Free Web NovelChapter 24: Chapter 25: Thorne?
"I was exempt," she said.
Why? I asked, surprised.
Why would anyone be exempt? Unless...
Then I continued, "Did you have a family here? Are you from the high uppers?"
She smiled. "I have no one here. And I was as shocked as you when Miss Irene said I wouldn’t need to fight. She said they needed a seer, and I’m the only seer the academy has now."
"You’re a seer?" I asked, the word carrying a hint of genuine wonder despite everything. "That’s cool of you."
"Yes," she replied, but she didn’t sound proud.
If it were me, I would’ve jumped for joy. So I asked, "You don’t like your power?"
"I do," she said. "It’s just that they were never accurate. I only see things that have already happened."
"Does that mean you see the past?" I asked.
She smiled. "I see the future, not the past. Just... not very accurately. But I was told if I trained well, I would get it right."
"That’s good for you," I said with a bitter smile.
I don’t even have a skill to train, I thought.
"I need to see him," I said suddenly.
Liora didn’t look up from the tray she was rearranging. "Who?"
"The guy who saved me," I said.
"No," she replied, finally looking at me.
"I’m not asking," I said. My voice was weak, but the resolve beneath it wasn’t. "He was punished because of me."
"That doesn’t mean you get to reopen his wounds," she said calmly. "Or yours."
I pushed myself upright anyway.
Pain flared immediately, sharp, unforgiving, but I welcomed it. It meant I was still here.
"Nyx," Liora warned. "You can barely stand."
"Then I’ll lean on you or the wall," I said. "Or crawl. But I won’t stay here wondering if he is okay or not."
Silence.
Her eyes searched my face, lingering on something she couldn’t argue with.
Finally, she sighed. "You’re impossible."
A small, bitter smile touched my lips.
She helped me out of the infirmary, one careful step at a time. The corridors were quieter now, washed in torchlight and shadow. Night had fully claimed the academy. The stone walls seemed older in the dark, heavier, like they remembered things we didn’t.
Outside the infirmary, we saw a man standing ahead of us.
Dressed entirely in black.
His posture was relaxed, unguarded, like he belonged anywhere he chose to stand.
I recognized the clothes instantly.
The same dark fabric.
The man who had helped me find the rooms the other day.
"Hi, Mr," I said before I could stop myself.
He turned.
And the world tilted.
It was him.
The same eyes. The same face I’d barely noticed before, too focused on surviving to truly see. Now I did. Sharp features. Calm expression. And beneath it all, something unyielding.
Liora smiled softly beside me.
"That’s him," she said, almost fondly. "The man who saved you today."
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
Still staring, still stunned, I watched him incline his head slightly.
"Hi, Nyx."
The name sounded different coming from him.
Familiar.
Heavy.
It landed in my chest like a weight I hadn’t known I was still carrying.
All the air left my lungs.
"...Thorne?"
I didn’t wait for him to say anything else.
I turned and walked, no, ran... back toward the ward, faster than my body had any right to allow. Pain screamed in protest almost immediately, sharp and furious, but I ignored it. My legs burned, my ribs protested with every breath, my vision swam, but still I ran.
Behind me, I heard Liora call my name.
But didn’t stop.
Everything had been chaos since I woke up in this academy. The trials. The blood. The fights. The knife. The punishment. I hadn’t even had time to sit with the truth of Thorne, of his words, his silence, his betrayal.
And now he was here.
Standing there like he belonged.
Seeing him tonight tore something open inside me, something that hadn’t healed, something I’d buried because I didn’t have the luxury of pain. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
What is he doing in this academy? freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Why was he helping me?
Why exactly does he want with me?
What was his deal?
The questions chased me down the corridor, louder than my footsteps, louder than the ache in my bones. None of them had answers.
I burst into the ward and barely made it to the bed before my strength gave out. I leaned heavily against it, breath coming in sharp, uneven pulls.
A moment later, Liora rushed in behind me.
She grabbed my shoulder gently. "Nyx... are you okay?"
I nodded automatically, even though it was a lie. I wasn’t ready to unravel my life story in front of someone I still wasn’t entirely sure was a friend.
"You’re not okay," she said softly. "Why did you run like that?"
Then her voice shifted,sharp, alarmed. "Nyx... your stitches. You’ve reopened them."
Only then did my body decide to remind me of the pain.
It hit all at once.
A white-hot flare across my side.
"Tsh..." I whimpered despite myself.
Liora guided me down onto the bed, her movements quick but careful. "Stay still. Don’t move."
She rushed out, calling for help, and returned moments later with an old man and a woman I assumed was a nurse. They worked in silence, practiced hands reopening bandages, cleaning, re-stitching.
I stared at the ceiling while they worked, jaw clenched, refusing to make a sound.
"Be careful," the old man said when they were done. "If these open again, there will be consequences."
I nodded, eyes unfocused, and watched them leave.
The room fell quiet.
I didn’t know what I was feeling.
Rage... for the way Thorne had treated me before the academy?
Gratitude... for the way he had helped me not once, but twice inside it?
Confusion?
All of it tangled together until I couldn’t separate one emotion from the other.
"I don’t know what to feel," I thought. "And I hate that."
Liora sat beside me. "Will you tell me what’s going on?"
"It’s nothing," I said.
She frowned. "You can’t say it’s nothing. You were desperate to see him, and then you ran away without even saying thank you. That makes you..."
She stopped herself, clearly searching for the least offensive word.
"...An ingrate?" I supplied flatly.
Her eyes widened. "I didn’t mean it like that. I just..."
The door opened.
Thorne stepped inside.
The air shifted instantly.
As much as I tried to suppress it, the anger surged up anyway... raw, unfiltered. I wasn’t strong enough to bury it. Not tonight.
"Nyx —" he started.
I didn’t let him finish.
"Get out," I said.
