Page 56 of Satanic Shadow
“No. And it’s unprofessional to sleep with your students.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replies, popping a grape into his mouth. “I’m off duty in…” He thinks for a second. “Four minutes. You evidently have no plans, so why don’t you hear me out?”
“See, this is where you’re the worst professor ever. You know if I go anywhere near someone I’m not paired up with, I’ll fail, yet you still approach me. What’s your deal?”
“You’re branded,” is his reply. “You should know exactly what that means. I just want to explain the consequences—that’s all.”
I turn away, but his voice stops me. “Is it burning yet?”
My hair flips over my shoulder as my head snaps in his direction. “What?”
He pops another grape into his mouth. “Come see me if you want answers,” Valin says, winking. “I’ll give you the truth, unlike Dane.”
I stare at him in silence then glance up at Dane, who’s already giving us all of his attention. His arms are crossed, and he’s leaning against the table with his hip. He’s trying to listen, his jaw set, his gaze lingering on my face before dropping to Valin, who’s still sitting at the table.
I’ve seen Dane looking angry on numerous occasions, but the way his eyes turn to voids of black, a flash of possession in them, I know this is a side I’ve never witnessed.
Get the fuck away from him.
Despite him looking like a terrifying demon, I pull my bag up to my shoulder and down my glass of water.Fuck you, asshole.
17
At midnight on the dot, I’m doing as Mel said and lounging in the bathtub, soaking in the lavender-scented bubbles with the window open. There’s a breeze that has goosebumps on my skin, but despite the slight tingling coldness, it’s relaxing. The mix of the rain and wind, the heat from the water, has me in a comfortable daze.
As soon as I got back from the food hall, I found an acceptable outfit that wasn’t my uniform. To be fair, the dress is Poppy’s, but it’s better than a short pleated skirt and a shirt Dane can rip apart without even looking at me. But as soon as I put it on, I decided against going to his room.
A part of me had wanted to, that insidious side of me that wanted his mouth and hands on my body. But the semi-sane part of me had overridden that urge and given me a kick up the ass.
So now, I lie amongst strongly fragranced bubbles and wait. Because Dane, in all his controlling and demanding ways, will be banging on my door by ten minutes past midnight at the latest. He’s going to warp his way into my room and speak tome like shit. Then he’ll make me feel infinitesimally smaller than everyone else in the academy and call me a weak human, in the same breath as accusing me of being someone else and kissing me.
Makes sense.
I check my phone beside the bathtub. It’s four minutes to midnight. I have a message from Mel, a picture of all the cuts covering Orsen’s body while she sits on his back. They’re both naked. I have no idea if she’s aware, but this is not the way humans act. Well, not most humans. They’ve just had sex, she’s torn his back apart, and is sending me the evidence? On a normal person, the gashes from her nails would be life threatening. He should be rushing to the medical wing for stitches.
But he’s grinning, puncture holes in his ass cheeks, with his thumb up.
I grimace and shut off my screen, then toss my phone onto the ground. Usually in this situation, I’d be scrolling through social media, watching a few funny cat videos, and talking to my dog, who’d be curled up in a ball on the bathmat. Now all I can do is lie here and listen to the haunted castle walls creak and the drip of each drop of water from the tap.
I sink into the tub until only my face is above the surface. My ears fill with water, and I’m met with silence, the dull thump of my heartbeat, and the warmth cocooning me.
I pretend I’m lying in my bed back home, listening to music, drawing on my sketchpad. I’d be doodling myself, dramatizing my cheekbones and lips like a caricature before drifting off to sleep. Then I’d be getting up to start the day and head to work. I’d serve my usual customers, clean up after them, then come back to the apartment to take Toodles for a walk.
I wouldn’t be in any sort of trouble, except financially.
I wonder why everything in my life keeps going wrong. I’ve always felt out of place, trying to fit in and be the same as everyone around me, yet as soon as I got here, something in me awoke, and the Seraphine who badly wanted to be seen died an instant, painless death.
You’re late.The voice is so clear, so deep, I almost gasp.I don’t like to be kept waiting, mortal.
The water turns cold, and I sit up in a panic, instantly chittering. I go to pull myself out of the tub when a wind gathers around me, the air shifting, and a firm, invisible hand forces me back into the water. Its grip on my shoulder reminds me of the hold Dane’s shadow hands had on my thighs after our mortal studies class, when he pinned me to the chair and demanded I leave the island.
The other hand wraps around my ankle, and before I can scream or fight my way out of the restraints of his power, I’m yanked beneath the surface. Ice cold encases me, and I’m dragged further. I go down, down, down into the darkness, until I realize I’m no longer in the bathtub, weeds and aquatic animals rubbing on my skin as I try to swim back up.
I desperately swim to try to break the surface, to reach the canopy of trees in sight.
But something tugs inside me, dizziness strikes, and the world shifts around me. The glow from the moon swirls, the coldness close to giving me hypothermia warms, and I silently scream in the water until I’m back in the bathtub and Dane is yanking me up by the chin and slamming his lips down on mine.
He pulls away just as fast, stepping back as I lie breathlessly confused in the water.
