Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 178

Chapter 178

Rhaziel

I see her. Through the trees, through the smoke, through the scream-shredded air, I see her-and the world goes silent in reverence and terror. My mate. My Queen. My exquisitely horrifying wraith. She stands rooted in the centre of the clearing like the forest birthed her for this moment alone-shadows rippling from her like black silk caught in a storm, veins lit with stolen magic that pulsed in luminous threads beneath her skin, her eyes glowing with a hunger older and darker than most beings could comprehend. She is breathtaking. Terrifying. Mine. A slow, wicked grin slices across my mouth, sharp enough to

draw blood if I bit down.

“Mine,” I growl, and the earth answers, trembling beneath my feet.

Cassian inhales sharply beside me, but I’m already moving-shadows exploding outward from my body like a shockwave as I tear through the tree line and into the clearing with a force that cracks the ground under my boots. Creatures jerk in my direction, and fear rolls off them so thick I can taste it. Good. They should fear. Their death is today.

“Cassian,” I command without looking back, my voice a low snarl steeped in ancient power, “protect the boys.”

He’s already sprinting toward Kael and Evander, who are both barely upright, blood streaking down their faces and limbs. I clear a path for him with my shadows, then I turn my eyes back toward the one thing anchoring me in this fathomless rage. Her.

The wraith stares straight at me, and through her molten gold-and-void-black eyes, Allison flickers. The girl. My Hummingbird. The survivor. The heartbeat I have been chasing through realms. She recognises me, with a primal kind of relief that vibrates through the clearing like the deep thrum of a drum. A smile blooms across her face-slow, sharp and beautifully vicious. The creatures surrounding her falter, and I laugh, low and savage.

“Shall we, little wraith?” I murmur.

She lunges, I follow, and the world breaks open. She moves like lightning, given form-fluid, unpredictable, the kind of wild magic that refuses to be tamed and commands to be feared. Her shadows whip outward, slicing through the air with enough force to take the head off a fox shifter who leaps too quickly. I slam my hand down and rip the shadow from beneath a harpy’s feet, dragging it screaming across the dirt before driving my fist through its chest. Bone cracks. Blood sprays. The troll roars and charges again, but the ground rises at my command, shadows forming jagged spikes that spear upward and impale its leg. It howls, staggering-and she is already there, vaulting over a fox shifter, planting one hand on the troll’s shoulder, and driving a blast of stolen witchfire into its skull. The creature collapses, shaking the clearing. Gods, she is magnificent.

A witch who dares to confront her gathers energy in the form of green light, spiralling into a vortex between her hands. Before she releases it, Allison shifts -one step, two, her movement impossibly fast despite the exhaustion clinging to her bones. She appears in front of the witch, presses two fingers to the woman’s forehead, and siphons so sharply the witch screams as her spell unravels. Her eyes bleed black. The wraith is beautifully deadly, and she is hungry.

“Easy,” I rumble, stepping in close enough that my shadows wrap with hers, twisting like twin serpents curling together. “Leave some for me.”

Her head snaps toward me, pupils blown wide, shadow coating her tongue when she grins. Two fox shifters leap at once, coordinated and desperate. She spins-my god, she dances-using her momentum to sweep her leg through the air and slam a shockwave of siphoned magic into all three. They scatter like leaves. I don’t bother chasing the one thrown the farthest; I flick two fingers, and their shadows rise up beneath them, swallowing their screams as they’re dragged into the dirt. A harpy dive-bombs Cassian, who is still shielding Evander with one arm and hurling psychic hits with the other. I vanish from where I stand-blinked through shadow–and reappear behind the creature, catching its throat mid-flight. Its wings snap like twigs as I rip it backward and slam it into the ground so hard the earth cracks. Allison is beside me again-no, not beside me-aligned with me. Every movement is a mirror, every strike a flawless counterpoint, as if we have trained together for centuries. As if our magic was carved from the same storm.

“Rhaziel!” She snarls as a wolf-shifter charges, the creature’s eyes feral with Whatever-Vengeance-Caused-It-To-Be-Here. I grab the wolf’s face mid-lunge and crush its muzzle sideways, hearing the wet snap of bone. Shadows coil from my fingers like smoke from a pyre. Her shadows twine with mine. We are no longer fighting beside each other. We are a single weapon, forged in fury, welded in devotion.

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Thu, Jan

Chapter 178

EIKA

“Mine,” I say again, voice a snarl of reverence as I slam two more attackers into trees so violently that bark explodes outward.

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Her answering grin steals the last of my sanity. A witch flings a volley of needles made of hardened bone. She flicks her wrist, and the shadows around us warp, twisting into a shield that absorbs every projectile with a soft hiss. The witch falters. Allison is on her in a breath, grabbing the witch by the collar, siphoning until the magic bleeds out of her and her knees buckle. I finish it by dragging the woman’s shadow across the ground like a blade. More creatures flood the clearing-bandits, shifters, mages with nothing to lose-but they slow as they approach, and I can’t tell if it’s the wraith or Cassian showing them

their worst nightmares inside their minds. Because behind us, he stands in front of Kael and Evander like a soldier laying down his life, one hand lifted,

expression cold with razor focus. His magic doesn’t roar, it whispers. And that whisper sends grown monsters crashing to their knees, clawing at their faces as if trying to rip out visions only they can see. A harpy drops mid-flight, screech turning into a gurgled sob as its wings lock. A wolf shifter veers toward him only to freeze a step away, eyes rolling back as Cassian folds a memory inside its mind like a blade being slid between ribs. He doesn’t even touch them. He barely breathes, and bodies collapse around him, shuddering under torments I suspect even I would find… elegant.

The wraith stalks forward, her entire body haloed in dripping shadow. I step beside her, letting my own power blaze to full force. We are death promised and death delivered. And as the last of the creatures still standing hesitates, trembling on unsteady legs, I feel the battlefield shift. A ripple of power rolling outward from where she and I stand shoulder to shoulder. The air itself recoils. The trees lean back. Even the shadows hold their breath. Together, we turn toward the handful of enemies left alive, and the moment they meet our eyes, they understand the truth far too late-there is no salvation coming. There is

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