Kingston tilts his head in her direction, and she immediately looks away.
I slowly sit up and rise to my feet, limping over to grab my bag. I quickly remove my wrappings and shove them in the side pocket. Gripping the edge of my shirt, I bring it up to wipe the sweat from my brow. As I turn to leave, I catch Kingston watching me. His eyes lift just enough to meet mine—quick anddeliberate— before he averts his gaze and walks over to speak with Corinne and another Noctryn who joined them.
I don’t take offense to his curt dismissals anymore. He does what needs to be done, accomplishes the task, and moves on. It’s efficient and oddly works for me.
All action and less talk.
It’s just who he is.
Soft chatter and the clinking of silverware greet me as I meet Finnley and Mallory in the dining hall. Exhausted, sore, sweating, and starving, I force my broken body to grab a lunch tray and overload it with fruits, sweets, and a full entrée. I limp through the crowded tables, heading toward my friends.
I plop down in an open seat and immediately groan. Mallory’s eyes widen, and Finnley lets out a low whistle. I raise my shoulder in a half shrug. I’m not the least bit embarrassed about my appetite. “Hush,” I mutter. “I feel like death and still have three more classes to attend.”
“You smell like death, too,” Finnley supplies.
“How’s the class load coming along?” Mallory asks, shooting Finnley a murderous look as she moves her salad around with her fork.
“It’s not. I’m struggling in every Veil class, and I’m getting my ass handed to me in the Noctryn ones,” I answer monotonously. I’m too tired to even add inflection to my voice.
“It’ll get easier,” she offers, her tone softening.
Finnley nods in agreement. “If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn’t mess with you right now,” he says around a mouthful of food.
“It doesn’t,” I say in a defeated voice, although I give him a small smile because I can only imagine how I look.
I dig in while they continue to chat. The hunger in me is voracious. I’ve completely checked out and am in my own little world when I hear the worddark objectmentioned. I swallowmy food half-chewed and sit forward a little. “Have they found it?” I quickly ask.
“Nope,” Finnley answers simply. “They also haven’t found the missing professor.”
Mallory sets her fork down. “I do find it odd that the professor who disappeared last year was also a Veil, and his room was in complete disarray as well. Almost as if someone was looking for something.” She quirks her lip to the side, drumming her fingertips along the table. “Just a little convenient that both were instructors of light magic.”
“Was anything missing from their rooms?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Not that I’ve heard. It was mentioned that Professor Huntsal was seen talking to Eryk Porter shortly before she was reported missing. From what I’ve heard the conversation looked a little tense before Eryk stormed off.”
“She was the language professor, right?” I ask.
“Yep, she was. I had her second period,” Finnley chimes in.
I take a large bite of my cookie, pondering why a professor of languages and a dark object would go missing at the same time. “What did the professor teach that went missing last year?” I ask around the mouthful of cookie.
“A guy in my ethics class, Murphy, told me he taught alchemy before Professor Lyric took over,” Mallory answers.
Language and alchemy are vastly different. Why would both go missing nearly a year apart? Even more confounding is that both occurred at the same time that a dark object went missing.
What are we overlooking?
“Has the academy let anyone in the student body know exactly what dark objects were taken?”
“Nope. Evidently, that’s classified.” Finnley sits back in his chair and rubs his stomach.
The corners of Mallory’s mouth turn down as she lets out an exaggerated sigh. “In other news, my manifestation is royally pissing me off,” she whines.
“Wait, what? You fully manifested?” I shriek. “Tell me everything!”
She blushes and looks around before breaking into a wide smile. “I did.”
I motion for her to continue, needing all the details.
