Hellfire – Princess of Hell

It was happening.

Too late to take it back now. Too late to think of another option. All that remained was letting this body do what it apparently wanted while I still had enough control to maintain dignity. Then afterward—assuming I survived with my sanity intact—I could return to searching for a way home as if nothing happened.

If that was even possible.

I stood motionless while Aria bounced closer, her purple eyes bright with excitement.

“Okay, so,” she began, pulling small bottles from her spatial ring, “I grabbed some things from the night market. Aphrodisiacs, enhancement oils, pleasure incense—everything to make your first time absolutely incredible.”

She uncorked one bottle and the scent hit immediately. Sweet and heady, something that made my head swim and my skin flush hot.

“That’s the incense,” Aria explained, setting the smoking bottle on the desk. “It intensifies sensation. Trust me, you’ll love it.”

I didn’t trust her. But I nodded anyway.

Bellas moved closer without prompting, stopping just behind me. His presence radiated warmth. My tail curled involuntarily.

“Mistress,” he murmured, voice pitched low and intimate. “You’re beautiful when you’re nervous.”

I wasn’t nervous. I was terrified. But that distinction probably didn’t matter to him.

Aria stepped directly in front of me, close enough that I could feel her breath. Her hands settled on my waist, fingers pressing through the academy uniform’s corset.

“Relax,” she whispered. Then she kissed me.

The contact sparked something immediate and overwhelming. My lips parted without permission and I leaned into it, hands rising to grip her shoulders. This was different from the club—slower, deeper, more deliberate. Aria’s tongue traced my lower lip and I made a sound I didn’t recognize.

If only the whole thing could end at this. Kissing felt manageable. Safe, almost.

But Bellas’s hands were already exploring, sliding along my sides, tracing the curve of my hips through fabric. His touch was confident, assured. Not asking permission, just taking what he’d been trained to recognize as his right.

“Such lovely curves,” he breathed against my ear, and gods damn this body for responding to that. Heat pooled low in my belly, the hunger stirring awake with interest.

Aria broke the kiss, lips swollen and eyes dark with arousal. She reached for another bottle—something iridescent that caught the light.

“Aphrodisiac oil,” she explained, uncapping it. “Just a little to start.”

She dabbed some on her fingers, then traced them along my collarbone. The oil tingled where it touched, sinking into skin and leaving trails of warmth that spread outward. Within seconds my heart rate kicked up and my breathing quickened.

“There we go,” Aria purred. “Now you’re ready.”

No. No, I absolutely was not ready.

But my body disagreed. My nipples hardened beneath the uniform’s cropped shirt, visible through the thin fabric. The hunger twisted sharper, demanding attention.

Just observe, I told myself. Let the body do what it wants. I’m only here watching. This isn’t me—it’s just happening to me.

The rationalization felt pathetic even as I constructed it.

“Help me undress her,” Aria instructed Bellas, voice carrying playful authority.

He obeyed instantly. His hands moved to the buttons of my cropped shirt while Aria’s fingers found the laces of my corset. They worked in practiced coordination, peeling away layers with touches that lingered deliberately.

Bellas’s knuckles brushed the underside of my breasts as he unfastened the last button. The shirt fell away and his hands immediately cupped the exposed flesh, thumbs circling my nipples through nothing but air now.

I gasped. The sensation shot straight down between my legs, sharp and electric and completely foreign.

This wasn’t how touch felt when I was Liam. Nothing had ever felt like this—this immediate, this consuming, this overwhelming.

“Fuck, you’re sensitive,” Aria breathed, watching my reaction. Her hands had moved to my skirt now, fingers working the fastening. “I knew you would be.”

The skirt dropped. I wore nothing beneath it—academy uniform requirements apparently didn’t include underwear. Aria made an appreciative sound and sank to her knees, hands sliding up my thighs.

“Gorgeous,” Bellas murmured behind me, lips brushing my shoulder. His hands continued playing with my breasts, rolling and pinching my nipples in ways that made my knees weak. “You were made for this, mistress.”

No. No, I wasn’t. Liam Dawnstar was made for engineering schematics and martial arts forms, not—

Aria’s mouth found my clit.

The moan that tore from my throat didn’t sound human. My hips jerked forward involuntarily and Aria’s hands gripped my ass, holding me steady while her tongue did absolutely devastating things.

This body knew pleasure in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Every nerve ending sang. Every touch multiplied into cascading sensation that built and built without apparent ceiling.

I hated how much I liked it.

Hated that Aria’s tongue between my legs felt good. Hated that Bellas’s hands on my breasts sent electricity down my spine. Hated that my body was responding to a man’s touch with the same enthusiasm it showed for a woman’s.

