Chapter 14 The Puppeteer's Game
POV: Mina (Age 17)
Asher stepped into the lab and closed the door behind him. I heard the soft click of the lock engaging, and my heart started racing.
We were alone. In a locked room. With no witnesses.
I carefully closed the book I'd been reading and slid it under a pile of lab reports, trying to make the movement look casual. Then I stood and pulled out my notepad, keeping my expression neutral even though every instinct was screaming at me to run.
Just finishing cleaning. I'll be done soon.
Asher didn't move from the door. He just stood there studying me with those calculating dark eyes that seemed to see through every lie I'd ever told.
"You're always alone," he observed, moving slowly into the lab like a predator circling prey. "I've been watching. You shower before anyone else wakes up. You eat by yourself. You work when everyone else is sleeping. It's like you're avoiding people deliberately."
I wrote quickly.
I prefer solitude. Easier to focus.
"Or you're hiding something."
He moved closer, and I forced myself not to step back. Showing fear would only encourage him. Asher specialized in breaking people psychologically, in finding their weaknesses and exploiting them until they shattered.
I couldn't give him anything to work with.
"You're an enigma, Rafe Sterling," he said, circling me slowly. "Too weak to be a Sterling. Too skilled to be weak. Too quiet to be normal. Too controlled to be natural."
He stopped directly in front of me, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
"And that scent," he continued, his voice dropping lower. "Even with all those suppressants you're taking—and yes, I know you're taking them far more frequently than you should be—there's something underneath. Something you're desperately trying to hide."
He leaned in closer, and I felt his breath on my face as he inhaled deeply, deliberately invading my personal space in a way that made my skin crawl.
"What are you hiding under all those pills, cousin?" he asked softly. "What don't you want us to smell?"
I stayed frozen, my notepad clutched in one hand, giving nothing away. My face was blank. My posture was relaxed. I didn't flinch or retreat or show any sign that his proximity was affecting me.
Even though inside, I was screaming.
Asher studied my face for a long moment, looking for cracks in my armor. Looking for the fear or anger or discomfort that he could use against me.
He found nothing.
His eyes narrowed slightly, frustrated by my lack of reaction.
"You're good at this," he admitted. "Better than most. Most people break when I get this close. They either submit or lash out. But you do neither. You just stand there like a statue, giving me nothing to work with."
He reached out and brushed his fingers along my jaw, a deliberate invasion of boundaries designed to provoke a response.
I still didn't move. Didn't flinch. Didn't react at all.
"I'm going to figure you out," Asher said, his voice low and dangerous. "I'm going to peel back every layer you've built until I find what you're hiding. And when I do, Rafe Sterling, I'll own you completely."
He brushed past me, his shoulder deliberately bumping mine with enough force to make me stumble slightly. He was testing my physical strength now, seeing if I'd push back or submit.
I caught my balance and stayed silent, my hands gripping the edge of the lab table.
As he walked toward the door, I felt something strange happening in my chest. A warmth. A tingling sensation that spread through my body like electricity.
My hands started to glow.
Just faintly, just for a split second, but definitely there. Silver light flickered across my palms, the same silver glow that had appeared during training with Rafe in the temple.
Oracle power. The sealing spell was cracking.
I shoved my hands behind my back quickly, before Asher could turn around and see. The glow faded as fast as it had appeared, leaving my skin normal again.
But Asher had stopped moving. He was standing at the door with his hand on the handle, his entire body tense.
"Did you feel that?" he asked, not turning around.
I wrote nothing, said nothing, showed nothing.
"My wolf just reacted to something," Asher continued, his voice thoughtful. "Something in this room. Something that made it interested in a way it's never been interested before."
He turned to look at me, his dark eyes searching my face.
"What are you, Rafe Sterling? Because you're not just a mute noble's son. You're something else. Something wrong. Something that makes my wolf want to either submit or conquer, and it can't decide which."
I met his eyes steadily and wrote one word.
Tired.
He stared at me for a long moment, then smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile. It was the smile of someone who'd just decided to make you their personal project.
"See you at training tomorrow, cousin," he said softly. "I'll be partnering with you. Let's see what breaks first—your body or your secrets."
He unlocked the door and left, his footsteps echoing down the empty hallway.
I waited until I couldn't hear him anymore, then collapsed against the lab table, my legs shaking so badly they could barely hold my weight.
I pulled my hands out from behind my back and stared at them. They looked normal now, no trace of the silver glow that had appeared moments ago.
But I could still feel it. The power underneath my skin, pressing against the sealing spell that had held it back for seventeen years. The spell was cracking. Breaking apart piece by piece.
Rafe had said the spell would break on our eighteenth birthday. But that was still months away. Why was it happening now?
Unless the trauma of his death had damaged the spell. Or being at the Academy, where ancient magic still lingered in the stones, was affecting it. Or the constant stress of maintaining my disguise was wearing it down.
Whatever the reason, my Oracle power was starting to surface. And if it kept happening, if it kept showing itself at random moments, someone was going to notice.
The Elite Trio was already suspicious. Already watching me too closely. If they saw my hands glow silver, if they witnessed any manifestation of Oracle power, they'd know immediately what I was.
And they'd turn me over to the Council.
I grabbed my bag and shoved the stolen Keystone book inside, then turned off the lab lights and headed back to my dorm.
Tomorrow, Asher would be partnering with me in combat training. Testing me. Pushing me. Trying to break either my body or my secrets.
I needed to be ready.
I needed to control this power before it exposed me.
I needed to survive long enough to find the Keystone and complete Rafe's mission.
But as I walked through the empty Academy hallways, I couldn't shake the feeling that time was running out. The sealing spell was breaking. The Elite Trio was closing in. And I was one mistake away from losing everything.