Page 36

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Bloom

Four Immortals

“ A ha, Professor,” Sebastian drawled in a taunting voice that broke the spell, his arm tightening around my waist. “Fancy seeing you here. Didn’t know this was your new haunt.”

Without warning, Ravencrux attacked.

Shadows erupted from his fingertips, hurtling toward Sebastian. The room sank into complete darkness. I yelped in surprise, jumping back. The shadows didn’t harm me, but their force tore me from Sebastian’s grasp, sending me stumbling sideways. My shoulder hit the wall as bottles shattered nearby.

Sebastian hissed a command. Sunlight—actualsunlight—blazed from his palms, piercing Ravencrux’s shadows like a golden spear, blinding everyone momentarily. Students cried out, shielding their eyes, their silhouettes stark black against the golden radiance.

Panicked shouts, desperate whimpers, and piercing screams filled the air as students surged toward the exits, crushing abandoned glasses, overturned chairs, and forgotten coins beneath their frantic footsteps.

“What’s your fucking problem, Ravencrux?” Sebastian growled.

“You.” Ravencrux’s snarl sent chills down my spine. “Corrupting the innocent when you should mind your own damn business.”

Their powers crashed again—darkness against dawn. The collision sent a shockwave across the room. Tables splintered. Bottles shattered. The ceiling cracked, raining dust down on us. I pressed against the wall, trembling.

Shit , Sebastian wieldedsunlight. Was he a descendant of Apollo, the sun god? He seemed too powerful to be a distant offspring. He had to be at least a demigod.

Were all three immortals at Forsaken Academy demigods? No, four now: Ravencrux, Kingsley, Stardust, and Sebastian. How many more lurked in the academy? The murderer of the redheads was an immortal.

“Corrupting the innocent?” Sebastian retorted. “Listen to yourself. What fucking era do you think this is? No one’s innocent at this age. If anything,they corrupt me!”

Their powers collided again, obliterating the makeshift bars. Glass exploded, alcohol catching fire. The fighting ring’s platform groaned and collapsed.

Ravencrux’s face twisted in pain with every strike. Fighting another immortal was taking its toll, as if it were forbidden.

“Enough!” a cold, harsh male voice boomed, and I swirled my head toward the newcomer.

Professor Kingsley strode through the chaos, untouched by flying debris. With a snap of his wrist, a torrent of water blasted between the combatants, crashing into me. I gasped as the icy deluge drenched my clothes, droplets sliding down my neck.

“Stop!” Ravencrux snarled, his gaze shifting to me. Almost everyone had fled, but I refused to run.

Though fury still darkening his winter-green eyes, he reeled in his shadows. Sebastian leapt back, his sunlight sputtering out with a hiss of steam, a curse on his lips.

“I want to know what the hell is going on!” Kingsley’s voice could cut glass as he glanced sharply between Ravencrux and Sebastian.

Sebastian flashed a careless smirk. “Just dancing with Bloom, sir. A bit of harmless fun, until Ravencrux barged in like a caveman.”

Kingsley’s silver eyes darkened to gunmetal. “This isn’t your territory, Ravencrux. Do you ever respect anyone or anything?”

“Oh, I respect you plenty,” Ravencrux said. “Allow me to properly demonstrate.” Shadows coiled around his raised middle finger as he flipped Kingsley off.

I gasped.

“How dare you?” Professor Kingsley pulled his thin lips back in a snarl, the water around him rippling with his fury. “This is my joint. You have no right to come here. If you want a war?—”

“We’re already at war,” Ravencrux retorted. “This time your petkidnapped one of mine, which nullifies any territorial claim.”

“Kidnapped?” Kingsley’s shark-like smile slid toward me. “It’s always the girl, isn’t it?”

I held my breath. The girl?

The air thickened with unspoken history. These men weren’t just rivals—they were players in a deadly match where redheads wound up as corpses.

I schooled my face into wide-eyed innocence, my damp dress clinging pitifully. Better they see a scared girl than the claws sharpening beneath my skin.

