The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 242

Darkening Sky-T

The morning light had barely touched the walls of her room when bori’s phone buzzed with the sss notification.

She had been half-asleep, tangled in her blankets, still drifting in the haze of a dream she couldn’t quite remember. But the sound cut through the fog, sharp and insistent, pulling her toward consciousness.

She reached for her phone with a groggy hand.

The screen glowed.

*Application Status Update – Headmaster’s Office*

Her heart stopped.

For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything but stare at those words while her pulse hammered in her throat.

*This is it,* she thought.

She opened the sss.

*Dear Miss Thompson,*

*We are pleased to inform you that your application for the position of Temporary Administrative Assistant in the Headmaster’s Office has been accepted and you have been selected for the role.*

The rest of the words blurred together.

Lori pressed her phone to her chest and closed her eyes, feeling the wild beat of her heart beneath her palm. She knew this was a ruse-a cover story, a way for them to spend time together without raising suspicion. She knew that.

But still.

Still, her heart fluttered.

Still, a smile spread across her face that she couldn’t have stopped if she tried.

*He accepted me,* she thought. *He wants me there. He didn’t change his mind.*

“Of course he does,” Layla said, smug and satisfied. “We are his mate.”

Lori laughed-a soft, breathless sound-and rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

*Mate,* she thought. *I have a mate.*

The word still felt foreign. Impossible. Like something from a fairy tale, not from her own life.

But it was real.

He was real.

Darkening Sky-

And in a few days, she would walk into his office and begin the strangest experiment of her life.

Claim

By evening, the news had spread through the academy like wildfire.

Lori couldn’t walk down a corridor without hearing whispers. Couldn’t sit in the canteen without feeling eyes on her back. Couldn’t open her notebook without someone leaning over to ask her about the job.

*How did you get it?*

*Do you know someone?*

*What’s it like working for him?*

Some looked at her with curiosity-head tilted, eyes assessing, trying to figure out what made her special. Others looked at her with envy-jealousy sharp and green, wondering why *she* had been chosen when there were so many more qualified candidates.

Lori ignored them all.

She kept her head down, focused on her classes, and counted the hours until she could retreat to the safety of her room.

But the thought that had been lurking at the edges of her mind all day refused to be ignored.

*If the public is so focused on me just because I’m a temporary assistant for him… how would they react to find out that we’re mates?*

The answer made her stomach clench.

A revolution. An earthquake. A scandal that would shake the foundations of the academy and beyond.

She pushed the thought aside and tried to focus on her reading in her room.

Her phone rang.

The screen lit up with a name that made her heart skip for an entirely different reason.

*Mom.*

Lori took a long breath.

She pressed her hand to her chest, feeling the rapid beat of her heart, and tried to compose herself. She couldn’t let anything slip. Couldn’t reveal the truth. She and Attia had agreed to keep the existence of their bond things, no one was ready for this. The Moon Goddess really liked to twist.

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