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Chapter 72
~Valerie’s POV~
Wide-eyed. Pale. Like he’d just caught himself mid-fall and realised the ground was a lot closer than Erik had thought.
His mouth opened and closed once. Then again. "Val—Valerie."
I raised an eyebrow. "Practising for a drama audition I didn’t know about?"
His cheeks flushed instantly, and he rubbed the back of his neck like it might help disappear into the floor. "I, uh... no. Just... walking. Thinking. Not rehearsing anything."
I pushed off the wall and took a few steps toward him. "Sounded like you were. You even had your own little monologue going."
He groaned softly and dropped his head back for a second. "You weren’t supposed to hear any of that."
"Well, I did. Especially the part where I ’literally dragged you out of that ss.’ Which, for the record, was a team effort."
Erik’s gaze dropped to the floor, then back up to , and when he t my eyes this ti, he didn’t look away.
"Still. I wanted to say... thank you. For getting us out of there alive. I don’t think I even knew how close it got until afterwards."
There was sothing different in his voice. No deflection. No cocky mask. Just sincerity—raw and unpolished.
"I wasn’t exactly graceful in there," he continued, quieter now. "I panicked. I ssed up. And you didn’t. You stepped up, and I—" He paused, frowning at himself. "I don’t want to pretend like I did anything helpful. I just... I’m sorry. For being more deadweight than backup."
I studied him for a mont. His fingers kept twitching at his sides like he wasn’t sure what to do with them.
His brows were furrowed, and for all his usual smooth confidence, he looked like he was standing under a spotlight with nowhere to hide.
And that-that made smile for real.
"It’s fine," I said, gentler now. "We all freeze sotis. You didn’t run. That counts for sothing."
He blinked, startled. "It does?"
I shrugged. "Well, it does to ."
The corners of his mouth curved up, slowly. "You’re being nice. That’s kind of terrifying."
"I can be nice," I said, mock-offended. "Under certain rare planetary alignnts."
Erik laughed, the tension finally starting to ease from his shoulders. He looked like he wanted to say sothing else, but a bell rang sowhere down the corridor, announcing either the end of lunch or the beginning of more chaos.
He glanced toward the hallway, then back at . "Are you okay, though? After everything?"
I hesitated.
I wanted to lie. I wanted to say yes, everything was peachy. That I’d just had a run-in with masked assassins, magical sabotage, and a principal who practically admitted I was bait in so twisted political ga—and I was handling it fine.
But Erik had earned the truth. Or at least a piece of it.
"I don’t know," I admitted. "But I’m still standing."
He nodded. "Then that’s sothing too."
We stood there for another beat, the silence not quite awkward but not entirely easy either. Then I tilted my head toward the hallway. "Walk with ?"
Erik fell into step beside as we started down the corridor. He didn’t say much, and I didn’t push it. Sotis silence spoke louder than all the right words.
And right now, it said: I’m here. I’ve got your back.
Even if it had taken him a few bruises and a crisis to an it.
When we got outside the buildings, I bid him goodbye and continued on my way before realising I had forgotten to take my bag.
Just the thought of returning made my shoulders weak. "Fuck it!"
I just wanted to collapse.
After leaving Erik, I made a straight line for my dorm, cutting through the courtyard where the breeze tugged gently at my hair.
The afternoon sun had already dipped behind the towers, casting long shadows across the path, and I could practically feel my bed calling to .
However, fate apparently had other plans.
Because leaning against the wall near the ivy-draped arch leading into the dorm halls was Xade.
Of course.
His silver hair caught what little light was left, a halo of cold fire around that maddeningly smug expression.
One hand was tucked casually into his pocket, the other loosely curled at his side. His crystal-blue eyes locked on the second I appeared, gleaming with sothing between curiosity and amusent.
I sighed, my shoulders slumping. "Not now, Xade. I’m—"
"Too tired to lie?" he cut in smoothly.
I froze mid-step.
That damned smirk twitched into sothing sharper. He pushed off the wall with that lazy grace of his and began walking toward , slowly.
The tattoos along his arms peeked out beneath his rolled sleeves, curling like shadows co alive.
"You look like you’ve been through a war," Xade drawled, eyes scanning —not with concern exactly, but sothing close to it, buried beneath layers of mockery and mischief. "Which, I suppose, you have. Must’ve been so simulation, hmm?"
I kept walking. "Don’t start, Xade."
But he didn’t let pass. He stepped into my path, forcing to stop just a breath away from him.
"I’m not here to start anything," he said lightly. "Just curious. You and Dristan... anything you want to share?"
My breath caught before I could stop it.
Damn it.
For a second—just a second—my mind betrayed . The mory surged up before I could shove it back.
The heat of Dristan’s lips on mine—his hands at my waist—that quiet, rare mont of stillness between us in the chaos. Everything... how my mind reeled and made relive the experience.
Xade’s eyes narrowed just slightly, a flicker of triumph passing through them like lightning behind a smirk.
"I knew it," he murmured, voice dropping as he leaned forward. "Sothing happened."
I lifted my chin, trying not to let the flutter in my chest show. "We were stuck in the sa house. We stayed inside until I chose to leave. That’s all."
"Oh, is that what we’re calling it now?"
"Xade." My tone sharpened. "Back off."
But he didn’t. He stepped in closer instead, so close I could feel the heat rolling off him beneath that calm, coiled exterior.
He tilted his head, nose twitching slightly as he inhaled. His gaze drifted down, then snapped back to mine.
"I sll Dristan."
I crossed my arms. "Yeah, genius. We rode together. Of course, his scent would wash over ."
His lips curled. "Does that include on your lips?"
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