The immortal's queen

Chapter 12: Restricted

Morning arrived like a personal attack.

I dragged myself through classes with the vision still stuck under my skin, half-listening to lectures and fully failing to look like a functional student. Every time I blinked too long, I saw that corridor again. The boy. The light. Those familiar eyes.

Sleep is supposed to fix people. Mine just assigns homework.

By the time the last class ended, my body was tired but my mind refused to settle. Noemi had club duty, which left me alone with the worst possible combination of free time and curiosity.

I should have gone back to the dorm.

I did not.

The academy looked different in the late afternoon. Quieter. Longer shadows stretched between buildings, and the main paths carried fewer students. I told myself I was only walking. Getting air. Being normal.

Normal people do not drift toward places they have been explicitly told to avoid. Then again, normal people also do not hear thoughts or dream about mysterious children in sealed corridors.

My feet carried me past the training fields, past the academic wings, and closer to the quieter edge of campus where the restricted markers began.

A black line was painted across the stone path. Beyond it, the buildings looked older, less used, their windows dark. A metal sign stood near the entrance of a narrow side lane:

**AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY**

I stopped and stared at it.

Yes. Nothing says “come closer” like a direct order not to.

I crossed the line.

The air changed almost immediately. Cooler. Still. Even the distant noise of student life seemed muffled here. My boots sounded too loud against the stone.

I kept walking.

The lane opened into a small courtyard framed by empty archways. No students. No instructors. Just overgrown edges and a single door set deep into the far wall, its frame darker than the rest of the stone. Something about it tugged at me in a way I did not like.

Not with sound.

With attention.

I stepped closer.

The closer I got, the more the headache from last night stirred behind my eyes. Not sharp yet. Just aware. Like something on the other side of my mind had lifted its head.

Turn around. Be wise. Go back. Become the kind of girl who follows rules and lives longer.

My hand rose toward the door anyway.

That was as far as I got.

“Curious and stupid is a dangerous mix.”

I froze.

The voice came from behind me, calm and cold enough to cut through the quiet. I turned slowly.

Theo stood at the edge of the courtyard.

Black coat. Controlled posture. Expression carved into pure disapproval. He did not look surprised to find me here. He looked inconvenienced, which somehow felt worse.

My stomach dropped.

Of course. Of course he would appear the exact moment I made a terrible decision. Does he sense poor judgment? Is that one of his powers?

“I was just walking,” I said.

“You crossed a restricted boundary,” Theo replied. “That is not walking. That is trespassing.”

“I didn’t touch anything.”

“You were about to.”

There was no heat in his voice. No raised volume. Just hard certainty.

I straightened my shoulders. “Are you following me now?”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Do not flatter yourself. This wing alerts when someone unauthorized enters. You set it off.”

Fantastic. I am not only a liability. I am also a walking alarm system.

“I needed air,” I muttered.

“Then breathe it in the areas permitted to you.”

He walked closer, stopping a few paces away. The courtyard felt smaller with him in it. Up close, the cold around him was not imagined. It settled under the skin.

“This is the second time you have been found near restricted grounds,” he said. “The first could be ignorance. This one is not.”

I hated how calm he sounded.

“I wasn’t looking for trouble.”

“And yet you continue to locate it with impressive accuracy.”

If sarcasm burned calories, I would be thriving under this man.

Theo studied my face for a second longer than necessary, as if searching for something behind the excuses. Whatever he found, it did not soften him.

“You will return to your dorm,” he said. “Now. Your labor assignment is extended by two evenings.”

My mouth opened. “That’s—”

“Not a discussion.”

The words closed over mine completely.

For a moment, neither of us moved. The quiet stretched, thin and sharp. My pulse was too loud in my ears, and I hated that part of it had nothing to do with fear.

Something about standing under his attention made the vision flicker at the edge of my mind again. Familiar eyes. A sealed corridor. A child’s stare that had felt too steady.

I looked away first.

“Understood,” I said.

Theo stepped aside, clearing the path back.

“Do not test how many chances I am willing to give,” he said as I passed him. “You will not like the number.”

I didn’t answer.

I walked out of the courtyard with my hands clenched at my sides and my heartbeat refusing to settle. Behind me, the restricted wing stayed silent, as if it had never invited me closer at all.

Only once I was back on the main path did I let out a breath.

Extended labor. Another warning. And a growing suspicion that every poor decision I make has a direct line to him.

I kept walking.

Next time, I told myself, I would mind my own business.

Even I didn’t believe it.