Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Chapter 72

Soren sat alone in his suite, the torches burning low, the silence pressing in on him like a physical weight. He had not moved from the chair by the window since returning from the garden. His cheek still stung from where Nyra had slapped him. His chest still ached from the look in her eyes when she’d told him he had broken her.

You should have told her, Kael said for the hundredth time. His voice was not angry anymore. Just tired. Disappointed. You should have told her the moment you knew she was our mate.

"I know."

She’s not going to forgive you easily.

"I know."

She might not forgive you at all.

Soren closed his eyes. "I know."

He had replayed the conversation in his mind a thousand times since leaving the garden. Every word. Every look. Every tear that had fallen from her silver eyes. He had seen her face when Selene called him betrothed the shock, the hurt, the betrayal. He had done that to her. He had caused that pain.

And now he was sitting alone in the dark, wondering if he had just lost the only person who had ever made him feel whole.

She needed to hear it from you, Kael said quietly. Not from Selene. Not from anyone else. From you. And you didn’t tell her. You let her find out in front of the entire academy.

"I was going to tell her."

When? After the showcase? After your father arrived? After she’d already given you everything and you’d given her nothing but secrets?

Soren had no answer. Because Kael was right. He had been a coward. He had been so afraid of losing her that he had lied to her, and in doing so, he had lost her anyway.

The knock on the door was soft but insistent.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t want to see anyone. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He wanted to sit in the darkness and drown in his own regret.

The door opened anyway.

Selene stepped inside, her dark hair cascading down her back, her amber eyes taking in the dark room and the slumped figure in the chair. She was still wearing her Silvermoon uniform, pristine and perfect, not a hair out of place. She looked like she had just stepped out of a painting.

"Soren," she said, her voice smooth as honey. "You missed dinner. I was concerned."

"I’m not hungry."

"Clearly." She crossed the room and perched on the arm of the chair opposite his, her posture elegant and relaxed. "You’ve been sitting in the dark for hours, haven’t you? Brooding. It’s very dramatic. Very you."

"What do you want, Selene?"

"What I’ve always wanted. To fulfill my duty. To honor the contract our fathers signed." She tilted her head. "To be your wife."

Soren didn’t respond. He stared out the window at the dark sky, his expression blank.

"I saw what happened in the garden," Selene continued, her voice casual. "The prince. The tears. The very... emotional confrontation. It was quite a scene."

"You were watching?"

"I’m always watching. It’s one of my many talents." She smiled. "I’m not here to judge you, Soren. Whatever arrangement you had with the prince—whatever feelings you may have developed—I understand. We’ve been betrothed since childhood, but we’ve never been... close. It’s natural that you would seek comfort elsewhere."

"It wasn’t about comfort."

"No. I can see that." Her amber eyes flickered with something unreadable. "But it doesn’t matter now. I’m here. The betrothal is public. The King is coming. And whatever you’ve been doing with Thorne Astrlyn—whatever sneaking around, whatever secret meetings, whatever feelings you think you have—it needs to stop."

Soren finally looked at her. "And if I don’t want it to stop?"

"Then you’ll force me to do something neither of us wants." Her voice remained pleasant, but there was steel beneath it. "I’m not your enemy, Soren. I’m your ally. I’ve always been your ally. But I will not be humiliated. I will not stand by while you pine after another person in front of the entire academy. If you push me, I will push back. And you know what I’m capable of."

Soren knew. Selene was not cruel by nature, but she was ruthless when crossed. She had been trained in politics and manipulation since birth, and she wielded both with surgical precision.

"I’m not trying to humiliate you," he said quietly.

"I know. You’re trying to follow your heart. It’s very romantic." She stood and walked behind his chair, her fingers brushing through his dark hair with a gentleness that surprised him. "But romance doesn’t rule kingdoms. Duty does. And your duty is to me. To the contract. To the Crown."

She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Get some rest, darling. You look terrible. And tomorrow, try to remember that whatever you felt for the prince—whatever you still feel—it can’t last. It was never meant to."

She walked to the door and paused.

"Oh, and Soren? Tell your prince to be more careful. Secrets have a way of coming out. And some secrets are more dangerous than others."

She smiled a cold, knowing smile and slipped out the door before he could ask what she meant.

The cafeteria was packed.

Students from both academies filled the long wooden tables, their voices a constant roar of conversation and laughter. The Silvermoon girls sat in clusters, their pristine uniforms a stark contrast to the darker, more practical attire of the Shadowmoon students. Tension crackled in the air—not quite hostile, but not quite friendly either. The two academies were still sizing each other up, still testing boundaries, still figuring out how to coexist.

Nyra walked in with Finn, Marek, and Jasper at her sides, a protective formation that had become instinctive since the night before. Her eyes were still slightly swollen from crying, but she had washed her face and pulled her silver hair back and dressed in Thorne’s loose tunic with careful precision. She looked composed. Almost normal.

But anyone who looked closely could see the cracks.

"There she is," Finn muttered, nodding toward a table near the center of the hall. "The betrothed. Sitting with her Silvermoon cronies. Looking like she owns the place."

"Don’t stare," Jasper said quietly. "It’s what she wants."

"I’m not staring. I’m glaring. There’s a difference."

"Not to her, there isn’t."

Nyra ignored Selene’s table entirely. She was not going to give the woman the satisfaction of her attention. She was going to get her food, sit with her friends, and pretend that her heart wasn’t still bleeding from the night before.

