Page 10

Miranda

Time can fly quickly when your life becomes a routine with only one day of rest each week.

Sunday through Friday, we have classes and combat training, while Saturday is free. And I’m sure the only reason there’s a day off is for the faculty, not us.

I’ve been at the academy for about three weeks now, and every day becomes more soul-crushing than the last.

Learn to fight. Spar. Learn tactics. Demonstrate. Learn history. Test.

My sanity is maintained only by my interactions with some of the other Cursed here.

Colt has become a near-constant companion of mine, as has Rai, although he doesn’t touch me as much. Aubrey hangs out with us all as well but is usually off to the side and disinterested in our conversations or activities. However, I have picked up a few of his signs now.

“I’m surprised your boy toys aren’t looming over us right now,” Nyx teases me as we soak in a bit of sun, me on my face only.

I shake my head and give her a sideways glance. “They’re definitely not mine, nor ‘boy toys.’”

There’s a loud huff on my other side. “Please. Those three would eat you alive if they could.” This from Arlowe, a friend of Nyx’s who I’d like to think is also a friend of mine now.

Nyx had introduced us shortly after I arrived, and I appreciate the mahogany-haired beauty’s blunt candor.

“If they could touch me, you mean?”

Arlowe sits up straight in the grass and leans forward, brushing her palms on her dark pants and leaving behind dirt. “Yeah, but not how you mean.”

She means that intimacy is forbidden.

I was just poking at her, but I shouldn’t have.

Of all the Cursed currently at the Academy, I’m the only uncontrolled tactile. Lucky me.

“I know,” I say softly.

“So what are you going to do about them?”

“She’s not going to do anything.” Nyx’s tone holds an edge of warning.

People are always listening.

Arlowe scoffs. “Look, we’re forced to take suppressants, but you really think that’s all there is in them? Have you gotten your periods since you’ve been on their junk?”

I still at the same time as Nyx.

There is an unspoken understanding between us. We’re the same, she and I. And we’re always in danger because of it.

Colt is now the only other person who knows besides me, Nyx, and my father. And him learning my secret was an accident.

“Of course there’s birth control in the suppressants,” Nyx replies with ease. “They can’t take any chances.”

“Right. So they know that some of us are bound to bump uglies undercover. It’s all fear-mongering.”

I peer over at Arlowe’s matter-of-fact expression and have to wonder if she’s right. Not that it matters in my situation.

“Whatever.” Nyx lets out a frustrated sigh.

“You’ve just got your panties bunched because you’ve got the hots for the headmaster.”

I stifle a laugh when Nyx sends a little jolt of electricity at Arlowe that makes her yelp in pain.

“I do not.”

I suppress a smirk as best I can. “Don’t shock me, too, but...I felt the draw between you the day I arrived.”

Nyx’s eyes shoot to mine, alarmed, like I’ve uncovered something no one should know. But anyone with eyes and half a brain could see how they act around one another.

“And then there’s Erich…”

This draws my attention back to Arlowe, eyes wide. “Who’s Erich?”

The grin that spreads across her face is devilish, her violet eyes glitter in the sun. “Oh, just the tatted, pierced, broody hottie who stalks Nyx with his eyes whenever she’s near him.”

“Erich is a dick,” Nyx chimes from my other side.

“Well, he has a dick that you definitely want to get to know.”

Another shock, and I can’t stop my laughter this time.

“Hey! I am warning you. Cut it out.” Arlowe is only half-serious by her tone.

Nyx grumbles and leans back on her hands to look up at the sky. “Our combat training in the mountains next week? Erich is going to be on my team.”

Arlowe sings, “ Ooooooh,” as I ask, “What combat training?”

Nyx looks at me. “A couple of times a year, the more advanced students go to the mountains for war games. We’re split into at least two teams and use all the tactics we’ve learned in simulated battles.” She rolls her eyes.

“I’m on the Orange Team this year.” Arlowe looks smug, but it’s lost on me.

“Green as usual for me,” Nyx grumbles, then turns back to me. “It’s an absolute pain in the ass, literally. We have to sleep outdoors, and there’s no off time, so we’re always on alert. Some of the teams strike at night.”

“What happens once someone is eliminated?”

“They go back to base camp,” Arlowe offers.

“Which is not much better.” Nyx’s tone is sour. “The faculty makes the eliminated students their lackeys until the exercise is over. There’s no actual rest or anything.”

