Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 187

Chapter 187

Cassian

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Commander. The word hits me like a blade between the ribs-swift, precise, deliberately aimed. I hadn’t expected it, hadn’t braced for it, and I should have. Kael is genetically engineered to be a menace. It’s common knowledge he’d try something like that. But hearing it out loud, in his voice, dripping with

mock-adoration and mischief? No. The real problem and the dangerous part is that I hear it again. Not aloud and not in Kael’s tone but in hers. I don’t mean to slip. I never do. I keep my power locked down tighter than the Wall’s inner gate. But the moment her thoughts flare outward, my power reaches for

her mind. The tiniest slip, just long enough for my mind to brush hers like a fingertip grazing silk.

Commander…I like that one.

Her thought is soft and barely formed. It’s a whisper she doesn’t even intentionally make, but I hear it. I listen to it in her voice inside my own mind, and

every disciplined wall inside me fractures hairline-wide. I straighten too fast as my pulse stumbles and I force myself to stare at the stag carcass instead of

at her, because if I look at her right now, with that word humming between us, I might do something irrevocable. Something I have wanted to do since the

moment she said mate. I school my features into neutrality and return to thinking through plans of how to keep everyone safe and alive. It’s a task I can perform without reacting… Without letting my hands tremble in front of her…But her thought loops behind my eyes.

Commander.

It was spoken with curiosity. With heat. With possibility. I am going to die in this cabin. That is the only logical conclusion.

Evander eats slowly, Kael inhales his portion like he hasn’t seen food in his life, and Allison eats quietly, shadows curling peacefully around her ankles,

sigils pulsing dull along her skin. The warmth in my chest from being in such an oddly domestic activity is unfamiliar and disarming. After they finish. I

move between them and check their wounds. Kael’s ribs are knitting together nicely, and Evander’s leg has begun sealing over properly. Their breathing is

steadier and their pulses stronger.

“Rest will do the rest,” I murmur. “By morning, you should regain full mobility.”

Kael salutes me with two fingers. “Thanks, Commander.”

My eye twitches. Allison’s lips twitch too-poorly disguised amusement-and my control fractures again for half a heartbeat. I look away before her smirk

can finish ruining me. The cabin settles around us as the shadows deepen and the air cools.

“It’s time to rest,” I say.

Allison’s head snaps up, instinctively ready to argue. “Cassian-”

“You need sleep,” I interrupt gently. “All of you do. I’ll take watch.”

Kael groans but does not object, and Evander nods once, sharp and trusting, rewarding me with something that feels like respect. I’ve always had respect at Thornhill as a professor, but that felt forced; this respect? It feels…genuine.

Allison hesitates the longest before she confesses quietly, “I don’t want you to stay awake alone.”

My chest tightens in a way I am not accustomed to. “I’ll be fine. Truly. Rest, Little Siphon.”

I can see the moment something in her softens a fraction, just enough to undo me again.

Kael insists Evander share half the bedroll, which ends with both of them awkwardly angled and muttering insults that sound suspiciously affectionate. Within minutes, their breathing turns even, and I release a deep breath. They’re safe. Allison hovers for a second longer. Then she moves with quiet steps

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17:42 Thu, Jan1 ở Mau

Chapter 187

and soft shadows as she comes to sit beside me at the door. She’s close. Close enough for our knees to brush when the boards shift.

She doesn’t look at me when she asks, “Is this okay?”

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Her voice is careful, tired, and a little hopeful as she asks it. I should tell her to rest with the others. I should keep a distance, I should do a thousand sensible things. But I’ve already promised myself to shut those thoughts out. To turn off that council-conditioned side of me. So instead, my voice lowers, soft and honest in a way I don’t usually allow myself to be.

“Yes,” I say. “This is more than okay.”

Her breath leaves her quietly, almost a sigh. She settles beside me. Our shoulders nearly touch, and every inhale she takes brushes warm against my arm. I

track the forest outside-the rustle of leaves, the distant trickle of water, the occasional crack of a branch under shifting night creatures. My senses widen

and my power drapes over the perimeter in a thin, invisible net. And still-still-I feel her most acutely. Her presence. Her warmth. Her pulse slowing with

exhaustion. Silence unfurls between us; it’s comfortable, though, and to me, incredibly intimate. I have never wanted anything more than to have someone

to share the lonely nights with. To sit in silence together, comfortable with our companionship. The fates gifted me a bond with this woman and I have

never been more thankful than I am in this moment, because I can see our future with more nights like these. Maybe with a little less war, looming threats

and death but still, this right here? It is perfect, because it is with her.

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