Chapter Thirteen: The Hunt for Her Heart

Ronan POV

We rode back to the academy the same way we had come. If it had been up to me, we wouldn’t have left the cottage.

But if we didn’t return to the cottage, she could land in deep trouble, and I may not be able to save her.

I was enjoying having her all to myself, away from everyone, and away from him.

My hands tightened in a fist,

I have never hated anything more than Ciaran hands on her,

That sly bastard, he knew she was special to me; that’s why he went for her,

To rile me up, well, not anymore.

It was time to show him and the world that she belonged to me,

Firstly, I had to make her aware of that fact; I had planned to take her, but seeing as she fainted,

I knew she wasn’t ready yet, plus if I had taken her in my rage condition, I would have actually broken her.

And I didn’t wish to break her; breaking her could mean I would lose her,

I didn’t want any of that.

On getting to the academy, I escorted her back to her room,

She didn’t say a word to me during the ride; she seemed mad at me cause I refused to listen to her,

But if I listened, I might take it on her, I might release my demons, and she may not be able to handle them.

Sighing, I watched as she shut the door to my face before turning back to my room,

I was halfway there when I heard Principal Lena’s voice,

“Mr stormbane.” She called out to me,

I turned, forcing my expression to be stark so she wouldn’t figure anything out.

“Where have you been?”

“Out.”

“Where is out?”

“What does it matter? It’s not like you are going to punish me or anything.”

Her eye twitched; she knew I was right; she couldn’t dare hurt me, one, cause of my parents; two, she’s scared of me, they all are.

“That I cannot touch you doesn’t mean that I cannot harm you, tread carefully Mr stormbane.”

And with that, she was disappearing down the hallways.

I knew she meant my parents; she could harm me by using them,

However, I didn’t give a fuck; I never did,

I just made her believe so.

The next few days had been spent with Seraphina trying her best to avoid me,

But I was impossible to deal with when I set my mind on something, and that something was her.

When I corner her and ask her why she keeps running away from me,

She says she hates that I didn’t trust her and that I was treating her like a property and not an actual person.

In other words, she wanted me to apologize for the way I acted to her and Ciaran.

I immediately refused the silly requests; I could always apologize to her,

But I would never do that to Ciaran; he is a jerk, a sly, blood-sucking bastard.

And apologizing is like bowing down to him, and I don’t bow to anyone.

Plus, the fact that she wanted me to apologize to him after I caught them kissing made me angry.

Hence why there had been a push and pull between us, not any more though,

It was fun at first, having to touch her and make her squirm even when she wanted to blow curses on me,

But now it’s getting really annoying, especially with the fact that Ciaran seems to be trying to get her attention.

Thankfully, she had also been giving him the cold shoulders.

“Hey Ro, what do you think?” I was dragged out of my thoughts by Xander Morris, the chestnut-haired boy who thinks, for some reason, he is my friend.

“About what?”

He rolled his eyes, “you weren’t paying attention? Usually you do when I talk about the woods.”

I couldn’t pay attention cause I was looking out for Seraphina; she had been absent from the cafeteria for days now.

And I’m sure it had something to do with her being mad at me.

“You keep repeating the same thing.” I said with boredom laced in my tone.

“If that’s the case then why does your eye keep straying to the entrance, are you expecting someone?”

Yes.

“No.”

“Hmm. Well any case I think we are all going to die soon.”

Yeah. Xander is constantly spewing rubbish; I still wonder how he got glued to me till now,

Most people are so scared of me that they never utter a word to me; hell, they can’t even meet my gaze.

But here is he, with his arms slung around my shoulders. And looked like he wasn’t ever going to leave.

“What do you mean?”

He looked around before moving close to whisper in my ears.

“I heard the teachers are making the outcast girl go into the woods to be offered as a sacrifice, so all the rumored students killing would stop.”

“What?”

“That’s right, though I’m very positive that they wouldn’t succeed, thereby causing the outcast girl to kill everyone.”

The only outcast girl I’m sure he was referring to was Seraphina.

“Where did you hear this from?”

Xander spewed lots of lies, so I had to be sure this wasn’t another one of his lies.

“I overheard Ms Riven talking about this to Ms Alda, so I cornered her to ask for more details which she happily gave.”

Most of the time, the lies he spewed didn’t have many details; it could only mean one thing.

Seraphina was in trouble.

“When did you get this message, and when did they say they would do the impended sacrifice?”

“Uhm before the lunch break, I got the message while fucking her like a good slut.”

He was smirking badly,

“That wasn’t the question!”

“Alright calm your horses, she said they would go through it after lunch break.”

I immediately stood up and stridden to find Seraphina; with my heart pounding,

I couldn’t lose her,

Damn it.

I checked around the academy, but I couldn’t find her,

And with each door, I opened, and each time she wasn’t in the room or classes, my heart sank even more.

Principal Lena had seemed against the idea of hurting Seraphina; if anything, she had always acted protective towards her.

She should at least be able to help,

So I went to her office,

More like I barged into it in a hysterical state.

“Seraphina is in trouble.” And just like that, I told her what I overheard.

And the worry and fear I was feeling were replicated in her eyes.

“For the records your friend Xander isn’t good with facts, so I’m sure there’s some kind of misunderstanding, My staff know well to never go against me.”

“We can’t place her life on the truthfulness and loyalty of your staff, her life is more worth than such gambles.”

“Still just calm down in sure…”

“I’m not calming the fuck down till I see she is okay, everyone here hates her and secretly blames her for everything bad that goes on here, if you wouldn’t come with me to find her, then I shall be on my own.”

And with that, I left her office, heading to the last place I hadn’t checked for her,

The woods.

It’s been such a long time since I entered the woods.

The last time I was in there was when students were prohibited from entering the woods.

On getting to the woods, I focused on her smell and tried to use that to find her,

And when I finally found her, I was hit with that wave of relief and fear.

Relief cause she was alive, fear cause she was laying on the floor unconscious, with Ms Alda, Ms riven and mr Leo,

They were all unconscious on the floor,

And somehow, I had a bad feeling that something terrible had taken place.

I rushed to Seraphina to pick her up when I heard it.

That damned voice.

The one I spent years trying to mask, years trying to bury.

I had to get her out of here.

Now!

And so I picked her up, bridal style.

I was about to move before I halted on my feet,

And that was the cause of the person in front of me.

“Long time no see, have you missed me?”

“You wish.”

“Oh come on you did, the students all did, they even made a legend of me, damn I am even greater than you.”

If he noticed Seraphina in my arms, he didn’t act like he did,

“And you are dead. That’s the difference between us both.”

His smile had faltered, and I could tell I had hit a nerve.

“Well not for long, especially since I just discovered a new ingredients, yeah Seraphina is her name right? Such a beaut.”

The thrills and tendrils ran through my spine as his eyes went to her, and a sadistic smile appeared on his face.

“Don’t you dare touch her.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you remove the barriers.”

“Like hell, I would.” And with that, I lunged at him, with Seraphina in my arms.