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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ISOLDE

“Blackridge threatened to have me evaluated.”

William raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Why this time?”

“Because I’m potentially a danger to the other students.”

He rolls his eyes. “He is such a cunt.”

“You could say that again. Maybe I should go.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he says warily.

“Maybe I can get more answers?”

“Or maybe you can get more runes shoved in your spine.”

I shudder at the thought, remembering the agony. “Point taken.” I settle more comfortably against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my cheek. “But I can’t keep having episodes like this in front of other students. Eventually, someone’s going to get hurt.”

He sighs. “Whatever you decide, we will go along with, but we will come with you if you do.”

“I don’t know,” I say, chewing my lip. “Part of me thinks it might be a good idea, the other part…”

“Runes?”

“Yeah.”

“The runes were designed for me, essentially. I have them now.”

“So, you don’t think he will try to get some more in me?”

“I can’t say for sure.”

“So, we are officially getting nowhere with this?”

“Nowhere with what?” Cass asks, entering the room and spotting us on the floor.

I look up as Cassiel approaches, his silver eyes immediately assessing the situation. “The power surges,” I explain. “They’re getting worse. Today in Blood Magic class, I nearly skewered Blackridge with a blood construct.”

“Nearly?” William asks with obvious disappointment.

Cassiel kneels beside us. “How bad was the episode?”

“Bad enough that William had to syphon excess power,” I admit. “I was convulsing on the floor when he found me.”

Cassiel’s expression darkens. “The transformation is accelerating. The Sanctuary may have triggered something we weren’t prepared for.”

“Blackridge wants to do an evaluation.”

“No,” he states, standing up. “Not after last time.”

“It might help,” I start, but he glares furiously at me.

“No. End of story. I forbid it.”

I blink, and William clears his throat.

“You forbid it?” I ask, shocked that he would be so domineering after everything.

“Forbid it?” I rise swiftly, and William backs away, until his back hits the wall, staying well out of this.

Good thing too. If he had piled on, I’d find myself with one guy instead of three. “You are walking a fine line, Cassiel.”

His wings snap out, black feathers ruffling with agitation. “I’ve seen what Blackridge’s evaluations entail. I won’t watch him carve you up in the name of research.”

“It’s not your decision to make,” I snap back, silver light beginning to flicker beneath my skin again. “I’m not some fragile thing that needs protecting.”

“You’re the most important person in this room,” he counters, stepping closer despite my obvious anger. “To all of us. If Blackridge gets his hands on you for an evaluation, there’s no guarantee you’ll come back whole.”

“And if I lose control and kill innocent students?” My voice rises, the power in it making the windows rattle. “What then? How is that protecting anyone?”

Cassiel’s expression softens slightly, but his stance remains firm. “We’ll find another way. William’s syphoning technique worked. We can manage the episodes without surrendering you to Blackridge’s barbaric methods.”

“Can we, though?” I gesture to the lingering traces of silver light dancing across my arms. “This is getting stronger. What happens when William can’t absorb it all? What if I hurt him? What happens when I’m in the middle of a lecture and I accidentally drain someone dry?”

The room falls silent. None of them has an answer for that, because they know I’m right. The hunger is growing, and the power surges are becoming more frequent and intense. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

“You aren’t going, and that’s final,” Cassiel says, arms crossed.

“Really?” I drawl. “We’ll see about that.”

“Isolde, no!” William is on his feet in seconds and blocking my path as I storm towards the door. “Don’t be rash.”

“Get out of my way!”

“Cass is being a cunt. Ignore him. He isn’t forbidding you to do anything, he is just concerned. You don’t need to prove a point.”

“I’m not. I’m actually starting to think I have to go.”

“Why?”

“For my own sanity,”

William studies my face, searching for something. Whatever he finds there makes him step aside reluctantly. “Then we’re coming with you.”

“Going where?” CJ’s voice comes from the doorway. He enters, taking in the tension crackling through the room. “What did I miss?”

“Isolde wants to submit to Blackridge’s evaluation,” Cassiel says through gritted teeth.

CJ’s expression hardens instantly. “Like hell.”

“See?” I throw up my hands in exasperation. “This is exactly why I need to go alone. You three turn into overprotective arseholes the moment anyone suggests I might be in danger.”

“Because you are in danger!” CJ snaps, his markings flaring beneath his skin. “Blackridge isn’t some benevolent headmaster looking out for your wellbeing.”

