Moonrise at Noxmere didn't happen the way it did in the mortal world.
Aeris stood at the amphitheater, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the first years. The amphitheater curled in on itself like a fossilized ribcage, the old bones of the Academy laid bare.
Every seat was packed. Seniors from all four houses watched with predatory interest.
Aeris swallowed and tried to pretend her palms weren't sweating, tried to pretend her skin didn't still remember the heat of him.
Kael.
His touch still lingered like a brand on her skin — possessive, burning, wrong in all the right ways. Aeris hadn't told anyone, not yet. She would tell Maya and Cas later, after this House Selection ends.
"You're quiet," Casimir murmured beside her, hands shoved deep into his coat pockets. "And you keep fidgeting like you're waiting to bolt."
She forced a thin smile. "Do I?"
Maya, resplendent in a black velvet cloak pinned with the silver crest of House Sylverian, looked her over with narrowed pink eyes. "What happened to your door?"
Aeris glanced away. "I'll tell you after this."
"Tell us everything," Maya squinted her eyes.
Cas just nodded, no questions asked. That was the thing about them. They didn't push unless she gave them permission.
"Still breathing?" Cas nudged her shoulder, trying to tease the nerves off her.
"Barely."
"You'll be fine. Worst case, you get thrown into House Vermillion. Only, like, three students have died during initiation in the last few years. That's practically a safety record."
Maya rolled her eyes. "Cas."
"I'm being supportive."
Aeris snorted under her breath, giving him a side-eye. "Is this your version of a pep talk?"
"Absolutely. But if that fails.." Cas cleared his throat dramatically and mimed tripping over the ancient stone stairs, nearly face planting into a pair of scowling Fae boys. A ripple of snorts and eye- rolls followed.
Despite herself, Aeris smiled. But the nerves didn't go. If anything, they curled tighter, coiling somewhere beneath her ribs.
She didn't know what scared her more..being rejected by the system, or being accepted by it.
Because being cast out? Aeris could survive that. She had, before.
But being chosen? That was unfamiliar and terrifying. Because it meant belonging and belonging meant roots. And roots… were the beginning of ruin.
Her gaze drifted to the dais towering over the arena—four thrones carved from obsidian, bone, silver, and flame. Not chairs. Thrones. Monuments to the power each one represented.
Three of the figures were already familiar.
Vincent Ravenscroft sat with his customary disdain, every inch of him honed and dangerous. His crimson coat draped over his frame like royal blood. His eyes, those merciless red irises locked onto Aeris like her existence was a stain he couldn't scrub away.
Beside him, Aldric Bliase lounged, mischief dripping from his smirk. He wore his House Sylverian crest like a fashion statement, his blond curls tousled like it had been kissed by moonlight. When their eyes met, he winked like he knew every secret she hadn't yet spoken aloud.
And then — Kael Wrenhart. He didn't glare, didn't scowl. Those golden wolf-eyes pinned her unapologetically like a target. He made no effort to hide it, the claim, the hunger, the memory of what had passed between them barely an hour ago. The feel of his body, his voice, the scent of pine, smoke and sin—it was all there, coiled in the way he sat, legs spread, one hand gripping the armrest like he might shatter it if anyone got too close to her.
Aeris felt her pulse spike. She tore her gaze from the thrones and spun toward Cas. Her fingers gripped his sleeves, shaking him harder than she meant to. "Cas..what the hell are they doing up there?"
Cas blinked, startled by her intensity. He followed her gaze, then Maya did too. Their eyes settled on the four thrones...the four figures seated like apex predators above the crowd.
Cas looked back at her, brow furrowed. "What do you mean? That's where they belong."
"Belong?" she hissed.
"They're the ruling elite, Aeris. Heirs of the Four Great Houses. They're our seniors."
Her stomach dropped. Cold and hard.
Aeris stared at them again, Vincent with his murder-red glare, Aldric wearing secrets like perfume, Kael watching her like she was already his.
Her mouth went dry. "What the fuck..." she whispered, breathless. "How can they be.." Aeris felt ice flood her veins.
"What is it?" Maya asked, an alarm creeping into her voice. "Aeris, do you know them?"
She didn't hear Maya's question. By that time, her eyes were already glued to the fourth figure.
He wasn't familiar to her yet something about him sent cold fire down her spine. He sat straight-backed, hands folded, calm in a way that was almost unnerving. A pair of thin-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose framed his dark, intelligent eyes. His hair was ink-black, swept back that made her think of Korean dramas.
Unlike the others, he wore no house colors. His attire was minimalist — a high-collared black coat like a scholar.
He hadn't spared her a single glance. Yet somehow, that unsettled her more than all the others combined.
Even surrounded by monsters, he was the one that made her feel like prey.
"Who is that?" Her words left her before Aeris allowed them to.
Maya followed her line of sight. "That's Damien Devereux."
Cas whistled low. "The Devil of House Thorne."
"Devil?" Aeris repeated, her voice thin.
"They say he's older than most of the students," Cas replied. "A prodigy born into darkness. Master of forbidden magic. They say he debated a rival on demonic theory once… and when the other boy insulted him—he burned him alive in front of the whole class."
Aeris was gob smacked, she couldn't shake the sensation that he was the most dangerous thing in the room.
More than Kael's wildness.
More than Vincent's rage.
More than Aldric's charm.
"He did win the debate, though," Maya added, far too cheerfully for Aeris's comfort.
The Headmaster chose that moment to appear in a snap of his magic. "Tonight," Magnus intoned, "the House Ritual begins. Four pillars. Four paths. One destiny."
He lifted a silver staff, tall as himself. Then—
CRACK.
He slammed it down, the sound rattling through the bones.
"There is no appeal," Magnus continued. "No negotiation. The stones will read your blood. Your essence. Your truth. You are what the stones say you are."
"Let the Calling commence." He stepped back with solemn finality.
One by one, students were summoned. The process was efficient, brutal.
A name. A step. A flare of light.
The runes carved into the stone pulsed as if tasting the soul of each student, reacting in colors:
Green for House Sylverian.
Crimson for House Nocturne.
Gold for House Fenraeth.
Black for House Thorne.
No speeches. No fanfare. Just fate, branding them like livestock.
Then the Headmaster called her name. "Aeris Vexley."
And the amphitheater didn't cheer or boo. Her name didn't inspire awe, it spiked doubt, curiosity laced with the scent of blood.
Aeris stepped onto the stone, bare feet freezing against the etched runes like it had been waiting for her. She half-expected the platform to reject her outright — to spit her out as defective.
The runes lit up then glitched.
Literally.
They flared red, gold, green then darkened so abruptly.
A black glow.
It wasn't the soft black she had seen for others. This one burned, deep, bruised, consuming black.
"House… Thorne," the Headmaster announced after a long pause.
Aeris froze on the glow, her every instinct screamed wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't what she..
Her eyes lifted.
The world seemed to tilt when his eyes finally met hers.
Damien Devereux.
Gone was the disinterest he wore, he was no longer ignoring her. He was looking at her, studying her.
Her breath caught somewhere behind her ribs. Not a gasp, not a flutter. A lock-click in her chest she hadn't meant to give.
Aeris wasn't sure if she wanted to run from that gaze… or drown in it.
Every inhale scraped against the inside of her lungs, as if in that one impossible moment, Damien had reached through the spaces between them and pressed a thumb to something raw inside her, something Aeris had kept hidden even from herself.