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Sindy’s eyes fluttered shut as she savored a bite of coq au vin.“This is incredible. Did the kitchen switch to French cuisine just for you?”She grinned.“You’re French, right? But your English is flawless.”

Funny, considering I’d never left France before now.

“My mother was English,”I said.

A sharp pain twisted in my chest. For the first time in years, I hadn’t visited her grave or spoken to her among the garden roses. She was an ocean away now, but not forgotten. Never forgotten.

I speared a slice of beetroot, the earthy sweetness sharp on my tongue. Cooking had always been my language of care. Even as a child, I’d been the one to prepare our meals, instinctively knowing which herbs complemented which flavors. Mom had called it my quiet magic.

A basket of baguette slid across the table toward me. My head snapped up.

Sebastian lounged nearby, flashing that flawless smile. Gorgeous, yes, but he didn’t make my pulse stutter the way Ravencrux did. My pulse spiked as I noticed the sudden silence, the weight of every gaze locking onto us.

Shit.

“Baguette tastes like home, doesn’t it?”the golden boy said.

My fingers tightened around my fork. How had he dug up my origins so quickly?

He dropped into the seat beside me without invitation. Sindy gaped, starstruck.

“Thank you,”I said, dabbing my lips with a napkin. His eyes tracked the movement, lingering before meeting mine again.“The coq au vin is excellent.”

I set the napkin deliberately on my lap, conscious not to make any dramatic moves to attract the predator.

“The duck confit is better,”he said, leaning in. “I could show you that. In private dining. Among other things.”

A proposition. A temptation.

“I grew up simply,”I said, holding his gaze.“I don’t hunger for finery. This is enough.”

A knowing glint flickered in his eyes, as if we’d met long before today. It reminded me of that same unsettling recognition in Orren, Dante, and Morrigan when they’d stormed into my garden. The coincidence prickled the back of my neck.

“You deserve every luxury,”he purred, before leaning close enough that his breath warmed my ear.“But be warned. This place isn’t safe for you. You’ll need my protection.”

“I can handle myself.”

“I don’t doubt your skill.”His smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“But you’re new. You don’t see the rot festering beneath these ancient marble halls.

”His voice dropped further.“When death comes knocking on your door, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Nero Ravencrux isn’t just dangerous. He’s dark and twisted.

A psychopath! Unfortunately for you, he has his eyes fixed on you, and nothing good follows that unwanted attention. Get close, and he’ll ruin you.”

I already knew Ravencrux had marked me. Sindy had confirmed no other student had ever been detained by him. His threats had been clear, though not of death but something more intimate: ruin, disgrace, the slow unraveling of everything I was.

A cold knot tightened in my stomach. I’d known he was dangerous from the first moment our eyes met. Known it in the way prey recognizes a predator.

Sebastian’s smile deepened at my unease, and my right eye twitched—whether fromhisproximity or the mention of Ravencrux, I couldn’t tell.

“He’s charmed countless naive women with that brooding act,”Sebastian continued, voice slick with disdain.“They line up for him like he’s the forbidden fruit. And redheads?”His gaze lingered on my hair.“His favorite.”

White-hot fury seared through me. Images of Nero with other women—their limbs tangled, his hands ontheminstead of me—flashed behind my eyes. The urge toriptore through me: to bleed Nero’s flesh, to claw Sebastian’s smug lips raw for putting those images in my head.

I recoiled from my own violence. “My sweet, meek daughter.” That’s what Mom had always called me. Yet here I was, fingers strangling my fork, my other hand a shaking fist under the table. One reckless move, and I’d stab it into Sebastian, warningor not.

“But isn’t it forbidden? Professor-student…relations?”I fought to steady my voice, but heat flooded my cheeks regardless.

Sebastian’s gaze darkened with desire at my blush, and my pulse jumped.

Two days here, and already I’d drawn the attention of the academy’s most dangerous men—while back home, not a single French boy in the town had bothered to speak to me.

Was America different? Or was it simply that Sebastian and Ravencrux weren’t ordinary men at all?

“Oh, it’s forbidden for a professor to fuck a student,”he said, fingers tracing the rim of his glass.“But rules have never stopped Ravencrux.”

My head snapped up, scanning the hall—but Sindy’s glazed expression confirmed she heard nothing. A faint shimmer in the air indicated a sound barrier. Clever.

“You mean he’s actually broken that rule before?”

“Repeatedly.”Sebastian’s lip curled in distaste.“With half the redheads in his advanced classes.”

“Then why hasn’t he been fired or arrested?”

“He’s never been caught.”His knuckles whitened around his fork.“He’s meticulous. Leaves no traces.”

I quietly studied him while rage still simmered in my veins, though tempered by suspicion. These were the words of Ravencrux’s rival—hardly impartial. History had taught me how easily truths were twisted in personal vendettas. I’d only trust what I saw.

“He’s a pervert,”Sebastian added.“The kind that enjoys breaking his toys.”

Yet nothing about Nero Ravencrux had felt perverse to me, not when his tongue drove into my wet heat and coaxed pleasure from my body, not when his teeth bit my silken peak while dragging me to a shattering climax. But perhaps that was exactly Sebastian’s point. The danger was part of the allure.

“How can you be so certain?”I challenged, letting my skepticism show.“These are serious accusations.”

Sebastian’s jaw tightened.“I’ve tracked him since our first year. Every student he’s fucked emerges with no memory of it. He wipes them clean and leaves no witnesses, no evidence of his violation.”His fingers curled into fists.“Nothing I can bring to the Council.”

My pulse hammered, fury licking through my veins—but this rage felt unnatural, amplified by Sebastian’s proximity.

“He doesn’t even learn their names,”I spat.“Just ‘Girl Two,’ unless they’re next in line for his collection.”The realization curdled in my stomach.“Like me.”

Sebastian’s tiger-golden eyes burned with grim confirmation. Gods, he was beautiful, distractingly so. The most breathtaking man I’d ever laid eyes on.

“That’s why you’re not safe,”he said, leaning in.“You’re different. He knows it. Wants it.”His voice dropped to a menacing whisper.“If you let him fuck you, it won’t just be your reputation he ruins. It’ll be your life. You’ll end up dead like the other redheads.”

I recoiled. How had this conversation veered into mortal danger while I was in the middle of a delicious meal?

If Ravencrux truly meant me harm, why awaken my magic at all? Yes, danger clung to him like a shadow, but I’d never felt his menace directed atme. Was I deluding myself? Too blind to see it because that single shattering orgasm had rewired my common sense?

I forced a steadying breath, wrestling my thoughts back under control.

“But why would he wantmedead,”I asked slowly,“when he lets others live?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Sebastian said. “Let me show you.”

His hand dipped into his pocket?—

A red-haired woman stalked toward our table, her hips swaying with purpose, her venomous gaze locking onto me.

Sebastian leaned back, the sound barrier dissolving just as her manicured finger jabbed toward my face.

“I challenge you!” she bellowed.

My face paled.

This—thiswas what I’d feared since leaving Ravencrux’s classroom. The first challenge was never the last.

And what did I have? A flicker of wind magic? Myinhaler?Ravencrux might call me a Weaver, but right now, I could barely summon a breeze, and this woman looked like she ate first-years for breakfast.