"Thorne!"

Corvin’s voice cut through the noise. He was sitting at a table near the window with Lucian and Orion, his dark hair slightly disheveled, his whiskey eyes fixed on her with quiet concern. He raised his hand and gestured for her to come over.

Nyra hesitated. She hadn’t spoken to Corvin since he’d walked her back to her dorm the night before. He had been kind. Steady. Understanding. Everything she needed when her world was falling apart.

She smiled at him a small, tentative thing and began walking toward his table.

"Thorne."

The voice stopped her in her tracks.

Soren appeared at her side, his dark eyes shadowed with exhaustion, his jaw tight with desperation. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all. His hair was uncombed. His shirt was rumpled. He looked nothing like the cold, composed Sword Sovereign she had met months ago. He looked like a man who was falling apart.

"We need to talk," he said, his voice low and urgent.

Nyra didn’t look at him. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Please. Just five minutes. I need to explain—"

"You had weeks to explain. Months. You had every opportunity to tell me the truth, and you chose not to." Her voice was ice. "Now excuse me. I’m going to eat my lunch."

She tried to walk past him. He grabbed her hand.

"Nyra, please—"

The tray slipped from her grip. Food scattered across the stone floor—stew and bread and a cup of water that shattered on impact. The crash echoed through the cafeteria, and suddenly every head was turning, every conversation dying, every eye fixed on the prince and the Sword Sovereign.

"I said I have nothing to say to you." Nyra’s voice shook. "Let go of me."

"Not until you listen—"

Corvin was on his feet before anyone could blink.

He crossed the distance between them in three strides, his whiskey eyes blazing with cold fury. Soren barely had time to register his approach before Corvin’s fist connected with his jaw.

The crack echoed through the silent cafeteria.

Soren staggered back, his hand releasing Nyra’s, his eyes wide with shock. Corvin stood between them, his chest heaving, his hands still clenched into fists at his sides.

"She told you to let go," Corvin said, his voice low and dangerous. "She told you she didn’t want to talk. And you still couldn’t respect that."

"Eldritch—" Soren started.

"Don’t. Whatever excuse you’re about to make, I don’t want to hear it. You had your chance to be honest with her. You had months. And you chose to lie instead."

The cafeteria was utterly silent. Students from both academies stared at the scene unfolding before them, their food forgotten, their mouths hanging open.

And then Selene stood up.

She moved through the crowd with the fluid grace of a predator, her amber eyes cold and calculating, her expression one of controlled fury. The Silvermoon students parted before her like water before a blade.

She stopped in front of Corvin.

"How dare you," she said, her voice carrying across the silent hall. "How dare you touch my betrothed."

Her hand lashed out and slapped Corvin across the face.

The sound was sharp as a whip crack. Corvin’s head snapped to the side, a red mark blooming on his cheek. For a moment, no one moved. No one breathed.

"How dare you lay your hands on him," Selene continued, her voice dripping with contempt. "Because of this—this bitch."

The word hung in the air like poison.

Nyra moved before she could think.

She stepped around Corvin and faced Selene, her silver eyes blazing with a fury that had been building for two days. "Don’t you dare call me that. And don’t you dare touch him."

Selene’s smile was cold. "Or what? You’ll cry? You’ll run away? That seems to be your only skill."

Nyra’s hand connected with Selene’s cheek before anyone could react.

The slap echoed through the cafeteria, louder than the first. Selene’s head snapped to the side, her perfect hair falling across her face. When she looked back at Nyra, her amber eyes were blazing.

"You," Selene hissed, "are going to regret that."

Her hand lashed out and struck Nyra across the face.

The force of the blow sent Nyra stumbling back. Her cheek burned, and she tasted blood on her lip. But she didn’t fall. She straightened, her fists clenched, her eyes blazing.

And then all hell broke loose.

Finn was the first to react, launching himself at one of the Silvermoon girls who had stepped forward to back Selene. Marek grabbed another, his massive arms wrapping around her and lifting her off the ground. Lucian and Orion surged forward from Corvin’s table, and suddenly the cafeteria was a sea of flying fists and shouted curses.

Selene reached for Nyra again, but Corvin was there, blocking her path. "Touch her again and you’ll regret it."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I’m promising you."

Ragnar appeared at Soren’s side, his scarred face a mask of disbelief. "What the hell is happening?"

Soren didn’t answer. He was staring at the chaos unfolding before him—Nyra with blood on her lip, Corvin with a red handprint on his cheek, Selene with her perfect composure finally cracked. Students from both academies were fighting, shouting, throwing food and punches with equal abandon.

And it was all his fault.

"Stop!" he roared, his voice cutting through the chaos. "All of you, stop!"

No one listened.

Ragnar grabbed Finn before he could tackle another Silvermoon girl. "Finn! Finn, calm down!"

"She called Thorne a bitch! She slapped him!"

"I know, but this isn’t helping!"

Across the cafeteria, Valeria sat at the lecturers’ table, her chin propped on her hand, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. She watched the chaos unfold with the serene satisfaction of someone watching a perfectly executed plan come together.

This is going even better than I expected, she thought.

Selene and Thorne at each other’s throats. Corvin and Soren at odds. The entire academy in chaos. And we didn’t have to lift a finger.

It’s beautiful, Lila agreed. Absolutely beautiful. What do we do now?

Nothing. Valeria’s smile widened. We sit back and watch them destroy each other.