Page 52 of Architecti
It’s not until I shove my way past that my blood runs cold.
“No.Absolutely not,” I say.
“I didn’t ask for this.I didn’t even know you were applying to the Academy,” Aurelia answers.
“I don’t give a fuck.TAKE A DIFFERENT FLOOR,” I shout and shove forward.
Bastien’s enormous arms are around me, yanking me back away from her.
“Get off me, Bastien.She’s not staying on the same floor as us.”
Aurelia rolls her eyes at me, as if I’m the dramatic one.
“I didn’t choose this, Midnight.Do you really think I’d have asked to be on your floor?Or even in the same House?I am here to study.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you’re here for.As long as you’re doing it as far the fuck away from me as possible.”
She shakes her head.“You’re not the only one with dreams, you know.”
I guffaw.“You gave up your dreams, don’t fucking forget that.The only reason you have a dream now is because I sold my soul for you.”
Bastien’s arms go slack.“What?”he says, releasing me.
“Yeah.She’s the fucking reason I’m here.”
That hangs in the air, pungent and acrid like the festering rot of a decomposing carcass.
Bastien steps in front of me and points to the floor below.“Go speak to security, Aurelia.”
Her shoulders slump but thankfully, she disappears downstairs leaving Bastien, Lex and I alone.
The pair of them stand there, expectant.
“You don’t get to make a statement like that without telling us what happened,” Lex says.
She opens one of the room doors and pulls Bastien and I inside.Her suitcase is already in there.I’m not sure I’m even surprised.The magic seems to run thick through the walls and halls of the campus.
Lex pushes me onto her bed and nudges Bastien into an armchair, and then she potters out into the communal kitchen, banging cupboards and doors and flicking the kettle on.
She returns with some fruit bowls and three cups of deep red tea that looks a little too much like blood for my comfort.
“Drink it, it will make you feel better,” she says as she hands it to me and I’m unable to hide my grimace.
Bastien behaves like a teenage boy and happily scoffs his fruit and guzzles the tea.
“So?”Lex says.
I sigh and lean back on her bed.“It’s a long story.But we were together for a couple of years.Went through a lot of shit together.She was there when my parents died.Anyway.She got sick, and she was the only family I had left.So I sold my soul to heal her.”
Bastien leans back in the armchair.“That sounds very benign for how pissed you were.”
“Yeah, well, after she was healed, I walked in on… She cheated on me.”
Lex winces.
Bastien’s forehead creases.“I’m sorry.”
I shrug.“It was a long time ago.So long that my time is running out.Finis really is my last chance.”
