Gothicana

CHAPTER 27

Corvina

He’d wanted to fuck her in the ruins, but after knowing everything that had happened there, she wasn’t keen. So he took her back to the castle and into the Vault, locking them in, sating her and himself, over and over again, while a sexy masquerade Ball took place right upstairs.

“Will we always be sneaking around?” she asked him, their clothes on one of the armchairs, the one with the lion heads, as she lay on top of him on the couch.

He played with her fingers, constantly rubbing her new ring, obsessed with seeing it on her.

“If nothing happens tonight,” he rumbled after a few minutes, “there won’t be any reason for it. I’ll come out as a Board member. Of course, I won’t be teaching any of your classes after that. But I will bend the rules for us.”

“I hope nothing happens tonight,” she murmured, watching the darkened fireplace, listening to the calm beating of his heart as he stroked the naked line of her spine, mindlessly pausing to play some melody with his fingers.

While her feeling of something wrong hadn’t entirely left her, she hadn’t heard or seen anything since finding the body in the shack.

“Has Ajax found anything yet?” she rested her chin on his chest. “Any update?”

“If he has, he’s not telling me,” he continued playing with her back. “I’m a suspect in his investigation.”

Indignation roiled over her. “You didn’t do it.”

A side of his mouth tipped up. “No, I didn’t.” He looked into her eyes seriously. “But never doubt I’m not capable of it, Corvina.” He pushed a strand of her hair back from her face. “If someone even touched the hair on your head, I would do much worse to them without any remorse. And I’m smart enough and rich enough to never get caught.”

Corvina ignored the flutter in her belly and asked the question that had been bothering her for a long time. “Exactly how rich are you?”

He shrugged. “Rich enough. It took me some time getting used to having money,” he looked into the black fireplace. “The home I was in wasn’t a good place. If they had money, it never got to us. I had three pairs of clothes I had to wash and wear, and no money of my own to get anything. One time my friend was injured and I couldn’t even buy a bandage for him.”

Corvina’s heart ached hearing him talk about his past, but she stayed quiet, listening.

“That’s why a lot of kids turned to… not good shit,” he muttered. “I was getting used to that way of life. And then suddenly this old rich guy came out of nowhere, took me to what seemed like a mansion, and told me all of it and more was mine. It was… disconcerting.”

He went silent for a bit.

“Tell me about your friend,” she lay her head down on him. “The one you were looking for when you found mama. Did you find him?”

“No,” he exhaled. “He died in a fire that happened in the home soon after I left.” Suddenly he chuckled. “Old Zelda had been right about him too. He ended up eating flames.”

Corvina had no clue what that meant but she didn’t ask.

The sound of shouts from upstairs suddenly infiltrated their cozy bubble. They both straightened, looking up towards the door.

“What’s going on?” Corvina wondered as they dressed up in haste.

His tone was grim. “I hope it’s not what I’m thinking it is.”

Someone missing. God, she hoped not.

They went up the stairs within minutes, emerging into some kind of commotion, completely u

Erica came out of nowhere, her eyes wild. “Where were you?! We’ve been looking all over the place!”

Corvina blinked. “What’s going on?”

“We thought you and Jade had gone missing,” Ethan told her in a grave voice, ru

Corvina shook her head, her heart pounding. “You haven’t seen her?”

Ethan and Erica shook their heads.

Jax stood by their side, his eyes narrowed on Corvina. “You were gone for hours. Where did you go?”

Corvina felt a hot wave of anger flood through her at the demand in his tone. “That’s none of your business, Jax. The priority is finding Jade.”

Corvina watched Kaylin walk into the middle of the entryway, clapping her hands for attention. Everyone fell silent.

“It’s with a very heavy heart that I need to inform you,” she began, and Erica gripped Corvina’s hand for support. “There have been two disappearances tonight.”

A murmur went through the crowd, and Corvina stood stu

Two?

After a century of single disappearances, suddenly there were two? What the fuck?

“First-year undergraduate student, Jade Prescott,” Kaylin looked distressed, “and master’s student, Roy Kingston have both been missing for over three hours. The castle premises have been searched for them and given the recent discoveries, the Board has ordered an immediate search of the woods and the surrounding grounds. I advise all students to return to their towers. Those who wish to join the search party, meet at the Main Hall entrance in ten minutes in more suitable attire.”  

Students hurried out of the area, some to change and return, some to stay back.

Corvina exchanged a worried look with Vad and he gave her a nod.

She took off her heels and ran across the grass on naked feet to her tower, climbing up as fast as she could and getting to her room. Quickly stripping and putting on her one pair of pants and sneakers, she left her room, halting in a corridor for a second.

It was a clear full moon night, which meant the entire area would be bathed in light. If there was any movement happening, it would be visible from the top of the tower. It was worth the few minutes to risk going up.

Decision made, she ran up the stairs to the attic room, pushing the door open and hurrying to the window, panting as she looked down from the height, trying to spot anything out of place. Students gathered on the cobblestoned path, the woods looking as they did beyond that, the lake even further.

Corvina squinted, trying to see anything unusual when she spotted the smoke. Coming up from the left part of the woods, big plumes of smoke curled up towards the sky.

She knew exactly what was in the direction.

Ru

“The ruins,” Corvina panted. “There’s smoke coming from the ruins. I saw it from the window.”

“What ruins?” someone asked.

“Slayers Ruins,” Vad spoke, already jogging into the woods. “Rest of you, search the grounds. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

Corvina ran after him, aware of Ajax on her tail.

They ran down the incline for a few minutes, and soon the familiar crumbling wall came into view, the ruins she had been in just hours ago puking smoke into the air.

She saw Vad stop at the begi

The piano she had been sitting on just hours ago, having one of the most beautiful moments of her life, the piano Vad had spent days repairing, was up in flames, completely destroyed as the fire ate it alive. Nothing else in the ruin was touched except the piano.  

“This is personal, Deverell,” Ajax looked at the grim scene with his keen eye. “And the fire makes me wonder if it’s not co