Page 57 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

57

REED

P andora stood at the front of our Demon Capital History class, her voice raspy but steady as she addressed the room. Her gaze swept over our classmates, holding them captive with the weight of her words. The room seemed to pulse with energy as she spoke. The soft sounds of students shifting in their seats and murmuring only added to the tension.

She was explaining the soul eater death, and the class hung on her every word. Death had been the only soul eater in Kalista to be around other demons. The rest were very solitary. It made sense why everyone was so enamored by her.

“I found only one instance of a soul eater dying after feeding on a soul.” Pandora’s words sliced through the air as she strode back and forth, her hair a cascade of black billowing behind her. I caught the faint scent of caramel, and I loved it.

“This happened long before my dad’s time, and he’s over five hundred years old. Supposedly, the soul eater consumed the soul of a drake. Not just any drake…not an icedrake or a firedrake?—”

“Those are the only drakes that exist,” someone called out, but Respa snapped her fingers at them to be quiet. “Sorry,” they mumbled.

“That’s what we’ve been told.” Pandora’s red eyes glimmered with excitement as she locked gazes with a few skeptical students. “The drake was said to be a stormdrake, though that’s just legend. Obviously .”

There were a few raised eyebrows, some quiet murmurs, but no one spoke up. It was moments like this that I was reminded that my mate wasn’t just anyone—Pandora was a noble. The daughter of Death himself. If anyone else had been up there talking about stormdrakes, they’d probably be torn apart for suggesting something so outlandish. That was what happened to the authors of the works written about storm and lavadrakes. But not her.

Pandora’s lips quirked in a small smile as she continued. “The soul eater couldn’t handle the power and died. Burnt from the inside out.” Her voice softened, almost reverent, as though she was sharing a long-buried truth. “Like the magical essence was too strong for their body and magic to handle.”

She gestured with her slender hands, and my gaze caught on her delicate fingers, the way they traced invisible patterns in the air. Her black skirt swayed as she paced, hitting mid-thigh and revealing a glimpse of Hunter’s mark. My mark sat visible on her temple, a purple star imbued with my magical essence. The lace sleeves of her cream blouse stretched over her shoulders, exposing her collarbones with every movement.

“You may wonder why I’m using this account that seems so outlandish for my project. Well, the reason I am is because this is the only account of a soul eater dying by feeding. It’s recounted by a vampire who was supposedly with the soul eater when it happened. It killed both the stormdrake and the soul eater.”

Pandora finished her presentation strong, despite the skepticism lingering in the room.

Respa began to clap, the sound snapping everyone back to reality. “Great job, Gravesend. I’ve never heard that story before. Thank you for sharing. You pass.”

“Thank you.” Pandora smiled and came back to sit next to me. She leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek. Her lips were warm and soft against my skin.

“You did great,” I whispered, my heart swelling with pride for her.

“Nyx, you’re up,” Respa called my name.

Pandora smiled at me as her hand left mine, and her fingers brushed my arm. “You’ve got this.”

I stood up, my hands trembling just slightly as I walked to the front of the room where my mate had just come from. My essay wasn’t just a story. It was something I had to live. This presentation was one that was on a personal subject that cut me deep.

“Dream demons can die when feeding. They’re statistically higher than any other demon, aside from drudes, to die while feeding. My dad was part of that statistic,” I began, glancing around the room, avoiding the noble demons' cold stares.

Even the demons who weren’t nobility judged me. I was used to it. I was the demon with a human mother and a father that died while feeding.

A cold silence settled over the room as I spoke. Encouragement shot through my matebond from Pandora, but it only helped a little. I kept my gaze fixed above the heads of the students, but I could still feel their eyes on me—some curious, others detached, and a few openly disdainful.

“He entered a coworker’s nightmare to feed, but…he didn’t make it out. The nightmare killed him.” I swallowed hard, feeling the raw ache of grief clawing at my insides. “The coworker remembered everything…even the part where the serial killer that had been chasing him in his nightmare ripped my father’s heart out.”

A murmur rippled through the class, a mix of shock and discomfort.

I stopped, the weight of the memory pressing down on me. The grief, the loss. I tried to hold it together. Demons didn’t show weakness in public.