“Well, maybe you and Erich will enjoy a bit of bonding time together.”

When Nyx shoots another bolt at Arlowe for her teasing, she jumps up. “That’s it. I’ve had enough of this abuse.” A darkness covers her body like thick, black smoke, and in a blink, she’s gone, the shadow with her.

“Touchy,” Nyx mumbles.

I smirk at her. “You did electrocute her. Three times.”

She lets out a pffft . “What I sent her way equated to a joy-buzzer. She’s just being a baby.”

My head shakes as I smile at my friend, and then all my senses go on alert as those familiar scents invade my nostrils. My body turns automatically to face them, Colt, Rai, and Aubrey, as the three approach our little sunny spot outside the treeline.

“Well.” Nyx stands with haste and looks down at me, wiping her palms on her pants. “Enjoy time with your ‘boy-toys,’ hm?” The smirk she gives me is knowing before she turns to head back to the academy, waving at the Alphas as she passes them.

“We did not mean to disrupt your time with your friend,” Rai tells me, although he doesn’t seem sad that we’re alone now.

“He’s not, and neither am I,” Colt chimes as he plops down on the ground beside me, his hand immediately finding my knee.

“What did we talk about the other day?” I warn.

“Boundaries. Personal Space. Self-control. Right. Forgot.” He’s absolutely flippant.

I sigh, although I can’t find it in me to be frustrated. A part of me is comforted by not always being alone in my thoughts.

His hand squeezes my knee.

“We were in the library and got bored,” Rai explains. “We missed you.”

The way his words make my heart squeeze is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Rai is always this way, with his kindness and reverence.

“I can be sweet, too,” Colt grumbles.

I let out a puff of laughter, and Rai clears his throat.

“There is...something I would like to try, Mira. An experiment, if you will.”

My brows lift, my heart giving a little stutter. “An experiment?”

“I would like us to go to the farthest training ground from the academy. If you’d indulge me.”

I look at Rai and smile, my trust in him shining, even if he can’t see it. “Of course. Let’s go.”

Rai smiles then, too, and the sight is so beautiful that it takes my breath away.

He looks at Aubrey in that uncanny way he has of knowing where you are. “You brought it?”

Aubrey gives him an affirmative nod, and I say, “He says, ‘yes.’”

“Good.”

Aubrey takes the lead, keeping several paces ahead of us, and we move away from the academy building in a slow trek. We stay on the cobbled path that runs between outdoor and indoor training grounds, most of which I’ve never visited. Curiosity looms, but I keep following, Rai to my left and Colt with his arm looped through my right.

When we’ve walked maybe two hundred yards, an enormous coliseum appears over the path that begins to lead downward. When we crest the hill, it comes into full view, like something out of ancient Greece. Towering stone columns and arches form an open circular structure, the contents exposed to the elements.

It takes even more time to reach the entrance, and once we’re through the giant arches, what’s beyond is revealed.

An enormous field of grass, maybe more than a hundred yards in circumference, aged and worn with dirt patches everywhere. Tall, partial, and broken stone walls and their debris litter the ground. We maneuver around a few of them to reach the furthest part of the interior, which is where we stop.

“Thank you,” Rai says as he turns to me. “May I...put my hand on your arm?”

His request is pretty small for such a long hike, but it isn’t like I’d say no. “Of course.”

As Rai approaches, Aubrey removes a school tablet from the back of his pants and holds it in his clasped hands, rested in front of him.

Rai’s hand grips my forearm lightly, his hand warm through my sleeve.

Colt releases my other arm, walks to where Aubrey is standing, and a second later, Rai’s blindfold is in his free hand. I look at his face, and beyond being struck by how he could possibly be any more beautiful than I imagined, I am very confused.

Rai told me what happens when he opens his eyes. Is he trying to show me his curse? But why would he need to hold my arm?

It’s no sooner the thought crosses my mind that his eyes fly open, and so many of my questions are answered.

First, his eyes. They’re the color of tumbled coal, shining pools of onyx. I can barely decipher where his irises end and his pupils begin. And they are radiant.

Second, he isn’t trying to show me what his powers can do because one glance at the bright, glowing tablet in Aubrey’s hands tells me they’ve done nothing.

And I realize that’s the reason he’s touching me.

Why Colt is always touching me

Why I feel like I’ve known these Alphas all my life and that we belong together.

Because we do.