“Which is precisely why I need answers,” I counter. “I’m tired of being a pawn in everyone else’s game. If he wants to evaluate me, fine. But I want something in return.”

“What could he possibly offer that’s worth the risk?” William asks.

“Information. About my parents’ deal. About what he really wants from me. About how to stop what’s happening to me before I become a monster.”

The blood whispers surge in response to my words, a chorus of denial and encouragement.

Not a monster. Queen. Embrace it. Become it.

I press my palms to my temples, trying to quiet the voices. “The whispers are getting stronger. They want me to embrace this transformation, to become whatever Damadere became. Maybe Blackridge has answers about how to resist it.”

“Or maybe he wants to accelerate it,” CJ argues, moving to stand beside Cassiel in a united front. “You can’t trust him, Isolde.”

“I don’t trust him,” I snap. “But I trust myself not to be fooled twice by him.”

William stares at me, conflict clear on his face. “If we’re doing this, we do it on our terms. We demand to be present for the entire evaluation.”

“He won’t agree to that,” Cassiel says flatly.

“Then we make him agree,” I reply. “I’m not going in blind and helpless. If Blackridge wants his evaluation, he gets it with witnesses.”

CJ’s jaw clenches, but I can see him wavering. “And if he refuses?”

“Then we know he has something to hide beyond what we already suspect.”

The room falls quiet again as they consider this. I can practically see the wheels turning in their heads, weighing risks against potential benefits.

“After you,” William says.

I knew he would be the first to capitulate.

He wants answers as much as I do. I know CJ and Cassiel are only trying to protect me, but they don’t know what this is like.

Marching past them, I don’t stop to wait for them to catch up, but I hear them following me at a distance, giving me space.

The creepiness of the hallways seems more ominous now.

Somehow more threatening. I lift my chin higher and make my way to Blackridge’s office, pausing to knock as the guys hover behind me.

“Miss Morvoren,” Blackridge says as the door swings open to let me in. “You brought company?”

“They are staying.”

“Staying for what exactly?” His black eyes bore into mine as I move further into the room.

“You know damn well why I’m here,” I spit out.

“Do I?” He sits back, assessing me with a gaze that feels like ice digging into my soul.

“The evaluation,” I say, holding his gaze steadily. “You said we may need to complete one. I’m here to volunteer.”

His eyebrows rise slightly, the first genuine expression of surprise I’ve ever seen cross his features. “How refreshing. A student who takes initiative.” He steeples his fingers, studying the four of us with calculating eyes.

“We are here as witnesses,” William states flatly, moving to flank me. “Non-negotiable.”

“Witnesses,” Blackridge repeats, his voice carrying dark amusement. “How delightfully dramatic. Very well. I suppose there’s no harm in an audience for what I have in mind.”

CJ and Cassiel exchange a look that screams danger, but neither moves to stop me as Blackridge rises from his desk.

“Follow me,” he says, moving behind us towards a door hidden behind a tapestry depicting…

I blink and swallow the mouthful of saliva that floods into my mouth…

a hunting scene, exactly like the one at home.

How did I not notice it before? “The evaluation chamber is specially designed for intensive assessments.”

The door opens onto a spiral staircase that descends into darkness. I follow Blackridge down, the temperature drops noticeably, and the air grows thick with the scent of old magic and something else. Something that makes my skin crawl.

Cursing behind me makes me look over my shoulder. The three guys are standing in the doorway. “Are you coming?”

“We can’t,” William grits out. “Come back up, Isolde. He’s separating us.”

In the next instant, they vanish. “Hey!” I call out to Blackridge. “What is going on?”

“Only certain creatures can pass the wards. No one ever knows who or what will get through.”

“Are you joking?” I hiss.

“I never joke, Miss Morvoren.”

“So where are they?”

“The wards most likely removed them as a threat.”

“Removed them to where?”

“A safe place, I’m sure.”

“You don’t even know?” I shriek.

“I never concern myself with where threats are removed to,” Blackridge replies with infuriating calm, continuing down the stairs. “They are simply elsewhere. Safe, as I said.”

My blood runs cold. “Bring them back. Now.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible until the evaluation is complete.” He doesn’t even glance back at me. “The wards are quite thorough in their protective measures.”

Rage floods through me as I rush down the stairs after him. “I want them here!”

He reaches the bottom of the staircase. “Did you truly believe I would allow three volatile supernatural entities to witness what comes next?”

