Page 23

Chapter

Eighteen

Bloom

Under Suspicion

T he administration door gleamed like a black pearl as we reached Founder’s Spire. Sindy waited on a hallway bench, her fingers knotting together in restless twists.

Before Orren could knock, voices sliced through the heavy wood.

“Carl Kingsley is furious you barred him from this interrogation,” the headmistress said. “Perhaps you should be more lenient toward him.”

“Be soft on him?” Ravencrux’s voice could have flayed skin.

My stomach plunged. After last night’s silent courtyard exchange, being in the same room with him would be its own special torment. Sindy’s hurried whispers during our walk hadn’t helped—interrogations with Ravencrux left even the confident walking out damaged.

“This feud has gone too far,” the headmistress sighed.

“It ends over his dead body, or mine,” Ravencrux said, his tone flat and final.

“You know that’s impossible.” The headmistress cut off as Orren ushered me inside.

The room swam in shadows, broken only by a few enchanted orbs drifting near the ceiling. Only Headmistress Stardust and Professor Ravencrux waited inside—both, I was certain, could see perfectly in the gloom and would miss no flicker of expression on my face.

The headmistress studied me with wary curiosity, a thread of sympathy woven through her gaze. But it was Ravencrux’s relentless attention that set my nerves alight.

She sat poised behind the ebony desk while he lounged against the obsidian wall, corded forearms crossed over his chest. His black shirt and tailored slacks clung to his powerful frame, a far cry from the loose robe he’d worn last night, the one that had gaped open to reveal a slash of cut chest when he’d come running at the commotion.

His eyes locked onto me the moment I entered, dark with a hunger so vast my heart became a hummingbird trapped in my ribs. The air between us crackled, alive and dangerous. His jaw tensed as I moved, his gaze tracking me with lethal focus.

When our eyes met, fire licked between my thighs.

His nostrils flared, like a wolf catching a scent on the wind.

Searing need throbbed low in my belly, so insistent I nearly stumbled in my haste to reach the chair across from the headmistress.

I could only pray the woman wouldn’t notice this illicit current arcing between her professor and me.

Her brow furrowed. “Perhaps I should conduct this questioning alone, Nero.”

“No,” Ravencrux said, his voice deep enough to send an involuntary tremor through me.

The headmistress pressed her lips together. “Miss Aurelius, where were you when Angelina Wood fell?”

“In bed,” I answered truthfully. “Asleep.”

“Can anyone verify that?”

“My roommate Sindy. Though she was asleep as well.”

Her elegant features revealed nothing. “You fought with the victim that afternoon, and hours later she fell, or was pushed, from a tower where she didn’t belong.” Not a question, but an accusation hanging heavy between us.

“Angelina started that fight at lunch,” I countered.

“Why?” The headmistress’s question came sharp and quick.

She likely already knew. I couldn’t have been her first interrogation today.

“Unreasonable jealousy. She thought I was trying to steal her boyfriend, Sebastian.”

“Were you?” Ravencrux interrupted, pushing away from the wall and closing the distance between us.

I blinked in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Did you flirt with Sebastian? Try to seduce him?” Ravencrux’s jaw muscle jumped as he spoke.

“No!” My voice rose sharply. “I didn’t flirt with anyone! Sebastian waved me over to his table, but I refused. When he came to me instead, Angelina showed up looking for a fight, trying to humiliate me publicly. You saw it yourself, Professor. You were there.”

“And yet you won that duel,” Ravencrux noted, an unsettling pride coloring his tone. “Did you have combat training before coming here?”

I nearly blurted out his role in my kidnapping right before the headmistress but clenched my teeth instead. “Me? No training. I’m a gardener. Plants are my specialty, not violence, sir.”

A flicker of emotion passed through the headmistress’s eyes when I mentioned my connection to plants—something wistful, almost nostalgic.

“I didn’t kill Angelina,” I stated firmly. “Unlike this school’s apparent philosophy, murder isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“You may go, Bloom,” the headmistress declared. “And inform your roommate her presence won’t be necessary.”

The abrupt dismissal surprised me. I shot to my feet, eager to escape the charged atmosphere.

Ravencrux’s gaze burned across my skin like a physical touch, leaving me flushed and furious at my body’s traitorous response.

If this interrogation continued in that confined space with him watching me like that, it would be a disaster waiting to happen.

As I reached for the door, Ravencrux’s voice stopped me. “Stay away from Apo—Sebastian. He’s unstable and despicable.”

The exact warning Sebastian had given about him.

I turned, chin lifted. “No one tells me what to do with my personal life, Professor.” My voice hardened. “After my mother died, I vowed never to let anyone control me again.”

Something unreadable flashed in Ravencrux’s eyes. The headmistress, however, wore the faintest smile—knowing, almost approving.

Sindy sat pale and tense on the bench in the hall. As we hurried away, my thoughts spiraled around one terrifying possibility: Nero Ravencrux.

He’d appeared after the murder, robe clinging to damp skin, offering no alibi. He’d openly admitted his obsession with me, threatened those close to me. Angelina had interacted with me, then died. His tower. His penthouse. That effortless charm that could lure anyone to their doom.

Sebastian’s warnings echoed in my mind. He knew things about Nero, things he’d share without sugarcoating. Ravencrux had ordered me to stay away, which only made Sebastian more appealing as a source.

The suspicion took root like poison ivy, spreading through my thoughts. I needed answers, and if Nero wanted me to avoid Sebastian, that’s exactly where I’d go.

“All clear?” Sindy whispered.

“For now,” I replied, casting one last glance at the black door behind us. “Let’s get out of here.”