When I was Liam, I knew exactly what attracted me. This body didn’t care. It wanted everything, everyone, with an indiscriminate hunger that felt like drowning.

Bellas chose that moment to kiss me. I was mid-moan when his mouth captured mine, swallowing the sound. His tongue pressed inside and I kissed back without thinking, hands reaching back to grip his hair.

The body knew what to do. Every movement came instinctively—how to angle my head, how to part my lips, how to meet his tongue with mine in ways that made him groan.

I was just observing. Just watching this happen. Not participating. Not enjoying it.

Except I was. And I did.

Aria’s fingers joined her tongue, sliding inside easily. I was wet—mortifyingly, undeniably wet—and she made an approving sound against my clit.

“That’s it,” she murmured between licks. “Let go, Lily. Feel how good this is.”

Bellas’s hands wandered from my breasts down my stomach, across my ribs, mapping territory with touches that left fire in their wake. The aphrodisiac oil had spread everywhere now, turning every inch of skin into an erogenous zone.

“You taste like sin,” Bellas whispered against my lips. “Perfect and sweet and absolutely divine.”

The compliment shouldn’t have affected me. He was a man. I was—had been—a straight man. This should have felt wrong on every possible level.

Instead it made the hunger purr with satisfaction.

Aria added another finger, curling them inside me in ways that hit spots I didn’t know existed. My legs trembled. Only Bellas’s arm around my waist kept me upright.

“She’s close already,” Aria said, sounding delighted. “Fuck, you’re going to be amazing once you stop overthinking this.”

I wasn’t overthinking. I was barely thinking at all. The pleasure had turned my mind into static, thoughts fragmenting under the onslaught of sensation.

Just the body responding. Not me. The body.

Except where did one end and the other begin?

Aria pulled back suddenly, rising to her feet with a wicked smile. Her lips glistened.

“Bed,” she commanded. “Now.”

She pulled me forward and I followed without resistance, legs unsteady. We reached the nearest bed and Aria pushed me down onto it, following immediately to land on top of me.

Her weight pressed me into the mattress. We were on the side of the bed, my legs hanging off the edge. Aria kissed me again and I could taste myself on her tongue—sharp and unfamiliar and somehow intoxicating.

Her hands roamed freely now, cupping my breasts, pinching my nipples, sliding between my legs to replace what her mouth had been doing. I arched into the touches, hips rolling against her fingers.

The hunger had fully woken now, flooding my system with demands I couldn’t ignore. Feed. Take. Consume.

Aria broke the kiss to look down at me, pupils blown wide with lust.

“You ready for the main event?”

No. Gods, no, I wasn’t—

But I nodded anyway.

She glanced over her shoulder.

“Bellas. Get over here.”

I heard him move. Felt the bed dip as he positioned himself beside it, standing at the edge where my legs dangled.

Aria kissed me again, deep and consuming, her body holding mine down.

Then I felt it.

The blunt pressure of Bellas’s cock against my entrance. Hot and hard and undeniably real.

Panic spiked through the haze of pleasure.

This was it. The actual point of no return. Once this happened, I couldn’t pretend anymore that I was just observing. That this was only the body responding. That I remained fundamentally unchanged.

Aria’s tongue pressed deeper into my mouth, swallowing whatever sound I might have made.

Bellas’s hands gripped my hips.

And the last coherent thought I had before everything changed was: I was supposed to be an engineer.

* * *

He pushed inside.

Slowly. Every inch a separate sensation I had no framework for processing. The stretch burned—not pain exactly, but fullness, pressure, my body opening around something thick and hot and impossibly hard.

I’d imagined this from the other side countless times. Never this. Never being the one stretched, filled, claimed.

Gods, I could feel everything. Every ridge, every vein, the slight curve that pressed against places inside me I didn’t know existed. The sensation traveled up my spine, ricocheted through my skull, turned every nerve ending into live wire.

My back arched without permission. A sound escaped my throat—high, breathy, nothing I’d ever made before.

“Fuck,” Aria breathed above me. “Look at your face right now.”

I couldn’t. My eyes had rolled back, lost to the overwhelming fullness of having Bellas buried inside me.

He bottomed out and stopped. Let me adjust. His hands gripped my hips hard enough to bruise if I were human.

“You feel incredible, mistress,” he murmured. “So tight. So perfect.”

The compliment shouldn’t have mattered. He was a trained pleasure slave saying what he’d been conditioned to say.

But my body clenched around him in response and we both groaned.

Then he moved.

Drew back slowly, dragging against every sensitive spot inside me, creating friction that made thought impossible. Pushed back in just as deliberately, filling me again, stretching me open.

My mind went blank.

Not empty—blank. Like someone had taken an eraser to every thought except this. The slide of his cock. The pressure. The building heat.

