Fortune Academy: Year Three - J.R. Thorn Page 0,56

mated!” he cried, rage and pain evident on his face. “I didn’t know!”

Tears sprang to my eyes as he hurt me in the only way any of my Virtues could ever hurt me. Physical violence didn’t scare me, but this?

True betrayal.

It broke something inside of me that I knew would never mend.

“You knew about Cole? You knew how I could have completed the mate-circle before we nearly died in Hell? How could you? Why would you do that?”

The memory played out in my head even though I didn’t want to see any more. I’d already unlocked it and I witnessed Hendrik summoning a gorgeous, wicked demon with long bat-like wings and red eyes that promised murder and death. It cursed him with the sin of unrighteous wrath before Dante and the Dean managed to lock him up.

“Dante…” I whispered, holding my chest as if I could keep my heart from shattering. “He knew, too?”

That’s why my Dark Mage and the Hunter had gotten so close. They held a dirty, dark secret, one that would destroy everything we’d all built.

“Do not look at me like that!” he roared, his pain and anger flashing in his eyes. “We didn’t know what you were to us, not at the time. All I knew was you were at the epicenter of the vision where everything ended. My clan. The world. Everything, Lily! If you mated with Cole… then it would have meant Calamity would be here and it would destroy us all. I didn’t know the vision… the vision that I saw…”

“The vision was if I didn’t mate Cole,” I confirmed with gritted teeth. “You want a self-fulfilling prophecy? You’ve fucking got one.” I gathered my crumpled uniform and yanked it on, then turned to storm out and Hendrik gripped me by the arm—hard.

“Do not walk out on me. Not like this.”

I ripped myself free and punched him in the face. He lashed to the side as his lip split, sending blood splashing across the floor. “You can go fuck yourself, Hendrik. Or better yet, go fuck Dante. I don’t give a shit. You and me, we’re done.”

I knew my threat was empty the moment I said it, but I didn’t care, the anger inside of me blossomed with no end in sight and all I wanted to do was murder this bastard who dared to break my heart.

He’d tried to destroy everything. Cole had been here, right under my nose and I’d been too weak to feel him. Wherever he was imprisoned, it had taken my entire mate-bond to break through and find him. If Hendrik hadn’t summoned him… if he, Dante, and the Dean hadn’t locked him away, maybe I would have found him faster.

“Lily,” he persisted. “Don’t just—”

I snarled as I released my claws, slicing him across his chest and leaving streaks of blood. He growled and the air around us trembled as the scent of blood and roses overwhelmed my senses.

“Get out,” he warned. “Get the fuck out before I lose my patience and I do something I regret.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice, asshole,” I shot back as I ran out of his dorm and bolted down the stairs.

One of the Dark Mages let me outside and didn’t comment on my apparent rage. They were probably used to Hendrik having this effect on students by now.

When I walked out onto the campus, I let the tears come and they steamed down my heated face. The only hint that I wasn’t alone was a lingering black fog that trickled around my ankles, followed by a rumbling laughter from a demon who’d gotten exactly what he wanted.

Chapter 17

“Cole’s just trying to break you all apart,” Olivia suggested as she offered me a cold glass of water.

I downed the drink, but it didn’t seem to do much to quench the insufferable thirst that came with this eternal heat.

“Well he’s doing a good job of it,” I said as I shoved the glass at her for a refill. Steam drifted from my fingers as she took it.

She gave me a raised brow. “Looks like he’s doing a good job of getting under your skin, literally.” She swiped away a tendril of smoke that spilled off of my arms. “Don’t give him that kind of power over you. Demons work off of emotions, you know, and you look like you’re ready to burst with them.”

“Hendrik betrayed me,” I said, my voice cracking. “And Dante too.”

“What’d they do, fuck each other?” she teased as she