Page 44 of Architecti
She raises her finger and points it at me.“Oh,” she starts.“You’re injured.”
“I am.”I offer no further information, so she continues.
Her gaze rolls over my body.It falls to my knee, up to my swollen nose, then to my left eye shot through with bloody threads.I take her hand and pull her further into the shadows.I can’t have a student ogling me like she wants to devour me in public.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I say.
“What happened to you?”
I can’t answer that, not to her.Not yet, not now, maybe not ever.“You’ll want to get ahead of the class quickly.Study nightly if you can.I’m assuming you’re going to study contracts, which means some of your classes will be with me.I’ll be sure to treat you like I treat everyone else.There are several texts in the library that will be useful.Given you’re a reaper, you’ll be at a disadvantage because no one will want you to succeed.”
She steps back.“How did you know…?”
“That you’re a reaper?”I sigh.It’s probably for the best she doesn’t know who my father is.
“You wore a scythe on your hip last night, and I’m a professor of contracts.It doesn’t take a genius…”
Her eyes narrow, they scan my body again, lingering on my knee.If I keep blabbering, maybe she’ll ignore my injuries, and we can move on.
“Who was that girl you were talking to?”I say, the words slipping out.I bite the inside of my lip, furious that the words snuck out without permission.
She cocks her head up, a slow smirk surfacing.“Sounds like someone’s jealous.”
She says it so confidently, her ego oozing out of her pores.I am not jealous.
“One orgasm doesn’t mean anything.”
That makes her raise an eyebrow.But I need to cut it off at the neck.I can’t afford this to become anything.I squeeze every ounce of emotion out of my features until my expression is stoic.“I was asking because you seemed angry with her.”
She shakes her head as if trying to work out which thing to focus on first.“She’s my ex…”
“Oh,” I say, not sure what happened or if it’s my place to ask.But she offers another nugget.
“She’s the reason I’m a reaper.”
“I see.So you’re not together anymore?”
She snorts.“I’d rather reap my own soul than touch that traitorous cunt.”Her expression is like stone and fire.An ancient feminine rage pooling deep in her eyes and simmering in her fists.Whatever that girl did, there’s no coming back from it.The knot in my stomach loosens and I try not to think about what that means.
Midnight sighs as she scans my face.“It was your eyes that first attracted me last night.They’re beautiful,” she says and brings her hand up to push my hair behind my ear.I recoil, too paranoid anyone could be watching.
“You can’t do that here, it’s not allowed.”
“It wasn’t until I got here and saw the other demons that I realised they’re so beautiful because they’re not human.”
I can’t bring myself to look at her.“No.They’re not.”
“You’re a professor.”
I nod.
She huffs out an indignant laugh.“Who’d have thought, the demon professor and the reaper.”
I smile softly.“There is no demon professor and reaper.It was one night.A night that can’t be repeated.”
“Because you’re a professor?”
“That, and the fact you’re a reaper, and you’re mortal and I’m not.The fact you’re so young.”
