Page 19 of Darkness and Deceit (Obsidian Academy #2)

Sixteen

KAI

Lilith is fast asleep, tangled in my black sheets, her breath soft and even, her hair scattered across my pillow like dark ink spilled in moonlight. Her brow is finally smooth, her lips parted just slightly, and for a moment, it’s almost easy to believe she’s resting peacefully.

But I know better.

This stillness won’t last. It never does.

She shifts in her sleep, safe for once.

I never had that. Just a cold floor, a collar, a name I didn’t choose.

Stray.

Worse than nothing. A thing without a home.

Simon lies beside her, hands behind his head, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. Vaughn’s sprawled across the couch, arms folded tight, unlit cigarette dangling from his fingers. I stand at the window, watching the trees.

None of us are sleeping. Not when something feels… off.

Not when it’s been days since the last Rogue incident and that silence feels more like a setup than a relief.

“I don’t like this,” Simon says eventually. “It’s too quiet.”

“Want me to hum you a lullaby?” Vaughn asks without looking up. “Something soft. Sultry. Maybe a little jazzy.”

“Only if it comes with earplugs,” I reply, not breaking my stare from the forest edge.

“You’re all charm tonight,” he shoots back. “No wonder the shadows are your best friends.”

Simon snorts, but the sound fades quickly as his gaze flickers to Lilith. “We shouldn’t have trusted the Keepers.”

That kills the humor in the room instantly.

“I thought they’d protect her,” he continues. “That was the job. But I was wrong. They see her as leverage, not a life.”

“I told you that from the beginning,” Vaughn mutters, voice lower now. Less bite.

I don’t shift my attention from the forest edge until I hear her shift. The faint rustle of sheets pulls my attention.

Lilith stirs slightly, curling in tighter to Simon’s side. Her brow creases, her fingers twitch like she’s still caught somewhere between dreams and memory. It hurts to see her like this. So vulnerable and quiet, tucked against us like we’re enough to keep the world from burning.

“She’s getting stronger,” Simon says, almost to himself. “But not fast enough.”

I nod. We all feel it—that rising pressure. The sense that something’s closing in and we’re running out of time.

“She’s powerful,” I murmur. “But untrained. If she breaks before she learns how to burn… we lose her.”

“She won’t,” Simon says. “Not while we’re here.”

Vaughn goes to light his cigarette, but I send a thin thread of shadow to snatch it from his fingers and tuck it into my pocket.

“No smoking,” I remind him. “Lilith asked you to stop.”

He glares, but lets it go.

Simon exhales and looks at both of us. “Whatever happens next, we don’t let her out of reach. Not again. We keep her close. Always.”

I nod once.

No argument there.

Then it happens.

A line of blue fire explodes through the forest, racing through the trees like a blade through silk. It climbs high, unnaturally fast, devouring everything in its path with a roar of magic-fed hunger. The sky turns electric with its light.

And a beat later?—

The whistle.

That fucking whistle.

It slices through the air like a scream I can’t block out. Familiar. Wrong. Burned into the inside of my skull.

The Rogues.

They’re here.

And they’ve breached the protective barrier.

“Get up,” I snap, already spinning from the window. “Now.”

Simon’s on his feet before I finish speaking, already grabbing for his shirt. Vaughn curses and scrambles upright, bare-chested and disoriented. The three of us are still half-dressed from earlier—sweat-slick and disheveled.

Lilith stirs, confused. A flush of realization crosses her face as she blinks awake. I toss her one of my long-sleeved shirts without a word—she catches it on instinct.

“Up,” I bark again, more urgent. “It’s the Rogues.”

Simon yanks on his pants, pulling Lilith upright and helping her slide her arms into the shirt. Vaughn, already tugging on his boots, tosses her a pair of pants from the floor near the bed.

“Come on, Fox,” he mutters, voice grim now. “Time to move.”

I tear the windows open with my shadows. A rush of wind surges through the room, ice-cold and carrying the sound of distant fire and closer screams. That whistle echoes again, louder this time. Closer.

Lilith reaches the window and stops dead.

The fire is real.

The sound is real.

The danger is real.

She goes pale, eyes wide.

“We’re under attack,” I murmur grimly.

Chaos surges outside. Shouts echo. Doors slam. Spells flash in the distance. Panic spreads like smoke.

A boy near the glyph-line shouts, “What happened to the wards? Aren’t we supposed to be protected?”

The stone beneath us was supposed to be sacred. Etched with glyphs, layered with magic, renewed every week. We were told nothing could get in.

So how the hell did it?

Unless it isn’t just an attack. It’s a test.

Or worse… someone let it happen.

“Simon,” I say sharply, already crossing to the stash where I keep my blade. “Evacuate the first years. Now.”

He’s already nodding. Of all of us, he’s the best at staying calm when the world starts to fracture. They’ll listen to him. He’ll get them out.

“Lilith, go with him.”

“No,” she snaps, fire already lighting behind her tired eyes. “Don’t sideline me. I can fight.”

“You’re not ready,” Vaughn says, stepping toward her. “You’ll get yourself killed.”

“You don’t know that?—”

“I do,” he growls, looming over her. “This isn’t training, Fox. This is war.”

Another whistle slices through the night, shrill and close enough to shake the windows. The shadows at the tree line are moving fast and wrong.

Simon tightens his grip on her arm. “We need to go. Now.”

Lilith clenches her jaw, ready to argue, but then hesitates. Her eyes dart between the trees, the hall, and me. With a sharp exhale through her nose, she gives a single nod.

“Be careful,” she says, voice low. “Come back to me.”

And then her lips are on mine.

It’s fast. Fierce. Like she’s burning it into my mouth in case it’s the last. I cup her face, fingers threaded through her hair, anchoring myself in her warmth for a single, fragile second?—

Then Vaughn grabs her and kisses her like he’s promising war.

Simon doesn’t wait. He pulls her back toward the door, already calling on his bear. Light flares around his knuckles as they vanish down the hall.

I watch her go.

Every part of me wants to follow. To keep her in reach, in shadow, in safety. But I can’t. I need to know she’s somewhere safe—out of the blast radius, away from the front lines—so I can stop holding back and do what I do best.

Hunt.

Strike.

Eliminate.

I turn back to the window.

The blue fire is closer now, blazing through the woods like it has a score to settle. The Rogues’ silhouettes stretch long across the field. The whistles echo. Their blades gleam.

I grab my katana from under the bed, and the shadows answer my call without hesitation.

I let the stillness settle over me. I let the rage come next. Let the bloodlust bloom. Let them come.

I’ve been waiting for this. And if I get to carve through a few of them for daring to wake my mate when she was finally sleeping peacefully?

Even better.