{IRIS}
Even now, as I watched the golden-haired vampire glide toward the front of the room, the mory of Lord Valtheris twisted through my chest like a dark ribbon.
I didn’t understand it. I didn’t know why his na alone could send shivers whispering beneath my skin.
It was only in the library that I truly saw him—yet the mont our eyes t, a strange familiarity stirred within , as though I had known him far longer than my mory allowed.
He was the very vampire Lord Val had warned to avoid at all costs... though I still did not understand why Lord Valtheris lingered so stubbornly in my thoughts from the mont I first gazed upon him.
And I knew one thing with unsettling clarity:
Being near him felt like standing on the edge of sothing vast and forbidden.
Sothing that could swallow whole.
Sothing I should fear.
And yet—
I wanted to be near him still.
The newcor’s gaze swept over the class, slow and assessing. When his eyes passed by , my breath caught—not out of attraction, but out of instinct. Pure instinct. A prey animal eting the eyes of a predator.
As he looked away, I exhaled shakily.
Around , the students straightened, eager or frightened or both. I remained in my seat, small, alone, tucked in the shadowed corner of the room.
I first learned his na when a classmate called out to him across the room. Sol.
The young vampire’s na was Sol Evernight—another noble line in the ancient hierarchy of their kind. The Evernights held dominion over darkness itself, born with bloodlines said to stir the shadows like silk drapes in a storm.
Not that any of that mattered here. Within the Academy’s classrooms, powerful sigils thrumd from floor to ceiling, etched into stone and wood alike. They ford an invisible do of restriction—an arcane barrier that pressed faintly against the skin like cold breath.
No one could use their innate magic without permission. Here, even vampires, rfolk, fae, and wolves were rendered rely students trapped within the sa mundane rules.
I was still trying to calm my nerves when a voice snapped beside .
"Hey, scoot over."
I blinked and turned.
A tall, lean young man hovered beside my desk with the most fragile-looking complexion I had ever seen—pale, almost sickly grey skin like moonstone left in winter frost. His hair was pure white, falling in soft, careless strands, and heavy dark shadows pooled under eyes that were startlingly bloodshot.
He would have been handso—striking, even—if not for the strange, languid way he moved, like a cat half-awake or a noble too tired of pretending he cared.
"That’s my seat, gurl~," he said, flicking his hand with lazy disdain. The rings stacked on his pale fingers chid together, a soft, jangling whisper of tal that announced his presence before his perfu even reached .
"Scoot over. I don’t want to sit by the window—the sunlight is absolutely tragic for my skin."
His tone was so dramatic, so flamboyantly distressed, that I scooted over before my mind even processed the words.
"Oh—sorry about that."
"No worry, babe," he said with a soft giggle as he plopped gracefully into the chair. Then he extended his hand with theatrical flourish. "I’m Jaysabel Pearls. But you may call Jay. I didn’t see you yesterday—did you skip, get lost, fall into a portal, or simply miss the first day of school?"
"Ah... yes. I was sick."
I forced a polite smile. No one needed to know I had been dragged into the freezing lake by a rmaid who apparently found drowning new students entertaining.
And certainly no one needed the humiliating details of how close I ca to dying.
"My na is Iris Snow."
Jay blinked once... then burst into a loud, delighted guffaw that made half the classroom flinch.
"Wait—wait—" He clutched his stomach dramatically. "Don’t tell you’re the girl who got sick because that rmaid monster played a prank on you?!"
My entire face burned.
His voice was shrill, bright, and—worst of all—loud enough to reach the farthest corner of the room.
Conversations paused. Chairs turned. Dozens of eyes fixed on with a mixture of curiosity, pity, and thinly veiled amusent.
I wanted to sink through the floor and disappear.
"Isn’t that her?"
"Yeah, that’s the one."
"Poor girl."
"On the very first day too? Harsh."
"Bad luck being pranked by that rmaid."
"Didn’t she read the handbook?"
"What was she doing near the lake anyway?"
"Isn’t she a werewolf?"
"You idiot, Sirene’s ancient. That lake’s her territory. Even a Lycan wouldn’t stand a chance if she felt playful."
"Unfortunate, really. Put it down to terrible luck."
I lowered my head, wishing desperately that my hair were long enough to hide behind.
I hadn’t wanted attention. Certainly not this kind. I just wanted to survive my first week without becoming an infamous story.
Jay, anwhile, was still laughing, bright tears shimring in the corners of his crimson-rimd eyes.
Eventually he wiped them away, sighing dramatically as if recovering from a performance.
"Oh, honey, I’m sorry," he said, though his grin betrayed him. "Truly. I didn’t an to laugh at your misery. It’s just—of all the students here, you are the one who got pranked on the first day. And now, look at fate! You’re seating beside of all people. Isn’t that the grandest coincidence?"
"Right... a coincidence."
I slumped back into my seat. My energy was already drained, and the morning had only just begun.
If this was the start, then surely I was destined to be the quiet, awkward outcast of this entire section—a girl whispered about, side-eyed, pitied, and laughed at without even knowing why her presence irritated fate so much.
Jay humd sympathetically, as though he could hear the exhaustion leaking from my soul.
"Oh, sweetie, don’t look so tragic. You’ll wrinkle. And you don’t want wrinkles at your age." Then he leaned closer, lowering his voice to sothing almost conspiratorial. "Besides, the Academy is built on drama. You’ll fit right in."
His words were ridiculous—but strangely comforting.
Before I could answer, soone else entered the room.
A hush fell so abruptly that the air seed to thicken. Chairs stilled. Conversations died mid-sentence. Even Jay straightened subtly, the playful sparkle in his eyes dimming.
The teacher had arrived.
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