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“They’re gray!” he screeches. “He’sin love! He’s been emotionally compromised!”
“I will kill you both,” I say through clenched teeth.
But they’re already celebrating like this is some victory. Elias is pacing dramatically, hands on his head, muttering, “We’re losing him. First us, now Riven. Next thing you know, Orin’s going to be writing her poetry.”
“She’spowerful,” Silas says with a nod. “Terrifying. And hot. Honestly, a little scary how into it I am.”
I shove my glasses back on, grinding my teeth. “Get the fuck away from me.”
“Love you too, sunshine,” Elias chirps as they wander off, cackling.
And when they’re gone—when the courtyard is quiet again—I press my hand against the unfinished wall and let the magic rise through my skin, shaping the stone again.
Gray eyes or not, I’m not like them.
I’m not giving in.
Even if she already owns me.
I barely finish reinforcing the last stone before the realization hits me like a damn wrecking ball to the chest.
They’re going to tell her.
Those smug, chaos-worshipping assholes are going to run straight to Luna, flinging my name like confetti, probably with some embarrassing reenactment of me insunglasses—which I now realize makes me look more like a grieving boyband member than someone with an actual ounce of dignity.
I don’t think. I move.
The sunglasses come off. The wall is left half-finished. My hands are still coated in dust, but I’m already storming across the field, boots chewing into the dirt like it insulted my mother.
They’re not hard to find.
Their laughter is like a fucking siren—high-pitched, frantic, and utterly damning.
I round the hedge and see them in the open courtyard. Elias is mid-mimicry, dramatically swooning with his hand over his heart, and Silas is on the ground pretending to weep into the grass.
“Riven, no,” Elias croaks, eyes fluttering like he’s in a bad stage play. “Not the sunglasses. It’s too soon. I’m not ready for this relationship.”
“I can’t believe you’ve changed,” Silas sobs into the dirt. “What happened to our emotionally unavailable rage monster? Who is this soft-eyed simp and what did you do to him?”
I lunge.
They scream. Actually scream. And scatter like fucking pigeons.
Elias ducks left. Silas bolts right. I go after Silas because he’s faster and dumber—and that combination always ends in something spectacularly bad.
“Get back here, you shadow-sucking maniac!” I yell.
“YOU CAN’T SILENCE THE TRUTH, RIVEN,” he shrieks over his shoulder, laughing like a madman. “LOVE MAKES US STRONGER!”
“I willgut you!”
He vanishes around the corner. I follow, rage blooming like wildfire in my chest. I’m not even thinking anymore. I’m acting on pure adrenaline, pure bond-induced panic, because if Luna hears about this fromthem, I will never live it down.
Not just the gray eyes. Not just the fact that Ilet her see them. But the truth that it felt—good. That for a second, I let her in deeper than I ever meant to.
I catch him near the stairs, grab his arm, and slam him into the nearest wall. Not hard. Just enough for him to feel it. For him to remember that I’m not theniceone in this group.
He grins like I’ve gifted him a birthday present.