Broken: A New Adult Paranormal Bully Romance (Hellfire Academy Book 2)
Page 15
Now, here I was back at school trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Worst of all, I couldn’t talk about it with anyone. Not even Rhys and Fenn.
“Don’t you want to hear about Eden?” Fenn asks.
I clench my jaw at the mention of her name.
“No, not particularly,” I finally say.
“All right,” Fenn says with a shrug. “I suppose you’ll run into her soon enough as it is.”
“I’ve got to do something. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Just don’t go disappear again without warning us,” Rhys calls after me as I step cross through the barrier.
“Thorne?”
I flinch at the sound of my name, but otherwise keep moving.
“Thorne, when did you get back, and why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it’s none of your business.”
“Of course, it’s my business. You’re my fiancé,” Nyx says as she tries to keep pace beside me.
I don’t respond to this. She’s not wrong, but at the same time I couldn’t care less about what or who she is. Right now, I just had one thing on my mind.
“Thorne, stop. I need to talk to you.”
I look down at her in exasperation, but then stop.
“What is it?”
“Oh, um. It’s about Eden,” Nyx says and then pauses for a long moment as if she’s trying think of something to say. “You were her first.”
“What?”
“She’s never been with anyone else,” Nyx continues. “So, you might want to stay away. She’s been acting crazy ever since you left.”
“What are you talking about Nyx?”
“You know, that night…before you disappeared. Fenn told me what happened.”
“And what exactly did he tell you?”
“That Eden couldn’t keep her hands off you and you succumbed to her charms…he said you took her to bed.”
I stare at Nyx for a long moment before letting out cold laugh.
“Of course. Leave it to Fenn to spread rumors about me while I’m gone.”
“Wait, so…you didn’t sleep with her?”
“No, of course not.”
Nyx sighs deeply in relief at this, although I’m not sure why. It’s not as if she’s been saving herself for me.
“Hell, I should have guessed Fenn was messing with me,” Nyx continues, “after all, I wouldn’t have expected an angel to fall for someone like you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, frowning.
“You know, since Eden is an angel, I should have known better.”
“You mean that figuratively, right?”
“What, no,” Nyx says with a laugh. “Wait, what did you think she was?”
I hesitate before answering.
“A harpy.”
Changing direction, I turn back toward the dorms. Damn it, this changes everything.
19
Fenn
“That was fast,” I say as Thorne returns to the common room. “You do have a room upstairs if you need to piss.”
Thorne gives me a look that I know all too well means he wants me to shut up.
“We have a problem,” Thorne says.
“Don’t we always,” I say.
“No, not like this. It’s worse than any of us thought.”
“What is it now,” Rhys says with a deep sigh.
“Eden isn’t a harpy.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “Of course, she is, we saw her wings.”
“Not if what I just found out is true,” Thorne says.
“Which is?” Rhys probes.
“Nyx let slip that she believes Eden to be an angel.”
Rhys and I stare at Thorne for a long moment before bursting into laughter.
“You can’t be serious,” I say as soon as I catch my breath. “An angel? There’s no way in hell.”
“Think about it,” Thorne says. “Really think about it. Her behavior, her infuriating inability to do anything wrong, the fact that she had wings…”
“Yeah, sure they all line up, but that doesn’t mean she really is one. Lots of winged females have similar traits, including harpies,” Rhys interjects.
“Besides, we would recognize her if she was an angel,” I say.
“Would we?” Thorne asks. “How?”
“Don’t you know all the angels on Earth?” I ask.
“Of the original Fallen, yes,” Thorne answers. “But what if she’s not one of the original…what if she’s a new Fallen?”
“Is that even possible,” Rhys says. “We haven’t heard of a single angel leaving heaven since the Great Revolution. Why would one suddenly appear now?”
“I don’t know,” Thorne says, his brow furrowing, “or perhaps I do. I need a pen and paper. Now!”
I toss him a pen as Rhys tears the blank page out of the front of the book he was just reading and hands it to Thorne who begins to scribble down words.
After a few minutes he holds up the paper to read what he’s written and then hands it over for Rhys and I to look at.
Wings torn.
Blood right ripped asunder.
A fate yet to be decided.
Power renewed, feathers righted,
A new kingdom unearthed.
“What is this?” Rhys asks.
“It’s part of what I spent the past month searching for,” Thorne says. “I’m sure the wording isn’t exact, but it has to be important.”
“Why?” I ask, scowling at the words as I try to think of something.
“Because my father asked me to find and deliver it.”
“That it!”
