Page 37 of Blood Currents
The words struck clean and sharp, leaving no room for defense.
I wanted to argue, to insist that I was doing the only thing I could to protect her.But the excuse curdled on my tongue.
Cyrus turned away, walking down the hall without another glance.
I stood alone in the dark.Echo curled tighter around my neck, her scales flashing muted, guilty silver.
Marigold still trusted me with her plans, her safety, her mission.
But not with her heart.
And that, I realized as I finally forced myself to keep walking, was entirely my fault.
The worst part was knowing that I’d do it again.If protecting her meant lying to her, if keeping her safe required breaking her trust, if saving her life meant sacrificing her love…
I’d make the same choice every time.
16
Cyrus
The illusion charms Elio hadcrafted shimmered faintly around our shoulders, bending light just enough to blur our presence.They worked perfectly—of course they did.
Marigold and I moved like ghosts through the academy grounds, our steps quiet on the moonlit paths.For days we’d trailed Guard Parker between her classes and patrols, charting every deviation, every pattern.
Tonight, something moved in the shadows behind us—a flicker too deliberate to be wind or chance.
“We’re being followed,” I murmured, already scanning for the source.
Marigold glanced back, her voice low.“Probably just other students sneaking around after curfew.”
“Maybe,” I said, but the tightness in my gut didn’t ease.“Stay here a second.”
I slipped into the shadows, circling back quickly and silently.A stray cat skittered across the path, and then a second figure emerged—just a pair of younger students giggling and stumbling away from the library.No threat.Not tonight.
I returned to Marigold’s side, keeping my voice level.“Clear—for now.”
She nodded, her focus returning to our real target.
“Third time she’s changed her route,” I said as Parker veered east, away from her usual rounds.“Training facilities, auditorium… she’s looking for something.”
“Or someone,” Marigold whispered back, her necromantic senses stretched taut.Her focus was razor-sharp, but I could see the exhaustion in the set of her shoulders.She hadn’t been sleeping well since she’d heard about Elio’s dinner and realized just how much of him was still a mask.
Parker moved like a woman expecting trouble—checking corners, her hand never far from her weapon.The way her posture screamed tension made my fire want to flare, a protective heat I had to force down.
“She knows something,” I said, my voice low.“The question is whose side she’s on.”
We trailed her past the gymnasium and around to the far side of the auditorium complex, where old maintenance tunnels branched into the academy’s foundations.This wasn’t the side where we’d found the lab.It was deeper, older, a place students didn’t wander.
Parker stopped at a service entrance that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years.But she had keys.She disabled the wards with practiced ease, like she’d done this countless times.
“She has regular access,” I said tightly.“But why here?”
Her fingers brushed my arm—reflexive, grounding.Whether for her or for me, I didn’t ask.Didn’t need to.The weight of it landed anyway.
“Maybe because it’s private,” she said.
I kept my expression neutral, my focus on Parker, but the warmth of her touch stayed.
