Chapter 58: Custom-Made Trap [I]

Starlight watched with mounting dread as the heavy mahogany door clicked shut behind Headmistress Whitmore. Every instinct roared at her to leap out of the chair, call the woman back, or straight-up follow her out into the hallway. Being left alone in a closed room with one of these wild monsters, prince or not, felt exponentially more dangerous than facing the Headmistress’s wrath. As biased and infuriating as the woman had been, at least she wasn’t likely to cross the line into outright violence inside her own office. Nikolai, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more pleased.

Ever since Starlight had walked into the Headmistress’s office, he had been waiting for an opportunity to have her alone, to finally speak to her without interruptions. The audacity of the girl still infuriated him. She had looked at him as though he were nothing more than empty air yesterday, dismissing him without a second thought. Yes, Mikhail had been right. The fact that she had met both of them and somehow managed to direct all of her attention toward his twin had annoyed him far more than he cared to admit. Ever since then, he had been thinking of ways to make her pay for it. Thankfully, chaos seemed determined to follow Starlight wherever she went, and an idea had occurred to him while he was washing the sweat off after a basketball game with his brother. As luck would have it, the Headmistress had agreed to it. Not that she had much choice once he had made the request.

He took a deliberate step toward Starlight, who was glaring up at him as though she would gladly shove him out of the nearest window if given the opportunity. Oddly enough, it pleased him. For once, her attention was actually on him. He didn’t particularly care that she looked ready to commit murder. At least she was looking at him rather than Mikhail. He closed the distance between them, only for Starlight to immediately dig her heels into the floor and push her rolling chair backward, putting a good three feet of distance between them.

"You can talk from right over there," she blurted out, holding up a hand. "No need to invade my personal space. I can literally hear you perfectly fine from where you are."

Nikolai paused in his tracks, his brow raised as a slow, razor-sharp smile spread across his lips, cold, dangerous, and entirely devoid of warmth. "You really don’t know when to quit, do you, Miss Dawson?" he murmured, leaning casually against the edge of the desk with one hand slipping into his pocket. "Anyway, let’s skip the dramatic act. You’re going to be punished for the chaos you’ve been causing in this academy, and you’re certainly not getting away with it."

"And what might this punishment be, if I may dare to ask?" Starlight asked, folding her arms tightly over her chest, her eyes narrowing. "Since when do students get to decide the punishment other students have to follow? Or is this some kind of royal, or should I say werewolf, privilege?"

"Do you, by chance, have something against werewolves, Miss Dawson?" Nikolai asked, his steel-blue eyes locking onto hers with unnerving precision. "Why do I get the feeling that you don’t particularly like us?"

Starlight’s face briefly faltered, but she quickly schooled her expression. This was the second time a werewolf had asked her that exact question. First Vivienne, the guide who had brought her to the academy, and now Nikolai. Was she making it that obvious? She was lucky Vivienne hadn’t continued questioning her after they were interrupted. Even when Vivienne had said they would continue the conversation later, Starlight had made sure not to give her another opening. Now Nikolai was asking the same thing, and she had no intention of letting him get any closer to the truth. She cleared her throat, forcing her expression into something as neutral as she could manage. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, Your Highness."

Nikolai held her gaze for a moment longer than necessary, his steel-blue eyes studying her with an intensity that made her skin prickle.

Starlight resisted the urge to shift in her seat, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing how uncomfortable his stare was making her. There was something unnerving about the way he looked at her, as though he were trying to peel back every layer of her carefully constructed indifference and see what was hiding underneath. Finally, he looked away, breaking eye contact, much to her relief.

"Anyway," Nikolai continued, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "you’ll be placed in the Student Corrective Conduct Program starting today, and—"

"The fuck is a Student Corrective Conduct Program?" Starlight cut in with a scowl. "Is that even an actual program in this school?"

’No, it’s not,’ Nikolai nearly said, but caught himself before the words could escape.

Of course, there wasn’t an actual program with such a name in the academy. He had invented the entire thing and simply needed a name convincing enough to make Starlight accept it without questioning the arrangement too deeply.

And it was also the only way they could get unlimited access to her without raising suspicion. Mikhail’s plan would take far too much time.

This was faster and far more effective.

"Prince Nikolai," Starlight called, her displeasure evident in both her tone and expression, "what in the world is a student corrective whatever?"

"It’s a mandatory, high-oversight rehabilitation—"

"Rehabi-what?" Starlight cut him off again.

Nikolai’s smile vanished.

"Interrupt me one more time, Miss Dawson." He said evenly, his voice dropping several degrees colder. "I swear I’ll make you regret it."

"As I was saying," Nikolai continued after a moment, his tone clipped. "The Student Corrective Conduct Program is a strict disciplinary initiative designed to handle high-risk, volatile students who lack self-control. It requires daily behavioral logs, specialized restraint conditioning, and mandatory one-on-one supervision to ensure that you stop going around assaulting people the way you have been doing. And judging by how you keep interrupting me, you clearly need it more than most."

Starlight absolutely hated the sound of this whole program already. Why did she have to be the one who needed this fake-ass-sounding program when all she had been doing was defending herself against a bunch of wild monsters? Was this just another way to punish and suppress a human student for daring to fight back?"

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