Something stirred in my chest. They could insult me, could try to intimidate me, but attacking my family—even my complicated relationship with my father—crossed a line.
"You know what I think?" I said, my voice dropping to a whisper that carried through the silent corridor. "I think you’re threatened. I think you’ve spent so long being the most powerful girl in your little pond that you’re terrified of what happens when someone like me shows up.
Miranda’s face flushed red. "You don’t know who you’re talking to."
"Then enlighten me," I said cocking my head.
"My name is Miranda Peters, a member of the student council. I can make your life very easy," she paused, "...or very difficult."
I leaned closer as if I wanted to share a secret. "Difficult has been my life’s speciality."
Rita pushed past Miranda and came towards me with a scoff, "You think you’re clever? Girls like you—"
"Girls like me, what?" I cut in, smiling sweetly. "Breathe? Exist? Refuse to bow to leftovers like you?"
Rita’s face reddened instantly. "Leftovers?"
"Yes," I tilted my head, making sure the mockery in my voice was loud enough to be heard. "You’re Kael’s ex, aren’t you? Are you perhaps angry that the system assigned me to the same dorm as your ex?"
A chorus of shocked whispers broke from the crowd.
"And Miranda," I turned to her. "It’s no news that you’ve always fancied Rhett. Why are you taking it out on me? The system picked up randomly."
Miranda’s ears burned red as she took a step towards me and stuttered. "H-How do you know all of these?"
"Well," I shrugged daintily. "Let’s just say I’ve bonded really well with my new roommates."
Miranda’s eyes widened with surprise, and I could tell she didn’t know if she could believe a word of what I just said.
"You don’t know anything about power here," she finally managed. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱
"Don’t I?" I smiled, and I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. "Tell me, Miranda, how long have you been trying to get elected to the top three Student Council positions? Two years? Three? And here I am, first day, and I guarantee you I could have any position I wanted by the end of the week."
"That’s not how things work—"
"That’s exactly how things work when you have the right backing," I interrupted smoothly. "Ask yourself why the academies merged this year. Ask yourself who provided the funding that made it possible. Ask yourself why Headmistress Vale personally approved my transfer."
I could see uncertainty creeping into their expressions. They might not know the specifics, but they weren’t stupid. Power recognised power, even when it didn’t want to acknowledge it.
"So here’s what’s going to happen," I continued, my voice never rising above conversational level. "You’re going to step aside, let me finish organising my locker, and we’re all going to pretend this little display of insecurity never happened."
"Or what?" Rita challenged, though her voice lacked its earlier conviction.
I looked at each of them in turn, my expression utterly calm.
"Or you’re going to find out exactly how much influence the Greye name still carries, and exactly how creative I can be when people try to intimidate me."
The threat hung in the air between us, and I could see them weighing their options. They’d come here expecting to cow the new girl into submission, but they’d miscalculated. I wasn’t Eamon anymore, hiding and trying to avoid attention. I was Charis Greye Knox, and I’d learned from the best how to project power.
"This isn’t over," Miranda said finally, but she stepped back. "You’ll learn. Everyone does."
She snapped her fingers, and the girls turned with her, strutting down the hall.
As the group dispersed, I finally opened my locker and retrieved my books for first period. The corridor slowly returned to normal noise levels as students resumed their conversations, though I could feel curious gazes following me.
I was checking my reflection in the small mirror I’d placed inside my locker when I heard footsteps approaching me.
The conversations around me seemed to quieten again, and I could sense students turning to look at whoever was approaching.
I closed my locker and turned, my books clutched against my chest, and froze.
Darian Blackmoor stood before me, looking exactly as I remembered from months ago.
The sight of him sent a ripple of fear through my veins. This was the man my father had tried to force me to marry, the reason I’d run away and created Eamon in the first place.
"Charis," he called out my name.
"Darian," I replied evenly, proud that my voice didn’t shake.
"It’s really you," his eyes regarded me with interest that hadn’t been there the first day we met. "Y-You look different. More beautiful. No one informed us that you were back."
I didn’t respond to the compliment; I just stood there waiting for him to explain why he was here.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
I scrunched my brows and squinted my eyes at him. "Do we?"
"Yes. Now." He stepped closer. "I’ve missed you so much."
I took a deep breath. "I’m afraid, Darian, you’ll have to be more specific," I said, tilting my head with false innocence. "I have class in ten minutes."
"Don’t play games with me, Charis. You know exactly what I’m talking about and why I’m here."
"Are you by chance referring to our engagement?" I asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.
He looked around and cleared his throat. "Yes! I suppose that now you’ve mentioned it’s no longer a secret."
He turned to our small audience and announced. Charis Greye and I were engaged before she went on a sabbatical seven months ago. Consider this a formal announcement."
Our audience cheered, and Darian turned to me with a cocky smile, trying to reach for my hand, but I took a step backwards.
"Any engagement that has not been officially recognised within six months is considered null, Darian. Even if that is still not valid, I’m afraid I’d have to break things up with you because I am no longer interested in becoming your Luna."
Darian stared at me for a few minutes; the lines on his forehead seemed to be deepening with every passing second.
"W-What are you talking about?"
I sighed. "Listen, you can direct your questions to my father or whomever. I’m off to class."
I gave him a polite bow, closed my locker and walked past him towards my classroom, trying to picture the look on Isolde’s face when I tell her about the ripple effect.
My first day as Charis Greye Knox was off to an interesting start.