The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 204

< Friends-3-

Friends-3

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After dinner, they walked back to their dorm room in the gathering darkness.

The stars were beginning to emerge, scattered across the sky like diamonds on black velvet. Somewhere in the distance, an owl called.

Iva’s mind drifted to Caleb. She wondered what he was doing. If he was eating. If he was thinking of her.

Through the bond, she felt a faint pulse-warmth, affection, a whisper of *I’m here.*

She smiled.

“You’re doing that thing,” Lori said.

“What thing?”

“That thing where you zone out and get all gooey-faced. Thinking about your prince?”

Iva’s cheeks flushed. “Maybe.”

“You’re lost.”

“You’re jealous.”

“Accurate.” Lori bumped her shoulder. “But happy for you. Really.”

They reached their building. The hallway was quiet, most students already in their rooms. The only sound was the soft squeak of their shoes on the wooden floor.

Iva reached for the door handle.

Then she stopped.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

Someone was watching.

She turned slowly, scanning the hallway.

Empty.

But the feeling remained-a prickle of awareness, a whisper of danger, a shadow at the edge of her vision that disappeared whenever she tried to look directly at it.

“Lori,” she said quietly. “Go inside your room. Lock the door.”

Lori’s eyes widened. “What? Why? What’s wrong?”

“Just do it. Please.”

Lori hesitated, then nodded. She slipped into the room, and Iva heard the lock click into place.

1/3

< Friends-3,

Iva stood alone in the hallway, her senses stretched to their limit.

Mira,* she thought. *Are you there?*

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The response came immediately. *I’m here, my lady. Two figures. End of the hallway. They’ve been following you since the canteen.*

Iva’s heart pounded.

*Who are they?*

*I don’t know yet. But one of them…* A pause. *One of them feels powerful. Be careful.*

Iva took a slow breath.

She had faced Marik. She had faced the overwhelming pressure of the awakening ceremony.

She could face two shadows in a hallway.

She lifted her chin.

“I know you’re there,” she called out, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. “Show yourselves.”

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, at the far end of the hallway, two figures stepped out of the darkness.

Iva’s blood ran cold.

She recognized one of them.

The man from the window. The one with the dark hair and the predator’s smile and the eyes that had followed her across the courtyard.

He was taller up close. Broader. More imposing. And the way he looked at her-like she was prey and prize and puzzle all at once-made her wolf stir uneasily beneath her skin.

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