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“Well done, Luna!” Gaksi cheered.
I glimpsed Reaper for a second before a shadow wrapped around my ankles, knocking me flat on my behind in the frigid snow.
“Fight me,” Reaper said, dragging me by my ankles toward him, creating divots from my body in the ice. “Show me the worst you can do with your training.”
I held my arm out and envisioned a shadow launching straight from my heart, curling up my arm, and dragging Reaper down by the waist until he landed on top of me. I waited until I’d been dragged close enough to him for it to work and then wrenched my arm down.
A shadow tendril shoved Reaper from behind, and he landed between my thighs on the snow.
Success!
Before I could summon another, he’d sprung forward, pinning my hands over my head.
Hot.
Too hot, this demon at my front, with the biting cold in the back.
The emotional rollercoaster made it even more successful.
From this angle, I could see the hard planes of his face. The way his eyes darkened and his full lips pressed together. His weight settled over his hips, and he restrained my wrists tighter. I willed my face not to heat.
“Tell me, seraphim, what advantage do you think this position can give you? The shadow work was your best yet, but for what end?”
His lips brushed my ear, his breath warm. “I can’t say I’m disappointed, but—”
I gripped my legs around his back and flipped him to the side. Shadows twisted around his neck.
I said from on top, our fiery bodies flushed together, “I knew the advantage of you being easily distracted.” My shadows dove around his neck like a chain, and I imagined them pinning themselves to the frost, locking him down. More of my shadows rose around his ankles and wrists, too, and he watched with a darkened gaze as they pinned him in place.
“I assumed you’d be too busy looking at my pretty face to notice the shadows I’d grown like vines from the ground. Like how you pinned Lukas all those months ago.”
He eyed my amulet, looking amused by its instant effect on my mood.
“Word of advice, seraphim, few men want to speak of other men while their partner has them chained and in position.”
A scowl crossed my face. “I wouldn’t need that advice, though, would I? Because this is only a training position, and we are onlyfriends.” I emphasized the last word, which I knew would drive him crazy.
Based on the way my shadows ripped in two, I was right.
He rose, pulling me up along his body. “Friends don’t tease friends like this, sultry seraphim.”
“I’m too hot to be your friend, anyway,” I said.
I stepped back, visualizing him in my head. In my mind, he was falling back into the Beyond, confidence swirling in his shadows, performing a teleportation he’d done a thousand times. Dazzling my heart, gracefully vanishing into the deep.
When my step finished in my dorm room, I knew I'd done it.
Teleportation!
I clutched my blanket to my heart that night, giggling and kicking my feet because I just did all that and flirted with the Reaper the whole time.
ChapterTwenty-One
THE ORACLE MUSINGS
Made any friends yet? Data from years of crunching recruitment numbers revealed that the more friends a freshman has, the more favorably she’s looked upon by Houses, who view it as a sign of social status to be charismatic. An unlikely friendship will form today, though if it is the result of charisma is unclear even to this Oracle.
I was studyingat the library when I heard a horrifying screech. The sound reverberated through the space above me, capturing my attention and sending a jolt of fear through my heart.
