Page 75 of Bound to the Dorm Elf

Gasps ripple from the group on the library steps. Someone whispers, sharp and fast. I don’t turn toward them. I keep my gaze on Skylar.

Her lips part, and for a moment I think she might tell me to stop, to pull the mask back on. But she doesn’t. She just tightens her grip on my hand and lifts her chin a fraction higher, matching me in defiance.

“This is going to make things harder,” she says quietly.

I smirk, slow and deliberate. “Good.”

We start walking again, hand in hand, letting the stares burn into our backs. The path ahead is just stone and frost, the same as it was before, but it feels different now — like we’ve stepped into a new line of battle, one with no way to retreat.

It’s not a promise of safety. Safety was never part of this.

It’s a promise of defiance.

And of a life we’ll face together, whatever comes next.