Page 51 of Of Shadow and Moon

“He’s your responsibility,” Father had growled earlier, his eyes blazing. My responsibility? The kid is probably off somewhere screwing things up like healways does, leaving me to clean up the mess. It’s what he’s best at. But this time, something feels… different.

No one has seen him since dinner three nights ago. Not a single damn person. No snide comments in the halls, no obnoxious laughter in the training grounds. Nothing. He just vanished. It’s like he disappeared into thin air, and the silence is starting to feel suffocating.

I rake a hand through my hair, pacing the length of the courtyard. There’s no students around. They can probably sense danger is here and steer clear.

It doesn’t add up. Even at his worst, Etzli doesn’t just disappear. Not without making sure everyone knows exactly where he is at and with who. And yet… nothing.

Father’s orders ring in my ears, but I can’t bring myself to care. Etzli’s missing. Fine. He’ll show up eventually, right? He always does. So why does this feel different? Why do I feel like I’m standing on the edge of something that’s about to explode?

I need to figure this out. Before everything spirals further out of control.

That’s when I spot her, walking down towards the library like she doesn’t have a care in the world. My jaw tightens, and without a second thought, I step into the shadows, letting them swallow me whole. Silent. Unseen.

Last night was the worst kind of torture. Watching her all over another guy. Then having to sit for four fucking hours watching her and her idiot friend get piss fucking drunk.

This stupid woman is consuming all of my thoughts and I haven’t even spoken a word to her. It’s infuriating.

The anger simmering inside me needs a release, and she’s the perfect target. The little human who always spewsvenom. Always so composed, so sharp tongued. She has no idea what she’s walking into.

The library rises ahead of us, with thick ivy winding up its stone walls. She pauses, reaching for the door, and for a brief moment, she’s bathed in the warm glow of a nearby lantern, its light casting her face in soft, golden hues that contrast sharply with the darkness around her.

Her features are sharp yet soft, an unsettling combination of beauty and defiance. Her skin, tanned and kissed by sunlight, is unnaturally pale today, obviously hungover from last night.

I can’t shake the feeling that I know her from somewhere, that I’ve seen her before. It makes no sense considering I would never forget that face, but maybe that’s the point. She’s too graceful, too put together. She knows how to fight, she’s been trained. That much is clear from what I’ve seen during Combat.

She tries to hide her ability but it is so obvious. And the way she watches everything, and I mean everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew I was already here. She has to be working for someone, trying to gain intel on me. On the other princes. It’s just too much of a coincidence that she attends Obsidian Academy at the same time, the first time in centuries, that all five princes have attended the academy. And she draws in all fucking five of us.

Before she can step inside the library, I move, stepping out of the shadows to block her path. The fury bubbling inside me must be clear on my face but she doesn’t even flinch, doesn’t shrink back like others do when they meet my gaze. She just looks at me, her expression shifting to mild irritation, as if I’m nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

“Hello, venom,” I sneer. She looks up, confusion tinging her eyes before she quickly replaces it with indifference.

“What do you want, Kaelion?” she says, her voice steady, cool, and completely unbothered by the nickname. She holds my gaze, her eyes steady, challenging, as if daring me to try something.

I’m momentarily speechless at my name on her lips, but I quickly mask it. I guess it’s hard to not know a prince's name, and I hate that I like that she knows who I am.

The audacity of it, of her standing here with that look on her face, fuels the fire inside me. I take a step closer, closing the distance between us, letting my anger sharpen my words. “Who do you work for?”

She raises an eyebrow, a hint of amusement crossing her face, which only stokes my fury further. I step closer, the air between us taut, charged. “Answer me,” I demand, my voice a low, dangerous growl. “Who do you work for?”

Her lips twist into a small, mocking smile, her hazel eyes glinting with something that borders on amusement. “You think I work for someone?” she asks, her tone dripping with disdain. “I’m an orphan from Metztli.” She lets out a short, humorless laugh, the sound grating against me like steel against stone. “You give me too much credit, Kaelion.”

She’s from my kingdom? Something about that feels like a lie.

I step even closer, close enough that I can feel the heat radiating from her, close enough that the scent of her, wild and intoxicating, fills my senses. She doesn’t move, doesn’t retreat, just watches me with that same infuriating calm. “Don’t play coy with me,” I hiss, leaning down until our faces are inches apart. “I’m going to figure you out,venom.”

I take another step, so close now that I can see every detail of her face, the flecks of gold in her hazel eyes, theslight part of her lips as she breathes. “You’re venom,” I growl, my voice barely more than a whisper. “A sickness infecting this place, twisting everyone you touch.” I lean in further, my breath brushing against her mouth, watching as her lips part, as her breathing quickens, despite herself.

But then, something slips. I feel the dark, simmering power within me stir, slipping free like an ember escaping from a flame. My incubus nature, the curse and gift woven into my blood, breaks through my control, spilling into the air between us. It’s subtle, but potent, a whisper of desire that coils around us, drawing her in, whether she wants it or not.

Her eyes widen, her lips part further, and a soft, involuntary sound escapes her, a quiet, breathless moan that hits me like a lightning strike. The sound, the look in her eyes, the way her guard falls for just a second; it freezes me in place. I stare at her mouth, drawn in by the curve of her lips, by the temptation they hold and the vulnerability in her eyes that I hadn’t expected.

For a heartbeat, I forget everything, where we are, who we are, the fury that brought me here. All I can focus on is the pulse between us, the magnetic pull that makes me want to close the distance, to claim that mouth, to draw another sound from her that shatters her composure. I see her differently now, caught in this haze, and the sight of her, lost in the spell I never meant to cast, is more intoxicating than I can stand.

But then, reality snaps back, and with it, my rage. I clench my fists, forcing myself to pull back, to sever the connection that’s strung too tightly between us. Her face, now touched with irritation, sends me further into a rage that I have never felt before. Her eyes dark with somethingthat wasn’t there before, something that mirrors the storm within me.

Selestina stands there, still defiant, her gaze unbroken. And that look, that steady, fearless look, only fuels the darkness within me. I feel a smirk tug at the corners of my mouth, a slow, dangerous curve, as I decide to teach her what it means to defy me.

“What the fuck do you want,demonio prince?” She sneers the title at me.

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