Page 99 of Satanic Shadow
“I’m sorry,” he replies. “So, so sorry.”
My lips part as he pulls his face away, but then my gaze follows a lone tear falling from his eye as he mutters something in a different language. My chest tightens, as if something is being pulled out of me. My vision blurs, and a part of me panics and wants to pull away, screaming for him not to do this, but there’s a snap in my head, and my mind goes blank.
I blink a few times as Dane moves away from me and wipes his face, rubbing his eyes, waiting for me to speak.
“I think it’s the tasks,” I manage to say, breathless all of a sudden. “We seem to want each other the more time we spend together, and the more… things we do.”
He nods. “It seems so, mortal. Sleep—you will need your strength for tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow?” I ask as he wordlessly magics himself a fresh pile of clothes and starts pulling them on.
“You’ll see.”
And then he winks at me as he disappears into nothing.
29
Poppy and Mel are eating like they’ve never been fed before. Each crunch of their breakfast makes my nerves spike. I try not to get snappy with them as they finish their food while discussing their partners and how they’ve progressed well with the tasks.
Meanwhile, I have managed to skip the deadlines until Dane returns to class. If he returns. From what I’ve gathered from reading too many books in the library, it’s unlikely.
But I can’t help but feel uneasy about the possibility of him suffering. Heissuffering. Going on the bruises and marks over his body last night, he’s being beaten down there.
He might be getting beaten right now.
I worry my lip as I look around us, everyone eating their breakfast and chatting among themselves. Orsen keeps glancing over, probably trying to get Mel’s attention. The moody princess is mad at him for some reason, giving him the finger when he asks to speak with her. He’s been quite lost since Dane was arrested. He has other friends, but Dane was his best friend.Orsen was his right-hand man, stuck to his hip unless Mel clicked her fingers and wanted attention.
I’m surprised he hasn’t asked me where Dane is. Maybe he knows and doesn’t want to make it obvious to others. Or maybe I’m trying to pass the time by thinking of anything but Dane and what he could be going through right now.
Worried about me, little mortal?
I lift my gaze to the bickering twins and shove a spoonful of porridge into my mouth, suppressing my shift in mood. I refuse to show that his voice uplifts me.
Never.
Liar. I can feel how anxious you are about my current living situation. Would it make you feel better if I said the other person looks a lot worse?
Get out of my head.I gather more porridge on the spoon and put it in my mouth, a bid to hide the annoying smile trying to break free from hearing his voice.
A few minutes pass, and some students leave the food hall. Dane’s mother watches me as she walks in, grabs Orsen, and leaves again without sparing me another scowl.
I want to roll my eyes at her, remembering the way she excused herself because she didn’t want to witness her son kissing a human.
Well, said son did kiss me. Multiple times in fact. Maybe I should tell her that he spends hours a day with me, that when he was arrested, her son was close to fucking me on his bathroom floor. That he actually tolerates my company, considering he used to hate touching me and claimed I was dirty.
Weak.
Dying.
Oh, and just a warm body, if I remember rightly. He was mortified that he had to be paired with me, so much so that hecornered me on several occasions and demanded I either leave the academy or refuse the pairing.
I squeeze my spoon in my hand, growing unsettled.
“You’re very quiet today, Sera. Everything okay?”
Poppy is smiling at me—a small, gentle, friendly smile.
There’s a fire in me that ignites anger, and I snap my next two words without intending to. “I’m fine.”
