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Chapter 75
*Jiselle*
Two days until the Solstice.
Two days until whatever this nightmare was reached its peak.
And four people from the list were already dead.
The academy was tense. Stiffer than usual. Or maybe it was just me.
Even the wind that usually curled through the courtyards with lazy ease felt like it cut this morning–sharp and cold. I
noticed it as soon as I stepped outside. How quiet everything was. The usual bursts of laughter, the thuds of early sparring. even the whispers–gone.
The silence was full of knowing.
If I were a regular first–year, I wouldn’t have noticed that the tenseness was only from the older years. Almost every first year was buzzing with excitement for the solstice, as it was revealed yesterday that something ‘special and out of this world or our understanding‘ would happen to each of us.
By now, quite a few first years had started to figure out that there was more at play at ATA, but the killing for knowing too early‘ stopped about a month ago, and the only way someone died was from a challenge.
But these two deaths weren’t from knowing anything. It was just pure malice. And Nate and I were next.
I tightened the cloak around me and walked faster, each step pushing my thoughts back to the parchment hidden in my drawer. The one Solara gave me. The one with the circled name.
Kael
A final–year duelist. Bom from council blood. Rumored to have been trained by one of the council members themselves. And the only other name on the list Bastain hadn’t already warned me about.
He was found this morning.
in his dorm.
Collapsed.
No signs of struggle. No wounds. But the brand across his chest had burned black. The mark that tethered us for the Solstice trials–snuffed out.
He wasn’t even involved in the trials as a final year. So why was he dead?
The one before him was the same too. A girl in second year, rumoured to be related to a powerful wolf.
I was sensing a pattern. Anyone who seemed like direct threats to the council was on the list.
I made it halfway across the courtyard before I saw Nate.
He stood at the top of the stone stairwell, hands braced on the railing, his expression unreadable but locked on me the second I emerged from the archway. I could tell from the distance between us that he was waiting. And that he wasn’t happy
I took my time reaching him, even though my heartbeat picked up with every step
“Is it true?” I asked quietly as I neared.
He nodded once. “Kael”
I swallowed. “How?”
“No one knows. Or they’re pretending not to.”
We stood in silence for a long moment, the wind tugging at our clothes like it wanted us to move. To do something.
“He was strong, Nate finally said. “More than strong. He wasn’t supposed to go out like that.”
I looked up at him, searching the curve of his jaw, the lines of his face. “You knew him,”
“Well enough” He didn’t look at me. “We sparred together sometimes, since he was one of the only people who could give me a real challenge apart from Laker. He had control Precision. He wasn’t reckless.”
Mehed that look on his face again–of grief jus Successfully unlocked! really knew him, didn’t he? And I felt even
worse for keeping this from him it was wrong.
a on it too.
It terrified me. I should have told him. I had to tell him. I had to tell him about the message on the mirror too. It was all too
much. But what if he died because of me telling him?
What if he died because I didn’t tell him?
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Chapter 75
Every time someone died, I felt like I was responsible. I could have stopped it. I didn’t know anyone else on the list, but I knew they existed. They were real people with real friends and family. This was far too wrong.
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to scream. I wanted to demand answers from the sky or the stone beneath our feet.
I swallowed, looking down as my hands trembled.
“He was on the list,” I said.
Nate turned then. Slowly. “On what?”
My throat locked.
Shit.
It was too risky. I didn’t know how to reveal it without revealing it.
And suddenly, I understood how Max and Nate felt all year, not being able to tell me something because of the blood oath. This was like my own blood oath.
His eyes narrowed, catching it. “What list, Jiselle?”
*1…” I looked away. “I just mean… he was powerful. People knew it. That scares them, right?”
He stared at me too long. Long enough that I felt his suspicion like a hand pressing to my chest.
I felt it tightening between us.
The distance.
The silence.
The lie.
I’d never lied to Nate before.
Not like this.
Not when it mattered.
He said nothing else. Just turned and walked back inside. I followed, unsure if I was chasing him or fleeing myself.
I had to tell him. Tonight.
Or we both might not live to see the solstice.
That night, I didn’t eat.
I sat on Nate’s bed, staring at the parchment Solara gave me, like it might change. Like it might cross out another name while I watched
Nate came in quietly, dropped his weapons by the door and pulled off his cloak, boots, and armor without saying a word. I didn’t look at him as I hid the list away.
He didn’t ask what I was doing.
But I felt the tension.
Like storm clouds on the edge of thunder.
He sat beside me eventually, but not too close. Not touching. Not tonight.
“You’re still not going to tell me what you know?” he asked.
His voice was low. Careful.
1 sighed “Nate, 1-*
“Stop”
1 flinched
He turned then. Fully. His eyes were darker than I’d seen them in days.
“You knew his name before they said it. Kael. You asked me if it was true the moment you saw me. You knew he was on some list. And I want to know what the hell that means”
I looked down at my hands. “I can’t.”
“Bullshit.”
I winted
“Nate-”
“I can’t protect you if you keep things from me.”
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Chapter 75
“I’m not trying to keep things from you.”
“Then why am I risking everything for you?” he snapped.
My heart slammed into my ribs.
I stood. “I didn’t ask for any of this, Nate. Not this situation. Not this power. Not this war you keep pretending is ours to win.” He stood too, breathing hard.
“You think I like this? Watching you walk around with a target on your back while you lie to my face?”
“I’m not lying!”
“You’re hiding the truth. That’s the same damn thing.”
Silence.
And in that silence, I felt something ripple through me.
Power.
Not loud this time.
Not roaring.
Just… present.
Buzzing beneath my skin.
He saw it.
His jaw tightened.
And still, he didn’t move away.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He sighed. Rubbed a hand down his face. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But if you start cutting me out—” “I’m not cutting you out.”
“Then let me in.”
My eyes burned.
I looked at him and wanted to say everything. Wanted to spill the truth at his feet and let him help carry it.
Instead, I told him that I needed to get to bed, and he didn’t argue.
When I turned back, he was already pulling the blanket up over me. His touch was soft. Too soft, though his face was hard. He didn’t say anything else.
Neither did I.
But when he finally disappear into his bathroom and I took the list out of my bag, the next name circled in dull red made me want to scream, as the agony and pain slapped me all at once.
Nathaniel Morningstar.
And Kael’s name?
Crossed out in red.
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