Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 206

15:41 Tue, Jan 6

Thornhill Academy.

The Gathering Storm

Allison

60

By the time Kael and Evander return from their calls, and Rhaziel steps back into the tent with the scent of cold shadow clinging to him, my breakfast is gone, my braid is neat, and my heart has finally stopped trying to beat its way out of my chest. Cassian finishes tying the last piece of leather around his forearm and gives me a quiet nod.

“You ready?” he asks softly.

I’m not. Not even close, but I square my shoulders anyway. “Yes.”

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He doesn’t question it. None of them do. They simply move toward me in that instinctive way they have, like pieces of a constellation slipping back into

place. Evander to my right, Kael to my left, Rhaziel behind me with a warm hand settling at the small of my back, and Cassian just close enough that the

steadiness of his presence hums through our bond. We step out into the morning light and head toward the massive tent from last night – the war tent, the

heart of the rebellion’s planning. People move aside as we pass. Some bow, some stare openly, some whisper behind their palms. It still feels strange like

wearing a name that doesn’t fit yet, or a crown that doesn’t belong to me, but I walk anyway. When Rhaziel lifts the tent flap, warm lantern–light spills out

in soft golden waves. Around a long wooden table, the Council of Factions has already gathered. Maps cover the surface, weighed down with stones, daggers,

and carved markers shaped like wolves, dragons, and runes I don’t recognise. The air is thick with magic, tension, and the smell of ink and old parchment.

Vale rises first. “Good morning,” she says warmly, eyes sweeping over us. “I trust you all slept well?”

Kael grins. “Like babies. Giant, very sexy babies.”

Rhaziel sighs like he’s used to this. Cassian pinches the bridge of his nose. Evander mutters something about killing him. Vale smiles at me in a way that

or rather, my mates sit around me like a silent formation. Rhaziel to my left, says she finds Kael amusing and vaguely alarming at the same time. We sit Kael beside him, Evander on my right with Cassian anchoring the far edge, all of them positioned as though ready to leap between me and anything that breathes wrong. It should feel suffocating. Instead, it feels… steadying.

Vale clears her throat, silver tattoos shimmering faintly across her cheekbones and throat.

“Before today, we have had just over three hundred fighters strong enough or old enough to join the war effort on this side of the Wall,” she begins. “That includes witches, shifters, fae, warlocks, and the smaller clans who’ve joined us over the years. We have survived all this time, but we could never match the

Council’s numbers,”

Her eyes flick to Rhaziel, then to the shadows coiling lazily at his feet like enormous cats.

“But with the arrival of the demon army, the balance finally begins to shift.”

Kael sits up straighter, eyes sparkling.

“And the hellhounds,” he adds proudly,

Vale blinks. “The… hellhounds?”

Kael grins like a man with a secret he’s been dying to spill.

“I called Mumma.” He shrugs. “Told her I found my mate, dropped out of school, joined a rebellion

Evander drags a hand over his face.

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