orld outside my window was all shadows and quiet. The streets seemed pea

side me. Maybe here, I thought,

" It was a low, sprawling building made of pale br

ll, boxy house. My heart sank as I looked from the house back toward the school. The d

smelled of old paint and d

to the worn living room sofa,

f first. Don't just stand there," he comm

I said nothing. This was our pattern. Robert, who never kept

ork, hauling in boxes while Robert offered critiques from his throne. They had exchanged sharp, hisse

Alice gestured to a small door off the hallway

for a single bed with a bare mattress and a small, wobbly

oom was a sanctua

meager earnings from a part-time job back in Oklahoma. Alice provided shelter, and that was i

at locked, meant safety. It meant that when

ttress. Exhaustion was a heavy blanket, pulling me down into a

t-shirt and jeans, moving like a ghost through the silent house. Passing the living room, I saw Robert sprawled

op, its warm light a beacon. The bell above the door jingled. Insid

I get for yo

ich, please," I s

her head. "You're new, right

led. "How d

You get to know everyone. I'm C

ering a tight, awkward s

nk. The thought of being the new spectacle, the subject

handed a class schedule. Back in the bustling hallway, my head down, I fo

own the hall,

ee the top of the wide stair

ched forward. A terrified, practical thought flashed through my m

left my lungs in a soft oof. Strong arms wrapped around me, stopping my fal

against a steady, rhythmic thump-thump. The fear receded, replaced by

through the moment. "Bitch! G

s if scalded, s

She was stunningly beautiful in a way that felt almost unreal

e intervention. She had the kind of body I'd only seen in movies-tall and curvy in all the right places,

with venom, "are you going to let thi

her of his jacket to the face of my rescuer. And my

arefully carved from marble. A strong jawline, a straight nose, and eyebrows that were dark and perfectly shaped

ross his forehead, and I had the most absurd,

ined fixed on mine for a second longer before h

r hip. She looked me up and down with obvious disgust, taking in my plain grey t-shirt and worn j

g with humiliation. "I'm sorry," I mumbl

linked her arm through Aldric's. "This is why you should watch wh

like an insult. I clutched my schedule tig

another voice, smooth as honey and just as sweet,