Chapter 14 Chapter 14
Amber
Damian's eyes traveled down, then back up to my face. "You missed a button."
I looked down and realized that my shirt was indeed buttoned incorrectly, leaving one side longer than the other.
My fingers fumbled with the buttons, and I felt his gaze still on me. When I glanced up, he was watching my hands with an unreadable expression.
"Do you need help?" he asked, his voice flat.
"What? No!" My face burned. "I can button my own shirt."
"You could've fooled me with all the shaking."
"You were counting down like a psychopath! That's why" I mumbled, the damn button taking more than a second to prove me right.
He stepped closer, and suddenly the small space between us felt microscopic.
"We are getting late."
“Your tongue moves a lot considering it's barely morning” I huffed.
“My tongue does a lot more than moving, wanna see?” His hand moved toward my collar, and I froze.
Did he really say that?
I was instantly reminded of Ellie’s words from last night and I was sure she was giggling behind the pillows.
But he just reached past me to grab the door frame, leaning in close enough that I could smell cedar and something darker.
I gulped nervously to see the exact shade of silver in his eyes, looking radiant in the morning sun.
"You have ten seconds to finish," he said quietly. "Or I'm leaving without you."
Then he stepped back, and I could breathe again.
My hands shook as I fixed the last button.
"I hate you," I muttered, quickly fixing it.
"You'll have to get in line," he said, already turning away.
"Are you also going to drop her back?" Ellie had apparently found her voice again and I glared at her as she gave me a knowing look.
‘I hope not’ I wanted to say but only said "Bye, Ellie"
I hurried after Damian, my untied shoe flopping with every step, and tried very hard not to think about how close his face had been to mine.
Or how I hadn't wanted him to step away.
Damian walked way too fast for someone who wasn't being chased by anything.
I had to half-jog to keep up with his long strides, my untied shoelace flapping against the stone pathway with every step.
"Can you," I tried, slightly out of breath. "Slow down a little?"
He simply continued walking without an answer or even a hint of acknowledgement that he had heard me.
“Why did the principal send you of all people?” I tried again, trying to understand what was going on.
Damian had mentioned he would go talk to the principal yesterday but I wasn’t sure what they had discussed. I had a strong feeling it had to do with me though and I wanted to be aware of the same.
Only I was talking to a wall it seemed.
“Ellie gets a little chatty at times but she has her heart in the right place.”
Damian's jaw tightened, but he didn't respond.
I tried again. "How long have you been at the academy? Is this your first year or…"
"Do you ever stop talking?" he asked without looking at me.
"I'm just trying to be friendly."
"Don't."
Yeah, fine, Mr Grumpyass.
I shut my mouth and focused on not tripping over my own feet.
We walked in blessed silence for another minute, and I noticed we were approaching the main building where the principal's office was located.
I sighed in relief but Damian walked right past it.
I slowed, confused. "The principal's office is back there"
He kept walking away from the main building and toward the open grounds at the edge of campus.
My stomach dropped when I saw the huge, sprawling grounds that bordered the forest. I hadn’t gotten a good look last night because it was dark but now it seemed like a neverending expanse.
The empty, isolated forest was so huge that no one would hear me scream if he killed me in cold blood there.
"Where are we going?" I asked, my voice coming out higher than intended.
There was no answer.
"Damian?"
He still said nothing but kept leading me away from populated areas, toward the trees, and suddenly all I could think about were the rumors.
He was said to have inherited the Mad King's bloodlust and had a hunger for violence. It was clear because of the fact that he'd nearly choked a staff member on his first day.
"Is this where you're going to kill me?" I blurted out, unable to keep it in.
That finally made him stop and he turned his head slightly, not fully looking at me.
"What?"
"Because you had to come fetch me this morning," I continued, my mouth running faster than my brain. "And I made you wait while I got dressed, and I know you're already annoyed that I exist, so I just figured…"
"You figured I'd murder you in broad daylight?"
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous, but you are leading me away from the principal’s office and into the forest"
He muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "death wish" and started walking again.
I stopped dead in my tracks. I wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
He took several more steps before noticing I wasn't following.
When he turned around, I was standing there, looking around wildly at my surroundings.
"I'll scream," I announced. "I'll wake up the whole academy if you try to hurt me."
Damian stared at me. "Are you serious right now?"
"Very serious. I have excellent lung capacity. My sister says I can scream for a full thirty seconds without taking a breath."
“You have a sister?”
Oh fuck, I forgot I was a human orphan.
“Friend at the orphanage. We are all sisters in a way.”
He rolled his eyes.
"I can fight you if I have to," I interrupted, raising my hands in front of me in what I hoped was a defensive stance. "I'm not just some weak human you can drag into the forest and dispose of."
His expression shifted into something I couldn't quite read at that line.
Interest, maybe? Or was it something else entirely?