Page 117 of Savage Torment

“No, you're always an asshole,” I retort, and he laughs, his belly full-on shaking, head tilted back as his arm tightens around me.

“And I always will be,” he says with a wink. “Glad to know you love me too, Midnight,” he murmurs, clearly unaware of the words he just used as he all but skips down the sandy path, heading toward the main academy building.

I gape at him with every step, my cheeks burning bright in a mixture of shock and disbelief. If he notices, he pays no attention. Neither does Blaze, but the way he holds my hand allows me to sense the acknowledgment in the curl of his fingers. I don’t know how or why. I just do.

What scares me even more is that I can sense the contentment from the wolf as well.

Holy crap.

It feels like my intuition has skyrocketed; the atmosphere is… readable, as if someone figured out a way to transcribe the energy around me and scrawled the words into the air with a freshly inked pen.

I’m so lost in thought that we’re almost at the main academy building before I remember myself. “Where are the others?” I ask, and Blaze flexes his fingers around mine.

“Already eating,” he explains, bringing my knuckles to his lips. “We pulled straws, and I won, but it seems Lincoln didn’t get the memo,” he muses, drawing my gaze to his, and I smile.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lincoln insists, but I can see right through him.

None of it matters, though. Not when they’re both being so… playful?

“You mean to tell me you guys are working together?” I clarify, glancing between them, and Lincoln winks.

“Yup, the vampire asshole too,” he states, nodding at Blaze, who simply grins in response, and all I can do is gape at them.

As we approach the double doors, the aroma of freshly cooked bacon lingers in the air, urging me closer, but I don’t quite manage to step over the threshold before Minnie rushes out, panic in her eyes.

Lincoln freezes the moment he locks eyes with his sister. “What's going on?”

She shakes her head, the color draining from her face as her jaw goes slack. Her gaze darts from her brother to me, then glosses over Blaze before returning to Lincoln. Worry gnaws at my gut.

With a gulp, she rolls her shoulders back. “The assembly has just been called.”

My world stops.

I want to insist that it's not true. I want to call her a liar, but I see it in her eyes.

Worming my way from under Lincoln's arm, I blink at each of them, acutely aware that the assembly affects us all, but I need to see it with my own eyes.

I hurry inside, following the sea of bodies all heading in the same direction. When I step into the hall, I find that the usual setup is gone and the makeshift arena has returned.

Tilting my head back, I look up and notice the balcony on full display again. I try to shake off the worry and fear, but it’s impossible. Instinctively, I search for the same man I caught a glimpse of last time, but from this angle, all I can see is the base of the balcony.

Hands land on my shoulders, the grip firm, and when I peer back, it’s Minnie I find. She spins me so we’re face to face. Worry brims in her gaze, likely reflecting my own, but knowing we’re not guaranteed to make it out alive makes it impossible to breathe.

“We've got this, Polaris. Everything is going to be fine,” she promises. I squeeze her hand, trying to convey the same comfort she's offering me.

Bryony appears, a tight smile on her lips, and I try my best to replicate it. Minnie steps back and moves straight into her embrace as I turn to where I was last time with the witches. Before I can even consider heading in that direction, Lincoln grabs hold of me, pulling us back a step as he presses me against the wall.

Blinking up at him, my heart races in my chest as I look into his stony gaze. He doesn’t keep me wildly worrying, wondering what’s going on, though. “When your name is called and your blood kin is revealed, do not act. We don't take action. We regroup and think it through after. Nothing changes today, Polaris. Not even if it's me. And you should know, if it's me and Blaze, I swear to you nothing changes. We work together as one. If anything, this works in our favor.” My mind swirls from hisspeech, but I find myself nodding along with him. “If blood kins are called, it may help us tackle The Crow’s order for Blaze to eliminate Tatum,” he adds, and I gulp.

That makes sense, but it’s hard to linger on it amidst the swarm of panic holding me hostage.

A bell rings, cutting the conversation short. Lincoln presses a kiss to my forehead before joining the wolves without a backward glance. Despite my fear of crumbling to my knees, completely depleted, I move toward the witches, all hunched together, and find a seat beside Bryony.

The atmosphere feels different. It’s so charged, as though it has completely shifted. The blood kin curse hangs thick between us now, but we wade through, cementing our friendship. We both exchange another tight smile before she extends her hand, palm up. It soothes the worry coiling in my veins and I quickly place my hand in hers, squeezing tightly as our fingers interlink.

I’m certain Foster grumbles something from the other side of her, but I can’t hear him properly over the thumping in my ears. One thing Icansense, though, is the aura coming off him. It’s not as rattled as usual; I can see it clearly, and he definitely doesn’t like me.

It’s impossible for me not to get a feel for the room, the energy washing over and through me now seeming natural. Days ago, it would have all been a culmination of scattered thoughts and overwhelming emotions, but now, it’s as if I can clearly match each feeling to every person. Taking a deep breath, I ignore the setting and focus on the fact that my magic is beaming around me, and I have to sink my teeth into my bottom lip to stop myself from gaping at the array of colors flitting around the room.

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