Page 25 of Wicked Vows (Cursed Darkness (DarkHallow Academy) #1)

Lysithea

M ortified.

I am mortified by my behaviour. What the hell am I doing? Allowing Dathan to touch me was a mistake. One that makes me shudder and wish I could turn back time. The kiss with Evren is a whole other bag of pain I can’t dive into right now.

But as I walk stiffly to combat class, dreading it with every ounce of my being, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss Dathan. Shaking my head furiously, I round a corner that isn’t supposed to be there and bump into Reena, also headed to the Blood Pit.

“Hey,” she says, gripping my upper arms so I don’t tumble on my arse. “You look like you would rather be anywhere else.”

“I would,” I mutter.

“You okay?”

“I’ll live. Unfortunately.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I promise to pair up with you in class.”

I brighten considerably at her sweet offer. “Thanks, Reena. That actually does make this a less daunting experience.”

“I wonder if Dathan will show up again to defend his claim,” she murmurs with a sidelong gaze at me, unable to hide her smirk.

Dathan . The fact that I want his hands on me again, to move lower, to press against my clit and give me a release, battles with the sane part of my brain that wants to run and hide and never let anyone touch me ever again. “He isn’t in this year. He’d better fucking not.”

We walk the rest of the way in silence. My mind is a mess.

Dathan’s touch, Evren’s kiss. A war between violation and want, between a past that broke me and a future that promises to shatter me in an entirely different way.

The Scar on my back is a low, thrumming heat, a constant reminder of the cage they’ve built around me.

A cage that my body seems determined to decorate.

We enter the locker rooms, and I turn towards Reena to get changed so I don’t flash the marking on my back.

No one can see that. Ever. Maybe I need to start wearing a vest under my dresses.

The reality that I’m not wearing a bra to do physical activity slams into me, and I groan softly, making the lockers rattle menacingly.

“What?” Reena asks with a frown.

I quickly pull my tee over my head. “I forgot to put a bra on,” I mumble, sticking my head through the hole.

“Forgot?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

I shrug. “Bad night. Woke up tired.”

She nods as if that makes perfect sense. She fumbles around in her locker and pulls out a lacy black bra that looks more lingerie than underwear. “You can borrow this if you want.”

“It’s probably not my size,” I mumble, trying not to eye up her tits to check.

“Better than nothing, though, right?”

“True,” I mutter and take it from her. I pull my arms back through the tee shirt and fumble around, grimacing when the back of the bra presses into the marking. I arrange my tits to sit as comfortably as possible in the slightly too big bra and giggle as Reena nods approvingly.

“It’ll do,” she says. “Let’s go. Starscream is in a foul mood today, so I hear.”

“Great,” I mutter. “Please don’t leave me.”

She gives me a sympathetic look. “I promise.”

The wards in the Blood Pit hit me square in the chest, taking my breath away as we enter the combat training area. I expected it. Through Verik, I knew they were intact. They seemed to have bounced right back into place after I tested their limits last night.

Professor Starscream stands in the centre of the pit, his arms crossed over his massive chest. His eyes scan the room, missing nothing. “Pair up!” he barks, his voice a gravelly roar that echoes off the stone.

Reena keeps her promise, giving me a quick nod as we find a space on the mats.

“First to draw blood wins,” Starscream announces, a savage grin stretching his lips.

“Don’t hold back,” Reena whispers, her fangs peeking out.

She moves like a blur. I duck under a swipe that would have taken my head off. My body moves on instinct, but my mind is a fucking mess. Dathan’s hands on my skin. Evren’s cold lips on mine.

I block a kick, the impact jarring my arm.

Reena sees the flicker in my eyes. “Distracted?” she taunts, lunging again.

I stumble back, the air she displaces whipping my hair across my face. My body is here, on the mats, but my head is still in the gardens, trapped between a burning touch and a freezing kiss.

Reena grins, a flash of white fang against her red lips. She’s enjoying this. She sweeps my legs, and I go down hard, the impact knocking the air from my lungs.

She’s on me in a second, a knee pressed to my chest, her hand poised to strike. “First blood,” she whispers, her fangs descending towards the soft skin of my neck.

Panic flares, hot and sharp. With it comes a familiar, chilling cold. Evren’s cold. The shadows at the edge of the mat writhe, reaching for her. They coil around her ankle like a living manacle.

She yelps, distracted for a split second. It’s all I need. I twist, bucking her off, and scramble to my feet. Before she can recover, I lunge, my nails raking across her cheek.

Three thin lines of red well up on her pale skin.

She hisses, her eyes flashing, but she heals instantly and then grins. “Impressive. You win.”

Panting, I sit down, catching my breath. “I really fucking hate this class.”

She snorts and sits next to me. “You have rage, that’s good. You need the skill to back it up. That’s what they’re teaching you.”

“Well, fuck that.” I flop back to the mat and close my eyes, ignoring the heat from the brand.

A shadow falls over me, and my eyes fly open.

Professor Starscream looms over me, a mountain of muscle and disapproval.

