Free Web NovelChapter 30: Chapter 31: Escort you to your new home, milady
What the actual fuck is going on here?
The words slipped out loud enough for the students nearest me to turn and stare.
Then understanding crashed in behind the shock.
And I lost it.
I burst out laughing, full-throated, helpless, doubled-over laughter that echoed across my little corner of the field even others joined me in laughing.
Tears actually pricked my eyes.
Because watching those two overgrown idiots accidentally kiss each other, right in the middle of their petty turf war, was possibly the single greatest thing that had happened in this miserable place all day.
And I wasn’t even a little bit sorry.
Not even close.
—
By now, the frenzy on the field had burned itself out. The orbs were gone, shattered into glittering dust that still lingered faintly in the air like dying fireflies. Forty-two students stood in triumphant little clusters, waving banners or comparing color-coded wristbands like they’d just won wars instead of a glorified game of tag. Their laughter rang sharp and victorious, the sound of people who finally knew exactly where they belonged.
The rest of us, the professor-picked "lucky ones"... stood apart in a loose, uncertain line. We knew our mentors. We didn’t know our colors. And somehow that small ignorance felt heavier than it had any right to.
I had one single, fervent prayer looping through my head like a broken record.
Please, Moon Goddess, ancestors, fate, whoever’s listening... do not put me in Red.
I could survive Elion. Barely. His relentless teasing, that infuriating half-smirk, the way he treated every serious moment like it was just another opportunity to flirt with disaster... it grated on every nerve I had, but at least it was predictable. Annoying, yes. Exhausting, definitely. But I could grit my teeth and endure it.
Thorne, though?
Thorne was a walking migraine.
Just thinking his name made my jaw clench. The cold calculation in his eyes, the way he moved like he already knew every secret you were trying to hide, the casual cruelty he wore like cologne, I didn’t want to share oxygen with him, let alone a dorm.
Mr. Asher moved down our short line with the calm efficiency of someone who’d done this a hundred times before. He pressed a small, sleek metallic card into each palm. A single discreet button in the center, matte black against brushed silver. It felt expensive. It felt important. It felt like a leash disguised as a privilege.
"The first to enter," he said quietly as he handed me mine. "The first to choose."
Lucky us.
I curled my fingers around the key-card, feeling the faint warmth of embedded magic pulse once against my skin. We started walking toward the dorm ring in a loose, silent procession, different paths, same destination.
Liora found me immediately. Her hand slipped into mine without a word, fingers threading through mine like they belonged there. Warm. Steady. The only anchor I had right now.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, voice soft enough that only I could hear.
"I’m not sick," I answered on reflex.
Her smile tilted, patient and knowing.
"I wasn’t asking about your health, Nyx. I’m asking if you’re okay."
I squeezed her hand once. "I’m okay."
The easiest lie I’d told all day.
Truthfully, something was wrong.
Not sharp pain, not panic... just a low, atmospheric pressure building behind my ribs. Like the sky right before thunder cracks open. Heavy. Electric. Waiting.
I couldn’t name it. Didn’t want to. So I shoved it down deep where it couldn’t make me hesitate.
We reached the dorm crescent.
The sight stopped several of us mid-step.
Seven buildings curved in a wide, graceful arc, each one tall and proud, their stone façades washed in late-afternoon gold. Crimson banners snapped above the Red house. Emerald silk rippled over Green. Midnight velvet draped Black. One by one, the colors declared themselves, vivid, unapologetic, possessive.
In the center of the crescent lay the garden ring: winding flagstone paths, manicured hedges clipped into impossible shapes, ancient oaks stretching gnarled branches like old guardians. The air here smelled cleaner... moss, damp earth, faint honeysuckle. Peaceful in a way that felt almost mocking after the screaming chaos we’d just left behind.
A tall wrought-iron gate completed the circle, turning the whole area into a perfect, enclosed world.
My chest tightened without warning.
All we were doing was opening a door.
Picking a bed.
Nothing world-ending.
So why did every instinct scream that something awful waited on the other side?
I shook my head sharply. Get it together, Nyx.
I pressed the button on my key-card.
A soft, crystalline beep answered from somewhere behind me.
Before I could turn...
Two warm hands clamped gently over my eyes.
My whole body locked rigid.
"Who the hell...?" I started, voice already edged with warning.
"Guess," came the low, laughing murmur against my ear.
I knew that voice. Instantly. Intimately. Unfortunately. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Elion."
