The immortal's queen

Chapter 14: side effect

I woke up sore in places I did not know could hold grudges.

My knees ached. My shoulders felt bruised from pressure that had left no marks. Even my pride was limping. For a full minute I stared at the ceiling and seriously considered becoming a person who never left her bed again.

Noemi’s face appeared above me.

“You’re alive,” she said.

“Disappointed?”

“Relieved. And also ready to kill you if you ever get summoned there again.”

I pushed myself up slowly. “Please. I learned my lesson.”

Noemi gave me a look sharp enough to file documents with. “Say that again without lying.”

“…I learned a temporary lesson.”

Getting ready took longer than usual. Every movement reminded me of toothbrush bristles, cold silence, and Theo painting through my suffering like it was evening entertainment. By the time we left for breakfast, I had decided two things:

One, I hated the Beast Den.

Two, I hated that part of my brain kept replaying Theo’s voice anyway.

Managed. Contained. Risks are managed.

Yes, thank you, memory. Very useful. Shut up!

---

The cafeteria was already loud. I collected food I barely wanted and followed Noemi to our usual corner table. My body sat down carefully, like it no longer trusted furniture.

Noemi, on the other hand, had gone strangely alert.

I followed her line of sight and found the reason.

Darian had just entered with a couple of senior students. He looked the way he always did — composed, easy posture, the kind of calm that made chaos look poorly organized by comparison. He spoke to someone near the drinks, then glanced across the room.

Noemi immediately became deeply invested in her toast.

I stared at her.

“Noemi.”

“What?”

“You just abandoned eye contact like it owed you money.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You do. You looked at Darian and short-circuited.”

“I did not.”

“You absolutely did.”

She kicked me under the table. I deserved it, but I still grinned.

Interesting.

I had seen Noemi talk through anything. Gossip, warnings, death predictions, my life choices. Watching her go quiet over one person was new.

Darian passed nearer our table on his way out. He gave me a brief nod — professional, mild, probably related to the fact that I was a walking disciplinary file — and then his gaze flicked to Noemi.

Just a second.

Noemi’s ears went pink.

Oh, this is good. This is the first good thing that has happened to me in days.

“You’re red,” I said once he was gone.

“It’s warm in here.”

“It’s not.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me. You just also have a tragic crush on the academy’s calmest man.”

Noemi pointed her fork at me. “Say that louder and I will personally drag you back to the Beast Den.”

I lifted both hands. “Cruel. I’m fragile now.”

“You’re annoying.”

But she was smiling into her cup, which meant I was right and she knew it.

---

Morning classes passed in a blur of notes I only half understood and a body that complained every time I shifted in my seat. By midday, I had successfully avoided restricted doors, sealed rooms, and any decision with consequences. A personal record.

Noemi and I cut across the training courtyard between buildings, and fate, being a menace, put Darian there again.

He was speaking with Instructor Voss near the open field, arms loosely folded, posture relaxed. Even from a distance he looked like the opposite of Theo — approachable, steady, human in a way that didn’t make your instincts prepare for impact.

Noemi slowed beside me.

“Don’t,” I murmured.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re staring.”

“I’m observing.”

“That’s staring with better branding.”

Darian finished with Voss and turned. For a moment it seemed he might walk past completely. Then he stopped.

“Celine,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

There it was. The polite version of 'I know you got destroyed last night.'

“Functional,” I answered. “Mostly.”

His mouth tilted slightly. “Keep your drills consistent. Don’t push past the pain in your head if it spikes.”

“Was that concern?”

“It was instruction.”

Same family of sentence, different outfit.

His eyes moved to Noemi. “You’re her roommate.”

Noemi nodded a little too quickly. “Noemi.”

“I know,” he said, simple and unsurprised.

That did something disastrous to her composure. She managed a smile that was almost normal and then looked away first.

Darian didn’t linger. He left with the same calm he arrived with, which somehow made the whole exchange worse for Noemi.

I waited until he was out of range.

“You are so gone.”

“I am not.”

“You forgot how to breathe normally.”

“I hope your next detention is longer than your lifespan.”

I laughed under my breath, and for the first time since the Beast Den it didn’t feel forced.

Maybe that was why the moment mattered. After all the pressure, punishments, visions, and cold-eyed warnings, watching Noemi lose a fight to a simple conversation felt almost comforting.

Proof that the academy didn’t only produce fear.

Sometimes it produced very obvious crushes too.

As we walked on, Noemi muttered, “If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it and then end you.”

“Please,” I said. “I’m taking this secret to the grave.”

A beat.

“Or until I need a distraction in public.”

She shoved me, careful of my sore shoulder, and I let her.

For a little while, the day felt normal.

Which, in this place, probably meant something.