Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 39

“How you nearly drowned. How you were torn apart by something in those woods.” His eyes narrowed, storm-cloud sharp. “I’ve seen the

injuries myself.”

I blinked. He’s been snooping. In other people’s heads. The realisation made my skin crawl.

“I know the Academy’s healers are good,” he went on, each word precise, deliberate, “but not this good. Not fast enough to have you walking into my classroom as if nothing touched you.”

He stepped closer, and the air seemed to crackle faintly around him.

“No,” he said softly, “to heal this quickly, it would take a highly skilled magical. Someone who knew exactly what they were doing.”

My heart thudded, too loud, too obvious. His gaze bored into me, stripping past my clothes, my skin, right into the lies I wanted to keep

locked tight.

“So I’ll ask you again, Rivers,” he murmured, voice like the pull of a blade.

“How. Are. You. Standing?”

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3/3

12:45 Tue, Dec 30

Thornhill Academy.

Babysitting.

ผลง

73

His stare was a blade pressed to my skin cold, deliberate, waiting for me to slip. I held my ground, every wall I had stacked high and hard

against him. The silence stretched, the tick of the clock on the wall louder than the beat of my pulse. He wanted me to fold. Wanted me

to break. Not happening. I crossed my arms, chin high, every ounce of defiance stitched into my body language. “Done yet? Because I’ve

got actual classwork to pretend to care about.”

Hill’s jaw flexed, something sharp flickering across his storm-grey eyes. He was in my head, I could feel it, but the walls held. The siphoned magic hummed steady through me like scaffolding, locking every door he reached for. His lips pressed into a thin, irritated line

before he exhaled a long, slow sigh, the kind meant to scold more than any words.

“You’re determined to learn the hard way, I see,” he murmured, almost to himself. Then his voice sharpened, cool and clinical. “You

should know, Principal Scorched just assigned Cage as your new tutor.”

The words slammed into me harder than any fist.

“What?” My laugh cracked, too sharp, too brittle. “You’re joking. That asshole? The same one who nearly killed me yesterday?”

Hill didn’t flinch. “Consider it… a test of character. His, and yours. He’s under strict orders. If he lays a finger on you in harm, he’s

expelled. Permanently.”

I scoffed, heat bubbling under my skin. “Great. So I just get to play homework buddies with my attempted murderer. Sounds fucking

brilliant.”

He leaned back against his desk, arms folded, studying me like I was a puzzle that didn’t fit together. “Or,” he said softly, “it’s an opportunity. To see just how much control you really have, Rivers.”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste iron. He wasn’t going to get answers out of me. Not today. Not ever. But this new twist? Oh, I could already feel Cage’s smug grin in my future, and it made me want to set the whole classroom on fire.

The door clicked open, and I shot out of Hill’s office like the walls themselves were about to close in on me. My eyes found Tessa instantly, safe, familiar, the only sane thing in this hellhole and I cut straight for her desk.

“Rivers.”

His voice was calm, too calm, which made my stomach drop. I froze mid-step, back prickling. Slowly, I turned.

Hill stood by the blackboard, hands clasped behind him, gaze sharp as ever. “Not there.” His chin angled toward the far row. Toward him.

Cage sat sprawled in his chair like a king on a throne, bruised eye dark against his smug grin. He lifted his fingers in a mock little wave, like he’d been waiting for this.

My insides curdled. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

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12:45 Tue, Dec 30

Babysitting.

“Sit.” Hill’s tone was final, steel wrapped in silk. “He’s your tutor now. That means proximity.”

(73.)

Tessa’s eyes were wide, her mouth opening with protest, but I shook my head. The last thing I needed was her in Hill’s line of fire, too. So I dragged my feet, every step a quiet war, and dropped into the empty chair beside Cage. The scrape of it on the floor was louder than my

pulse.

“Aw, look at that,” Cage drawled under his breath, leaning just close enough to make my skin crawl. “The teacher wants us to be study

buddies. Must’ve seen how much you like my company.”

I clenched my jaw, staring daggers into the desk in front of me. Don’t rise to it. Don’t give him the win. But god, if Hill wasn’t watching, I’d have siphoned the smug right out of him just to wipe that grin off his stupid face.

Hill didn’t even bother explaining the assignment before sweeping back into his chair, already scribbling notes none of us could read.

Typical.

Beside me, Cage flipped open his book with one hand and shoved mine closer with the other. “Page two-thirty,” he muttered. “Try to keep

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