“And her mother can’t tell her?”

“She doesn’t want to tell her.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Witches are weird.”

“You don’t say,” Julian added, looking back over at Bay.

“What’s the wolf doing here!” it came from the door.

When one spoke of the devil.

I wheeled my head around in annoyance, confirming the assumption that this rabble had snuck up on me again, standing in the doorway now: the Blair cousins.

While the blonde kept herself in the background as usual, the pushy one with the dark curls stood in the doorway with her arms folded and eyed us both condescendingly. Grace again with her death stare.

A miracle that her cousin had dared to sleep ten feet away the last few nights. A miracle that I had done it. Because even if they could only control the four elements, they were unpredictable and dangerous.

“This is not only your room,” I replied calmly because, by now, I was tired of having to defend myself over and over again. Day in and day out, I defended my existence on this campus with these freaks as if I had to. It was my family’s territory, not theirs.

However, with my beta position in the pack, there was no point in going on the offensive anyway. I would wait until they officially made a misstep.

“He has no business here!” the aggressive Blair cousin hissed angrily.

“As a matter of fact, this whole house belongs to my family,” I sighed, unimpressed, crossing my arms.

That had hit the spot. Her gaze seemed to slip out of joint very briefly until she regained her composure. I tried to look as aggressive as she did, though it seemed to work better for me. I let my eyes flash. Just a little. Grace’s shy counterpart took a step back.

That was the reason I could close my eyes at night.

“Grace, stop provoking her,” Julie whispered softly.

“I’ll be off then...” Julian said in a curt voice, rising from my bed.

Typical of him. When things got serious, he’d back off.

The two girls backed away suspiciously as Julian walked past them as if they were air, and I had to stifle a grin.

“Maybe your family owns this place...” Grace looked back at me and made a circular motion with her finger. “But unfortunately, we have to live here to be able to study, too. Believe me, we never wanted anything to do with you guys.”

“Holy shit, what’s going on with you guys?”

Larissa appeared in the doorway, and we all immediately fell silent. But our hostile looks were worth a thousand words.

Shaking her head, she entered the room, her eyes fixed on her friend’s bed.

“As if she’s still asleep.”

A strange feeling spread through the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t let her find out about any of this.

Grace was looking at me so hatefully again. As if she suspected something.

I jumped up and hurried to get out of here.

Chapter 28

Julie

Getting out of this student housing was one thing. Getting enough distance from Grace was another. We had practically grown up together and in order to get a good foothold within the Circle, I had always stuck to her. This had worked well for a while until the cards turned, and next to the bright and powerful Earth Quatura, Grace, the daughter of the Domini, suddenly the small, unimpressive Julie had discovered her element. Air.

We had spent a lot of time together training our elements, and by now, I had gotten better, especially after she taught me how to properly use my natural inherent element.

And so, it had come to pass that we had hardly spent a day without each other since our early childhood, which was no wonder when you lived under the same roof.

For this very reason, I had gotten up half an hour earlier today and had fortunately been able to get out of the way to head straight for the already lightly filled campus. I needed more time for myself, even if that usually triggered unwanted thought carousels in my head.

In my jacket pocket, I felt my cell phone calling for me with longing.

I reached for it and opened Erik’s chat.

I had spent all night on the couch in the student accommodation debating with Erik about this woman. He thought she was a goddess, but for the first time since I’d known him, he hadn’t been able to provide any clues.

I typed my message.

I felt the entire time that Erik wanted to tell me something, but didn’t. Like he wanted to share a theory but didn’t dare. Was he afraid I would judge him?

The thought of her story sent a dull feeling through my stomach and I felt sick. I barely manage to suppress the trembling in my hands.

No answer, but he was still online.

My fingers were tingling because I wanted to know his thoughts, what was going on in his head, and what moved him.

With that, he dropped the bomb.