Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 199

Chapter 199

Allison

Vale clears her throat softly, her silver tattoos glinting in the lantern glow. “We won’t overwhelm you with more tonight,” she says gently. “You’ve learned enough for one lifetime in the last ten minutes. We can discuss strategy and Council movement tomorrow.”

I swallow hard, grateful even though my emotions are still free-falling inside me.

She turns to Rhaziel. “Your people will be shown to their quarters. My runners are already preparing spaces big enough for your warriors.” She touches my elbow with a warmth that aches. “And I’ve arranged a tent for the five of you.”

Rhaziel inclines his head respectfully, shadows bowing behind him like they respect her leadership here.

Vale steps closer and wraps her arms around me, careful and soft, like she’s hugging a child she remembers but one who doesn’t remember her back. “I am so glad you made it here, truly.” She pulls away slowly, brushing a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “And one day, when you’re ready… I would love to hear the stories the great Violetta Vaelor has collected in her time away.”

I blink. “Violetta…?”

She smiles. “The name they gave you, little shadow. But Allison suits who you’ve become.” She squeezes my arm. “Come. I’ll show you to your tent.”

The five of us follow her out of the war tent. The night air is cool, humming with magic and a thousand sleeping breaths. The camp is quieter now, all the fires smothered, lanterns dimmed, murmurs drifting through canvas walls like echoes of another life. Vale walks with ease, weaving between tents, nodding to night guards, and slipping past shifters curled beneath blankets under the stars. Every so often, someone glances at Rhaziel and bows low and demons materialise from treelines, trailing behind him like an unending shadow. Every time someone passes me, their eyes linger with suspicion and also something like… hope. It’s unnerving. It’s overwhelming. It’s the first time I’ve walked through a crowd knowing I am not prey.

Vale stops at the edge of the camp where a massive tent stands. It’s much bigger than anything we walked past, reinforced with thick hides and woven with shimmering rune-threads that pulse faintly in the dark.

“I thought,” she says softly, “you would feel more comfortable together.” She gestures toward the tent with a graceful sweep. “I also made sure it was warded for safety and privacy. No one enters unless you want them to.”

Rhaziel’s tail brushes my leg in approval.

Vale steps aside. “Inside, you’ll find everything you need. Dinner has been brought in, fresh and hot. Eat well, rest deeply. Tomorrow we plan for war.”

She dips her head once more, formal and reverent, before she walks away, her silhouette dissolving into shadow and lantern light. I stare at the tent. From the outside, it looks…normal. Large, yes, but still a tent-canvas stretched across wooden supports, tied securely into the ground. Nothing extraordinary until Kael pushes open the flap and Evander whistles low.

Cassian mutters, “Of course.”

Rhaziel smiles, as if he expected nothing less.

And I-I step inside and stop breathing. The interior is massive, impossibly so. Magic ripples beneath every surface. The ceiling is high enough to fit a house. Soft rugs cover the ground. Warm lanterns float midair like captured stars. A long table sits in the centre, covered in food: roasted meats, breads, fruits, and steaming bowls of broth. Against the back wall sits a bed-no, beds-pushed together into one enormous resting space draped with thick blankets, soft furs, and a mountain of pillows. A bed big enough to fit all of my mates. Together. Safe. My throat tightens again, because yes, this is exactly what I needed after everything today. I need my mates, together.

1/2

17:44 Thu, Jan 1 M

Chapter 199

Evander steps in behind me, hand brushing my spine. “They really didn’t hold back.”

Kael flops onto a cushion near the table. “Holy shit, we are living in luxury. Do you think they have dessert? Please tell me they have dessert.”

250

Cassian’s eyes sweep the room, reading the wards, checking every corner with silent precision. “It’s protected,” he murmurs. “Stronger than anything I’ve

seen on this side so far.”

Rhaziel closes the flap behind us and the interior lights glow brighter, responding to him. “Vale is powerful,” he says. “She would not allow the daughter of

her friend to sleep unguarded.”

The name she called me hits somewhere deep inside my heart again. Violetta. The name they gave me. The name my parents chose for their daughter, whom they loved so deeply that they laid down their lives for. Seren Vaelor and Daelen Vaelor. My mother and my father….

I sit slowly on the edge of the great bed, fingers curling into the blanket.

Rhaziel kneels in front of me, hands braced on either side of my legs, eyes searching my face. “Hummingbird,” he murmurs, brushing his thumb beneath my

eye, “speak your thoughts.”

But the thing is…I don’t know how. I don’t know how to put into words what it feels like to learn that everything I ever believed about myself-my origins,

my abandonment, my name-was wrong.

That I was never unwanted. Never discarded. Never alone by choice…Only by tragedy. Undeniable, heartbreaking tragedy.

Kael sits beside me and rests his head lightly on my shoulder. “Whatever you’re thinking,” he whispers, “you don’t have to think it alone.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify