IVY
I was sitting outside my dorm, arms wrapped around my knees, trying not to spiral into full-blown panic. The moon was hanging low, half-asleep, and everything around me was too quiet, too still, like the world was holding its breath just to watch me suffer. Typical.
It was one thing to fight Sophia again. I'd signed that misery contract the second I stepped into this academy. But Kade? Fighting Kade? That was an entirely different, emotional chaos soup I wasn’t ready to drink.
My head was a merry-go-round of thoughts, mostly going in sad, dramatic circles. What if I hurt him? As if I could.
What if he hurt me? What if I let something slip, some look, some tell and everyone knew how deeply he messed with my head just by existing?
Then I heard it. A voice. "Hey."
I froze. I knew
