Unless it was about a crush of his? Damian hadn’t talked about anyone special lately, but it was a possibility.
“How can I help?” she asked.
Damian shook his head. “You can’t, Ali. You’ve done so much. You work so hard already, it’s impossible.”
“D…what’s going on?”
Her brother took a deep breath and finally looked at the camera. His dark eyes were rimmed red. “I just got a call from the university…”
A deafening roar blared in Alissia’s ears.
No.
After all they’d suffered and scrimped and compromised.
After Alissia put her own hopes and dreams on hold.
There was no way there could be an issue with Damian going to college.
She was almost too afraid to ask. “And?”
“They told me–” He clenched his jaw. “They told me they’ve changed some rules. New dean and all…”
Alissia’s breathing turned shallow. They’d just accepted him. They had. She’d seen the acceptance letter with her own eyes and vividly remembered how they’d hugged and jumped in the middle of the room to celebrate. Their screams of joy had been so loud, their cranky upstairs neighbor had banged on the floor.
“They didn’t…they didn’t rescind your admission…did they?” she asked after Damian fell silent. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, as if he was swallowing his words. Or maybe they were tears.
“No, I have good grades. Not good enough, though.” Damian took a deep breath. “I’m not getting the scholarship, Ali. I have to pay the full tuition–in one month. Or else I’m not going to college.”
4
RYNAR
This was insane.
Hewas insane.
But that certainty didn’t stop Rynar from sending a message to Alissia and asking her to come back into his office–ifshe had the time.
He half-hoped, half-dreaded she did.
As soon as the message was sent, Rynar jumped out of his seat with Deruzian speed and paced in front of his desk. He tried in vain to rid himself of the frustrated energy that had built up inside him since reading his father’s will.
His twin hearts beat too fast, his fangs had elongated, and his wings begged to burst out of his back.
None of that would help, of course. Would actually make things worse if he revealed one of Deruzia’s best kept secrets–that its inhabitants could fly. Nobody had informed the humans of that yet, and Rynar had no plans of becoming the first Deruzian to break that rule.
He was about to break many others, anyway.
He looked at the clock hanging above his shelves. If Alissia wouldn’t be here in five minutes–
The door slid open, her sweet perfume filling the space again, mesmerizing his senses.
Rynar stopped pacing, suddenly rooted to the spot. He didn’t know how it was possible, but his hearts beat even louder when he looked at her now.
But something was wrong.
Alissia didn’t come in like a warrior before a battle, as she always did. Always standing tall, always with that fire in her eyes. Even before, when she’d been colder and more aloof, there still was that fight in her.
