Pearl POV
The sky above the academy was beginning to shift from gold to deep amber as Demyan led me away from the crowd. I hadn’t expected him to seek me out like this not after the confrontation with Rowan, not after everything that had happened. But he did. With eyes that seemed too serious for the casual way he held my hand, he pulled me along a quiet path toward the garden steps behind the eastern tower.
I didn’t say a word as we walked. Neither did he. Not at first.
When we stopped beneath the shade of the twisted fig tree, where golden sunlight filtered through the leaves like scattered sparks, he finally turned toward me, his expression unreadable.
"You left," he said quietly.
I blinked. “I had to. Cecil was worried. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Demyan’s eyes searched mine, b
