Page 24 of Of Shadow and Moon

I swallow, fighting the urge to lean back or look away. Instead, I sigh, keeping my face carefully composed, but indicating enough that this conversation is annoying the fuck out of me. “I’m from Metztli,” I reply, my voice steady, though my pulse thrums a dangerous rhythm. I deliberately slow it down. A trick I’ve mastered over the years. He’s a vampire, which means he can hear the blood pulsing through my veins. I can’t, for a second, let him think I am nervous. “But I’ve spent time in Xochitlalpan too, in the outer city. Took odd jobs here and there with other orphans.” A story I memorized years before stepping foot on campus.

A lie tangled with truth, just as Alexander taught me. Blend it well enough, and no one would ever catch the deception in your words.

Tomas’s lips twitch, barely concealing his amusement. “No time in the Stone Kingdom?” he asks, his voice dripping with amusement as if he’s caught on to the game I’m playing, but isn’t ready to call me out. Not yet, anyway.

I shake my head.

“Fascinating,” he says, drawing the word out as though tasting it, his gaze lingering on my mouth before snapping back to meet my eyes. “So mysterious.” His voice is quiet, low, almost reverent, but there’s a mocking undertone beneath it.

“More like I was just trying to survive,” I retort, lifting my chin defiantly, though my fingers tighten around the edges of the book in my lap.

His scent wraps around me, metallic, leather, and an herb that I know most Tonalacas smoke. It floods my senses, making it hard to concentrate onanything but him. “I also believe in people minding their own damn business,” I add, my tone sharp, hoping it cuts through whatever spell he’s trying to cast over me.

The smirk playing at his lips only deepens, and he leans in, close enough that his breath fans across my skin, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. “You seem like someone with a lot of secrets. And I’ll be damned if that doesn’t make me curious.” His voice drops to a whisper just for me. “Tell me, princesa, do you always surround yourself with danger?”

I meet his gaze head on, though it takes every ounce of strength not to give in to the magnetic pull of his stare. “Dangerous things are my specialty,” I say, voice low and steady, challenging him to see if he really understands what he’s dealing with.

His laughter is soft, rich, like velvet draped in shadows. “Oh, I don’t doubt that.” He reaches out, and before I can react, his fingers brush a strand of hair away from my face, his touch cool and fleeting, like the whisper of a ghost. “But I wonder…” He trails off, his gaze never leaving mine, his eyes gleaming with a predatory glint. “Have you ever met anyone who could be dangerous to you?”

The question settles between us, thick as fog, heavy and charged with an intensity that makes it hard to breathe. I don’t look away, though part of me wants to. The glint in his eyes, something wild, something that wants to know just how far I’ll go, is enough to set my skin tingling with a mix of fear and excitement.

“Are you trying to be dangerous?” I murmur, my voice low, daring him to show his hand, to prove he’s more than just talk.

“Trying?” He chuckles softly, his hand dropping back to his side, though his gaze remains locked onto mine,unyielding. “Dangerous is just part of the package, princesa.”

For a moment, the world around us fades, leaving only his red eyes and the smirk on his lips as the space between us shrinks with each second. Every breath we take, I’m painfully aware of the thud of my heartbeat, which he can probably hear, but for whatever reason, I can’t seem to pull myself from this trench. Each beat echoes in my ears, drowning out the silence of the library. His presence is overwhelming. It’s filling every inch of space, pressing against me, demanding my attention and my focus.

And damn him, he has it.

I tear my gaze away, glancing down at the book in my lap, hoping the words on the page will somehow ground me and pull me back from the edge of whatever dangerous game we’re playing. But even as I look away, I can feel his eyes on me, burning with an intensity that threatens to unravel me.

“So, survival,” he says, voice smooth as it curls around the word as if testing its weight. “Is that all you’re after? Just staying one step ahead?”

I look up, meeting his gaze with renewed resolve. “Isn’t everyone?” I reply, my voice steady. I don’t flinch, don’t waver, even as he leans closer and his gaze dips to my lips, lingering there before rising back to meet my eyes.

“Perhaps,” he murmurs, and there’s something almost wistful in his voice. It’s gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by that ever present smirk. “But some of us live for more than survival. Some of us… well, we’re looking for something worth the risk.”

His words hang in the air, and for one fleeting moment, I look beyond the charm, the jesting humor into something far darker, raw and unshielded. It's transient, but enoughthat I begin to wonder whether Tomas can be more than just the sharp tongued, arrogant prince he has posed as.

“Risk isn’t always worth it,” I say softly, almost to myself.

His eyes darken as he leans in just a fraction more. His voice barely more than a whisper. “Sometimes, princesa, it’s the only thing that is.”

I glance up at him and the moment our eyes meet, it’s like we’re caught in some unspoken spell. Neither of us moves, neither of us looks away, as though the world around us has just dissolved into nothing.

The silence stretches until he finally clears his throat, breaking whatever strange hold had settled between us.

“Are you ready for the first trial in the Dark Forest?” Tomas drawls.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I reply flatly, looking back at my book. My tone makes it clear: I’m over this conversation, and I’m even more over him. But Tomas doesn’t take the hint. Or chooses not to.

Obsidian Academy thrives on throwing its students into the worst situations imaginable, and the infamous Dark Trials are no exception. They’re designed to test us—to break us. Each trial is a different kind of hell, from scavenging for a lost relic buried deep in the forest to facing down the horrors that stalk the night. And yes, students have died out there. Plenty of them.

I try to focus on what I’m doing, but Tomas keeps lingering, his presence impossible to ignore. “Don’t you have anyone else to annoy?” I finally snap, glancing at him with a glare sharp enough to cut.

He grins, utterly unbothered. “Not when you’re so entertaining, princesa.”

“Would you two mind shutting up?”

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