And gods help me—I stepped closer first this time.
Chapter 14-Amrin
I didn’t remember leaving Professor Kenna’s office after she dismissed us.
One second her words were hanging heavy in the air.
You are here for a reason. Do not forget your reason.
And the next second, Sten and I were walking the corridor outside the western tower in silence.
The administrative halls of the Asgarheim Runevald Institute felt strangely abandoned at this hour.
Most graduate students were still buried in late lectures or hidden away inside study chambers while rain lashed the towering gothic windows overlooking the sea cliffs below.
The storm had returned.
Of course it had.
Runevald almost seemed to breathe with emotion sometimes.
And right now?
The realm felt restless.
Lightning flickered beyond the glass, illuminating the black stone hallways in silver flashes while enchanted lanterns floated overhead casting pools of amber light across the floor.
But none of it held my attention for long.
Not when I was with him.
Not when the air around Sten still felt charged from whatever had just happened inside Professor Kenna’s office.
He walked beside me in silence for several moments, massive body moving with unnatural grace despite his size.
Shadows curled lazily around his boots as though even darkness preferred staying close to him.
And gods—that should not have been attractive.
Yet somehow it was.
Everything about Sten should have frightened me more than it did.
The horns.
The glowing eyes.
The dangerous intensity simmering beneath his skin.
The fact Professor Kenna had practically implied he was capable of catastrophic destruction if he lost control.
But every instinct inside me still pulled toward him anyway.
Like something deep beneath logic had already made its choice.
“Are you alright?”
His voice rolled through me softly.