The chamber we enter is circular, carved from black stone that seems to absorb light. Symbols cover every surface. Something older, more primitive. Something that makes my teeth ache just looking at it.

In the centre sits a chair that’s clearly not meant for comfort. Metal restraints gleam in the dim light, and channels carved into the stone floor lead away from it like the spokes of a wheel.

“Sit,” Blackridge commands, his voice carrying a compulsion that makes my legs move without my permission.

“No!” I fight against the invisible force pushing me towards the chair, but my body betrays me, step by reluctant step. “I changed my mind! I want to leave!”

“Too late for that, Miss Morvoren. We are about to conduct a test. Sit.”

I sit without conscious thought. But the restraints don’t clamp down on me. Yet.

The compulsion lifts, and I glare at him. “What test?”

“Something I need to know.” He stands in front of me, and with a silver athame that he produces from thin air, he slices his wrist wide open.

I hiss as the scent of his blood hits my senses. My fangs extend, and my tongue flicks out like a serpent’s, tasting the blood in the air.

“Do you want to drink, Miss Morvoren?” he asks.

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever encountered before, rich and dark and impossibly powerful. It’s ancient and alien, carrying whispers of power that make my entire body tremble with need.

“Yes,” I breathe. The hunger that William temporarily sated roars back to life with vicious intensity. “Gods, yes.”

Blackridge steps closer, extending his bleeding wrist towards me. “Then drink.”

I lean forward eagerly, but he pulls back just out of reach. The motion makes me whimper, a sound of pure desperation that echoes off the stone walls.

“Not yet,” he murmurs. “First, tell me what you taste in the air.”

I close my eyes, letting the scent wash over me. “Power,” I gasp. “Ancient power. Older than anything I can imagine. It tastes like... like the beginning of things. The first breath. The first blood spilt.”

“Very good.” His voice carries approval that makes something dark inside me preen. “And what does that power call to?”

“Everything,” I whisper. “It calls to everything inside me. The hunger, the voices, the silver fire. It wants to merge, to become one.”

“Precisely.” He moves his wrist closer again. The blood wells from the cut, dark as molten obsidian. “I’ve seen the effects the others have on you. I want to see the effect I have on you.”

“Eww,” I moan, even though his blood is making my stomach clench painfully with hunger pangs.

“Not in that way,” he says, slightly grossed out himself, which reassures me. Sort of.

“What way, then?” I ask, though part of me doesn’t want to know the answer. His blood calls to something frightening inside me.

“I want to see if you can resist temptation when it truly matters,” he says, lowering his wrist until it’s mere inches from my lips. “Your three protectors aren’t here to anchor you. The hunger is overwhelming. Yet you haven’t lunged for my throat.”

“Because I’m not an animal,” I spit, though my fangs ache with the need to bite, to drink, to consume whatever he’s offering.

“Aren’t you?” His smile is cold, knowing.

I stare at the blood flowing from his wrist. He hasn’t healed yet, but I don’t think for one second that it’s because he doesn’t have instant healing.

It’s because he is willing the wound to stay open.

That is power beyond my wildest imagination.

I lick my lips. I want to resist. To bite him would be a betrayal of sorts to my guys, but more than that.

I don’t want to be beholden to whatever power runs through his veins.

But he smells so good, I’m not sure I’m capable of resisting.

I dig my fingernails into the arms of the chair, anchoring myself to something solid as the hunger threatens to overwhelm every rational thought.

“I won’t,” I grit out, though my voice shakes with the effort. “I won’t drink from you.”

“Why?” He tilts his head, studying me like a specimen under glass. “Your body is screaming for it. The hunger is tearing you apart from the inside. One taste would ease that suffering.”

“No.”

I try without success to snap my fangs back, but they won’t budge.

My stomach growls loudly, but I don’t care. I won’t touch him.

“You will descend into madness,” he murmurs.

“Who says I haven’t already?”

“I can wait, Miss Morvoren.”

“Then you’d better get a chair because we are going to be here for a while.”

He smirks and summons up a chair from the gods only knows where. He sits and stares at me in that unnerving way. His blood hisses and sizzles as it hits the ground at our feet. “I have all the time in the world.”

“So do I.”

“You don’t want to get back to your men?”

“Not if it means drinking from you is the only way out.”

I don’t know what his test is here, and I don’t really care. I will wait it out until the end of time if I have to.