Chapter Twenty-One

The air was chilly in the classroom, and Lucianne could have sworn she felt a breeze but she knew all the windows were shut and so were the doors. She was standing right behind her desk and Gabriel was still at the only exit, eyes focused on her.

She picked up her bag, zipped it up, and put it on her shoulder. She sidestepped the row of tables until she reached the top of the staircase down to the stage. She stood on top, staring down at him without any movement.

The classroom typically had sounds in the background. The whirring of electricity, the sound of the fan turning, and the voices of people chatting. But as she stood there, she heard a generator switching off. The classroom was plunged into darkness and the fan gradually slowed down. She was well aware from her time here that the power that came to the classrooms was adjusted to suit the moments where the classrooms were registered to be in use.

Looking up, the enormous fan was still spinning, though it was fast approaching a stop. It was bright yellow in colour, unlike the typical colour scheme of Ravenspire. Attached to the ends of each pane were tapered wings that aided in the ventilation.

She returned her eyes to him. He ambled all the way to his table, leaning against the edge of it as he always did. His focus on her was still undivided and she inhaled sharply as she descended the steps one by one, the skin on her body in cold fire.

She eventually reached the stage, where she stopped to face him squarely. He did not smile at her, only watched her closely. She had so many things to say to him, but didn't know where to start. Just then, he left the edge of the table to approach her, and she instinctively turned around towards the locked door.

But his hands found her first. His fingers connected with the strings on the corset at the back of her blazer, and he pulled it away from her. With one hard tug, her blazer loosened and she spun around in a flash to glare at him, the string in his hand.

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. He stepped forwards, hands touching the front of her blazer. Her hands were both holding onto either arm, shielding herself as she shook. He pried the buttons on her blazer open and they parted. She shook her head in fear.

"Do you hate what I'm doing?" Gabriel asked her.

Her head continued to shake side to side. Her eyes were wide and her state of mind in high alert. With both hands, he separated her hands from her body. He held her hands in midair between either of them before he reached to her blazer to tear it away from her body.

Slowly, she sank down to the floor.

He dropped her blazer to the space on the stage beside him. Then he watched her as she covered her body with her arms again. His presence was heavy in front of her, and all power had been handed to him. She shivered in the cold, and her hair fell to her front.

He neared her once again, this time dropping to one knee before her. Prying her hands from her body, he grabbed onto her collar and tore her shirt apart, the buttons falling to the ground.

Tears left her eyes, her bottom lip trembling in the coldness. He tore her shirt from her back and she sat on the stage, crying and crying.

"I just want to see you, Lucianne."

She lifted her head to look at him, tears streaming down her face. She shook as he forced her arms away from her body again to reveal her bare chest. Her arms fought against his steel grip, but she wasn't able to free herself.

His eyes roved her chest, his gaze hard and jaw clenched. Darkness shone in his eyes and she felt every word he ever said in warning to her in the past in her bones. He gave a small smile of pleasure, the corner of his lips lifting.

"Do you hate me?"

Her tears continued dropping to her skirt, causing wet spots to bloom across the fabric.

"I love you, Gabriel."