He let out a delighted huff of laughter. "Wow. We’re already that close? You recognized me just from my hands?"
Even blindfolded, I could picture the smug grin spreading across his face: slow, lopsided, eyes crinkling at the corners with pure mischief. The kind of grin that made you want to punch him and annoyingly... also made your stupid heart do a tiny, traitorous stutter.
Around us, the dorm ring had erupted into full chaotic life.
Soft electronic beeps chimed one after another like wind chimes in a storm. Doors hissed open and slid shut. Footsteps pounded up short flights of stairs. Voices overlapped in a rising tide of excitement, shouts of "I got corner window!" "Top bunk is mine, fight me!" "This room smells brand new!" Laughter burst in bright pockets. Someone was already blasting music from an open doorway. The entire crescent felt alive, buzzing, electric with the kind of teenage joy that only came from finally knowing where you belonged after days of uncertainty.
Everyone seemed thrilled.
Everyone except me.
"Nyx!" Liora’s voice floated over from somewhere to my left, bright with relief. "I got Blue!"
I felt my own mouth curve despite everything. At least one of us had won something today.
Which also meant one very painful, very obvious thing.
I hadn’t.
"Get your hands off me," I said to Elion, my voice flat and unimpressed.
But strangely enough, I didn’t actually try to pull away.
I didn’t struggle.
I didn’t shove his hands off my face.
I didn’t even take a step back.
Instead, I just stood there, perfectly still, waiting for him to come to his senses and remove them himself.
Mostly because struggling would probably give him exactly the reaction he wanted, and I refused, absolutely refused, to entertain him like that.
Unfortunately for my patience, Elion seemed to have no intention of letting go anytime soon.
If anything, the idiot appeared perfectly content standing behind me like this, palms covering my eyes as if we were in the middle of some childish guessing game instead of the academy dorm courtyard.
I could practically feel the smugness radiating off him.
The longer he stayed like that, the more convinced I became that he was enjoying this far more than he should.
And that alone made me want to elbow him in the ribs.
Hard.
Instead he leaned in closer, voice dropping to that playful, dangerous register he loved so much. "Let the surprise land properly."
Then... because of course he did, he added, "Allow me to escort you to your new home, milady."
Every alarm bell in my head screamed terrible idea.
And yet...
I didn’t pull away.
I let him guide me.
One hand stayed firm over my eyes. The other settled lightly, too lightly, at my waist.
My breath hitched.
"What are you doing?" I hissed.
"Escorting you," he answered, utterly unruffled. "There are stairs."
Three shallow steps led up to every dorm entrance. Normal people just walked up them.
Elion apparently wasn’t normal.
He lifted me, just enough, carrying me over the steps like I weighed nothing.
I was too stunned to even swear at him.
A few seconds later, both hands finally dropped away.
"Open them," he said, quieter now.
I blinked against the sudden light.
And immediately regretted every life choice that had led me to this moment.
The Red dorm loomed directly in front of me.
Crimson banners snapped overhead like fresh blood against the stone. Four other students already waited nearby, two girls, two guys... arms crossed, expressions ranging from bored to openly impatient.
For one wild second I thought Elion was pranking me.
This was his dorm.
So I jabbed the button again.
The red door hissed shut.
I pressed it once more.
It slid open again.
Silent. Smooth. Unmistakable.
This was mine.
My stomach plummeted.
"Why?" I whispered... to the universe, to fate, to no one.
"Can you go inside already?" one of the waiting students snapped. "Some of us want to claim beds before tomorrow."
Right.
The rule.
First in chooses first.
I forced my legs to move.
One step.
Two.
The moment I crossed the threshold, the others surged in behind me like water through a broken dam, shoulders bumping, voices rising, already arguing over window spots and top bunks.
I made it maybe three paces inside before the need to breathe became physical.
I spun on my heel, ready to bolt back outside for air, for space, for anything that wasn’t this suffocating nightmare...
And walked straight into a wall of muscle.
My forehead bounced painfully off a hard chest.
I looked up.
Thorne.
Of course.
He stared down at me, expression unreadable, eyes dark and steady.
The exact person I’d spent the last ten minutes praying I’d never have to share walls with.
The exact reason I’d dreaded Red from the beginning.
I felt something hot and furious rise in my throat.
I opened my mouth, ready to say something cutting, something final, something that would make it very clear I was leaving and never coming back...
And nothing came out.
But I had already made my decision.
Firm. Final. Unbreakable.
I absolutely refused to stay in the Red dorm with Thorne.
