Page 36 of A Curse So Cruel

“I’ll be back,” I mutter to Thane.

“Do what you have to do,” he rumbles, not questioning me. I suspect he knows I hadn’t restored the human’s energy, though he never questioned it. Our relationship is built on trust, andeven now, he’s showing me that the little human hasn’t changed that.

Another one of the human’s screams shatters through my head, and I curse, closing my eyes and slipping into her dream.

The human’s mind is a mess. I walk past fragments of broken memories, and it doesn’t take me long to find her ensnared by a dreamcrawler. She’s pressed up against the bars of a cage as the shadow creature drains her lifeforce.

She looks so vulnerable in his hold, and I can’t explain the blinding fury that washes through me at the sight. Without thinking, my shadows attack, sinking into the dreamcrawler, and the creature howls as it releases the human. The dreamcrawler scuttles back into the darkness of her dream, but I don’t relent. Breathing heavily, I keep my power focused on the spider, driving it from her mind as I move to the human.

She peers up at me and smiles. “I missed you,” she whispers, the words falling from her soft lips.

The human’s eyes are unfocused, and I know she’s not seeing me in that moment, but my anger falters. The darkness that had been taking over me halts, and for a moment, all I can do is stare at her. My heart stops beating because for a second, when I look at the human’s face, I seeher—the woman who haunts my nightmares. My mate. The one I lost. The one I murdered.

This human’s features are different, softer, but there’s something about her…

Her eyes close as she drifts off, and I come to my senses.

It can’t be her.

No matter how much I wish it was.

Sending out my power, I dissolve the cage, freeing the human and lifting her into my arms. I tell myself this is the only time I’ll save her, and I ignore the strange pounding of my heart as I pull her from her nightmare.

Chapter Sixteen

~ Shade ~

“You need to eat faster,” Kenzie tells me as I play with the scrambled eggs on my plate, rearranging them with my fork. “They take punctuality seriously around here.” She scrunches her brow in thought. “Well, Professor Galen isn’t as strict as some of the other teachers, but it’s probably not the best idea to be late for your first class.”

Sighing, I slide my plate away from me. I can’t eat anyway. All I can think about is the night before, and my weird dreams. I can still picture the giant shadow spider that had captured me, and I can’t shake the thought that I’d come close to dying. I shiver, my stomach churning. I can’t be sure how I managed to escape the creature. The last thing I remember is seeing Blake’s face, and when I woke in the early hours of the morning, I felt like myself again, no longer weak and drained. Unable to sleep, I sat by my dorm window, sketching the spider and trying to recall the memory I’d seen in one of its eyes.That cell…

“Are the nightmares like that every night?” I ask Kenzie, dread already forming in the pit of my stomach.

“The dreamcrawlers mainly visit students on their first night,” she replies, but going by her expression, I get the feeling she’s just trying to ease my worry.

“Mainly? So it could visit me again tonight?” It’s more of a statement than a question.Great.Without letting her answer, I nod absently and stand, dusting off my hands and pushing my chair out. “Okay, I’m ready.” Truthfully, I’m not ready at all, but as far as the classes go, starting the day with a history lesson taught by Professor Galen doesn’t sound so bad. If anything, considering I hardly know much about the shadow realm, I’m actually interested in finding out information and filling in some of the blanks.

Kenzie doesn’t comment on my full plate. She simply leads me from the dining hall and along a series of corridors. Students stream around us, each heading to their own classes, but quite a few are moving in the same direction as us.

It’s not until we reach a large, heavy-set door that Kenzie speaks again. “Before we go in, you should know, Professor Galen has a…reputation.” There’s a strange look in her eyes, and I smile when her cheeks start to redden.

“He’s notmytype,” Kenzie splutters, “but the professor?—”

“Has slept with a lot of the students in the class?” I say, ignoring the way my stomach twists at the thought. “That’s not surprising. You already told me he and Raith like to share, and the guys have serious daddy vibes.”

Kenzie makes a face. “Daddy vibes? Well, I don’t know about that, but I figured it’s worth warning you. The professor seems to have a particular fondness for the students who do well in his class. He has been known to invite students to his rooms for uh, extension lessons. I think the students believe getting with himwill increase their chances of graduating earlier, but I have no idea if that’s true.”

“His rooms?” That piques my interest. I rub my thumb over my forefinger which is still missing the ring Blake gave me. The ring Galen stole. “And do you know where his rooms are?”

Kenzie gives me a strange look. “Well yeah, but you’re missing the point. I’m trying to warn you because I don’t want you getting hurt or used, or whatever.”

Kenzie is sweet, but her comment almost makes me laugh. I haven’t dared tell her that I think Galen and the others are connected to me. Especially now that it’s obvious I was completely wrong about them, and they’re not my mates. My chest aches. The men have already hurt me, though I doubt they realize it or even care.

I wonder then if maybe I was simply another student in the past who had fallen in love with the professors and had been discarded. Maybe that’s why they seem special to me. Because I’m picking up on some lingering feelings. Some past infatuation I had for them. But if that was true and I had been a student here, then why don’t they remember me?

I try not to let the thoughts distract me from my other epiphany. Kenzie knows where the professors’ rooms are. If I can get to Galen’s rooms, I might be able to find my portal ring. Sure, the magic of the ring likely won’t work while we’re on academy grounds, but it would still be nice to have it. Besides, it would give me a way out if I needed it. All I’d have to do is leave the grounds and use the ring to summon a portal to Blake. That’s way better than losing my memories and being sent back to the human realm. With any luck, Blake could hide me from the professors, and maybe we could find a way to keep me alive.

Grinning, I smooth my hair with my fingers, feeling a little better about everything. After the night I’d had, I hadn’t been willing to access shadow magic and change outfits, so I’m stillwearing the strange black feather bikini, which I have to admit, I’m actually growing fond of. Sure, it’s breezy, but now that I have a human body, I’m happy to show it off.