Page 22 of Burning Heir

“So, you’re planning onhooking upwith the man who wants to kill you?”

She chuckled, and the smile she gave was something I hadn’t expected, given her following words. “Everyone wants to kill me. Perhaps even you someday.”

So, Antonia wasn’t kidding when she mentioned Malachi’s screams would wake her from doors away.

Every lantern lit the halls with shattered light. Swallowing that curling shadowed brick. We passed the library at the grand entrance, arching into a black windowed door. I needed to visit it tomorrow to read what Malachi learned about my family.

“The headmaster said we should be in our rooms when the lanterns turn on.”

She laughed. “The professors will be drunker than us by the time we arrive. It’s only a threat. No one enforces rules here.They trap the most powerful students and expect us to obey?” She raised a brow.

I nervously asked, “What did the professor mean when he said my mother was a death curser?”

“Fallon could wield death with only a single touch. But her wyvern gave her the quell of sound. She could hear things from behind doors.”

Death. My mother had the death quell.

“Did it say anything about Klaus? He was my older brother.”

Malachi pushed the double-wide doors open. Night took us into the shadows of grey clouds. A gust sprang up, glinted with gold and lavender speckles.

Dare I say, I felt bold stepping outside without a jacket.

“Flame,” she whispered a beat later. “Klaus was placed in Summer.”

My gaze probed the approaching night, grappling with the words Malachi had fed me before they coalesced into meaning. Klaus was a fire wielder. I knew Father would have disowned him the moment that knowledge trickled down the line of Serpents, discovering that a son of Winter melted the land he was born in.

“I never knew,” I said softly, fighting the urge to be pissed at Klaus but knowing I had no right. At least Knox was alive, and I could curse him for betraying our family and leaving it all up to me.

“The academy takes your most potent traits and places you where you will be the most powerful. You must be born with Summer in your blood for Klaus to wield flame.”

“I am a Winter.” I stifled my breath as we walked down a narrow, shaded path to the backside of the castle. Silver and black fences guided us to a clearing, where fifty people gathered around a fire pit.

The gnawing sea hurled in the distance. Canopies hung low, adorned with crystal and golden teardrops. Flowers budded from the ground, curling around the fence separating the ocean from the cobblestone path.

Malachi looped her arm within mine, vanilla ripping through my tightened lungs as she leaned closer. “Winters are known to be shy. Don’t worry, I’ll break you before the academy can.”

I muttered back, “You can’t break broken.”

“We all have more room to break.”

She was right. I feared the pieces left inside of me.

A flurry of ash rippled through the air, carried by the soft crackle of the fire. A dozen students mingled around it, their green-and-black uniforms blending into the night. I scanned the crowd for Knox, but he disappeared into the sea of identical blazers.

The sounds of voices bouncing off crashing waves filled the space—clipped conversations, bursts of laughter, and the occasional crack of kindling. The night should have felt alive, but anger, guilt, and grief churned within me, threatening to drown the moment.

Archer Lynch caught my eye, lounging on a log with a blonde girl perched on his lap. Her veins shimmered like twisting vines, tiny flowers sprouting from her hair with beads sewn delicately into each strand. She had to be from Spring—her entire presence radiated poison.

Beside me, Malachi spotted Monty Garcia and locked eyes with him, a grin already spreading across her face. She turned to me. “The more people you know here, the better. Find some alliances tonight—maybe even your enemies.” She shrugged, then added with a teasing lilt, “But if you kiss someone, I wantallthe details.”

“I’d rather not make enemies,” I called after her, but she was already striding toward Monty, his arms outstretched as if he’dbeen waiting for her all night. She melted into him effortlessly, leaving me alone to fend for myself.

I sighed and turned back to the crowd. Knox. He stood behind Monty, hands tucked awkwardly into his trousers, the hem of his cotton blazer brushing his hips. He looked out of place, his quiet presence stark against the lively chatter of the Day students around him. I started toward him, softly uttering his name.

Before he could hear me, a hand grabbed my shoulder. I spun around, ready to scold. “Bridger, I swear to god—”

But it wasn’t Bridger. Hazel eyes met mine, sharp and unreadable, framed by short, dark locks. His skin was sun-kissed, his jawline strong and clean-shaven, with a single dimple pressed into his left cheek. Handsome, in a way no North Colindale man had ever been.

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