Chapter 23: The Bet

Roxanne walked through the hallway with Isla after class, still riding a quiet satisfaction from the Moonball ranking. She wasn’t bragging about it. She just felt a little lighter, a little more sure of her own footing than she had in weeks.

"Look at her," Liam said, appearing behind them.

She turned. "What?"

He walked backward in front of her, studying her with exaggerated seriousness. "The confidence. The attitude. That dangerous little smile."

"I don’t have a dangerous little smile."

"You do now."

Isla laughed. Roxanne rolled her eyes and kept walking, Liam falling into step beside her without invitation.

"The Moonball win’s made you cocky," he said.

"I beat you."

"You assisted."

"You still lost."

That landed. He stopped, pointed at her like she’d just committed a crime. "You know what? I’m challenging you."

"To what?"

He gestured toward the outdoor training grounds, where a crowd had already started gathering. "Wolf race. Nothing dangerous. Just speed and control through a marked course."

"You’re betting you can beat me."

"I’m betting you can’t beat me."

She accepted before he’d even finished the sentence.

"He’s annoyingly competitive," Isla warned.

"So am I," Roxanne said.

Liam grinned. "Now you’re speaking my language."

Before they started, he proposed a wager. "Loser does one harmless favor. Winner’s choice."

"What kind of favor?"

"Nothing embarrassing."

"You’re already making me nervous."

"I said harmless."

She agreed anyway, and he held out his hand. "Deal?"

She shook it. "Deal."

"Prepare to lose."

She let go immediately. "Keep dreaming."

It struck her, walking toward the starting line, that she wasn’t doing this to prove anything to anyone. Not to Dorian. Not to the whispers that still trailed her sometimes. She was just competing, for the simple pleasure of it.

The course wound around the academy grounds — a sprint, low barriers, sharp turns, a narrow stretch through the trees, and a final straight run back toward the building. Students crowded the edges to watch.

"Nervous?" Liam asked, bouncing on his heels beside her.

"No."

"Scared?"

"No."

"Thinking about surrendering?"

"Thinking about pushing you into a bush."

He laughed. "That sounds like fear."

The signal sounded, and they took off. Liam was fast — faster than she expected, faster than he’d ever bothered showing in practice. She pushed harder to keep pace, and they ran nearly even, shoulder to shoulder.

"Not bad!" he called.

"Stop talking!"

"You’re adorable when you’re angry!"

"Run!"

He laughed and surged ahead. She refused to let the gap widen.

At the wooded section, the course split into two routes — one wide and obvious, one narrow and demanding. Liam took the wide path without a second thought. Roxanne noticed the marker for the narrow one and understood immediately: it was shorter, but it needed more control.

She took it.

"Hey!" Liam shouted, realizing too late.

She laughed as she pulled ahead. "Should’ve paid attention."

He caught up fast, closing the gap until they were running side by side again, close enough that their shoulders nearly brushed. The teasing dropped away. Roxanne could hear his breathing, feel the full focus radiating off him, and something in her matched it completely.

She pushed harder. They burst out of the trees together, and she crossed the finish line first, by the smallest possible margin.

The crowd cheered. Liam stared at the line, then at her.

"You cheated."

"You’re just bad at losing."

He accepted defeat with theatrical despair, and Roxanne considered her options before pointing at her bag. "You’re carrying my books."

"That’s it?"

"For the rest of the day."

"You’re cruel."

"You agreed."

He picked up her books, then another, then another, following her around like a put-upon servant while she laughed at his running commentary of misery. "This is abuse."

"You’re carrying three books."

"My dignity weighs more than all three combined."

"Then put it down."

"I can’t. I’m committed to the bet."

Something about that made her smile more than she expected. He could have wriggled out of it. Instead, he was doing it, complaints and all.

On the way back inside, they passed the academy’s snack stand, and Roxanne paused without meaning to.

"What?" Liam asked.

"Nothing."

"You looked at the drinks."

"I wasn’t going to buy one."

He set her books down for a second and bought her favorite drink before she could argue. She looked at it, then at him.

"You didn’t have to."

"I know."

She took it anyway, and then realized something. Roshan knew her favorite drink. Now Liam did too.

"How did you know I liked this?"

He shrugged. "You drink it constantly."

"You noticed?"

"Of course I noticed."

The casualness of it didn’t hide the sincerity underneath, and for a second she didn’t know what to say.

"I’m allowed to know things about you too, you know," he added.

She looked down at the drink, unsure how to respond to that. Liam, predictably, ruined the moment before it could sit too long.

"Unless you’d rather I start buying you terrible drinks."

She laughed. "No. This one’s fine."

He smiled, satisfied, and picked her books back up.

Nearby, Dorian and Arabella happened to be walking the same direction. Dorian noticed Liam carrying Roxanne’s books first. Then the drink in her hand. Then, most of all, the way she was laughing.

"She’s certainly made herself comfortable," Arabella said.

Dorian didn’t answer.

"You don’t care, right?"

"Why would I?"

But his eyes stayed on Roxanne as she walked past without a single glance in his direction. Arabella followed his gaze and didn’t like what she found there.

That evening, back in the dorm, Isla noticed immediately.

"You’re smiling."

"No, I’m not."

"You absolutely are."

Roxanne gave up trying to hide it and told her everything — the race, beating Liam, the books, the drink. Isla laughed through most of it, then asked, quieter, "So... did you have fun?"

Roxanne thought about it.

She had. More than she expected to.

She hadn’t thought about Dorian all afternoon. Hadn’t thought about Arabella, or the fall, or the rejection that had followed her here like a shadow she couldn’t shake. For a few hours, she’d just been herself. A student. A girl racing across academy grounds, laughing with someone who made everything feel lighter than it should.

That realization unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.

Liam hadn’t just made her laugh. He’d made her forget, for a little while, to keep her guard up.

She lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling, telling herself it was nothing. Friendship. Academy life. A stupid bet, nothing more.

But then she remembered the way he’d looked at her when he said it — I’m allowed to know things about you too — and her stomach gave an embarrassingly obvious flutter.

She pulled the blanket over her face and refused to think about it any further.

Underneath it, she was smiling anyway.