The tears came anyway, and my voice broke as I continued, “When dream demons and drudes die in their own dream or another’s…it kills them. It was real. My dad died while feeding.”

A snicker broke out from the back of the room. “Pathetic,” a demon sneered, his voice laced with contempt.

I looked up, only to see a noble dream demon lounging back, his lips twisted in a smirk. “What a pointless death. Fucking ridiculous.”

My hands clenched into fists, the anger burning like fire under my skin.

Before Respa or I could even open our mouths, Pandora was already out of her seat, striding forward with fury blazing through the bond. A thick dark smoke erupted from her.

“Feeding is pointless?” Her voice was low, deadly, and the entire room seemed to hold its breath. “Keeping your magic reserves full and stable…that’s ridiculous to you?” She let her smoke slip down his throat, her voice a harsh whisper.

The noble demon’s smug look dissolved as he choked on her magic. “N-No, I—” he stammered, his face growing pale as her smoke pulled at his essence, making his skin take on a grayish hue.

“You did,” Pandora insisted. She retracted her magic, letting his soul fill her reserves as he collapsed.

The room fell silent, every eye locked on her as her eyes flashed red again.

She strode over toward me, then she turned to face the class, linking her fingers with mine. “I think I’ve finally figured out demonic etiquette. Brutal and ruthless for no reason at all. You think that makes you strong? It doesn’t. It just makes you cruel. Demons don’t have to be cruel to be strong. I think my power speaks for itself, and guess what? I’m not cruel. Not for no reason.”

The room was deathly quiet.

“Gravesend, did you—” Respa started, but Pandora cut her off.

“I didn’t kill him. Just knocked him out,” she explained.

“I see.” She nodded. “Nyx, you pass. I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. Your father’s death was a tragedy that rocked the capital.”

I nodded, my jaw tight.

Pandora didn’t wait another second, her fingers tightening on mine. “We’re leaving,” she whispered as she led us out.

As we reached our room, the silence that had accompanied us the entire way back crumbled as a sob left my lips.

It was like she knew.

She’d been waiting for me to break.

Pandora pulled me into her arms, her hands cupping my face. “I’m here. I’ll always be here, Reed. No one should mock you for grieving.”

Her words split open the walls I’d built, unraveling the raw pain I thought I’d buried when we laid my mom to rest.

The familiar ache of loneliness, the anger at my mom’s choices, the memories of our fractured family—all of it came crashing down. My throat tightened as I tried to keep from breaking further, but Pandora sensed it all through our bond. I didn’t have to explain or justify anything to her. The weight of her love and understanding reached through our bond.

“He was everything to us,” I finally managed to choke out, my voice fracturing under the weight of my words. “He held us together, made life feel steady—even in our worst moments. And then, when he was gone…” The old pain of grief clawed up my throat. “She just wasn’t there. She was supposed to be, but she—” I faltered as the memories pressed in, a whirlwind of guilt and anger as I remembered what she did. “She gave me to Dark Veil. Then, she ended it all. Sure, she left me a note, but she never faced me. She never tried to tell me, to make me understand.”

My voice cracked and splintered as the hurt clawed through, baring the betrayal, the loneliness, the scars I’d forced myself to ignore. The mom I had loved, the one I had hoped would heal with time, had left me with nothing but hollow explanations on a page. And here, with Pandora holding me, it was as if she lifted every one of those buried emotions, allowing them to surface and hurt this way for what felt like the last time.

She pulled me closer, pressing me against her as her hand traced soft, soothing patterns down my back. Her gentle breaths seemed to slow my own.

“It hurts,” I croaked. “If he never died, she wouldn’t have broken. I’d still have a family.”

“I know, Reed. I know. And I’m so sorry.” There was a warmth in her voice that wrapped around my soul, reaching places I didn’t realize had been so…bitterly cold. “You don’t have to go through any of this alone. Not ever again. I promise.”

She was my reason for living. I gripped her tighter, letting her love wrap around me through the bond.

All of the fear, all of the pain—I let myself feel it. I let it rise and crash within me, knowing Pandora was here to hold me together.

“I love you,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.

“And I love you.” She pressed her lips to mine, the kiss erased the last traces of darkness, and I felt a peace only she was capable of giving me. With her, I felt safe. I felt whole. No matter what we went through, I knew that being her mate would always be enough.