Light Among the Shadows
/1/129726/coverbig.jpg?v=d952b45e9b05aae9f5803a8b2c8d4fc6)
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
/0/53927/coverbig.jpg?v=20240329183359)
Light Among the Shadows
In the midst of the bright month of Ramadan, a young man named Amir feels adrift in his monotonous life and has lost meaning. Despite carrying out his religious obligations, he felt empty and lost. Everything changes when Amir accidentally meets a mysterious spiritual teacher, Sheikh Ibrahim, who l
/0/12126/coverbig.jpg?v=c571e8e83885a1e042c276ccbbe6626d)
/0/2097/coverbig.jpg?v=8ced3c6d61122fcb6057c11f0adb741c)
Love Among the Chickens
From the book:It sounds so weak-minded. But in the case of Love Among the Chickens it is unavoidable. It was not so much that you sympathised and encouraged - where you really came out strong was that you gave me the stuff. I like people who sympathise with me. I am grateful to those who encourage
/0/20522/coverbig.jpg?v=cd6923ab7f31dfd8f889757db4617640)
Light
LIGHT Genre: Sci-if, Fantasy and Adventure Lumière Bisset was a powerful witch of twenty years old. She was the only child of Dr. Corentin and Mrs. Aimee Bisset. She was singlehandedly raised by her mom who cut her out off the supernatural world because she was yet to get over her husband's death.
/0/25097/coverbig.jpg?v=37577a1327a2fba54e85087d0e53448f)
Survive among the Vikings
Can true love overcome all the pitfalls of destiny? The Vikings invaded the village where Rosalie lived. They murdered children and the elderly and abducted young women and strong men to their country to sell them into slavery. At the slave market, Rosalie is bought by a spirited young jarl. What wi
/0/1707/coverbig.jpg?v=20171122140027)
Among the River Pirates
The shabby old motor boat moved slowly up the river towing an equally shabby old barge. Dilapidated and unpainted as the hull was, the engine was well muffled—suspiciously well muffled—and the disreputable looking craft moved through the water with all the noiseless dignity of a yacht.
/0/70762/coverbig.jpg?v=20250915135245)
Darkness Behind The Light
In a once prosperous life, Livia lived comfortably until a tragedy shattered everything. After losing it all and being forced into the dark underworld, Livia faced a fate more terrifying than she could have ever imagined. "Darkness Behind the Light" is a gripping tale of self-discovery, struggle, ad
/0/23836/coverbig.jpg?v=bc96224497eb34e4c969efb4ec0e0d9d)
The Destinable Of Light
As a demi-demon raised by an ordinary human, there are two things wrapped around Nando's life: The first thing, living in the human realm without being humiliated, but having to risk his life every time. The second thing, living in the Tumaya realm without facing any danger, yet constantly being h
/0/70818/coverbig.jpg?v=6e4e8983dad83a620e269d400521f696)
Cinderella among the wolves
Ayla Garrison never expected to survive in a world where bloodlines, power, and dominance define every aspect of life. As the lowliest wolf-shifter in her pack-an outcast with a painful past-she spends her days hiding in the shadows, scrubbing floors and avoiding the cruel jabs of those who see her
/0/500/coverbig.jpg?v=20171121193550)
Love Among the Chickens
Love Among the Chickens is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published as a book in the United Kingdom in June 1906 by George Newnes, London, and in the United States by Circle Publishing, New York, on 11 May 1909, having already appeared there as a serial in Circle magazine between September 1908 a
/0/14037/coverbig.jpg?v=801a94664ee88ca2db5501a71b025bc7)
/0/24232/coverbig.jpg?v=66ad241bea3ce08aaba288e1abdcfe92)
THE LINK TO LIGHT
The first installment in the, the light series. The Link To Light is a story that revolves around ---. It tells about Ifesinachi Uzonndu getting admission into the University of Pennsylvania via a scholarship program, and how this changes not just her life but that of those around her.. In life,
/0/7350/coverbig.jpg?v=744a26a281f6abe42ea6b48be189686e)
/0/12128/coverbig.jpg?v=676427e20c471b70dc3b1e3d0e4a8fb9)
/0/21424/coverbig.jpg?v=88ee3691cfc398743d40b47d3918d3b9)
The Light In The Dark
Story of a girl who lost everything in life. But only one thing left her sufferings. She wants nothing but want to find the biggest mystery of her life that change everything. When she is sufferings, she met a person which change her life. In this world he gives her everything what she wanted. Let
/0/74556/coverbig.jpg?v=49328249c0c80dfe79239679c4effa76)
THE LIGHT HE CLAIMED
Kanari was a simple young woman kind and gentle. But everything changed when a serial killer abducted her and stole her future. Her life was thrown into darkness, yet through her suffering, she unknowingly brought back hope to Xantheus a man who had long lost the will to live. In taking her, he fou
/0/19422/coverbig.jpg?v=6e0369ece426a8bb54fda4c1f72a2b47)
Embrace the light
"Walt..." I looked at him, my hand trailed his chest. I was biting my lip, I need him. It felt like I need him to make me forget. It felt like a familiar thing to do. But I still wasn't sure that he wanted us to happen the way it was intended to. But then he cupped my jaw and kissed me. His lips t
/0/2991/coverbig.jpg?v=82b49935adf4319011bffdd752a8318a)
/0/16627/coverbig.jpg?v=fe8c220a381d7ab9ab49703d404e13e7)
/0/4919/coverbig.jpg?v=ccf8f14f62b4950778e9e4c0cd5f5cc1)
The Light That Lures
Written in the 1800's or early 1900's. This takes place during the French Revolution in the 1700's. Richard is the main character as is Jeanne an aristocrat whom Richard helps. (Goodreads)
