And suddenly, I was perched outside her dormitory for hours every evening like some deranged celestial gargoyle.
Not for minutes.
For hours.
Which perhaps sounded a little unhinged now that I thought about it.
But in my defense, she lived on the third fucking floor.
Third.
Any moderately powerful Monster at Runevald could leap to that balcony with minimal effort.
A Revenant.
A Dragon-Born.
Half the damn Shifters.
Absolutely not.
No.
True, there were magical wards keeping her room protected, sheltered even.
But there was still no fucking way I was leaving.
A low growl escaped me before I caught it, startling a group of Witches walking below my cloaked position in the trees.
Oops.
Right.
Invisible did not mean silent.
One Witch glanced around nervously.
“Did you hear that?”
“Probably a Shadow Beast.”
They hurried away faster.
Good instinct.
I settled deeper onto the thick branch overlooking the graduate dormitories, crossing my arms as the cold night wind moved through the dark forest surrounding Runevald.
Above me, the skies of Asgarheim shimmered with green and silver auroras where the ley lines overlapped through realms.
Moonlight bled across the ancient towers of the Institute while distant bells echoed from somewhere deeper within the sprawling gothic grounds.
Beautiful.
Lonely.
And for the first time since arriving at Runevald—I no longer felt alone inside it.
Because Amrin existed now.
