Page 43 of Wicked Vows (Cursed Darkness (DarkHallow Academy) #1)

Verik

T he fist comes out of nowhere.

It catches me off guard, as I am distracted by this book business. The punch snaps my head to the side, and I stumble into the wall, righting myself instantly as I turn my head to see who is dumb enough to hit me in the fucking face.

A werewolf from the pack that challenged us earlier. His yellow eyes gleam with misplaced confidence. His friends flank him, a wall of muscle and stupidity.

“You think you can throw one of my pack around and walk away?” he snarls.

The hit was solid, I’ll give him that. But he’s made a fundamental error in judgment.

“I think,” I say, wiping blood from my split lip, even as it heals, “that you just made the last mistake of your very short life.”

The corridor around us shifts. The walls groan and bend, reality warping to my will. The stone floor ripples like lava, and I reshape it into a perfect circle, trapping them inside with me.

“What the fuck?” one of them mutters, but his words cut off as the walls close in.

I’m not in the mood for this. The grimoire’s games, Lysithea’s corruption spreading through her veins like poison, is all building to something catastrophic. These mutts picked the wrong day to test me.

“You want to know what real power looks like?” I ask, raising my hands. Hellfire blooms between my fingers, casting dancing shadows on the shrinking walls. “Let me show you.”

The alpha lunges at me, but I’m already moving. I sidestep his attack and grab his wrist, twisting until bone snaps. His howl of pain echoes off the closing walls.

The others rush me, but I’m in the mood to annihilate.

I grab the second wolf by the throat and slam him into the wall. The stone moulds around his body, trapping him like a fly in amber. His eyes bulge as the rock slowly constricts around his chest. “I’m having a really fucking bad day, you fuckers. You picked the wrong time to fuck with me.”

The third wolf tries to shift, his bones cracking as he begins the transformation. I flick my wrist, and the air around him solidifies into a cage of pure force. He slams into the invisible barriers, trapped mid-shift, neither human nor wolf.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I say, my voice echoing strangely in the warped space. “You’re going to crawl out of here, and you’re not even going to look at me again. If any of you tries to threaten Lysithea, I will rip your fucking insides out and burn them before your eyes. Got it?”

The alpha nods grimly.

I release the hellfire, letting it dissipate into harmless sparks. The walls snap back to their original positions with a grinding sound that makes them all flinch. The stone releases the trapped wolf, and he crumples to the floor, gasping.

“Good,” I say, straightening my shirt. “Now fuck off.”

They scramble away like the cowards they are, supporting their injured alpha between them. I watch them go, rubbing my jaw where he punched me. Fucker.

I head for my next lecture, but my mind isn’t on architectural theory or dimensional mathematics. It’s on Lysithea.

The classroom is half-empty when I arrive.

The professor doesn’t even glance up from his notes as I take my seat.

The lesson drones on about structural integrity and load-bearing calculations, but all I can think about is the way Lysithea felt next to me this morning, her hand in mine.

The way she fit against me like she was designed for it.

The grimoire is playing a longer game than any of us realise. Testing us, breaking us down, rebuilding us into whatever it needs us to become. The question is: what happens when we’re finished? What does completion actually mean?

My fingers drum against the desk as the professor drones on about stress points and foundational weaknesses. Ironic, considering my entire fucking life is currently one massive stress point.

The lecture hall goes silent, and I look over to the door to see Blackgrove lurking. His gaze lands on me, “Mr Verik. A word.”

I stand slowly, the chair scraping against stone. Every head in the lecture hall turns to watch as I make my way down the steps. The professor has gone silent, his face pale. Even he knows better than to interfere when Blackgrove comes calling.

“Of course,” I say, my voice carefully neutral.

I follow him out into the corridor, the heavy door closing behind us with a soft thud. The hallway stretches empty in both directions, but I know we’re not alone. Blackgrove’s power fills the space like a living thing, pressing against my skin.

He says nothing as he leads me to his office, through the winding hallways that are familiar and some that aren’t. I take note. He is deliberately taking me a long way around. Why?

I start to pay more attention to my surroundings.

Sentient suits of armour turn their heads as we pass by, the fire torches down this particular stretch, ensconced into brackets on the thick black stone walls.

Portraits line one section, and I glance at names and faces as their eyes watch me pass.

Nothing jumps out. Just ordinary DarkHallow portraits of founders, or professors, or maybe even students.

One particular portrait remains completely still as we pass by. I stare at it, but it’s like looking at something through water, all blurred. The only thing I can make out is a name. Thane.

I turn my head to look over my shoulder at the portrait, but it is still hazy, deliberately not showing me their face. I frown at it, but then we have arrived at Blackgrove’s office, and the door swings open to let us in.

“Take a seat,” he says, sweeping majestically behind his desk and sitting with that ominous black orb hovering near his head.

“What is that thing?” I ask, pointing to it as I sit, my curiosity at an all-time high.

He doesn’t answer my question, which is not surprising, given that I didn’t expect him to. Instead, his gaze bores into me with an intensity that makes my skin crawl. “You’ve been busy, Mr Verik.”

“Have I?” I lean back in the chair, projecting a casual confidence I don’t entirely feel. “Define busy.”

“Assaulting students. Causing structural damage. Consorting with forbidden magic.” His voice is silk over steel. “Shall I continue?”

“You could, but we both know you’re fishing.” I cross my arms. “If you had real evidence of forbidden magic, I’d already be in the dungeons.”

“So, you don’t deny the rest of it?”

“Why should I? You already know.”

The orb pulses, and I feel a pressure in my skull like claws trying to dig in. I reinforce my mental shields, hellfire crackling along my thoughts to burn away his probing. He won’t get past me, not this time.

“You are aware of who Mr Rasset’s family are?”

He says it like I’m meant to know. “No idea and don’t give a shit. Wolves hold no interest to me.”

“Not just wolves,” he says.

But that is a given. No one here is “just a”. We are all far more powerful than anything regular. It’s why we are here.

“What is your point? That I shouldn’t have defended myself?”

“Defended yourself?” Blackgrove’s laugh is dry as autumn leaves. “You reshaped half a corridor and nearly crushed three students.”

“Nearly.” I lean forward. “But I didn’t. Amazing restraint, really.”

“Indeed,” he murmurs.

“Why am I really here? A scrap between students that doesn’t end in a death isn’t something you usually take an interest in.”

“You’re quite right.” He steeples his fingers, and the orb drifts closer to me. “Three students wouldn’t warrant my attention. But a Hellfire Architect who is involved with three very specific species does.”

“Meaning?”

He narrows his eyes, assessing if I’m being coy or truly in the dark. Unfortunately for me, I’m so shrouded in darkness, I can barely see.

“Hmm. You are unaware.”

“That I am. Care to enlighten me?”

“Dismissed.”

I frown. “What?”

But my only answer is being unceremoniously shunted from his office by those bastard unknown forces, the door slamming shut behind me. “Jackass,” I mutter.

“I heard that,” his voice states from all around me.

“Yeah… well…” I huff, having no comeback for once.

This entire situation has thrown me off my game, and it takes a lot to do that.

I know how to pivot. I know how to assess and flow with the tide instead of fighting against it.

Whatever this was about, I’ll bet my kingdom it was the Tenebris Vinculum, but after that, I’m fucked if I know anything.