Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 84

Evander, who’s apparently decided that personal space is a myth. He hovers like he’s part shadow, part guardian, stalking me between classes, showing up in doorways, leaning against walls with that infuriatingly smug little smirk that says mine. He sneaks into my room every night now, under the guise of “making sure I’m safe.” Sure. Because all guardians sleep shirtless beside their charges, wrapped around them like living furnaces. Not that I’m complaining. At all. I know more about him than I probably should at this point; his favourite foods, the faint scar on his shoulder from a sparring match gone wrong, the way his dragon hums softly through the bond when he’s half-asleep. I shouldn’t crave that warmth, but I do. It’s becoming my new normal. What isn’t normal is him and Kael. They’re usually inseparable, loud, chaotic, always making some poor professor’s life hell, well, on Kael’s part anyway, but now? They barely look at each other. Whatever their little tiff was about, it’s bigger than I thought. Kael’s entire energy has shifted; he’s colder, darker. He doesn’t sit beside me anymore, doesn’t crack jokes under his breath during lectures, and doesn’t tease me into laughing when Cage gets too

irritating.

And yet, I feel him. Always. His gaze burns into the back of my neck when I walk past. His scent lingers in places he’s not even standing. It’s like his hound won’t let him keep distance, even when he tries to pretend I don’t exist. I’ve tried talking to him. Twice. Both times, he disappeared before I could get a word out. It’s maddening. Part of me wants to drag him into a corner and demand to know what’s wrong, why he’s acting like I broke something between us I didn’t even know existed. I spot him halfway down the dorm hallway, coming out of the training wing, his hair damp with sweat, shirt slung over his shoulder like he couldn’t care less who’s watching. Typical Kael.

“Kael!”

He freezes for a second but doesn’t turn around, just keeps walking. Oh, absolutely not. My sore legs protest as I speed up after him. “Kael Pierce, stop walking away from me!”

That gets his attention. He stops dead in his tracks and turns, his golden eyes narrowing. “What, Rivers?”

I plant myself in front of him, arms crossed. “Don’t ‘what, Rivers’ me. You’ve been avoiding me for a week. You don’t sit next to me anymore, you don’t talk to me, you don’t even roll your eyes when I insult Cage, which, by the way, is basically your civic duty. So spill it. What happened between you and Evander?”

His jaw ticks, that muscle twitching like it always does when he’s about to lose his temper. “Nothing.”

I raise an unimpressed brow. “Really? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like something.”

He exhales sharply through his nose, rubbing the back of his neck. “Drop it, Ally.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on!” I snap, stepping closer. “You’re both acting weird, and it’s making everything even weirder. Why

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12:50 Tue, Dec 30

Whiplash.

did you fight? Did I-”

“It’s not about you,” he cuts in, a little too fast.

I blink. “That’s a lie.”

:

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