Page 36 of Shadebound (Dark Fantasy #1)

Perhaps it’s because most souls go easily—tired, ready, at peace with the story they’ve lived. Even the ones who burn to come back often vanish too quickly, slipping from his reach before he can offer the choice. He cannot save what he cannot hear.

But the shadebound... perhaps we are the ones who scream the loudest. Who fight the hardest. Who cling to the edge of the world with bloodied fingers and refuse to be forgotten. And Death—silent, watchful—hears that defiance. He listens. And sometimes, he answers.

Not out of kindness. But curiosity.

T hat evening after dinner, everything dragged like someone had poured concrete into my bloodstream.

I walked with the others through the halls, but none of it registered.

Not the stone floor chilled by sea winds, not the flickering wall sconces that threw warped shadows across the walls, not even the murmur of students moving around me.

My limbs burned. My eyes stung. The taste in my mouth was metallic.

Each step echoed like a reminder: I hadn’t escaped anything. Not really. The lesson was over, but it lived behind my eyes now. Playing on loop, gnawing at me from the inside out.

I followed the crowd up the tower, dragging myself higher with every miserable step, until I reached the dorm. Only then did I allow my bones to stop working, and I collapsed onto my bed, face-first, not even bothering to take off my boots.

Everything within me throbbed. Every part of me screamed to shut down.

Everything inside me was hollow.

Zayden followed and stopped beside me. “You good there, Heartache?”

I turned my head slightly, cracked one eye open. “Emotionally, spiritually, and physically annihilated. So. Peachy.”

He gave a quiet breath, somewhere between a sigh and a huff. “I don’t mean to pile on... but it’s about to get worse.”

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, then tilted my head toward him. “Worse how? I told Maya not to spoil it for me this morning, but I no longer have the mental capacity for a surprise.”

He rubbed the side of his neck, silver eyes softening. “You remember what I said about second initiations?”

“Yeah?”

He looked uncomfortable, almost apologetic.

“They use these things. Like speakers within the walls of our dorm. Screams and loud noises are blasted through the dorm all night. No one sleeps. And if you even start to drift off, the cuffs zap you awake again. It happens on your first night, usually. But because our team won the arena fight, it starts tonight.”

I blinked. Blinked again. “Sleep deprivation? Awesome.”

The others filtered in. Maya walked past without comment and climbed onto her bunk.

Draven came in after her, glancing around with his eyebrows furrowed, confused by the miserable faces he could see.

Everyone in the room had suddenly gone stiff.

The dragons glared at me, even the newly healed Tyler who’s eyes were murky.

He had a bottle of eyedrops in his hand, no doubt to heal the brilliant blindness I’d almost gifted him.

The wolves rubbed at their temples, sat rigid, like they were bracing for something horrid.

Draven cocked his head and turned to me. He signed: What’s happening? Everyone looks mad.

I signed back: They’re playing this awful screeching sound through the dorm soon. Something to stop us sleeping. And if you do fall asleep, the cuff will zap you awake.

He blew out a breath and then shrugged. Good thing I’m used to staying awake all night playing games then. He grinned at me. Guess all those times Mom told me off were wrong. It wasn’t me being an irresponsible teenager; it was me doing early training.

For a second I debated peeling his head open again, desperate to see if he truly had a brain. But before I could work out where to find scalping tools, he signed: Are you okay? You’ve looked like shit since the arena. No offence.

I hesitated, debating if I was offended but deciding I was too tired to be, then signed: I’m always okay. I think I can get in touch with father soon too, so we can get you home.

He frowned, his dark eyes narrowing. Really? Are you sure it’s not dangerous?

Sure. I nodded.

Perhaps my confidence didn’t inspire him. Or he just knew how to tell when I was lying, even without my necklace changing colour, because he signed, How sure?

Enough. I offered him my version of a smile. Go do something with your friends for a while. I’m sure they could do with comforting more than me.

Draven nodded and climbed onto his bed, starting a conversation with Luna just as Alessandro graced the room with his hideous presence. The entire time he walked to his bed, he was sneering at me like I was something sour stuck on his tongue. I didn’t return it. Couldn’t be bothered.

I just reached into my bra, taking the brown stone out and holding it in my hand. Occasionally twisting it through my knuckles as I smiled at the surly dragon whenever he looked my way.

