Chapter 6: Ruins, Rumors, and Forbidden Touch

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

After Ethan and Jade share the campus legend, Corvina spends a restless, unsettled night. A soft feminine voice whispers “Find me,” and the smoke in her room briefly takes shape. Unable to sleep, she goes into the woods at dawn. She stumbles upon ancient stone ruins: one crumbling wall, a broken gargoyle, a dried fountain, and a tree with a single carved eye that seems to follow her. Beyond the tree, she counts fifteen unmarked graves. Near a pile of debris she finds a covered piano, the tarp looking recent. She immediately suspects Vad Deverell and wonders whether he is tied to the disappearances. Unnerved, she returns to campus but feels someone watching her the whole way.

In the gardens, Roy calls out to warn her about rumors—that Corvina is supposedly doing black magic and giving blowjobs in the woods. Corvina brushes it off and heads to the library. A shifty boy peers at her through a gap in the shelves and mutters, “The Slayers are here,” before fleeing. Vad appears, helps her up after she drops a book, and presses her against the shelf. He confesses he was with Alissa only once, before he knew she was a student. Forbidden heat erupts: he touches her under her skirt, tastes her arousal on his finger, and nearly kisses her. A noise interrupts them. He pulls back, insists they cannot let it happen again, and leaves. Alone, Corvina resolves to guard her clean slate and her heart, even as she calls him the devil and feels utterly seen.