FORBIDDEN SPELL
1196 Words
“Elara.”
The voice beneath the floor did not sound human.
It sounded ancient.
The cracked marble trembled violently as black smoke curled upward from the darkness below. Every candle inside the ruined hall flickered at once, throwing twisted shadows across the walls.
Elara stumbled backward instinctively.
Kael caught her wrist before she could move further. His grip was firm, cold, and strangely grounding despite the panic racing through his chest.
“Do not answer it,” he ordered quietly.
The voice laughed.
A deep, hollow sound echoed beneath the academy like chains dragging across stone.
“Elara Thorne,” it whispered again. “I finally found you.”
Fear tightened painfully around her lungs.
“How does it know my name?” she whispered.
Kael’s jaw hardened. “Because something beneath this academy has been waiting for you.”
The floor split wider suddenly.
A claw made of black smoke reached upward through the c***k.
Elara gasped.
Kael reacted instantly. Blue fire exploded from his hand, slamming into the creature hard enough to shake the room.
The claw dissolved with a screech, but more shadows moved beneath the broken floor, and something massive was trying to climb out.
“We need to leave,” Elara said quickly.
Kael’s gaze remained fixed on the c***k. “Too late.”
Darkness burst upward violently.
Three creatures dragged themselves from beneath the hall, their bodies formed from smoke and bone. White eyes locked onto Elara immediately.
Not Kael, but her.
One of them hissed, “The blood heir.”
Elara’s stomach dropped.
Kael stepped in front of her again. “Stay behind me.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“I know,” he said sharply. “That is exactly the problem.”
The creatures attacked.
Chaos exploded across the hall.
Kael moved like death itself, calm and terrifying. Spells flashed from his hands with brutal precision, destroying one creature instantly. Another lunged toward Elara from the side.
She reacted without thinking.
Power burst from her body.
Black energy slammed into the creature so violently that it crashed through a stone pillar. The entire hall shook.
Silence followed.
Elara stared at her hands in horror.
She had never used that much power before.
Kael looked worse.
Not angry but alarmed.
The final creature backed away slowly, almost afraid now. “The Hollow King rises,” it whispered before dissolving into smoke.
The hall became silent again.
Elara’s pulse thundered painfully in her ears. “What did it mean?”
Kael didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the doors. “Come with me.”
“Kael—”
“Now.”
The sharpness in his voice stopped her argument.
They moved quickly through dark academy corridors while distant thunder rattled the windows. Students watched nervously as Kael dragged her past them. Whispers followed instantly.
“That’s the scholarship girl.”
“She attacked something with forbidden magic.”
“She touched Professor Durnan.”
Elara ignored them, though humiliation burned beneath her skin.
Kael finally pushed open a heavy wooden door at the end of a private hallway.
His office.
The room smelled like old parchment and smoke. Shelves filled with ancient books covered every wall. Strange glowing symbols pulsed faintly across the ceiling.
Kael locked the door behind them immediately.
Elara turned toward him angrily. “Start talking.”
“No.”
Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“You are emotional. Emotional people make reckless decisions.”
“You dragged me across the academy after monsters called me a blood heir!”
Kael stepped closer slowly. “Lower your voice.”
“Or what?”
The challenge slipped out before she could stop it.
Dangerous silence filled the room.
Kael stared at her for a long moment, cold and unreadable. Then he spoke quietly.
“You enjoy provoking people stronger than you.”
“Maybe I’m tired of being threatened.”
His gaze flickered briefly toward her lips.
The tiny movement sent unexpected heat rushing through her chest.
Then his expression hardened again.
“This is not a game, Elara.”
The way he said her name made her pulse stumble.
She hated that.
Before she could respond, another voice interrupted.
“Well. This looks scandalous.”
The office door swung open.
Caspian leaned casually against the doorway, holding two cups of coffee as if he belonged there. His silver eyes moved between them slowly.
Elara immediately stepped away from Kael.
Annoyingly, Caspian noticed.
“Oh,” he said softly. “Interesting.”
Kael looked furious. “How did you enter this office?”
“I’m talented.”
“You broke my protection spell.”
Caspian handed Elara one of the coffees with an easy smile. “You looked stressed.”
She hesitated before accepting it quietly.
Kael’s expression darkened further.
The tension in the room shifted instantly.
Strange, yet dangerously personal.
Caspian noticed that too. “Professor,” he drawled lazily, “you’re staring at her like you want to either kill her or kiss her. Difficult to tell which.”
Elara nearly choked on her coffee.
Kael’s voice turned deadly calm. “Leave.”
Caspian ignored him completely. “Actually, I came because people were talking. Half the academy thinks Elara summoned those creatures intentionally.”
“She didn’t,” Kael said immediately.
The automatic defense surprised all three of them.
Caspian’s brows lifted slightly.
Elara looked at Kael sharply.
Something unreadable crossed his face before disappearing again.
Caspian’s teasing expression faded slowly. “There’s more, though.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “What happened?”
“The council arrived early.”
Silence crashed into the room.
Elara felt genuine fear for the first time since arriving at Aevoria.
Caspian looked directly at her now. “And they brought an execution order with your name on it.”
A loud knock suddenly echoed through the office door.
Then another, heavy, and controlled.
Kael moved instantly, shoving Elara behind him.
“Professor Durnan,” a cold male voice called from outside. “Open the door.”
Elara’s blood turned to ice because she recognized that voice.
The same man who laughed while her childhood home burned to the ground.
Elara’s knees nearly gave out.
Memories crashed into her violently, fire swallowing the walls of her childhood home, and her mother screaming for her to run.
A man standing inside the flames, wearing silver gloves stained with blood.
The same voice, the same calm cruelty.
Kael glanced back at her once, and whatever he saw on her face changed something in his expression instantly.
“You know him,” he said quietly.
Elara could barely breathe. “He killed her.”
Caspian’s playful attitude vanished completely. “Who?”
“My mother.”
Another knock rattled the door harder this time.
“Professor Durnan,” the man called again. “I know the girl is inside.”
Kael’s entire body became still and prepared.
Dangerous power rolled through the office, so heavily the candles flickered blue.
Then Kael reached behind his desk slowly and pulled out a black sword glowing with ancient runes.
The room suddenly felt far too small.
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