Kai:
Lucian’s retreating footsteps echoed like a slow metronome in the stone corridor—steady, self-satisfied, each one a small victory he didn’t bother to hide. He never looked back. He didn’t need to. The smug set of his shoulders said everything: I won.
Then I saw her.
Isadora.
She was a single splash of moonlight against the dark wall, head bowed, shoulders drawn in as if the weight of the entire academy rested there. Her lashes were damp, black streaks of shadow against her cheeks, and a tear caught the torchlight before it slid down her pale skin.
Something sharp lodged beneath my ribs. Rage. Worry. Something darker I refused to name.
“Isadora,” I said softly.
She flinched like a startled bird, her eyes, those bottomless, night-drenched eyes, snapping up to mine. The hallway wa
