Thornhill Academy. Chapter 88

**Allison**

I don’t think my brain has fully caught up with my body yet. One moment, I was standing in Thornhill’s courtyard, surrounded by music and moonlight and confusion. The next, I’m… here. Wherever here is. It’s dark, but not the kind of dark that feels empty. It has colour, movement, and life. Shadows twist like ribbons in the air, curling between pillars carved from obsidian that seem to stretch into forever. The air is warmer than it should be, and heavy with an electric charge, like lightning just before a storm and then there’s him...Standing right in front of me, looking like every child's worst nightmare and every woman's wettest dream. He’s tall, taller than anyone I’ve ever met. Evander’s broad, but this man makes him look like he’s still in training. Broad shoulders, a chest carved from something divine, and abs that have abs. His skin is the colour of midnight soaked in sapphire, and it shimmers faintly as though shadows live beneath it. But what really catches me are the markings. They’re glowing. Intricate sigils, winding across his torso and down his arms, pulsing softly and the closer I step, the brighter they become, like they’re reacting to me. I swallow hard, eyes tracing the elegant curve of the symbols before forcing myself to look up at his face.

His eyes, gods, his eyes. I’ve never seen anything like them. They’re endless, dark, cosmic, like staring into a night sky where stars move of their own accord. I could fall into them and never find my way back. And then there are the horns. Two massive black horns curl back from his head, smooth and polished like obsidian glass. They glint when the twin moons catch them. His tail and yes, he has a massive tail, moves lazily behind him, long and muscled, ending in a sharp, metallic-looking edge that flashes like a blade. It… wiggles a little when I look at him.

I bite back a nervous laugh. “Does that thing have a mind of its own?” I murmur under my breath.

The corner of his mouth curves, just slightly, and the tail swishes again. Wonderful. It does.

My eyes drift down again which is a huge mistake, because his hands are enormous, with clawed fingers black as ink. They should terrify me, but instead I’m just… curious. I wonder how they’d feel... if they were to cut, or if they’d somehow know to be gentle with me.

“Careful, hummingbird,” he says softly, as if he somehow heard that thought. His voice is a deep rumble, smooth and low, and it vibrates right through my chest. “The way you look at me makes the shadows jealous.”

I blink at him, unsure whether to blush or scowl, but before I can do either, he gestures toward the world around us.

“Come,” he murmurs. “You should see what’s yours now.”

The courtyard stretches open as we walk. The ground gleams like glass, reflecting everything above it, the sky, the stars, even the two moons that hang side by side. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. To our right, there’s a lake. It isn’t water, not really, it’s more like liquid light, silver and shifting, like starlight made fluid. The surface ripples with faint faces and fleeting shapes that vanish before I can make sense of them. He pauses beside it, watching me with those endless eyes. “The Lake of Remnants,” he says quietly. “It holds fragments of dreams and nightmares. The echoes of what mortals fear most. You do not want to fall in.”

I shiver, even though the air is warm. “Why?”

His lips twitch, not quite a smile, but close. “Because if you do, you’ll never stop falling. You’ll live a thousand lives’ worth of nightmares before you surface again.”

I stare at the glowing water. “That’s… horrifying.”

“It is,” he agrees, “but beautiful things often are.”

I glance up at him, then at the world around us. The sky looks alive with hundreds of constellations swirling slowly, some I recognise, some I don’t. Shooting stars flash in bursts of blue and violet, painting the heavens in motion and beneath it all, the demon King walks beside me like he’s not the most dangerous thing in this place...Like he’s trying not to scare me. His steps are slower than they should be. His shoulders, impossibly wide, seem tense with restraint and every few moments, when he thinks I’m not looking, his hand twitches, just slightly, like he wants to reach for mine.

We wander through the courtyard, my eyes drinking in every inch of this impossible world. Every step we take feels like walking through a dream itself until the path opens up before us, and I see a castle. It’s monstrous and magnificent all at once. A towering structure of black stone and dark glass, its spires scraping at the twin moons above. Gargoyles perch along every ledge, wings unfurled and fangs bared. Some look like demons, others like beasts I’ve never seen before, and I swear a few of them move, their eyes following me as I walk. The air around the building hums faintly with magic, the kind that makes the hairs on my arms stand upright. Rhaziel stops beside me, his expression unreadable, though I catch the faintest glimmer of pride in the way his jaw tilts toward the great doors ahead.

“This,” he says, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through the stone beneath our feet, “is our kingdom.”

I let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh. “You mean your kingdom.”

He turns his head toward me, and when he smiles this time, it’s softer, less the king of demons, more the man beneath it. “No, hummingbird,” he says, and the sound of that nickname in his voice does something strange to my chest. “The Fates have spoken. It is ours.”

Before I can find words, he gestures toward the massive onyx doors. “Would you like to see inside?”

Truth be told, I am curious. Maybe it’s the part of me that’s always been drawn to forbidden things. Or maybe it’s because his voice sounds almost… hopeful when he asks.

I nod. “Yes. I’d like that.”

He smiles now, and, gods, it is a beautiful smile. He steps forward, resting one clawed hand against the doors. They respond instantly, groaning open with a deep, echoing sigh, as though the building itself recognises its master. The moment I step inside, my breath catches.