Once I was bored of that, I just sat there and waited when the door slammed shut behind him and locked with a loud metallic clunk now that everyone in the dorm was present bar the three roommates that Zayden had informed me earlier were being punished for something, and wouldn’t be back for another week.

I was curious about what sort of punishment they were facing. ..

And then the screaming started.

Not sirens. Not music. Just noise . Pure, tortured sound. Twisting howls. Piercing shrieks. A grind of metal on metal and glitching, garbled voices like broken lullabies trapped underwater. It hit like a spike between the eyes.

My skull buzzed. My stomach turned. The cuff on my wrist hummed, as if it were already prepping to punish me when I inevitably fell asleep easily enough because I was used to hearing screams in the dark.

Used to sleeping when my brain was full of noise.

Because I was human (theoretically) I clutched the sides of my head. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Zayden sat down beside me, shoulders tight with tension.

His inked hands were clenched. A second later, Maya appeared at my side and slipped something into my palm—blue-tinted earplugs, smooth and shimmering like polished sea glass.

I didn’t know what they were made of, but they looked strange enough to help.

She passed another pair to Zayden and gave me a wink before she lay on her bed, face first into the pillow. I enjoyed a good suffocation, but I doubted she was doing it for fun. More like survival.

I stuffed my earplugs in. The noise dulled slightly—less like it was clawing directly at my brain, more like it was being piped in from underwater. Still unbearable. Still awful. Just a step below agony.

Essentially, it was the same as a dinner when my extended family came to my home for a holiday. Especially my cousin Ichabod. I couldn’t stand him. He was the worst sort of person. The vilest of men.

I lay back and stared at the fake sky in the window.

Motionless clouds floated in circles. The same looped dusk-blue tone that had hovered since this morning greeted me.

My jaw ached from tension. Ached from how hard I was trying to be normal and pretend things hadn’t suddenly become. .. almost bad for me.

Almost .

I wasn’t sure what time Zayden climbed into my bed and settled beside me. His presence was quiet. Just there. Either for his comfort or mine. I just knew I didn’t try to throw him to the ground.

At some point later, he reached for my arm and began tracing small, delicate shapes against my skin. Lines. Curves. Things I didn’t recognise but didn’t mind, just like his hand drawings. His touch was warm. Each motion slow and steady enough that in other situations it would have calmed me.

I wanted to say something kind to him. But I didn’t do kindness. So I simply settled for allowing him to exist in his current state and hoped it was enough.

The skinny dragon slumped forward at some point in the night, when time had ceased to mean anything. A second later, his cuff flared red and zapped him upright again. He jolted with a startled yell. Everyone else flinched, except me.

Except Alessandro.

Who just snarled and said, “Grow the fuck up, Viktor. You know better than to sleep.”

Viktor jumped back onto his bed, stiff as a board. He bowed his head, dark eyes lowering. “Sorry, Fiore.” He simpered. “I won’t do it again.”

I rolled onto my side, staring at the pair of them.

Viktor seemed to tremble under the weight of Alessandro’s stare, and I wondered why.

They were friends. Or friendly, at least. Alessandro was clearly the leader of their horde, but surely in a place like Mors, the only dragons here would have been powerful too?

Why was Viktor one moment away from pissing himself just from a single look?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the answer because Alessandro noticed me watching them and turned his hatred on like it had a switch.

Stop looking at me, Draconis. He signed. I presumed because talking was damn near impossible unless you shouted or were close together.

My hands raised lazily. Stop breathing, and I will.

His eyes flickered brighter, his magic flaring in a way that made me jealous. Of course you’d be into breath play, you fucked up little bitch.

I’m fucked up, but your mind went straight to sex? Sure thing, you horny lizard. I stuck my middle finger up at him, purely because I enjoyed watching how mad he got about it. A little because I didn’t have the energy to work out how to keep insulting him. It was exhausting.

I was exhausted.

His hands moved faster, snarl grew larger. Smoke drifted from his nostrils as his tenuous grasp on his temper got more fragile than his ego. I wouldn’t touch you.

Except when you pin me to the bed. Strangle me. Hold a knife to my throat. Or shove me. I turned my back on him, rolling to face something far more fun. Like the flickering glow of the candles on the walls, or Zayden.