Witchling Academy Semester Eight - Avery Song Page 0,9

through the room as my heart beat rapidly against my chest. My eyes caught onto the trickle of tears that began to pool in Brianne's eyes as she stood there. The clear droplets escaped their lair and rolled down the black surface of her cheeks.

My eyes grew wider as the dark shell around her body began to crack, little by little, until pieces fell to the ground beneath us. The cuts and bruises across her skin were obvious as the scent of our blood and sweat drifted through the air.

Neither of us moved, like frozen statues in time, but I could see fragments of emotions begin to leak into those loving orbs of hers while she began to blink rapidly to clear her vision.

I could see her confusion. Questions surely flooded her mind as her eyes drifted to the very sword that was against my neck. I hadn't realized my hands were already up in defense, my swords on the ground, which left me wide open to her final attack.

"KILL HIM!" Elijah commanded with a sense of desperation, but I knew it was over as Brianne's eyes lowered to the ground to acknowledge my swords and the droplets of blood from our wounds.

She returned her gaze to me as she scrunched her face. The fact that she was lost told me she was truly back to her senses and the darkness couldn't control her anymore. It made me smile at the idea of victory, and my eyes couldn't help but soften at the sight of our woman.

Our Notorious Queen is back.

"Brianne. It's okay. We'll explain later. I just need you to lower the sword from my neck," I assured her in a tender whisper. I didn't want her panicking, especially with the current state we were both in and the chaotic mess all around us.

I could feel the pressure of the sword at my neck, the slight stinging and flow of something running down my flesh only confirming that I'd been cut just a little. Her eyes seemed to further widen then as her grasp loosened around the hilt of the sword, the weapon dropping to the ground.

The clatter seemed to fade away as she pushed from her spot and right into my arms. That was what triggered the relief as I hugged her tightly back and let go of the breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

“Welcome back, Brianne. I missed you." I truly meant every word. I'd missed Brianne so damn much, as I did Finnick and the others. This month had been by far the loneliest. Far more than the months when I felt alone within the pool of my anxious emotions.

Surely the difference was because I couldn't be reminded of their love by their presences in comparison to when we were in class or the dorms. I'd had no choice but to acknowledge being on this journey like a lone wolf, but that path had ended here and now.

"Kaito!" she whispered in panic and moved back to look at me as though she couldn't believe I was before her very eyes. “W-What did I do?! How...when...I don't...I don't remember what's happening.”

“We'll explain later. I promise," I assured her as my body burned to do something totally out of character in a situation like this. “But first, I really need to do this.”

Her moment of shock was mere seconds before I slammed my lips against hers. I kissed her with raw desperation as the intense connection enlightened me from the inside out. She didn't dare hesitate to kiss me back; the firm exchange made it hard to not moan at her delicious taste as we kept hugging tightly.

My hands wanted to enjoy feeling her, touching every section of her wounded body and making up for the marks I had no choice but to inflict on her, but for now, I had to remind myself that we were still on the battlefield, and someone had to pay for this.

Elijah has to face the consequences of his actions.

I forced myself to break our embrace. We struggled to catch our breaths, but my eyes looked behind her to meet the culprit of our troubles.

Brianne followed my gaze to lock onto Elijah as he glared at us for a hard five seconds before he grunted and raced to the door.

"Dammit," I cursed, but Brianne moved out of my hold and took my hand.

“We have to go after him!"

"Brianne, you're not-"

"He can't get away!" She tugged at my hand and all I