Iris's POV
My backpack strap snapped the second I stepped off the bus.
Books crashed onto the ground. My laptop hit the pavement with a crack that made my stomach drop. Around me, students with glowing eyes and impossible strength turned to stare. Some laughed. A girl with pointed ears whispered something to her friend, and they both smirked at me.
Welcome to Thornmere University, Iris. Where you don't belong.
I dropped to my knees and started grabbing my stuff before someone could step on it. My hands shook. This was supposed to be my big moment. My fresh start. I'd worked three jobs to save money. I'd studied until my eyes burned. I'd earned two scholarships just to get here.
And I was already failing.
"Need help?" A vampire boy stood over me. He didn't sound mean, but he didn't sound nice either. Just curious. Like I was some weird bug he'd found.
"I'm fine," I lied, shoving my cracked laptop into my arms.
He walked away. Everyone did. Because that's what you do when you see something weak. You leave it behind.
I was one of maybe twelve humans in a school of eight hundred supernatural students. Werewolves. Vampires. Witches. Creatures I didn't even have names for. And me. Regular. Breakable. Human.
But I was here. That had to count for something.
I made it to the assembly hall five minutes late. The doors were already closed. I pushed them open as quietly as possible, but they creaked like they wanted everyone to notice me. Hundreds of faces turned my way. I wanted to die.
"Miss Hale." The dean's voice boomed across the room. "How kind of you to join us."
My face burned as I rushed to find an empty seat. There was one in the back. I practically ran to it.
The dean continued talking about academic partners. Every student would be paired with someone for the whole year. Study together. Train together. Apparently, it built character or whatever. I just hoped I'd get someone who wouldn't make fun of me every single day.
"When I call your name, stand up so your partner can find you," the dean said.
Names started getting called. Supernatural students stood up, found each other, sat back down. Everyone looked confident. Like they belonged here.
"Iris Hale."
My heart jumped. I stood up on shaky legs. Please don't be someone awful. Please don't be someone who hates humans.
"Your partner is Caspian Ravencourt."
The room went silent. Not the normal kind of quiet. The kind that happens when something shocking just occurred. Students started whispering. Some gasped. A few even laughed, but not happy laughs. Nervous ones.
I had no idea who Caspian Ravencourt was. But clearly, everyone else did.
Then someone stood up across the hall. The crowd seemed to part around him even though no one actually moved. He was tall. Dark hair. Built like someone who could break things without trying. But it was his eyes that made my breath catch. Deep brown, almost gold in the light. And they were staring straight at me.
The whole world tilted sideways.
Something happened in my chest. Something impossible. It felt like a rope made of light suddenly connected me to him. Like I'd been walking around my whole life with a piece missing, and now I'd found it across a crowded room in a boy I'd never met.
What is this?
His eyes went wide. His face went pale. He felt it too. I knew he did. Whatever this weird, powerful, terrifying thing was, it wasn't just happening to me.
The girl next to him grabbed his arm. "Caspian?" she whispered, loud enough for me to hear. "What's wrong?"
He didn't answer her. He just kept staring at me. Everyone in the room was looking between us now. The whispers got louder. Someone said "impossible." Someone else said "no way."
And then Caspian's expression changed. The shock disappeared. His face went hard. Cold. Like a door slamming shut.
My stomach dropped. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
He opened his mouth. The entire assembly hall waited. I waited, my heart pounding so hard I thought everyone could hear it.
Then Caspian Ravencourt spoke three words that destroyed me.
"I reject this."
The golden rope in my chest snapped. Pain exploded through me like nothing I'd ever felt. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. The room spun.
What just happened? What did he reject? Why did it hurt so much?
Caspian was still talking. His voice sounded far away, like I was underwater. "The bond is clearly a mistake. I refuse to acknowledge it."
Bond? What bond?
But I knew. Somehow, I knew. That golden feeling. That connection. It was real. And he'd just ripped it away.
Students were staring at me. Some looked shocked. Some looked sorry for me. Most just looked uncomfortable, like they'd watched something they shouldn't have.
I sat down hard. My legs wouldn't hold me anymore. The dean was saying something about unusual circumstances and alternative arrangements, but I couldn't hear the words. There was a ringing in my ears.
Across the hall, Caspian sat down too. He wasn't looking at me anymore. But his hands were shaking.
The assembly continued. Names kept getting called. Partners kept finding each other. The world kept spinning like nothing had happened.
But something
had happened. Something huge. And I didn't understand any of it.
All I knew was this: I'd felt something impossible and beautiful for exactly ten seconds.
And then a boy I didn't know had broken it.
The question burning in my mind wasn't
why.
It was: what exactly had I just lost?