Immortal Consequences(24)

“I quite literally don’t have time for this.” Wren ducked under his arms and began charging down the corridor. She heard August’s familiar footsteps echo behind her. Great. This was the last thing she needed.

“Where are you running off to?” August called out behind her. “Your defensive instruction doesn’t start for another twenty minutes.”

“Wow.” Wren shook her head and chuckled. “Are you that obsessed with me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, darling.” August jogged up next to her, flashing her a cocky grin. “I just happen to have great observational skills.”

“While somehow totally lacking self-awareness.”

He skidded to a halt and slammed his hands on either side of the corridor, blocking her path once again.

“Come on. Tell me.” His eyes drank her in with unnerving precision. “Where are you going?”

“Why do you care?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I am obsessed with you.”

“Congrats. Acceptance is the first step.”

“You know…you’re rather cute when you’re upset.” August’s eyes raked up and down her face. “You get this crinkle right between your brows. Right here.” He tapped his finger against her forehead, and she swatted him away.

“Yes, well…it’s pretty easy to be upset when I’m around you.” Wren tried to ignore the searing heat pulsing against her skin. Right on the place where he had touched her. “That might be one of your greatest skills.”

He smirked. “You flatter me.”

“All right, enough of this. I have somewhere I need to—”

Wren attempted to walk past him, but August didn’t budge, sidestepping so that his face was mere inches from hers. In that same moment, the teasing glint in his eyes seemed to harden into something colder, something almost dangerous.

The next words he spoke were slow and deliberate. “Tell me…where you’re going.”

Wren scoffed. “Is that a command?”

August shrugged.

“Maybe.”

Silence swept over them. Wren met his gaze with unwavering stillness, not daring to blink or look away. She wasn’t scared of him. She never had been. But there was something disconcerting about being this close to him…something twisted. Because whether or not she’d ever admit it out loud, Wren knew that her body wasn’t telling her to run away or hide. It was telling her to close the space between them.

And that terrified her more than anything.

“August.” She spoke his name slowly. “I’m afraid the ominous bad boy routine doesn’t work on me.” She edged closer, mockingly flicking a piece of lint off his collar. “So…why don’t you just move along and go find somebody else to pester?”

For a moment, he said nothing. His eyes darkening with each passing second. Just when Wren thought she would implode from the tension permeating the air, August’s demeanor shifted and his face molded itself back to its usual arrogant smirk.

“Did you really just call me a bad boy?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake. Never mind. You’re hopeless.” She used the momentary distraction to duck under his arms and continue down the corridor. To her immense disappointment, August didn’t take the hint. He followed after her as she pushed open the doors of Pettyworth and made her way outside.

Blackwood’s amethyst-tinted sky stretched out above her as her feet hit the narrow, graveled path that snaked around the dormitories and led toward the main grounds. A brittle chill clung to the air, just cold enough to nip at her nose and send a flurry of goose bumps down her neck.

“Look. I’m just trying to make sure we’re on the same page.” August caught up with her, matching her pace. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “Especially after our little conversation with Silas.”

“What do we need to be on the same page about?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Loughty.” He dropped his voice and leaned in closer. “They’re not telling us everything. I know you felt it too. Something isn’t right.”

Of course she had. The entire situation had left her feeling off-kilter. The newbie’s startling display of shadow magic was frightening enough, but then being told that Demiens were attempting to abduct students? That they were meant to keep it a secret from everybody else? It had all felt too…calculated. Like the Housemasters had been anticipating everything—like they’d already had the perfect explanation prepared. But what was she meant to do? Questioning the rules of Blackwood was practically blasphemy. And the last thing Wren wanted to do was give Silas another reason to snatch the Decennial nomination away from her.

“Maybe you’re right,” Wren sighed, stopping in her tracks. “Maybe they are keeping something from us. But there’s nothing we can do. We shouldn’t have been up on that rooftop in the first place. All we can do now is assume Silas and the Council know what they’re doing. If Louise poses a threat, they’ll take care of it.”

“Right…” August shook his head. “And tell me again, who exactly is on this mysterious Council you trust so wholeheartedly?”

Wren opened and closed her mouth. “I—” She inhaled a sharp breath. “I don’t know.”