The boy was beautiful in a way that hurt.
Lucien Vale.
Same last name, they told me.
No relation, they promised.
I didn't believe them.
He looked like he knew things. Things he wasn't supposed to. Things about me.
When our eyes met in the Grand Hall, something inside me shifted—like a key turning in a lock that had never existed before. He looked at me like I was a puzzle he already solved. A prophecy he was waiting to unfold.
But he also looked like the kind of boy who would set you on fire just to watch you burn.
And I hated how badly I wanted to get close anyway.
---
The Academy of Fallen Wings was less like a school and more like a cathedral dipped in sin. Floating towers. Invisible guards. Students who could kill you with a look — and some who already had. The food tasted like nothing. The air felt like magic. The rules were carved in obsidian at every turn.
Do not fall in love.
Do not reveal your true form.
Do not unlock the Veil between realms.
The Veil.
That word kept following me.
I heard it in my dreams. Felt it in my bones. And whenever I stared at the mirror, something shimmered behind my reflection — like there was someone else looking back.
Someone older. Stronger. Hungrier.
"What do you want from me?" I whispered to her.
She didn't answer. She just smiled.
---
Later that night, I found a black feather on my pillow.
Still warm.
Still humming with power.
Lucien had vanished after our exchange, but somehow… I knew it was from him.
A warning.
Or an invitation.
Either way, I curled my fingers around it and held it close.
Because for the first time since the explosion, since I landed in this divine prison in the sky…
I didn't feel afraid.
I felt awake.
---