Rhys and Thorne look over at me in surprise.
“I know where I’ve seen something like this before, at the beginning of last year, when Eden first arrived. She had some kind of paper with words similar to this.”
“I need to see that,” Thorne says.
“Well, you can’t,” I say. “It was stolen from her.”
“Wait,” Rhys says, still re-reading the paper. “You don’t think this has something to do with what I found?”
“No,” Thorne says. “I think it has everything to do with what you found.”
20
Eden
As soon as I’ve stepped through the fireplace into the hidden wing of the dormitory, I know something has changed. The atmosphere in the room is strange and uncomfortable, but not in a way I’ve felt before. Almost as if a nervous energy is flowing through the room.
“Hello,” I say cautiously as I step farther into the room.
“Eden,” an all too familiar voice answers back, suddenly standing up from one of the armchairs and striding over to me.
“Thorne?” I ask in disbelief. “When did you get back?”
“There’s no time for that. We need to show you something.”
I look around at Rhys, Fenn, and Thorne as they look at me with strange expressions.
“Show me what?” I ask cautiously.
“Rhys,” Thorne says, turning toward him
“Follow me.”
Rhys walks past me and through the barrier, and I hesitate as I try to decide whether or not to follow after him. Not that I really have that much choice. If the Demigod Trifecta wanted me to go somewhere with them, they could make me. At least for now, they were giving me the option to go of my own freewill.
I take a deep breath and turn, following after Rhys.
“What are we doing here?” I ask wide-eyed as I look up at Dawnbreak Tower.
“We’re going inside.”
“Isn’t it forbidden?” I ask, not mentioning that I’d already been inside before.
“Yes, but that’s not important right now,” Rhys says. “Come on.”
I hesitate, but Thorne places a hand on my lower back and gently presses me to move forward. I’m already regretting my choice to come with them. If they get me to the top of the tower, they could just as easily throw me off and blame it on an accident or my own recklessness. I d
oubt anyone would question them over it.
Rhys pries open the secret door that Kate had shown me what feels like an eternity ago, and motions for me to go inside.
“Hurry up,” Fenn says anxiously, his hair shifting colors every few seconds. “We shouldn’t to be caught hanging out around here.”
I know I shouldn’t trust them, but with all three of them surrounding me, what choice do I have?
Rhys leads the way up the tower as soon as we’ve all entered the building and the door is shut behind us. Fenn and Thorne follow up behind me, as if to keep me from escaping.
Reaching the top of the staircase, I notice the latch on the door seems to be broken, as if something had been yanked from it.
“It’s just out here,” Rhys says, opening the trapdoor that leads out onto the tower terrace.
Climbing out, I look around but see nothing out of the ordinary except a large black piece of cloth spread over the circular seat.
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask, inwardly preparing myself for my final moments on Earth.
“I found your wings.”
“What?” I ask, completely stunned.
“And there’s this,” Thorne says, handing me a piece of paper with strange words scrawled across it.
Wings torn.
Blood right ripped asunder.
A fate yet to be decided.
Power renewed, feathers righted,
A new kingdom unearthed.
It only takes me a moment to realize they’re not at all dissimilar from the prophecy I’d found. Was this one of the other pieces? Was it talking about my wings?
“Where are my wings?” I ask.
“Over there,” Rhys says, pointing to the large piece of fabric.
We all walk over to stand around the bench, as I look down anxiously at it.
Fenn suddenly grows impatient of waiting and yanks back the black sheet to reveal what’s hidden beneath.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
The four of us stand around looking down at the empty space where my wings had supposedly once been, until Thorne finally breaks the silence.
“I guess we’ll just have to figure out a way to get your wings back then, won’t we?”
I nod slowly at this, but inwardly I just hope this isn’t all a trap…I’m not ready to fall, not again.
A Note From The Author
If you are experiencing bullying in your life know that it is never okay. Please reach out for help:
https://www.stompoutbullying.org
https://www.stopbullying.gov
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at
1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
There is always someone who cares, whether or not you know it. One of those people is me.
Alice Wilde <3
Thank You
Thank you for reading Broken, the second book in the Hellfire Academy series. Book three will be up as soon as possible!
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About the Author
Alice Wilde most of her days writing fantasy paranormal romances (full of gorgeous men and magic) that she hopes her readers will enjoy as much as she does.
Alice is currently living in Asia with her cat dreaming up, writing down, and living in her next book. Don’t worry, she also tends to find time for a real-life date or two... We all need a bit of inspiration now and again, right?
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