Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 149

Chapter 149

Allison

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The door to Professor Hill’s classroom clicks shut behind me. The sound is thunderous in my ears. My

hands are still trembling from holding the concealment so long, from pretending my pulse isn’t trying to

crawl up my throat.

Tessa’s waiting by the wall, a half-eaten apple in one hand and that curious tilt to her head that means

she’s already reading me. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

It comes out too fast, too practised. She raises an eyebrow, but I don’t give her time to argue. “I’ll see you

later, Tess.”

Before she can stop me, I’m gone, down the hall, around the corner, up the stairs. I take them two at a time until my lungs burn. The corridors blur past in streaks of colour and noise until I reach the attic door. I close it behind me and press my back to it. Silence, finally, I let the concealment go and a small weight lifts from me. The quiet hum of the bonds threads through my chest, three separate, steady pulls, all tugging at different rhythms. Rhaziel’s steady, distant, like the tide. Kael’s sharp, flickering with heat. Evander’s deep, slow anchoring. Usually, it’s a comfort. Right now, it’s a weight. Every heartbeat feels borrowed. I sink onto the couch, press my palms to my eyes, and breathe. The marks on my hands pulse faintly through the skin, dim but restless, like they know I’ve been hiding them too long. I don’t know how long I sit there before the air shifts with a calm ripple. Rhaziel steps out of the shadows near the window, his eyes searching for me before he even speaks.

“Your thoughts are too loud,” he says quietly.

“Sorry,” I mumble, not looking up.

He doesn’t move closer, just watches me. “You are not alone here, hummingbird.”

Before I can answer, the door bursts open. Kael’s voice comes first, loud and bright. “Trouble?”

Evander’s right behind him, quieter but sharper. “We fell you.”

“Wonderful,” I mutter, dropping my hands. “My emotional broadcast system works perfectly.”

Kael crouches in front of me, his eyes searching mine. What happened?”

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Chapter 149

“Nothing.”

Evander’s tone leaves no room for lying. “Allison.”

I breathe out slowly, staring at the floorboards. “Cassian saw.”

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Rhaziel’s body stills beside the window. Kael swears under his breath. Evander’s shoulders tense, but his voice stays even. “How much did he see?”

“The markings,” I whisper. “On my hands. He covered for me. No one else noticed.”

Rhaziel’s tail flicks once, sharp. “That was reckless.”

I snap my gaze up. “You think I wanted that to happen?

Kael rises, pacing. “Alright, let’s just take a second-”

“No,” I cut him off, standing. “You don’t understand. None of you do. I keep screwing this up. Every time I think I can control it, something happens. Someone sees something. Someone feels something. And next time, it won’t just be Cassian.”

The air around me hums louder, a low vibration that makes the shadows stir. Rhaziel’s eyes flash, soft blue in the dim light. “Breathe, Allison.”

I shake my head. “You don’t get it. You’ll all lose me.”

Kael stops pacing. “What?”

“You’ll be the ones suffering.” My voice cracks, but I can’t stop. “I’ve basically doomed you all, don’t you see? Once I’m gone, I’ll take half your souls with me. That’s what this bond does. That’s what I’ve done to you. And it’s selfish, it’s so unfair to all of you, and I did it anyway. I wanted something for myself that I shouldn’t have wanted. I should have pushed you all away and at least saved you the heartache of having me for only a little while…”

The marks flare across my arms, blue light spilling like spilled ink. The shadows around us pulse, drawn to the sound of my voice. Rhaziel steps closer, slow and deliberate, his tail sliding across the floor until it

brushes my ankle.

“It is not selfish to be loved,” he says softly.

“It is when it kills you and hurts the people that you love in return,” I whisper.

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Silence presses in, heavy and thick. Evander moves, crossing the room and catching my hands, grounding me with that unshakable calm of his. His thumbs trace ircles over my knuckles. “You didn’t doom us, Pet” he says. “You bound us. There’s a difference.”

Kael’s voice is rough. “We chose this, trouble. You think I’d rather live half a life without you than burn

with you? Not a chance.”

Rhaziel lowers his head, the faint light of his sigils catching mine. “If a soul must burn, I would rather it be shared with yours than live untouched by it.”

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