Page 15 of Satanic Shadow
I shower, get into my bed, and pull out my homework. It takes me hours, but I finally close my notebook. The candles flicker, the walls calmer than usual, and as I lie under my duvet, my phone dings.
Dane:I spoke with my mother, and she said it was important that we stay paired. Congratulations, mortal.
I pull the covers over my head and reply.
Me: You can’t threaten my life and text me like you haven’t. You are by far the weirdest dude I’ve ever met. Psychotic behavior. You really won’t last in my world. They’d make a documentary about you before giving you the lethal injection.
He’s going to give me a rundown of my death again, I can just tell. He’ll use excessive amounts of detail and make out that I’m a vile creature he’d never touch.
Yet he was hard as a rock last night. Unless arousal or getting a hard-on is a side effect of his anger. After all, I don’t know what species he is.
Dane: What is a documentary?
I’m never getting off this island.
6
Everyone is to be seated and silent in the canteen by noon. At the strike of half past the hour, I think my professors might blow the entire castle up given how noisy and late people are. Chairs are kicked over, groups laugh and chatter between them, and someone is smoking what I can only assume is the Quarrierton Academy version of a cigarette.
The lights flicker. “Silence!”
No one listens as I rest my elbows on the table, my chin in my palms. Apparently, being powerful will not grant you power over fifty-odd magical students. Well, magical bar one. Me.
Dane and his group of hooligans walk in, or more like swagger, and the hall falls into a still quietness. It irks me that they’re praised for no reason. They have the looks, sure, and the shitty attitude to go with them, but being the offspring of professors shouldn’t make them so special.
I might bring up my lunch—everyone is ogling them like they’re fresh meat and they’re all starving for a piece. Dane does look good, in all fairness. His hair is a curly mess on his head, hisshirt is partially unbuttoned—no tie—and his hand is tucked into his pocket.
The rolled-up sleeves draw my attention to his forearms, and I gulp away the irritating notion to watch the way the veins bulge through his tanned skin.
I look away as his gaze finds mine. Hopefully his mind-reading weirdness can’t reach away over here. If so, he just got an eyeful of his own hand around my throat.
Smooth, Sera. Smooth.
Annoyingly, Orsen notices the table the twins and I are sitting at, points in our direction, and smiles at Mel. We all groan in unison, and Poppy’s head connects with the table dramatically. She hates them all, and Orsen tends to tease her about her partner. He also tells her that he’s her future brother-in-law.
“Whatever he says, it’s a lie.”
I give Mel a look. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” is her reply. “Whatever Orsen says, don’t believe him. I didn’t kiss him outside of the class tasks, and I definitely did not feel his fingers inside me in the middle of the forest.”
Poppy grimaces.
My eyes narrow. “I thought you hated liars.”
She glares as he reaches us, leaning his freakishly large hands on the table. “Good morning, ladies.” Orsen tilts his head to me. “Human.”
I roll my eyes then avert them when Dane sits directly across from me. His foot hits mine, and I tense all over, like his black vines are wrapping around my body again. Instantly, my heart rate speeds up, and I need to clear my throat to stop any sounds from forcing their way out.
“Go away,” Mel says, but Orsen sits beside her, nudging her shoulder with a wink.
“You weren’t saying that last night, ice queen.”
Dane scoffs. “Please don’t go into detail again.”
I’m extremely grateful I haven’t had much in the way of detail yet.
Mel shakes her head, but I know she enjoys this. She looks at Orsen, fights a smirk, and slaps his leg under the table.
