Page 5 of Empire of Light

Triaten pulled the duffle bag from the back of the black truck he’d picked us up in and I leaned to my side against the tailgate, watching him.

His movements stiff. Like he was either sore from a brutal workout or he was pissed.

Uncle Tri didn’t get sore, so that meant pissed.

I did spring this on him. Unfair, but necessary.

“You could have planned this better.” His glare pierced into me.

I looked away, staring at the ancient wrought iron letters spanning the archway over the main walkway to the Academy.

SUPERSTES VICTORIA EST

Survival is victory.

The same name plate that had adorned the threshold of every Academy the panthenites had maintained throughout the millennia. The current Academy sat juxtaposed behind the ancient scroll, the main building all sleek metal and glass, wide and oblong shaped, like a monolith of an alien spaceship landed on earth. Cold, clean, and I knew full well that the interior of it smelled just liked it looked. Crisp antiseptic, wiping away every manner of sin.

It was why when I’d lived here, I’d always loved my cottage that sat deep in the woods behind the main building. It was a holdover from the early days, before the newest alien orb building had been constructed. Students at the Academy had loved my place as well. Warm and cozy, my cottage always had a fire crackling in the fireplace and worn but well-loved furniture. A complete opposite to the sterile environment they were surrounded with in all the other buildings on Academy grounds.

The itch to walk around the main building and visit my cottage scratched under my skin, but I couldn’t afford the time. I needed every second I could scrape out of this.

I folded my arms over my ribcage. “Or I planned it very well, thank you very much.” I glanced at him out of the side of my eye. “You’re the only one that can make this happen.”

He nodded, his face serious. “I will make it happen.”

Of that, I had no doubt. My uncle was a force of nature, and if anyone could secure Venetia’s place here at the Academy, it was him.

Triaten inclined his head toward the cab of the truck. “She getting out?”

I glanced at the back of Venetia’s head through the rear window. “She is. She’s just calming herself. She’s nervous.”

“No shit.” The army green duffel bag hanging at his side, Triaten leaned back against the tailgate of the truck, surveying the grounds of the Academy. His voice dipped low. “You are sure about this? That I’m not delivering a ticking bomb into the heart of the future of the panthenites?”

“You aren’t. I trust her.” I leaned over and patted the side of his cheek. “You need to as well.”

The right-side door of the cab opened behind us and we both popped away from the tailgate, walking to the side of the car.

Closing the door, Venetia stood beside the truck, the setting sun aglow behind her.

I paused, taking her in.

She was taller than me now. She’d grown out the thick bangs that she used to hide behind two years ago. Long enough to pull back into the low ponytail she almost always wore. But the full ponytail was long, her rich dark hair falling in long waves partly down her back and partly over her shoulder, trailing down to her chest. Against her pale skin, her thick dark lashes that lined her golden amber eyes had only grown longer—no need to apply goth eyeliner to those eyes. Eyes that could slice one in two or show the deepest compassion. Her lips were currently in a frown, but her face would light up when she was laughing.

She was Damen’s child for sure, her beauty unmistakable—which had also been the bane of my existence for the last few years.

She attracted eyes everywhere she went, and that meant my plan for us to keep a low profile for as long as we could was constantly in jeopardy. We’d had to constantly move.

Something that had driven her nuts. She wanted stability. I wanted safety.

Maybe I’d been too cautious and hadn’t ever let us enjoy one place for long. Or maybe I had been right in always shifting us around. We were never found, so that had been a plus.

But it had meant that she’d never developed any real friendships with people her own age—not that I was about to let any male near her. But for her to have a real friend, someone to laugh and giggle about nonsense with, was something I’d denied her, even inadvertently so.

I hoped she could find that here at the Academy.

A friend. At least one.

My nostrils flared as I heaved in a deep breath.

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