Page 111 of Black Wing and Shadows
Her expression softened, but her voice cut sharply. “Because if someone’s hunting cadets, you may be in their sights. You stand out, Auri—your bloodline, your mark, your bond. You’re exactly the kind of target they’d choose. And you’re my best friend, like the only sister I have.”
She gripped my hand for a heartbeat, urgent and warm. “Be careful. Whoever this is, they’re not finished.”
“I will, I always have my daggers on me.”
“Now—what the fuck wasthat?”
“What?”
“The ward that didn’t allow me to enter.”
“Ahhh. Zane.”
“Protective much?” She raised one of her eyebrows.
“As a third-yearyou don’t have a ward on your room?”
“You’ve been in my room… no.”
“Well… I have people trying to kill me, and I have been kidnapped.”
‘That’s true I guess.”
“Anybody that I want in here, can come in.”
“Okay. I guess that helps me feel a little better about your safety.”
“You should wardyourroom.”
“Yeah… I should. Be safe, little savage, I got to go.”
“Always.”
And then she disappeared, the door clicking shut behind her, leaving me alone with the truth.
Four dead.
And the promise of more.
The walls of my chamber felt like they were pressing in on me. My thoughts kept circling the same dark truth. Four dead. Not one. Four.
I closed my eyes and reached for him.“Zane?”
His presence brushed mine almost immediately, steady and warm in the way his voice rarely was.“Yes, my Anam Cara”
“You knew. You knew this wasn’t the first cadet. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Silence. For a moment, I thought he blocked me out, but then his voice slid in, low and heavy.“Because knowing doesn't change anything except worry you more than you do. You think I want that for you?”
“Don’t lie to me,”I pressed, pacing across my room. “Lili told me. Four cadets. Four, Zane. Who were they?”
A sigh rippled through the bond, tired, weighted.“Two were Shapeshifters. The other two were Infantry. Different wings, different branches. No pattern anyone can trace.”
The air caught in my lungs.“And the professors are covering it up.”
“You saw what happened this morning. Multiply that by the entire academy and it unravels fast. Chaos, riots… squad members turning on each other. No one survives that.”
My pulse thundered, my bond sparking hot.“So, we simply pretend? Pretend we’re not waiting for ourtragic death?”