“Bloom Aurelius transfers to my tower tonight,” Kingsley announced.

My heart skipped an icy beat. He knew my name.

Despite my issue with Nero Ravencrux, my gut feeling screamed I was safer in his tower. The malice rolling off Kingsley made my skin crawl. If I was placed in his tower and he came for me, there’d be nothing standing between us.

“Fuck off, Kingsley.” Ravencrux’s voice was lethally soft. “You don’t touch her. You don’t even look at her.” His glare sliced toward Sebastian. “That goes for you too, fucker.”

Sebastian scoffed. “She isn’t your property, Ravencrux.” But he took a step back anyway.

Kingsley’s jaw flexed like a steel trap. “Then she answers to Stardust. Neutral ground.”

“Not happening.” Ravencrux bared his teeth in something too sharp to be a smile. “Finders keepers. Now go fuck yourself sideways, Kingsley.”

Finders keepers? He’d dragged me here kicking and screaming!

“Then I insist Miss Aurelius faces punishment,” Kingsley said, cold satisfaction dripping from each word.

“Carl, drop it,” Sebastian cut in.

Kingsley whirled on him, pallid face flushing with outrage. “It’s Professor Kingsley to you!”

Sebastian rolled his shoulders, deliberately relaxed. “Don’t be a dick.”

“What did you say?” Kingsley growled, and a muscle ticked in Sebastian’s jaw.

“Fine,” Sebastian ground out through clenched teeth. “Let it slide this time, please, Professor Kingsley.”

“Request denied!” Kingsley spat. “You know what’s at stake this cycle. For once, try thinking with something besides your cock!”

Sebastian’s face darkened to thundercloud purple, his hands curling into fists as something primal stirred behind his eyes.

Kingsley ticked off each violation on his fingers like a judge pronouncing a sentence. “Bloom Aurelius broke curfew, infiltrated a restricted club as a first-year, and got intoxicated. Punishment is non-negotiable.”

“But I didn’t know—” I began, my tongue still thick with liquor.

“Ignorance isn’t an excuse.” His delight turned my stomach.

My liquid courage burned hotter. “I wasn’t the only rule-breaker here.”

“No.” Kingsley spread his arms in menacing delight. “But you’re the only offender still standing in this room. Congratulations, Miss Aurelius, you’ve just become this semester’s cautionary tale.”

Ravencrux stepped between us, the shadows around him twisting violently. “Miss Aurelius is under my house’s protection. She’smineto discipline.”

The possessive growl sent conflicting heat through me.

“Then prove it.” Kingsley’s lips curled into something cruel. “Demonstrate your authority.”

“I don’t need to fucking prove anything to you,” Ravencrux snarled, his eyes locked on the other professor radiating pure hatred.

“Either punish the girl properly,” Kingsley bit out, “or face the consequences. We both know you’ve exhausted your exceptions.”

Sebastian dragged a thumb along his jawline, a sour expression marring his perfect features.

A weary sigh sliced through the standoff. Headmistress Stardust appeared in the doorway, her coiled golden hair crowned with flickering starlight.

“Must we repeat this tiresome dance, Nero?” Her voice carried the weight of centuries. “Give Carl his petty victory so I may return to my observatory. This feud exhausts even the stars.”

The air grew suffocating with four immortals in a room. Their energy saturated the space, shadow and sunlight, water and starlight shoving against each other like a dam threatening to rupture.

I was the only mortal here, a frail one. Yet even amid the clash of their powers, I hadn’t reached for my inhaler. Instead of being crushed by the weight of the immortal powers, my Weaver magic drank in the torrent of their formidable energy.

Ravencrux’s gaze locked onto mine. I lifted my chin, defiance warring with the alcohol still humming in my veins, as I waited for the inevitable retribution.

Let him play his cruel games.

I’d master their rules the way one navigates a battlefield sown with invisible mines by studying every explosion.