The visit to the café was good but far too expensive for me, I let them indulge anyway, and they took full advantage of my generosity without the slightest hesitation. We even bought several cakes to take home.
For once, I allowed myself to… exist. Listening to their stories, I found mundane, ordinary things that I had never had the luxury to experience before felt strangely comforting. If it hadn't been for Nox, I might have shattered long ago, but today… I managed to enjoy myself.
We strolled through the evening market afterwards, walking slowly, stopping wherever something caught their eye, letting the warm lantern light blur the edges of my old scars for a little while.
"Cecilia, thank you for treating us!" they said, their faces glowing with uncomplicated happiness.
"It's nothing," I replied. "And Cassian, wake up early tomorrow and meet us at training ground four."
His excitement nearly burst out of him. "I'll be the first one there!" he declared before sprinting toward his dorm.
Vivian took my hand, gently tugging me. "Shall we head back too?"
I nodded and let her pull me along as she giggled, her joy light and warm against the evening air.
This peace… these small, fleeting moments…
They're things I never want to lose.
And I will protect them no matter the cost.
Even if it means war.
Even if I must burn this world down to ash.
We'd been training for two weeks morning and night without pause. Sometimes I helped them with assignments. Even if I rarely attended class myself, I still turned in every assignment the next day. I am the top student, after all. I refuse to look like a dumbass.
When I wasn't drilling them into the dirt, I was buried in the archives or searching for Nox's core.
At dawn, the courtyard rang with the sharp rhythm of blades clashing.
"Is that the best you can do after two weeks of training?" I asked, voice flat and unimpressed.
Cassian's sweat dripped onto the ground as he struggled to parry my attacks, barely keeping his footing.
"Don't you think it's about time you moved on to offence? I'm getting bored here." I added, tone dripping with sarcastic disappointment.
"I can, if you'd just shut up and stop distracting me!" he snapped—
—and immediately froze.
His eyes widened.
Then he ran.
He sprinted, more accurately
I had already drilled into their very souls what happens when they get disrespectful while I'm acting as their teacher.
"You asked for it, Cassian," I said, and he bolted even faster. "If you think you can outrun me, you're dead wrong."
"Ictus Fulminis."
A crackling purple bolt shot forward and struck him clean from the sky. He yelped and collapsed, twitching slightly.
"Try that again," I said as I laughed gleefully, "and next time it won't be this gentle."
Vivian sighed as she crouched next to him, casting a healing spell. "Cassian, why do you always do this when you know you can't win against her?"
"Because…" he wheezed, "it makes her laugh every time…"
Vivian blinked, surprised by the sincerity behind his answer.
I turned. "If you're done healing him, hurry up. You're going to be late for class."
"We're coming!" they called back in unison.
Once they headed off to attend their classes diligently like good little students. I, on the other hand, decided today was a perfect day to do absolutely nothing.
And the best place to do that?
"Oh no," Damian muttered the moment he saw me, "don't tell me—"
I flopped onto the sofa in his office.
"This is the best place to laze around," I declared proudly.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm glad you've become more trusting and comfortable around me, but being comfortable does not mean turning the Headmaster's office into your personal lounging spot."
"Why not?" I stretched, unapologetic. "It's quiet, warm, and filled with books I don't plan on reading."
"You're just like your father." He sighed deeply.
"Mmmh," I replied vaguely.
Damian returned to his paperwork, and at some point, without even realising, I dozed off completely.
Damian paused working when he noticed Cecilia's sleeping form. She'd slumped sideways on the couch, arms loosely folded, expression soft in a way it rarely was when awake. Exhaustion had finally dragged her under.
He exhaled quietly and stepped closer.
"She'll catch a cold like this…" he murmured, lifting the blanket draped over the chair.
But the moment the blanket brushed her shoulder—
She jerked upright.
A raw sound tore from her throat as her eyes flew open wide, unfocused, wild. Her hands clawed at the air, pushing away phantom restraints.
