Chapter Eleven : The Dark Rose
Ardyn spent the morning avoiding every hallway Aurelia might use.
He told himself it was because he needed quiet, because he had documents to revise, because he had spent half the night reviewing sealing runes and couldn't afford distractions.
The truth was far simpler and infinitely more humiliating.
He didn't trust himself around her today.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw last night's imagination again: Aurelia writhing beneath him, fingers gripping his collar as though he were the only thing keeping her steady. Her breath, warm, impossibly soft, brushing against his neck, and the memory clung to him like a fever he couldn't shake.
He hated how much he remembered. He hated even more that his mind replayed it relentlessly.
So he walked different hallways, moved faster, pretended he didn't know the rhythm of her steps or the lilt of her laugh echoing through the corridors.
Distance would help. Distance would steady him.
It didn't.
Because when he turned the corner and saw her...
His heart betrayed him instantly.
"Professor Ardyn?" Aurelia called softly, voice gentle and unassuming.
He froze.
She stood at the end of the corridor, hair slightly messy, books clutched to her chest, looking up at him with eyes that were too soft, too earnest.
"Good morning," she said with a faint smile that made his chest tighten painfully.
He nodded stiffly. "Morning."
Her eyes searched his face. "About the study incident… thank you. For your concern."
The warmth in her voice cut straight to him.
"It was nothing," he forced out.
"It wasn't nothing to me," she added softly.
He had to look away.
"Let's walk," he muttered.
She fell into step beside him. Though he tried to maintain distance, it didn't matter, he could feel her presence like sunlight on bare skin. Every breath she took seemed amplified. Every subtle movement, each brush of her sleeve, made him jitter with awareness.
Then her hand brushed his.
Just barely. A ghost of a touch.
But it struck Ardyn like lightning.
She jerked her hand back. "Sorry...!"
"It's fine," he said far too quickly.
Her confusion deepened, and worse, a faint hurt flickered in her expression. He pretended not to notice.
Inside the archive, he tried to focus on work. She handled the manuscripts with careful precision, while his attention betrayed him at every glance.
She reached for an old relic volume. Her fingertips grazed the cover...
Symbols erupted across its surface in a soft, radiant pulse.
"Aurelia -" The professor grabbed her wrist instinctively.
Magic flared, warm and intimate, bathing them in a glow that made the air tremble. Her pulse thumped beneath his fingers. His own heart stumbled. Their eyes met.
And the world narrowed to a single, fragile instant.
A moment he wanted too much.
A moment he shouldn't want at all.
He released her abruptly, stepping back. She blinked, lips parting in confusion.
"Aurelia..." he tried, but his words tangled in his throat.
He couldn't explain what he didn't understand. He couldn't admit what he didn't want to name.
Before either of them could speak,...
"AURELIA!"
Cal Rivers burst into the doorway like a gust of wind.
The spell broke instantly.
Ardyn straightened, face cold and unreadable. Aurelia jumped, instinctively stepping back. Cal's eyes flicked between them, suspicion burning in his gaze before he focused fully on her.
"I need to show you something," Cal whispered, voice urgent. "Privately."
Ardyn's jaw clenched.
Privately.
Cal leaned in closer, as if sharing a secret meant only for her. Ardyn's fingers curled at his side. Irritation, sharp and impossible to ignore, stabbed at him.
Aurelia blinked, caught between them. "Is everything okay?"
"No," Cal said softly. "You need to see this now."
Ardyn stepped back, controlling his composure. "If it is urgent," he said, "she may go."
Aurelia nodded. "We can continue later."
Later.
The word echoed unpleasantly, sinking in like a weight.
Professor Ardyn gave a stiff nod, pretending not to watch Cal guide her out, pretending the warmth in his chest wasn't twisting into something darker.
The moment the door shut,
He exhaled shakily, pressing both palms to his desk.
"What am I doing…" he whispered.
He hated this storm of feeling. She was his responsibility, his student, not an object of desire. And yet, the memory of the pulse, the trust in her gaze, undid him. Completely.
Every step she took away felt like something vital slipping through his fingers.
Meanwhile, Cal didn't slow until they reached a quiet corridor, bathed in soft morning light.
Aurelia clutched her books, heart hammering. "Cal… you're worrying me. What's going on?"
He checked the hallway, then pulled out his phone, hands shaking, not from running, but from what he was about to show her.
"I wasn't going to show you this," he whispered, "because it's… well, it's insane. But I had to. You need to see it."
She frowned. "Why? What is it?"
He unlocked the screen and revealed a faded, ancient illustration: a dark rose symbol, curling like smoke, inked with a depth that made it almost breathe.
Aurelia's pulse stumbled.
"Cal… it looks like -"
"I know," he interrupted, voice low. "It's nearly identical to your mark… but darker. Older. Heavier."
She touched her own wrist, tracing the faint glow of her own rose mark. The resemblance was uncanny, but something about the shading, the depth...made it clear: this was not hers.
"Where did you find this?" she breathed.
"In the restricted archives," he said urgently. "Among manuscripts about old royal bloodlines. I shouldn't have… but I saw it."
He swiped to the next image.
Aurelia's breath caught. The mark appeared again,on the wrist of a girl standing beside a young, armored prince. The girl's hair was chestnut, green eyes sharp, and her presence commanding even in faded ink.
"She was Princess Lyra of Elarion," Cal whispered.
Aurelia froze. Lyra. Not her. A stranger. And yet… the mark's resemblance was impossible.
Cal's voice trembled slightly. "I don't know why, but… seeing your mark next to hers, it's uncanny. Too similar to be coincidence."
Aurelia tried to speak, but the corridor around her seemed to tilt. Colors bled at the edges. The air thickened.
"Aurelia?" Cal stepped closer. "Hey, are you okay?"
She opened her mouth to answer,
But the world blurred.
Light surged, the air shivering around her. Her knees buckled, her hands grasped at walls that weren't there.
Cal's voice was distant, panicked. "AURELIA! TALK TO ME!"
And then, she was gone.