Nyx Raventhorn did not rush.
That was what made her dangerous.
While the academy buzzed with fear and whispered warnings after the failed ritual, Nyx moved through Romance Academy as though she belonged to it—unbothered, unchallenged, untouched by the panic gripping everyone else. Professors watched her carefully. Students avoided her openly. The unclaimed stared at her with awe and hunger.
Lyra watched her with instinctive dread.
From the moment Nyx arrived, the air around Kael felt… crowded. Not strained, not weakened—but aware, as if the bond itself had lifted its head and begun to watch the shadows.
"She's not attacking," Lyra murmured one afternoon as she and Kael walked the outer path of the grounds. "She's observing."
Kael nodded. "Nyx believes patience is power. She studies before she strikes."
Lyra glanced at him sharply. "You've known her a long time."
"Too long," he admitted. "We trained together once. Before she rejected the idea of bonding entirely."
That made Lyra slow her steps. "Rejected?"
"She believes soulmates limit potential," Kael said quietly. "That love creates hesitation. Weakness."
Lyra's fingers curled into her sleeve. "Then why you?"
Kael stopped walking.
He turned to face her fully, his expression serious, almost troubled. "Because my bloodline amplifies magic. And because I didn't reject the bond when it claimed me."
Realization sank like a stone.
"She doesn't want to break us because she loves you," Lyra whispered. "She wants to prove she's right."
Kael lifted her hand, pressing his thumb gently against her knuckles. "And she won't."
But later that evening, Nyx made her move—not against Lyra.
Against the academy.
The summons came without warning.
All students were called to the Grand Hall, where ancient banners hung heavy with magic. Headmistress Selvara stood at the center dais, her staff glowing faintly. At her side stood Nyx Raventhorn, calm and composed, as if this moment had been long planned.
"I come with a proposal," Nyx said, her voice carrying effortlessly. "One that may end the violence growing among the unclaimed."
Murmurs rippled through the hall.
Lyra felt Kael tense beside her.
Nyx continued, "The chaos you see now is not because bonds exist—but because they are exclusive. You give some students certainty, and others nothing but waiting and loss."
"That is not your concern," Selvara said sharply.
Nyx smiled faintly. "On the contrary. I am unbonded. Powerful. Controlled. Proof that destiny is not required for greatness."
Her gaze swept the room—and landed, deliberately, on Kael.
"I propose a trial," Nyx said. "Not of strength. Not of ritual. But of choice."
Lyra's heart skipped.
"A bonded individual," Nyx continued, "may willingly enter a Resonance Trial—a mental and magical test that measures compatibility beyond fate. If the bond is truly unbreakable, it will not waver."
The hall erupted.
"That's madness!" someone shouted.
"She's trying to rewrite the laws!"
Selvara raised her staff, silencing them. "No such trial exists."
Nyx inclined her head. "It did. Long ago. You sealed it when too many truths surfaced."
Lyra felt sick.
This wasn't a challenge of force.
It was a challenge of doubt.
Kael leaned close to Lyra, his voice urgent but steady. "I will not do it."
Nyx heard him anyway.
"Of course you won't," she said smoothly. "Because if your bond is as strong as you claim, you're not afraid."
Lyra's wolf snarled.
Nyx's eyes flicked to her at last. "Unless," she added softly, "you are."
That night, Lyra sat awake long after the candles burned low.
Kael sat on the floor beside her bed, his back against the frame, refusing to leave. The bond between them was steady—but thoughtful. Listening.
"She's planting seeds," Lyra said quietly. "Not in you. In everyone else."
Kael looked up at her. "Do you trust me?"
"With my life," she said immediately.
"Then listen to me," he said. "No trial. No witch. No ancient rule will change what I feel. She cannot take what I will not give."
Lyra slid down from the bed and sat beside him, resting her head against his shoulder. "I know. But she doesn't need to take you. She just needs the academy to believe bonds can be replaced."
Kael's arm came around her, firm and grounding. "Then we prove her wrong."
Above them, the moon slipped free of the clouds.
And somewhere else in the academy, Nyx Raventhorn stood alone in a tower room, her hands resting on an ancient sigil carved into stone.
"Soon," she whispered to the magic itself. "We will see whose love is stronger than destiny."
Because Nyx did not intend to steal Kael by force.
She intended to make the world question whether Lyra deserved him at all.
And at Romance Academy, doubt was often deadlier than hate.