Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 232

Tessa sobs once, sharp and broken, then nods. She stretches one trembling hand toward Allison as we move past.

“Ally,” she whispers.

Allison lunges.

Her teeth snap inches from Tessa’s fingers, a violent, feral attempt to feed, to claim, to take. I react instantly, an additional band of shadow snapping around Allison’s mouth, forcing it shut.

“Naughty little wraith,” I mutter.

Tessa flinches back, horror finally dawning as she realises what her friend has become in this moment. I stop and turn to Rynor.

“Take your mate back to the rebellion,” I command. “You know she cannot stay long.”

He nods once, sharply, and shadows fold around them. Tessa vanishes with a soft, broken sound. The Realm recognises her presence but does not welcome it the way it does the marked men. She was allowed in, but how long she can stay before her soul is destroyed? That is a question most demon mates do not wait to have answered. I’m surprised he let her come at all, given the risk. Thus, they must go back. Allison would never forgive herself if she came back to her senses and learned she had torn her friend apart.

I look back once to see Cage’s limp body still where it was deposited by one of my soldiers. It doesn’t look like he’s moving any time soon, so he can stay there on the floor. I turn back and we descend. The stairs spiral downward into the heart of my domain, stone walls thick with ancient magic, the air growing colder, heavier, quieter with each step. Allison fights me every inch of the way, shadows scraping against the walls, power thrumming through her like a living storm. Evander and Kael flank us. Cassian stays directly behind, his focus never wavering, blood still drying beneath his nose. At the bottom, I stop. The cell waits. The door is forged from blackened metal and spellwork older than any language spoken above. The runes carved into it glow faintly as Allison’s magic brushes against them, reacting, testing, rejecting her power with absolute certainty. This place will hold her. I haul her inside. She slams into the far wall, shadows shrieking as they recoil, the wraith thrashing violently as the enchantments close in. I step back slowly, deliberately, never turning my back on her until I am beyond the threshold. Then I shut the door. The sound echoes throughout the room. The shadows settle, not because she is calm, but because she is contained. I rest my hand against the metal, feeling her rage, her grief, her confusion clawing at

the inside of the cage.

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20:34 Thu, Jan 15

Because I Love Her

“I am sorry,” I murmur, my voice pitched low enough that only she can hear it. “Little beast.”

I lean closer, letting my head rest against the bars.

“But until you give back my hummingbird,” I whisper, “you must stay here.”

(28)

I turn away before she can answer, because kings do not linger in the face of necessary cruelty, and love, when wielded properly, does not

ask permission. She will thank me later.

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3/3

20:34 Thu, Jan 15

Thornhill Academy

Ravenous

Evander

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28

I knew my little pet was selfless. I just didn’t realise it would extend so far as saving the life of someone who, until very recently, treated her like absolute shit. But that’s Allison. Always reaching for others. Always bleeding herself dry for people who haven’t earned it. Always expecting nothing in return except maybe that they don’t make things worse. It’s infuriating. It’s admirable. It’s why we love her. It’s why

she’s in a cage beneath a demon king’s fortress, thrashing against iron bars while corrupted magic claws its way through her veins. We

don’t walk far from the cell. I don’t think any of us could. Rhaziel has a table and chairs brought in, stone scraped across stone as his

soldiers set them up directly outside the bars. Close enough that we can see her. Close enough that she can see us. Close enough that if

she breaks loose, we’ll be the first things she reaches for. I take the chair facing the cell. Allison paces inside like a predator denied its

kill. Shadows curl and snap around her ankles. Her eyes track every movement we make with unsettling focus. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t scream anymore either. She just watches, head tilted slightly, as if we’re puzzles she hasn’t decided how to solve yet.

“What the fuck are we going to do now?” Kael mutters.

Someone hands him a rag. He scrubs at the blood dried along his jaw and neck, swearing under his breath when it smears instead of coming clean. Then someone else hands us pants. Kael pulls them on immediately. I hesitate, then do the same, if only because everyone else is wearing them, and standing naked in front of her right now feels… wrong. It feels wrong to want anything while she’s in there like

that.

“First things first,” Rhaziel says calmly, folding himself into a chair like this is a council meeting and not a crisis teetering on the edge of catastrophe. “We make sure she is comfortable.”

Kael lets out a sharp laugh. “She just wiped out a battlefield and tried to bite Tessa. Comfortable?”

“Yes,” Rhaziel says evenly. “Even corrupted. Even more beast than woman. We do not strip her of dignity.”

I nod slowly.