“Pathetic, Miss Lysithea,” he growls. “Your form is sloppy. Your focus is non-existent. You won because you got lucky.”

I want to argue, but he’s right.

“Get up,” Starscream barks. “Again. With me this time.”

My blood freezes, as icy as Evren’s kiss.

Reena gulps and stares at me in horror.

“You rely on your power as a crutch,” he continues, holding out a hand to me.

I take it, and he hauls me to my feet. I don’t think he will purposely hurt me.

He is a professor. But that doesn’t stop the sheer terror I have from coursing through my veins, which, of course, feeds Dathan through the fucking brand.

I feel him lapping at it from wherever the hell he is.

Starscream drops my hand and circles me like a predator sizing up his prey. “You have the instincts of a killer, but the discipline of a spoiled child. You let your emotions fight for you.”

He stops in front of me, his gaze boring into mine. “Emotion can be a weapon, girl. But only if you’re the one holding the leash. Right now, it’s dragging you through the dirt. Follow my movements.”

I lift my hands ready to fight for my life, but he goes slow, actually teaching me something instead of simply beating the shit out of me and expecting me to figure it out. “If I do this, what do you do?” He raises his humongous fist.

I watch his fist, a block of granite poised to smash my face in. “Block and counter,” I say, my voice a little shaky.

“Show me.”

I mirror his stance, raising my arms to protect my head. It feels clumsy, wrong.

He moves in slow motion, his fist a lazy meteor. “No. Not like that. You’re bracing for impact. You need to redirect. Use my momentum against me.”

He demonstrates, guiding my arm with a touch that’s surprisingly gentle for a man his size. He twists my wrist, showing me the angle. “See? A small shift. It turns my strength into a weakness.”

We go through the motions. Over and over. Block. Twist. Counter. My muscles scream in protest. Sweat drips into my eyes. The brand on my back burns with a low, insistent heat, a distraction I fight to ignore.

“Again,” he barks when I stumble.

I push myself back up, my lungs burning. For the first time, I’m not just surviving this class. I’m learning.

He throws a real punch, not fast, but with weight behind it. I don’t brace. I don’t flinch. I move. Block. Twist. My hand shoots out, palm striking his chest in a counter-move. It’s not powerful, but it’s clean. It’s controlled.

He grunts, a flicker of something like approval in his dark eyes. “Better. We’ll make a fighter out of you yet.”

“Make her even more dangerous, you mean,” Janita says from across the hall loud enough for everyone to hear.

Starscream turns to her slowly. “Afraid?” he asks. “Perhaps you should attempt to elevate your own position instead of trying to keep others down.”

Janita’s smirk vanishes as Reena snickers. I gape at Starscream. Why is he being so nice to me? Two days ago, he would have pitted us against each other just for his own entertainment.

The words hang in the air, a public endorsement that makes me feel more exposed than ever.

A flicker of movement near the doors causes me to tear my gaze from the professor to glance over.

Dathan is hovering, looking more unsure than I’ve ever seen him.

He is clearly here because I fed his terror hunger, but he can see that I’m not in any danger.

In fact, the opposite. If he came here to defend me, to fight someone, that someone has to be Starscream, and somehow, I don’t see that happening.

He meets my eyes, raising his eyebrow in question.

I shake my head. I don’t need or want his help.

He accepts my refusal with a slow, almost imperceptible nod before melting back into the shadows. It’s unsettling. His obedience feels more dangerous than his aggression.

“Again, Miss Lysithea,” Starscream’s voice booms, snapping my attention back to the pit. “Show Miss Janita that you are already more dangerous than she thinks you are.”

The class stifles their chuckles at Janita’s expense. I feel like giving her a smug middle finger, but instead, I take the high road.

We continue the drill. My body aches, a deep, satisfying burn that has nothing to do with the Scar.

For the first time, the pain is entirely my own.

I earned it. Every block, every twist, every counter-strike is a small victory against the chaos inside me.

I’m not just a voice that shatters things. I’m a body that can fight.

When the bell finally clangs, I collapse onto the mat, my limbs trembling with exhaustion, where I stay for a moment before hauling my battered body to my feet.

“Not bad, Siren,” Reena says, clapping me on the shoulder as we head for the locker rooms. “You didn’t die.”

“High praise,” I mutter, my mind still reeling.

“Who knew pit demons could be so nice?”

“He wasn’t being nice; he was doing his job.”

“Sure,” she says with a look that tells me how dumb she thinks I am. “Keep thinking that. But it looks to me, and the rest of the class, that you just got yourself a personal tutor.”

Ignoring her comment, I change quickly, the borrowed bra a weirdly intimate reminder of a friendship I’m not sure I’m ready for. I stuff it into my bag. “I’ll wash it and return it,” I mumble.

“Take your time. I have plenty.”

Plenty. I feel a pang of jealousy. I have a wash and a wear. It’s all I was given, and I have zero funds to purchase more. Magic clothes aren’t my thing, so I’m stuck with what I’ve got.

We walk out of the locker rooms together, and Reena waves as she heads in the opposite direction. I have one more class on my schedule today, and it’s one I’m really looking forward to.