And somehow, in that blankness, everything became clearer.

I could feel the energy in the room. Aria’s arousal radiating like heat. Bellas’s vitality pulsing where we connected. My own hunger rising to meet it, ready to drink deep.

He established a rhythm. Long, deep strokes that made my toes curl against the floor. Each thrust pushed me up the bed slightly until Aria’s weight anchored me in place.

“That’s it,” she encouraged, kissing down my jaw. “Stop fighting it. This is what we are, Lily.”

Her hand slipped between us, fingers finding my clit.

The combined sensation—Bellas inside, Aria’s fingers circling—tore a cry from my throat. My hips rolled, meeting Bellas’s next thrust without conscious decision.

The body knew what to do. How to angle for maximum friction. How to clench at exactly the right moment. How to take what it wanted.

I was just along for the ride.

Except that excuse was wearing thin.

Because when Bellas changed angles, hitting something inside me that sent lightning through my veins, I was the one who gasped “There—fuck—right there.”

When Aria’s fingers moved faster, I ground against them, chasing more pressure, more sensation.

When Bellas picked up speed, driving harder, I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him deeper.

The body wasn’t acting alone anymore.

I was participating. Actively. Enthusiastically.

“Harder,” I heard myself demand.

Bellas obeyed immediately, slamming into me with force that would’ve hurt if this body weren’t built for exactly this kind of treatment. Each impact sent shockwaves through me. My breasts bounced with the rhythm. My tail had wrapped around my own thigh, the spaded tip flicking against sensitive skin.

“Fuck yes,” Aria laughed, delighted. “There she is. I knew you had it in you.”

She caught my mouth in a bruising kiss while Bellas continued pounding into me. I kissed back fiercely, biting her lower lip, tangling my fingers in her hair.

The hunger purred its approval, swelling larger with each thrust, each touch, each moment of surrendering to sensation.

Not enough. I needed more. Needed control.

The thought came from nowhere—or from instincts buried deeper than conscious mind. Instincts that knew exactly what they wanted.

I broke the kiss and shoved Aria backwards with more strength than I knew I had. She landed on her back beside me, eyes wide with surprise that quickly shifted to excitement.

Bellas had frozen mid-thrust, uncertain.

I sat up, his cock still buried inside me, and met his gaze.

“On your back,” I commanded. “Now.”

He withdrew immediately and moved to the bed, laying flat. His cock stood rigid, glistening with my arousal.

I climbed over him, positioning myself, and sank down in one smooth motion.

The angle hit completely different spots. Deeper. Fuller. I could control the pace, the depth, everything.

My hands braced against his chest as I began to ride him. Slow at first, adjusting to the sensation of gravity pulling me down onto him. Then faster. Harder.

This. This felt right.

Not submitting. Not just receiving. Taking. Claiming. Using him for my pleasure while he lay beneath me, his expression caught between ecstasy and devotion.

“Mistress,” he gasped. “Gods, you’re—”

I leaned down and captured his mouth, swallowing whatever compliment he’d been forming. His hands found my hips but didn’t guide—just held on while I set the pace.

The bed shifted as Aria moved. She positioned herself above Bellas’s face, facing me, and lowered herself onto his mouth.

“Oh fuck,” she moaned as his tongue found her. “Lily, your expression right now—you look fucking dangerous.”

I felt dangerous. Felt powerful. Every bounce sent pleasure spiking through me, building pressure in my core that threatened to shatter me entirely.

But under the pleasure ran something else. Energy. Vital essence calling to the hunger inside me, begging to be consumed.

Not yet. Not until—

Aria leaned forward and kissed me while we both rode Bellas. Her tongue pushed into my mouth, tasting, claiming. I kissed back just as aggressively, my hips never stopping their rhythm.

The pressure built higher. Tighter. My inner walls clenched around Bellas’s cock, drawing sounds from him that his mouth couldn’t quite muffle against Aria’s flesh.

“Cum for me,” I demanded, not sure who I was talking to. Both of them. Myself. Everyone.

Bellas’s hands tightened on my hips. His cock swelled impossibly larger inside me. Then he shattered, spilling hot and deep while his hips jerked up, driving even deeper.

The moment his orgasm hit, something in me opened.

Energy flooded through our connection—pure vitality, concentrated and potent, sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted. It poured into me like liquid lightning, filling empty places I hadn’t realized existed.

The sensation triggered my own climax. I came hard, convulsing around him, crying out into Aria’s mouth as waves of pleasure crashed through me in sync with each pulse of essence I drained.

Feeding. I was feeding, drawing his life force into myself while my body milked every drop of his release.

And it felt incredible.