"Nox—! Nox, where—" Her voice splintered, rising into panic as her breathing collapsed into sharp, broken gasps. "Nox—!"
"Cecilia…Cecilia, it's me!" Damian reached out instinctively, but she recoiled violently, scrambling back against the couch as if cornered.
Her breath came faster. Too fast.
Her pupils were blown wide, chest heaving as though the room were shrinking around her.
"NOX—!" she cried again, voice choking, hands trembling uncontrollably. She wasn't seeing the room. She wasn't even seeing him. Whatever nightmare she had been dragged out of, still held her by the throat.
"Cecilia, you're safe," Damian tried again, softer, but the words couldn't pierce through the terror crushing her lungs.
A shadow swept through the room cold, familiar.
Nox materialized beside her like ink spilling across the air.
"Cess." His voice was low, steady, and grounding.
Her head snapped toward him instantly.
Nox knelt, placing a hand against her cheek. "I'm here."
Only then did her breath hitch, her trembling stutter, the crushing panic loosen its grip. She leaned toward him as if he were the only solid thing left in a collapsing world.
Damian stood frozen, blanket still in his hands.
He'd only wanted to keep her warm.
He hadn't expected to watch her unravel like she'd been yanked out of hell by the wrists.
And as he watched Nox steady her breathing with a whispered command and a gentle touch, he realized something with a quiet, unsettling clarity:
Whatever haunted Cecilia wasn't just fear.
It was a memory.
Cecilia's breathing slowly steadied under Nox's presence, each inhale less fractured than the last. Her fingers, clenched tight enough to hurt, finally loosened as she leaned into the shadowy warmth curling around her.
Damian didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
The blanket hung uselessly from his hands.
When her panic finally ebbed enough for awareness to seep in, Cecilia blinked, the fog in her eyes clearing just enough to register the room… and Damian's stricken expression.
She was mortified for a moment, a sharp, fleeting pain crossing her face, and she turned away instantly.
"Cecilia," Damian said quietly, voice careful, afraid to startle her again. " I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
"It's not your fault." Her voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper. She swallowed hard, sitting up straighter even though her hands still trembled. "You didn't do anything wrong. I just…" She exhaled shakily. "Sometimes it happens. That's all."
Damian's brows drew together. "But you woke up terrified—"
Cecilia shook her head before he could continue. "Damian… it wasn't you." Her words were firm, but her gaze stayed fixed on her lap, as though meeting his eyes might unravel her again. "I promise."
Nox stood beside her, one hand still resting lightly on her shoulder. His expression was unreadable, eyes dark and fathomless. Damian looked toward him, silently asking for an explanation—for anything.
But Nox only held Damian's gaze for a brief, cold moment.
No answers.
No reassurance.
Just a warning wrapped in silence.
Damian's throat tightened. He looked back at Cecilia, worry carving deep into his features. "If something's wrong… if there's anything I should know—"
"There isn't." Cecilia lifted her face, offering a thin, practiced smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Really. I'm fine now."
Nox's shadow curled protectively around her, and Damian realized—maybe painfully—that whatever had caused that terror lived in a place he wasn't permitted to see.
And Cecilia…
Cecilia wasn't going to let him in.
"We'll be leaving," she said softly as she stood.
I wanted to stop her, to reach out, say something but what right did I have?
And that bastard had stayed silent through all of it.
Nox's voice sliced through the room. "Why don't you go ahead? I'd like to have a word with the Headmaster."
The moment Cecilia turned to him, my breath caught. It was the look of a child staring at a parent who had let them down, hurt, and confused.
He was the only one she trusted without hesitation.
"I'll wait for you," she murmured, fingers tightening in his shirt. "I'll stand outside. I won't eavesdrop."
I had never seen her so vulnerable. Not even close.
"It's okay. You don't have to wait for me."
He leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, and only then did her agitation fade, her shoulders unclenching. "I'll be back before you know it."
She nodded slowly, reluctantly left the room with one last glance.
The door clicked shut.
And the atmosphere changed.
