Chapter 11 - The Teacher’s Secret
1121 Words
The first thing he said wasn’t my name.
It was a warning.
“Don’t let anyone see your arm.”
I froze at the opening, the air thick and strange around us. The candles flickered like they’d felt the strain before I did. Professor Elias Ward stood behind his desk, shadows cutting across his face. His eyes on most days now burned with a wild, desperate light.
My pulse jumped. “You… knew?”
His gaze flicked to my sleeve, where the rune’s faint glow still pulsed beneath my skin. “I felt it before you stepped in. The air bends when you use it. Others will sense it too. You must hide it.”
I yanked my sleeve down. The cloth burned against the heat still rising from my skin. “I didn’t ask for this.”
His tone dropped low. “No one ever does.”
I took a timid step closer. “Then why do you care now? You’ve ignored me since the first day of class. Never a word unless it’s an order.”
My voice broke. “Why this sudden concern?”
His jaw flexed, like the question hurt him. He turned his back to me, looking into the darkness at the window.
“Because,” he said at last, his voice heavy, “if you don’t learn control, you’ll be dead before the season ends.”
The words hit like ice to the chest.
I swallowed hard. “You think I’m dangerous. Just like the others.”
He turned sharply, eyes burning. “No. Not dangerous.”
A pause. Then, softly almost like a confession
“Hunted.”
My breath caught. “Hunted by who?”
“Not who,” he whispered, moving closer, “what.”
Something warped in his expression of fear. Real fear.
And Elias Ward didn’t fear anything.
“Then teach me,” I whispered. “If you know how to control it… teach me.”
He paused. His hand gripped the edge of the desk until his fingers whitened. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“I don’t care.” My voice cracked under the weight of it. “I can’t keep lying. I almost killed Kael. I hurt Lucien. I can’t”
At Lucien’s name, his eyes flashed. Something sharp jealousy? flickered and vanished.
“Control isn’t learned in a day, Rory.”
“Then start today,” I begged. “Please.”
His quiet stretched too long. Then his shoulders dropped, and a soft curse left him one that sounded like submission.
“Very well,” he said eventually, almost to himself. “But once you begin, there’s no turning back.”
He motioned to the chair opposite him. “Sit.”
I obeyed, though my knees trembled.
“Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
His answer came low, dangerous.
“Because if you look at me, I might not have the strength to stop.”
A shiver crept down my spine. Still, I closed my eyes.
His voice filled the space between us smooth, steady, too personal.
“Focus on your breathing. The rune answers the feeling. Anger. Fear. Desire. You must quiet them, or they will feed it.”
My breath stuttered. “And if I can’t?”
“Then you’ll burn everything you love.”
I snapped my eyes open, glaring. “Do you ever say anything that isn’t cruel?”
For a short second, something like a smile touched his lips.
“Not to anyone who matters.”
My heart stuttered. “And I matter?”
His smile vanished. His eyes relaxed in a way that scared me more than his anger ever had.
“Too much.”
The quiet that followed wasn’t peaceful. It shook, electric, as he stepped closer. The faint smell of old parchment and smoke stuck to him. Candlelight danced over his face, showing the tiny scar along his jaw, the one I’d never noticed before.
“Why do you look at me like that?” I spoke softly.
His breath hitched.
“Because you’re a reminder of everything I swore to forget.”
My throat tightened. “You’re hiding something.”
He reached out, his hand shaking as it brushed my cheek. The touch was barely there, but it set every nerve on fire.
“If you knew the truth,” he said softly, “you’d run from me.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t tempt fate, Rory.”
“Then show me,” I whispered, leaning into his touch before I could stop myself. “Try me.”
For one delayed breath, everything stilled.
Then his face dropped closer, so close I could feel the warmth of his breath. My chest ached from how hard my heart was beating.
For a moment, I thought he would kiss me.
For a moment, I wanted nothing else.
But then he stepped back. Violently.
The air around him rippled like heat on metal.
“No,” he rasped. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” My voice shook. “Tell me!”
His chest rose and fell, each breath rougher than the last. “Because every part of me that wants you… is the part I buried centuries ago. And if I let it rise again”
He looked away, pain burning his face.
“You’ll pay the price.”
My blood ran cold. “Centuries?” I repeated. “What are you saying?”
He finally met my eyes. Those eyes, once human, once kindnow shimmered with something old and cursed.
“You remind me of the woman I lost,” he whispered. “Centuries ago.”
The room seemed to tilt. “That’s impossible.”
“No,” he said softly. “It’s fate’s cruelty repeating itself.”
I took a step back, heart racing. “What are you?”
Before he could answer, a thunderous c***k split the air like thunder, but inside the room. The candles burst, sending us into darkness.
A shadow crawled across the walls, talking in a voice not humanlow, guttural, old.
“You broke the seal, Ward. She bears the mark. The hunt begins.”
I stumbled back, holding my arm as the rune blazed to life again, searing through the cloth.
“Elias!” I screamed. “What is happening?!”
His eyes gleamed in the dark silver, no longer human.
“They’ve found us,” he said, his voice rough with fear.
“And now they’ll never stop until they have you.”
The shadow lunged fast, sharp, and quiet and the last thing I saw was Elias Ward throwing himself in front of me, his body taking the blow that should have ended mine.
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