Thornhill Academy. Chapter 71

**Allison**

I'm so confused. Cassian Hill...Professor Hill knows exactly what I am. And yet, I'm still here. Still standing. Still… free. That should’ve made me feel lighter, but instead, it wrapped around me like a weight. My thoughts spun so fast I could barely keep up with them. Fear bled into confusion, confusion into something I didn’t want to name.

He said he wasn’t going to turn me in. He said he wanted to help me. And gods, I want to believe him. I want to believe that someone, anyone, might look at me and not see a monster or a weapon. That maybe, just maybe, he could be on my side just like Evander. But then the thought crept in, uninvited and stupidly hopeful. *He wants to protect me.*

Did that mean? No. No, that couldn’t mean what I thought it did. He is a *teacher.* A professional. Bound by duty and ethics and all the proper things a man like him would be bound by. He helps students. That’s what he does. That’s all it is. That’s all it *has* to be. I swallowed hard, pushing the thought down until it stopped clawing at me. Then his voice cut through the air, deep and certain, pulling me out of the mess in my head.

“You’ll meet me here after class,” Hill said, arms folded, tone leaving no room for argument. “We’ll start your training then.”

I met his gaze, blinking up at him. “Training?”

“You’ll learn to harness your power,” he continued evenly. “To control it. To understand how it moves and how it feels, so it doesn’t control *you.*”

I hesitated, chewing the inside of my cheek. “I have to study with Cage after class. Scorched’s orders—”

He interrupted me with a calm finality that brooked no argument. “No. I’ll sort that out.”

I frowned. “You’ll… what?”

“I’ll speak to Scorched,” he said, and the way he said it made me believe him instantly. “Your punishment, his punishment, both of them are over. I’ll tell him that I want to take you on personally. We’ll call them study sessions if we have to.”

I blinked, unsure whether to be relieved or more terrified. He was *taking me on personally.* My heart skipped, that same dangerous warmth spreading through my chest before I could stop it.

I nodded mutely. “Okay.”

Cassian’s expression softened for the briefest moment, something like approval, or maybe reassurance, and then the mask slipped back into place.

“Good,” he said, his tone returning to that clipped, professorial calm. “Now get back to class before someone notices you’ve been missing too long.”

And just like that, I was dismissed. But as I walked back into the classroom, the sound of his voice lingered in my mind. Not the words themselves, but the way he’d said them like a promise.

Like protection... And it scared me half to death how much I wanted to trust it.

I slide back into the classroom like I belong there, my shoulders already tightening into the invisible armour I wear around people like Cage. The room hums with the low noise of students settling, cauldrons clinking, and Hill’s voice somewhere in the background, lecturing about stabilising runes. I drop my bag at Tessa’s feet and plant myself in the seat beside her. Cage glances up from his notes, eyes sharp and tired. For a heartbeat, he just watches me, like he’s trying to decide which insult to fling first. Then he flicks his head over his shoulder and says, loud enough for me to hear, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I let a small smile curve at the corner of my mouth, maybe the only honest thing to come out of my face all day. “Apparently, your punishment is over,” I say, voice light. “No need to babysit me anymore.”

He throws his head back and actually laughs, that ugly, self-satisfied sound. “A little hallelujah for the academy,” he says, and the way he says it is all flourish and show.

I keep my expression neutral, but inside, a dark little plan plants itself. He might be arrogant and loud and a royal pain, but he’s fragile when he sleeps, rattled by things that stalk him at night. I don’t need to do anything dramatic right now. I don’t have to be loud about it. Quiet is better. Quiet lasts. So I curl my fingers around my pen and slide my notebook open, letting the routine of copying a rune sequence steady my pulse. Tessa nudges my knee under the table with a grin.

I look up at Cage for a split second, slow and casual. “You should get some sleep tonight,” I murmur, barely loud enough for him to hear. “You look like you’re running on fumes.”

He snorts. “Thanks for the concern, stray.” He flips a page and turns away.

When his back is to me, I drop my head, tracing the edge of a rune on the margin with my pen. Quiet, I promise myself. No one needs to know. But later tonight, when the halls are dark and the air is thin, I’ll make sure he remembers the way terror feels again. Just enough to make him think twice before he kicks anyone else into the river.

Tessa nudges my shoulder the second Cage turns back around, her grin stretching from ear to ear. She leans in close, whispering, “Okay, seriously, how did you manage to get out of *that* babysitting torture? Because if there’s a secret petition going around to get rid of Cage, I want in.”

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “No petition,” I murmur, flipping the pages of my notebook and pretending to be fascinated by a page of half-scribbled runes. “I guess it’s just… luck.”

Tessa arches a brow. “Luck?”

I huff out a quiet laugh, trying not to look as smug as I feel. “Yeah,” I say softly. “Guess someone’s looking out for me.”

She grins and wiggles her brows like she’s about to make it into something dramatic. “Oh, someone’s definitely looking out for you. And he’s tall, dark, and very *professorial*.”

“Shut up,” I whisper, but there’s no heat behind it. My cheeks are already burning.

Tessa just smirks and nudges me again. “Mm-hmm. Luck, sure. Whatever you say, Ally.”