Chapter 93: _ You Kissed The Mad Prince?!

Clement didn’t flinch. "You are scaring the initiates, Headmistress. And my duty is to protect them and maintain the law of this wing." He shifted his head toward us. "Initiates, dismissed. Return to your dormitories immediately."

Miriel didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted for the door like a startled rabbit, her satchel bouncing wildly against her hip.

I turned to follow her, but paused at the threshold when I realized Bren hadn’t moved. She stood near the oak frame, casting a long and deeply worried look back at Commander Clement. There was a silent tension between them that made my chest tighten, but before I could process it, Bren caught my eye, pulled her gaze away from the commander, and hurried out behind me.

We moved down the bustling corridor in complete, suffocating silence. Wardens were still rushing back and forth with sealed scrolls and evidence trays, but none of us dared to speak a word.

Just as we pushed through the heavy iron gates and stepped out onto the courtyard of the security building, a shadow fell over the entrance.

Four armored Royal Fae guards clad in gleaming platinum armor swept up the stairs. And in the center of the honor guard glided High Rector Maddox.

She was breathtaking and terrifying in a sweeping crimson silk and her white hair was held high with a crown of black iron thorns. Her face was a mask of cold fury that made the afternoon sun feel like winter.

"Hide!" Miriel squeaked in a terrified whisper.

We scrambled behind a stone pillar supporting the entrance archway, pressing our backs flat against the cold granite and holding our breath. High Rector Maddox didn’t even glance our way. She swept past our hiding spot like an invading army, her guards flanking her as she marched straight into the precinct to fight for her son.

Only after the doors slammed shut behind her party did we dare to breathe, stepping out from behind the pillar into the cool air.

"We are so screwed," Miriel whimpered instantly, slapping both hands over her face. "We are completely screwed!"

"Keep your voice down! Do you want her guards to hear you?!" Bren hissed, grabbing Miriel’s arm and shoving her toward the tree-lined path leading toward the residential sector.

"I don’t care!" Miriel cried out as we picked up our pace, walking quickly down the cobblestone path. "Did you see her face?! If we testify against Prince Raice, she’ll turn us into toadstool dust! If we don’t testify, Headmistress Maisie will throw us into a mud pit to die! We are caught between two royal monsters!"

"We just need to stay calm and figure out what to say when the council convenes," Bren reasoned, her eyes scanning the quiet forest trail.

"What is there to figure out?!" Miriel countered, throwing her hands in the air. "We should just do what Headmistress Maisie said! We should testify that the Sylven mentioned Raice! It makes sense! Raice was literally caught standing over Tobin’s corpse covered in blood! Everyone knows he’s violent, crazy, and completely unhinged! He probably killed him just for fun!"

"He didn’t do it!" I snapped.

The sudden, fierce heat in my voice surprised even me. I stopped dead in my tracks on the dirt path, glaring at Miriel.

Miriel blinked, staring at me as if I had suddenly sprouted a second head. "Elira... why on earth are you defending him?! He’s Prince Raice! Everyone in the academy has been gossiping for days about how he was going to murder you just because you talked back to him at the concourse! He’s your enemy! This solves your problem and eliminates him!"

"Raice is not my enemy!" I yelled, my cheeks flushing bright red.

"He literally threatened to burn your world to ashes on a silver scroll!" Miriel yelled back. "How is that not an enemy?!"

"Because my enemies don’t kiss me!" I shouted.

Silence fell over the forest path.

The wind died down. The birds stopped chirping. Even the rustling leaves seemed to freeze.

Miriel stood frozen with her mouth hanging wide open, her amber eyes bugging out of her head. Beside her, Bren’s eyes snapped to mine, her hand freezing halfway to her dagger belt.

"What... did you just say?" Miriel whispered.

I swallowed hard, the heat spreading all the way down my neck. I hadn’t meant to blurt it out. I had sworn to keep it buried in the darkest corner of my mind, but hearing them talk about him like he was a bloodthirsty monster made something in my chest rip open.

"He kissed me," I admitted, looking down at my worn boots. "Back during the ball... when I stepped out into the courtyard after the heartstone situation. Raice followed me."

"He followed you to murder you?!" Miriel gasped.

"No!" I groaned, dragging a hand over my face. "He cornered me against the stone wall, and then... we made out!"

"WHAT?!" Miriel shrieked so loudly that a flock of crows erupted from the high pine trees above us.

"Lower your voice, you lunatic!" Bren barked, smacking Miriel’s arm before turning a sharp gaze on me. "Elira. Explain. Now."

"It... it was intense," I stammered, my heart beating faster as the memory surged back—the feeling of his electric fingers tangled in my hair, his lips bruising mine, the intoxicating power humming through his skin. "He seemed disoriented... like he was out of his mind or struggling against something heavy inside his head. But he kissed me. And I kissed him back. And it wasn’t just a kiss, Bren. It felt like... like an electrical storm exploding inside my veins."

Miriel looked like she was about to faint. She grabbed a nearby tree branch for support. "Why would Raice... the Prince of the Fae... the son of the High Rector... kiss a commoner?! Everyone said he was going to gut you!"

"I don’t know!" I cried out, clutching my hands together over my chest where the invisible wire was still pulling tight. "I don’t know why he did it! But ever since then, I can’t get him out of my head. When Clement said he was in that cell, I felt this awful, suffocating pain right behind my ribs. It feels like a bond, Miriel. A parasitic bond between us. I know he didn’t kill Tobin. I know it in my marrow."

Bren stared at me for a long moment. The usual dry, sarcastic edge in her eyes had transformed into a deadly concern.

"This is a much bigger mess than I thought," Bren said quietly.

"A mess?!" Miriel squeaked, finally regaining her breath and pointing an accusing finger at me. "Elira No-One! You hid this from us?! You made out with a dangerous Fae prince in the dark and didn’t tell your best friends?!"

"I was terrified!" I defended myself. "I thought I was losing my mind!"

"Well, you definitely lost it now!" Miriel moaned, pacing back and forth on the dirt path. "If you have a bond with him, that means we can’t testify against him! But if we don’t testify, Headmistress Maisie will murder us! And if we do testify, High Rector Maddox will skin us alive! What are we supposed to do?!"

Bren placed a hand on Miriel’s shaking shoulder. "We stick to the truth and hope honesty protects us. We tell the council exactly what happened in the drainage sector—that the Sylven acted alone. We don’t let Maisie use us as political weapons, and we don’t poke the Fae Rector."

"And what about Elira’s insane royal romance?!" Miriel asked, gesturing wildly at me.

"We keep our mouths shut about that if we want to live," Bren deadpanned. "Now move. Second period is over, and if we stand out here arguing any longer, someone is going to notice."

We hurried the rest of the way down the forest trail, emerging near the plaza of the residential dormitories.

The courtyard was usually peaceful after second period, but today, a noisy crowd of initiates was gathered near the central fountain. Dozens of students were pushing forward, standing on tiptoes and whispering excitedly to one another.

"What’s going on over there?" Miriel asked, wiping her eyes and squinting through the crowd. "Did another monster attack?"

Bren’s eyes narrowed as she spotted the golden hair and tall, athletic frame standing in the center of the mob. "No. Look."

I stepped around a group of gossiping second-years and my eyes landed on the figure standing by the fountain.

It was Prince Ajax.