Chapter 3 Chapter 3

The wall of fire roaring from Tiffany’s shoulders turned the luxury penthouse into a furnace. The heat blasted against my face, singing the loose strands of my hair. My survival instincts screamed at me to turn, sprint out the glass doors, and dive back into the safety of the dark Under-Croft.

But my legs felt like lead.

"You?" Tiffany spat. The word was laced with absolute, blistering disgust. She took a step toward me, the marble floor cracking subtly under her enchanted heels from the sheer intensity of her thermal magic. "A servant? Caspian, tell me this is a joke. Tell me you didn't bring this literal gutter rat into your quarters to humiliate me."

I braced myself, my hand instinctively twitching. If those flames flew at me, I would have no choice but to drop the fake light barrier and use my cosmic magic to shield myself. If I did, Caspian wouldn't even need to call the Enforcers. Tiffany would see it, the driver would see it, and my life would be forfeit.

Before I could panic, a sudden, heavy wave of absolute cold slammed into the room.

The roaring orange flames on Tiffany’s shoulders violently sputtered. From the corners of the room, ink-black tendrils of shadow slithered across the pristine white marble ceiling, blotting out the ambient light fixtures. The room plunged into a terrifying, dim twilight.

"Watch your tone in my home, Tiffany," Caspian said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a dangerous, vibrating weight that made the glass walls hum.

He rose from the sofa with agonizing slowness. He didn't look angry; he looked bored. Yet, the shadows dancing at his cuffs told a completely different story. He walked over to me, his heavy combat boots clicking rhythmically against the stone.

Tiffany scoffed, though the fire dancing on her fingers noticeably dimmed. "Your home? Our families are finalizing the corporate merger next week! Your father already agreed.."

"My father doesn't wear the Vance crest. I do," Caspian interrupted.

He stepped right into my personal space. Before I could flinch, his large, gloved hand slid around my waist. He pulled me flush against his side, his grip incredibly firm, almost possessive. The unnatural cold of his shadow magic seeped through my uniform jacket, but beneath it, the solid heat of his chest pressed against my shoulder. My heart hammered so hard against my ribs I was certain he could feel it.

"Aurora is not a joke," Caspian murmured, his gray eyes fixing on Tiffany with a lethal, steady glare. "She is my fiancée. And if you ever speak to her, look at her, or bring your volatile magic near her again, I will consider it a direct declaration of war from the Fire Sect."

Tiffany gasped, her face contorting into a mask of pure fury. "You are insane! The school board will strip her of her scholarship by morning! A zero-tier flicker witch cannot legally reside in the Obsidian Heights. It breaks the academy charter!"

"Then it's a good thing I own the charter," Caspian replied smoothly. He raised his hand, gesturing toward the doors. "Get out, Tiffany. Before my shadows lose their appetite for manners."

The shadows along the walls hissed, expanding into massive, predatory shapes that loomed over her. Tiffany’s jaw tightened. She glared at me, her amber eyes burning with a promise of absolute, violent retribution.

"This isn't over, Caspian," she hissed. "Your father will hear about this before the sun rises."

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the penthouse, the heavy glass doors slamming shut behind her with a definitive click.

The moment she was gone, the suffocating darkness vanished. The penthouse lights flickered back to their bright, luxurious glow.

I immediately tried to pull away from Caspian’s grip, but his hand tightened around my waist for a fraction of a second longer than necessary before he finally let me go. I stumbled back two steps, breathing heavily, my hands trembling as I gripped the straps of my backpack.

"Are you completely insane?" I whispered, my voice cracking. "You just threatened the most powerful heiress in the academy. She is going to murder me. She is going to incinerate me in the hallways tomorrow!"

Caspian walked back to the sofa, picking up his glass of wine as if he hadn't just altered the political landscape of the school. He took a slow sip.

"She won't touch you," he said calmly. "Not out in the open. She knows I keep my promises."

"And what about behind closed doors?" I demanded, stepping closer to him, anger temporarily overriding my terror. "I still have to go to classes, Caspian. I still have to walk through the quad. The moment you aren't looking, she or one of her pureblood lackeys will corner me."

Caspian set his wine glass down on the glass table. He looked up at me, his eyes turning back into that unreadable, icy gray.

"Which is why you aren't leaving my side," he stated. "Starting tomorrow morning, your schedule is wiped. You are transferring into the Elite track. You will sit next to me in every lecture. You will train with me in the combat arenas. If someone wants to get to you, they have to go through me first."

My stomach dropped. The Elite track. Those were the advanced classes where purebloods trained their high-tier magic in full-contact, destructive combat.

"I can't do that," I panicked, shaking my head. "To stay in those classes, you have to display high-level elemental output. If I use my registered flicker magic, I'll be laughed out of the room. If I use my real magic to survive..."

"You won't use your real magic," Caspian cut in, standing up and walking toward a set of double doors down the hallway. "You will use mine."

I froze. "What?"

He stopped at the threshold of the room, looking over his shoulder at me. A dark, enigmatic smirk played at the corner of his lips. "Tomorrow, the entire academy will watch a low-tier servant suddenly command the shadows of the Vance family. We are going to tell them our souls are magically bonded, Aurora. And to make a lie that big believable, we need to start practicing."

He gestured into the room. "Your quarters. Get some sleep, little mouse. Tomorrow, your nightmare officially begins."

He disappeared into his own section of the penthouse, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the massive, silent living room. I looked down at the heavy, dark diamond ring on my finger. It caught the light, casting sharp, jagged shadows across my pale skin.