The air thickened, heavy, suffocating. A quiet, cold rage slid into the room like a predator settling its weight. If I hadn't been the highest-ranked mage in the Empire, I might not have noticed the bloodlust—but I felt it. Every drop of it.
With a casual flick of his finger, his silhouette shifted.
In the blink of an eye, he was standing eye-to-eye with me.
Long jet-black hair spilt like the mouth of an abyss.
His eyes, deep and blood-red, glowed with restrained violence.
"I don't use this form often," Nox said calmly, almost conversationally. "It's… taxing. I tend to lose control when someone tries to approach Cess carelessly. When their ignorance hurts her."
His voice was soft.
Measured.
And infinitely more terrifying for it.
The pressure radiating from him pressed into my bones dense, monstrous, enough to bury me alive if he wished.
"Just because Cess let you in," he continued, "just because she trusted you enough to be comfortable around you… does not mean you may do as you please."
His gaze sharpened.
A blade disguised as a stare.
"She is already hurt. Already broken enough."
Each word was wrapped in lethal stillness.
"If you approach her recklessly again, I will remove you. The same way I removed the other pests."
I swallowed hard. "But… I never meant to hurt her."
"There is no 'but.'"
His voice dropped to a deadly whisper.
"I do not care about your intentions. I care about Cecilia. And keeping her safe."
He stepped past me, each footfall soundless, but the weight of his presence clung to the air like smoke.
Just before he reached the door, he paused.
His red eyes glinted an omen, a warning.
Every light in the office burst at once.
Glass cracked.
Flames snuffed out.
The room dropped into absolute, suffocating darkness.
Only his voice remained.
"Do not test me again, Headmaster."
And then he was gone.
I paced.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
My pulse wouldn't slow. No matter how many times I told myself to calm down. I hated this feeling and the trembling that followed it. I couldn't control. I leaned against the wall, fingers gripping my sleeves until my knuckles hurt.
When the door finally creaked open, I jerked my head up immediately
Nox stepped inside.
He looked… calm. As if he hadn't just hadn't threatened the Headmaster with enough killing intent to make anyone beg for mercy. But his aura betrayed him. His blood-red eyes still faintly glowed, slowly cooling back to their normal shade.
I hurried toward him and grabbed his sleeve before he could even take another step.
"Nox—" My voice was barely a whisper.
He blinked down at me, and just like that, all that lingering violence evaporated. Gone. Snuffed out the moment he saw my face. His expression softened, warm, protective, in that way he only ever showed it to me.
"See, I'm back already," he said gently. Too gently.
My throat tightened. "…Headmaster?" I asked.
He hummed, his tone almost playful. "He'll think more carefully next time."
"… You didn't have to threaten him."
My voice cracked. "He wasn't trying to hurt me. He just—he didn't know."
His jaw clenched.
"I know," he murmured, eyes darkening. "But you panicked. And he was the one who triggered it."
"It wasn't his fault," I whispered. "It wasn't anyone's fault. Sometimes it just… happens."
I couldn't meet his eyes. I hated saying it out loud. I hated admitting I wasn't as unbreakable as I liked to pretend. But it was the truth, some nights, some days, sometimes even a small touch…
I swallowed hard.
Nox watched me quietly, something unreadable flickering in his gaze.
Then he lifted his hand and gently placed it on my head, slowly, carefully, as if I were glass. The warmth of his palm seeped through my hair like a tide washing over jagged rocks.
"I won't apologize for protecting you," he murmured. "But… I'll try not to threaten him again."
The breath I'd been holding slipped out of me, shaky and uneven.
"Thank you…" I whispered.
Nox studied me longer, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"You're still trembling."
I tensed immediately, suddenly aware of how my shoulders shook, how my fingers curled into fists at my sides. "I'm fine."
"You're not," he said softly. "And that's okay."
His words were simple, quiet yet they hit something deep inside me.
I looked away, blinking hard. "I just need… a moment."
"Then why don't we go out tonight," Nox said quietly, brushing a strand of hair from my cheek, "for a fun ride like we used to. Before we came here."
