The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 214

For Lori

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For a moment, nothing happened.

Lori sat perfectly still. Her face was blank-completely, terrifyingly blank. Her eyes were fixed on Iva’s face, but they weren’t seeing her They were looking inward, at something Iva couldn’t see.

Then Lori laughed.

It started as a small sound-a puff of air, a twitch of her lips. Then it grew, swelling into something louder, something almost hysterical. She threw her head back and laughed until tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Oh, Iva,” she gasped, clutching her stomach. “You got me. For a second, you really got me. Headmaster Attia? The terrifying headmaster who looks like he eats students for breakfast?” She wiped her eyes. “That’s a good one. Really.”

Iva didn’t laugh.

She sat perfectly still, her hands clasped in her lap, her eyes never leaving Lori’s face.

Lori’s laughter faded.

She looked at Iva-really looked-and saw that her friend wasn’t smiling. Wasn’t laughing. Wasn’t anything but deadly serious.

“Wait,” Lori said, her voice trembling. “Wait, wait, wait.”

She unfolded her legs and stood up. Then sat back down. Then stood up again.

“You’re serious?”

Iva nodded.

“You’re actually serious?”

“Yes, Lori.”

“No.” Lori shook her head, backing away from the bed until her shoulders hit the wall. “No, no, no. That’s not-he can’t be-I’m not-”

She pressed both hands to her face, her breathing ragged.

Iva rose and crossed the room, stopping just in front of her friend.

“Lori. Breathe.”

“Don’t tell me to breathe!” Lori’s voice cracked. “My fated mate is Headmaster Attia! The man who made a student cry last week just by looking at her! The man who-who-” She made a strangled sound. Plus, the age difference-. Is insane!”

“I know.” Iva reached for her friend’s hands, pulling them away from her face. “I know it’s insane. I know it doesn’t make sense. I know he looks terrifying and cold and nothing like the mate you imagined.”

Lori’s eyes were wild, wet, desperate.

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For Lon

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“But the thread doesn’t lie, Iva continued. “The goddess doesn’t make mistakes. I’ve seen it, Lori. With my own eyes. The red thread connects you to him.”

Lori stared at her.

Then her legs gave out.

She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, her back against the cold stone, her knees drawn up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and pressed her forehead to her knees.

Iva sat down beside her.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

“What about Daren?” Lori finally whispered, her voice muffled by her knees.

Iva’s heart ached. “I don’t know. The thread only shows fated mates. Not… not the people we wish for.”

Lori lifted her head. Her face was blotchy, her eyes red, her lips trembling.

“I was starting to like him,” she said. “Daren. I was starting to think… maybe…”

“I know.”

The dorm room had grown quiet. The tears had dried on Lori’s cheeks, leaving behind pale tracks that caught the fading afternoon light. She sat on the floor with her back against the wall, her knees still drawn to her chest, her arms wrapped around them like a shield.

Iva sat beside her, close enough to touch but not touching, giving her friend the space she needed.

Lori’s voice, when she finally spoke, was hoarse.

“So what next?”

Iva turned to look at her.

“You will tell him also?” Lori continued, her eyes fixed on the opposite wall. “That I am his mate?”

Iva nodded slowly. “This is how being the Messenger works. I see the threads. I reveal the matches.”

Lori was silent for a moment.

“For the moment,” Iva added, “I will not reveal my identity as the Messenger to the public. I arranged with Caleb that after the official mating ceremony, we will start revealing the fated mates from the Academy. In that way, no pack will be favored by my presence. It will be… equal. Fair.”

Lori let out a small, humorless laugh. “You’ve thought about this a lot.”

“I’ve had to. Being the Messenger isn’t just about seeing threads. It’s about managing what comes after.”

Lori finally turned her head to look at Iva. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face pale, but there was something steadier beneath the surface now. The shock was settling into something else-something that looked almost like resignation.

36-7

For Lon

“When will you tell him?” Lori asked.

Iva hesitated.

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“I need to speak with Caleb first, To see how we will reveal this to him and to the others. The Headmaster is not… he’s not a student. Plus to keep my identity confidential, this has to be handled carefully.”

Lori nodded.

“So I have a few days,” she said. “To get used to the idea. To decide what I want.”

“Yes.”

Lori laughed again-that same small, hollow sound. “Do you believe it will matter? What I want?”

Iva’s heart clenched.

“Lori-”

“Did you see him, Iva?” Lori’s voice cracked. “He’s so intimidating. The way he looks at people-like he can see right through them. Like they’re insects under a glass. His choking wild aura. I can only imagine his reaction to the idea that he is mated to…” She gestured at herself. “To me.”

Iva shifted so she was facing her friend fully. She took Lori’s hands in hers, ignoring how cold they were.

“Don’t overthink this, Lori. We don’t know him. Not really. We don’t know who he is behind that cold mask.”

Lori’s eyes searched Iva’s face. “What if there is nothing behind it? What if he really is just… cold?”

“Then we deal with that when it happens.”

“And what if he rejects me?”

The question hung in the air between them, heavy and terrible.

Iva had thought about that possibility. Had turned it over in her mind in the dark hours of the night, when sleep wouldn’t come. A rejection between fated mates was rare-almost unheard of-but it wasn’t impossible. In the end, it happened to her.

“Then he would be a fool,” Iva said quietly.

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