Page 166 of Glutton for Punishment

I start to protest, but he closes the distance between us before I can.

“As much as I don’t want to leave you, you are safe here,” he says, softer now. “And before you say it—yes, I know you can handle yourself. That’s not the point.”

He must read the disappointment on my face. He exhales, dragging a hand through his hair. “I promise I will be back soon. If anything happens like the rebel attack again, you go straight to Atticus.”

It’s not lost on me that despite their feelings for each other, they have both urged me to seek my other bond out if there’s trouble. It’s a start. Maybe there’s hope.

“Go deal with it,” I blurt. “I’ll be fine here. I don’t want you to worry about me.”

He studies me for a long moment. Then he nods once, but it feels reluctant.

He doesn’t want to leave either.

“I’ll be back to you as soon as I can.” He pecks me on the lips and then he’s gone. The door shuts behind him with a final, hollow sound.

***

Something has shifted and I can’t shake it. I go to class and answer questions. I sit through lectures with my hands folded on the desk and try to convince myself that the restless, wrong feeling beneath my skin is just exhaustion.

In potions, I reach for my power out of habit to juice the power cell. Nothing comes.

Thankfully, the instructor doesn’t pause, just keeps talking like nothing is wrong.

My hand is still on the desk, which is the only way I can keep it from shaking. I know I’m safe here. But Greed keeps surfacing anyway, that specific, hollow helplessness.

Days go by, and the academy still doesn’t feel like it used to before the Rebel attack.

Pressure in the academy reaches a boiling point. Every quiet conversation feels charged; every sidelong glance is heavy with unspoken accusations. My first real confrontation doesn’t take long to arrive.

I’m halfway back to my dorm, near the Gluttony wing’s arched entrance, after dropping off a book for Tabby and Cleo when I realize three students have gone quiet as I approach.

That part isn’t unusual. People have been doing that for weeks. Trust is at an all-time low.

The corridor narrows where it intersects with one of the academy’s older wings, all dark stone arches and stained-glass windows. By the time I reach them, they’ve spread out just enough to make walking around them difficult.

I stop a few feet away and arch a brow. “Can I help you?”

The young guy standing in the middle offers me a smile that comes off as more cruel than pleasant. “Actually, we were hoping you could help us.”

My guard goes up as warning alarms sound in my head. “Then you’re about to be disappointed. I’m running late.”

The dark-haired girl beside him lets out an amused laugh. “I told you she’d be difficult. We were discussing recent events. The attack and the lockdown.”

Her gaze drifts over me in a way that feels more like assessment than curiosity. “Naturally, with your ‘unique’ nature,” she sneers, “your name came up.”

“I don’t know why? I’m not a Sloth and I also got injured in the attack. Is this going somewhere?” I fold my arms across my chest and lean my weight onto one hip.

A broad-shouldered Gluttony student that I vaguely recognize speaks for the first time. “People are wondering where West is. Why he left again.”

I keep my expression neutral. “Then people should ask him.”

“We would,” he says, “but you’re the one he left behind.”

His words sting a little, but not because I think Maddox wanted to leave me, but because some ugly, frightened part of me remembers waking up powerless and alone after he left for Gluttony and wonders if everyone else noticed the change too.

The dark-haired girl reads the hesitation on my face. She smiles. “Everyone just assumed he’d be staying here at the academy. Considering how attached he was.”

The implication hangs between us, and I force myself not to react. “I should be on my way.”