My eyes brightened instantly. He knew exactly what would lift the weight off my chest.
"Let's go right now."
He snorted softly, flicking my forehead with a feather-light tap.
"Hold your horses, Missy. We're leaving at midnight."
"Midnight…" I tried to hide the growing smile tugging at my lips. "I can't wait."
And before I even noticed, the trembling had faded. The panic lingering in my ribs loosened its grip. He always managed to ground me with his words and efforts.
Midnight arrived like a whisper.
The academy was silent, the halls dim. As soon as I stepped outside, the cold night air nipped at my cheeks but it felt refreshing, almost cleansing.
Nox appeared behind me without a sound, his presence wrapping around me like a familiar cloak.
"Ready?" he asked.
I nodded, and he lifted me effortlessly one arm under my knees, the other supporting my back. The way he carried me was the same as always: secure, steady, like he'd done it a thousand times.
A beat later, black wings unfurled from his back vast, sleek, catching the moonlight.
And then we were in the air.
The ground disappeared beneath us and the wind rushed past my ears in a cool, exhilarating surge. The world below became a blur of shadows and silver light.
I couldn't help it— I giggled.
Nox glanced down at me with a smirk. "What's funny?"
"Nothing," I said, though my smile widened. "Just… remembering the first time you carried me like this."
His brow arched with amusement. "When you screamed?"
"I did not scream."
"You did," he said with great satisfaction. "Loudly."
"That was because you didn't warn me you were going to jump off a cliff!"
Nox laughed a rare sound, deep and soft, carried away by the wind.
"But look at you now," he teased. "Clinging to me like a happy little gremlin."
"I am not a gremlin."
"You absolutely are."
I swatted his shoulder, and he pretended to wobble mid-air dramatically, making me grip him tighter and laugh again.
The stars stretched above us, the sky wide open.
My chest felt light.
Up here, there were no nightmares.
No panic.
No shadows reaching for me.
Only the wind, the moon, and the steady warmth of the one person who had always been my sky.
The night sky stretched endlessly around us, a quiet ocean of stars. The longer we flew, the lighter my eyelids felt. The wind was cool, Nox's warmth steady, and the rhythmic movement of his wings… soothing.
"Nox…" I mumbled, barely aware of my own voice.
"Yes?" he replied, but it sounded far away like he stood at the end of a long, peaceful tunnel.
"I'm… tired."
"I know," he whispered.
And that was the last thing I remembered before sleep washed over me like a soft tide.
My head fell against his chest. My fingers loosened on his shirt. My breathing steadied slow, deep, finally calm.
Nox glanced down at me, expression softening in a way he'd never admit to.
"You always fall asleep when you feel safe," he murmured.
He adjusted his hold, cradling me closer so the wind wouldn't chill my skin. His wings dipped, angled, and he silently turned back toward the academy.
---
When he landed on the balcony outside my room, he didn't make a single sound. Not even the stone tiles groaned beneath his weight. His wings faded into the air like mist, dissolving the moment his feet touched the ground.
Cecilia didn't stir.
She was completely, utterly out of face, relaxed, brow smooth, breathing peacefully. A rare sight.
Nox pushed open the balcony door with a fingertip, entered the dim room, and carried her straight to bed. He lowered her gently onto the mattress, handling her like something fragile, something precious.
He pulled the blanket over her shoulders, tucking it in around her arms.
For a moment, he watched her, the faint rise and fall of her chest, the way a few damp strands of hair clung to her cheek.
He brushed them back with a careful touch.
"…Sweet dreams, Cess."
His eyes softened, glowing faintly in the darkness. He placed a hand on her forehead briefly, his own quiet way of reassuring himself that she was really there and truly safe.
Then he stepped back, letting the shadows fold around him like a second cloak.
He didn't leave immediately.
He stayed until her breathing grew even deeper, and every trace of tension had melted from her face. Only then did he slip out silently, leaving her to her well-earned rest.
To be continued....