Outside, a heavy fog had swallowed the grounds of Ravenholm Academy.
Inside the greenhouse, the air was moist and filled with the scent of damp earth—the only place Elias truly felt he could breathe.
Elias checked the magical floating clock for the tenth time. Fifty-eight minutes.
He sat on a wooden crate near the back, his fingers tracing the serrated edge of a Moon-Vine leaf. He had been waiting for nearly an hour. The itch in his palm has reduced to a dull, rhythmic throb now, a low-frequency vibration that told him the Prince was nearby, yet the greenhouse remained empty.
He should leave now.
He had already stood up and brushed the dirt from his trousers.
Perhaps Cassian had found another way. Perhaps he had decided that dying was better than relying on a Thornbloom.
Elias froze.
"You're late." Elias said, his voice flat. He kept his back to the door, focusing on the way the Moon-Vine curled away from the sudden draft of cold air.
"I am a Prince." a voice rasped. "I don't keep schedules for gardeners."
Elias turned. The sight of Cassian stole the air from his lungs.
The Prince looked worse than he had in the classroom and yet more handsome. His white hair was damp with sweat, clinging to his forehead. His uniform was unbuttoned at the throat, revealing the faint, shimmering gold veins of the Ivy creeping toward his collarbone. He looked fragile—a glass statue cracked from the inside.
"You look like hell." Elias murmured. "Your Highness." He added quietly.
Cassian didn't snap back to his surprise. He stumbled toward the central stone table, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. "The session. Now."
Elias moved. He cleared a space on the table, pushing aside a tray of dormant seeds. "Sit here."
Cassian sank onto the stool. He looked up at Elias, his blood-red eyes hazy with pain. The royal mask was completely gone, replaced by a raw, naked desperation.
Elias stepped into the his space. Usually, the proximity to the Prince felt like standing near ice, but tonight, Cassian was burning.
"Give me your hand." Elias commanded.
Cassian reached out. His fingers were trembling. When Elias's hand closed around his, the contact felt like a lightning strike.
Elias gasped.
The resonance was different tonight.
The moment their skin met, the gold beneath Cassian's skin flared, glowing through the fabric of his shirt. Elias felt the Prince's heart—a frantic, fluttering thing—and beneath it, the heavy, sludge-like pulse of the Ivy.
"Quiet." Elias whispered, though he wasn't sure if he was talking to the Prince or the plant. Or his own fluttering heart.
He closed his eyes and began the stabilization.
He reached into the chaos and began to mentally 'pat' it. It was like petting an angry kitten. He used his lineage gift to wrap his own steady, moss-green energy around the jagged edges of the Prince's golden fire. He was a gardener taming a wild, overgrown hedge, clipping back the thorns that were digging into Cassian's soul.
The physical sensation was overwhelming. Because he was so focused on the magic, Elias didn't notice how close they had become. He was so focused he didn't notice he had leaned into Cassian's chest.
His scent made Elias lose for for a second. It was a masculine scent that felt entirely too intimate.
How can a scent be intimate? Maybe fatigue was finally getting to him.
Cassian's breath hitched. He let out a long, shuddering sigh as the pain began to fade. His head tilted back, his throat exposed, and his eyes half-closed. His other hand—the one not being held—came up instinctively, gripping Elias's arm to steady himself.
The grip was tight. Painful, almost. But Elias didn't pull away.
He watched the way the gold light faded from Cassian's skin, replaced by the pale, white of his natural complexion.
Up close, the Prince was terrifyingly beautiful. Elias noticed the way his long white lashes brushed his cheeks, and the way his lips were parted just enough to show little of his teeth.
Elias felt his heart race as he flushed.
'It's so hot. It's nothing romantic.' He told himself. 'It was just the heat of the magic. It was the overflow.'
But his heart was beating in time with Prince's, and for a moment, the greenhouse felt very, very small.
"You're staring." Cassian murmured. His voice had regained its edge, though it was still low, vibrating against Elias's chest.
Elias jerked his gaze away, flustered. He looked at their joined hands. "I'm monitoring the stabilization. Don't flatter yourself." He snapped.
Silence.
Elias realized what he'd done. He pressed his lips together still looking down. He expected a snap or something.
"Is that what you call it?" Cassian opened his eyes. The haze was gone, replaced by a sharp, lethal clarity.
Elias was taken aback.
Cassian didn't let go of Elias's arm. Instead, he leaned forward, forcing Elias to meet his gaze. "And did you 'monitor' my brother with the same intensity today?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
Elias stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Lying is an inefficient use of my time." Cassian hissed. His fingers tightened on Elias's arm.
"Zayne arrived this morning. And by noon, he was seen in the corridor cornering a certain silver-eyed. My brother doesn't talk to commoners unless he wants… something."
Elias pulled his hand back, breaking their connection. The sudden loss him feel cold but he stood his ground. "He bumped into me. It was an accident."
"Zayne doesn't have accidents," Cassian snapped. He stood up, the regal mask sliding back into place as if the vulnerability of the last ten minutes had never happened. "He talked to you. What did he say?"
Elias crossed his arms, trying to hide the way his hands were shaking. "He said I was 'pretty.' He said he had an interest in botany. And he invited me for tea."
Cassian's expression didn't change, but a small flower on a nearby shelf suddenly withered and turned to black ash.
"Tea." Cassian repeated, the word sounding like a curse. "He was trying to test you. He wants to know why I survived the White Bloom without collapsing."
He stepped toward Elias, towering over him.
"Don't go. You may not know things work but it's not just for tea."
"I'm not stupid." Elias shot back, his own anger finally bubbling over. "I know he's dangerous. I know you're dangerous. But I have my own problems. Professor Vane…"
Cassian stepped closer and reached out, his gloved finger tracing the line of Elias's jaw. The touch was light, but it felt like a brand. "You aren't just a nobody person ignored. Now you belong to me. And Zayne knows it."
Elias's heart skipped. He hated the way his body reacted to the Prince's touch. He hated that he felt more alive in this dangerous, greenhouse than he ever had in the quiet orchards of his memory.
"I don't belong to anyone," Elias whispered, though his voice lacked conviction.
"We shall see." Cassian murmured. He pulled his hand away and buttoned his tunic, the perfect prince returning in full.
"Tomorrow, the King arrives for the Mid-Winter inspection. You will stay in the library. You will not look at me. You will not look at Zayne. If you breathe a word about the Ivy to anyone—even your little girlfriend with people pink hair—I will ensure the Thornbloom name is erased from history entirely."
"She's not my girlfriend."
"Don't care."
Elias felt like he should change the topic.
"The Ivy... is getting stronger, isn't it? It was harder to curb today."
Cassian stayed silent for a long time. The only sound in the greenhouse was the rhythmic dripping of water from a nearby pipe.
"It is hungry, Elias. That's what it's meant to do as a curse. It's why it's called a curse." Cassian said finally.
He turned and walked toward the door, his cape snapping.
"Wait." Elias called out.
Cassian paused, but didn't turn around.
"Do… do you know anything about my parents accident?"
Cassian turned around, a flicker of something—was it pity? Or just recognition?—passed through his red eyes.
"In Ravenholm, nothing is quite an accident," Cassian said quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"If your parents were able to stabilize magic, they were a threat to the King's absolute control over magic. My father does not like things he cannot command. If he finds out about you…"