare at him, at the way he stands like all the Keepers and predators and ghosts of the realm could come at us together and he’d still not bend. Maybe not even blink.
My mate.He said it so simply. Like it was already decided.
Neither of us moves. I can’t look away from the deliberate calm on his face, the stillness he wears like armor. His jaw is sharp, carved from tension, and that black hair keeps falling into his eyes like it’s trying to hide the truth in them. But I see it anyway. That quiet fire. That steady, unshakable resolve that clings to him like a second skin.
He doesn’t fidget. Doesn’t soften. Doesn’t shift the way I do when I’m unraveling.
He just waits.
Waiting, always.
For me.
Kai keeps distance between us as if he’s determined not to push. I should be grateful, because I can’t think when he’s close,but every second of empty quiet builds up in my head, filling it with noise only I can hear.
Memories tumble in like falling bricks: the candle on the desk, the cold hands of the Keepers on my skull, the blue sigil flaring from his palm, the look on Kai’s face as he fell seven fucking stories.
Each one clings like static in my head, buzzing louder the more I try to quiet it.
