Chapter 181: ¹⁸¹: Miracles don’t happen

Chapter 181: 1?1: Miracles don’t happen

"It’s none of your business." That was what Kael had said to me when I asked him about what had happened the previous night.

Once again, a brief moment of him acting normally around me had been enough to make me believe I could have a conversation with him without being demeaned all over again. And once again, I had been proven wrong.

He had simply sauntered out of the room after saying those words, as though he had suddenly lost all interest in talking to me. That was what he did every single time now. He asked whatever he wanted to know about me, and the moment I dared to ask him something in return, he acted as though the conversation was no longer worth having.

Apparently, curiosity was a privilege reserved exclusively for him.

I pressed my lips together, pushing aside the familiar irritation bubbling in my chest. As much as I hated the way he treated me, I couldn’t afford to waste any more time thinking about it.

Nor could I afford to keep worrying about whatever had happened to him the previous night. Whatever it had been, Kael seemed perfectly aware of it, and as far as I could tell, he had already dealt with the situation.

Or, at the very least, he had decided that I didn’t deserve an explanation, so fine. Whatever.

Right now, I had a far more pressing problem to deal with. The eclipse was tomorrow. And I needed to make absolutely certain that I spent it with Kael.

The only little complication in my otherwise brilliant plan was that Kael Dreven, the man I needed to be with, had made it abundantly clear that he intended to spend the entire night at some ridiculously extravagant ball attended by the most influential people in the kingdom.

Wonderful...Just absolutely wonderful. After the way he had insisted that he couldn’t be anywhere else tomorrow, I knew I had approximately zero chances of convincing him to return to our house. I could probably collapse dramatically at his feet, pretend to be on the verge of death, and beg him to accompany me home, and he’d still find a way to attend that stupid ball.

Which meant I had only one option left. If I couldn’t bring Kael to the house, I would have to go to the ball myself.

The problem was that I wasn’t exactly the sort of person who received invitations to high-society events. I was a freshman at Dreven Academy, not some influential noblewoman with a family name that could open every door in the kingdom.

Getting inside that ball would require an invitation, a pass, or some other stroke of miraculous luck. And considering my current circumstances, I wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic about the last option.

"Fuck!" The curse burst out of me as my foot caught against an enormous pebble lying in the middle of the otherwise spotless road just outside the Academy gates.

My body lurched forward, and for one horrifying second, I was certain I was about to introduce my face to the pavement.

Thankfully, my spine decided to warn me before my brain could fully process what was happening. I stumbled, flailed slightly, and somehow managed to regain my balance at the very last moment.

I stood there for a second, glaring down at the offending pebble as though it had personally conspired against me.

Seriously? Of all the things I had to worry about today, I was now fighting for my life against a rock?

I let out an exasperated breath and straightened my clothes, tightening my grip on my bag. Clearly, walking while your mind was occupied with plotting elaborate schemes to infiltrate a high-society ball was not an activity that should be attempted without supervision.

Preferably by someone with functioning common sense. Unfortunately, I had no such person available.

With one final, thoroughly unimpressed glance at the pebble, I marched through the gates. I deliberately kept my eyes forward, refusing to look around and discover how many people might have witnessed my spectacular display of incompetence in simple words stupidity.

If anyone had seen me nearly fall flat on my face, I hoped they would have the decency to forget about it. And if they didn’t, well, I would simply have to pretend I had never met them.

By the time I reached our classroom, I had managed to push the embarrassing incident to the back of my mind and return my attention to the far more important matter of securing my entry to tomorrow night’s ball.

I walked straight to the front of the room and placed my assignment on the designated desk, right beside the sign instructing students to leave their completed work there.

One problem down. At least I wasn’t going to be the freshman who forgot to submit her assignment while trying to solve an entirely different crisis.

Satisfied with that small accomplishment, I made my way to my seat and dropped into it beside Rose.

"Hey, babe! How have your days been?!" Her voice greeted me the moment I settled into my chair, bright and cheerful as ever.

I turned toward her, finding her looking at me with that signature, bright-as-hell smile of hers, the sort of smile that could probably illuminate an entire room without the assistance of a single candle.

"How could they have been?" I replied with a sigh. "I was just working on my assignment and eating instant food." I deliberately kept my tone casual, refusing to let my thoughts wander toward the one person who had occupied far too much of my time lately.

Kael Dreven had already taken up enough space in my head. I wasn’t about to let him ruin my conversation with Rose, too.

"That’s what happens when you live a boring, virgin-nun life and refuse to hang out with your friends after classes," Rose replied, rolling her eyes at me.

I sighed, already knowing what she was getting at. "Didn’t you say last night that your assignment had taken up all your time?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and returning her attitude with interest. "How are you telling me that you apparently didn’t spend these past few days doing exactly the same boring things I did?"