Better than the orgasm. Better than the pleasure. This satisfied something fundamental, quieting the gnawing hunger that had plagued me for days.

Aria pulled back from the kiss, her own climax written across her face as Bellas’s tongue continued working. She watched me with knowing eyes.

“Beautiful,” she whispered.

I couldn’t respond. Could only feel—the aftershocks, the continued flow of energy, the satisfaction of finally being full.

When the feeding finally stopped, when the last pulse of essence settled into my core, I collapsed forward onto Bellas’s chest.

Our combined breathing filled the room. His heartbeat thundered beneath my ear, slower than it should be after what I’d just taken from him.

Guilt tried surfacing. Horror at what I’d done, who I’d done it with, how much I’d enjoyed it.

The excuses came automatically: Just the body. Just instinct. Wasn’t really me.

But they rang hollow even in my own mind.

Because I’d been there. Present. Aware. Making choices. Taking control.

Not just the body acting alone.

Me.

I rolled off Bellas and onto my back, staring at the ceiling while my chest heaved.

Aria made a satisfied sound and dismounted Bellas’s face, flopping down beside me.

“Told you it’d be good,” she said, utterly unbothered by what had just happened.

Right. Because to her, this was normal. Natural. What we were supposed to do.

My tail curled against my leg. My wings—which I usually glamoured away for practicality—had manifested at some point during the sex, now folded loosely against my back.

The hunger had quieted. Not disappeared, but satiated. Manageable.

And my mind felt clearer than it had in days.

Which somehow made everything worse.

Because I couldn’t blame confusion anymore. Couldn’t claim I hadn’t known what I was doing.

I’d known. I’d done it anyway.

And the most terrifying part?

Some deep, satisfied part of me had no regrets at all.

* * *

I didn’t know how long we lay there. Time felt strange—elastic, stretched. The ceiling hadn’t changed. My breathing had slowed.

Aria sat up.

I turned my head to look at her.

She stretched, completely unselfconscious in her nakedness. “We should probably clean ourselves up. Tomorrow’s our first class and all that.” She glanced at me with a grin. “Better make ourselves presentable.”

The words hit me like cold water.

Tomorrow. Classes. The Academy. Real life continuing as though—as though I hadn’t just—

Shame crashed through me in waves. What I’d done. What I’d enjoyed doing. The memory of feeding, of that ecstatic rush when his essence poured into me.

“Good thinking,” I managed, sitting up.

Something warm trickled down my inner thigh.

I didn’t want to think about it.

Aria hopped off the bed and headed toward the bathroom. I followed, my legs steadier than they had any right to be.

The bathroom’s marble felt cool under my feet. Aria turned on the shower, testing the temperature.

“So how was it?” she asked, glancing back at me. “Your first feeding. Pretty incredible, right?”

I really didn’t want to talk about this.

But Aria wouldn’t stop unless I gave her something.

“It felt good,” I said.

The understatement of the century. It had felt transcendent. Addictive. Like nothing I’d ever experienced as human—and that terrified me more than anything else.

Aria’s grin widened. “Right? Told you. Nothing compares to that first real feed.”

She stepped into the shower and I followed, letting the hot water cascade over me. It washed away the physical evidence—sweat, fluids, the lingering scent of incense. But it couldn’t touch what had changed inside.

The hunger had quieted. My mind felt clear, sharp, no longer fighting through that constant gnawing need.

Which meant I had no excuses left.

Aria chattered about the quality of Academy facilities compared to wherever she’d been before her transformation, but I only half-listened. The water felt too good. My body too satisfied.

After we’d rinsed clean, Aria moved to the large marble bath and started filling it.

“Nothing beats a proper warm bath after sex,” she declared, adding something that made the water foam.

I slipped into the bath beside her. The heat soaked into my muscles, and something in me just… released.

The tension I’d been carrying for days melted away. My wings unfurled slightly in the water, responding to the warmth. My tail floated, completely relaxed.

This body knew how to be satisfied. Knew how to enjoy pleasure. And right now, wrapped in heat and comfort and the drowsy contentment that follows release, I couldn’t muster the energy to fight it.

Aria leaned her head back against the tub’s edge, eyes closed, a small smile playing on her lips.

I should have been planning. Strategizing. Figuring out how to maintain this deception, how to find a way home, how to undo what had just happened.

Instead I just floated, letting the warmth seep deeper.

Tomorrow would bring classes. More demons. More opportunities to slip up and reveal myself.

But tomorrow also meant the Library would be accessible. More research opportunities. More chances to find information on planar travel, on escaping Hell.

Hopefully I’d find a way home before I needed to feed again.

Before it became routine. Normal. Just another part of existence.

Before it was too late to go back to being the person I’d been.

The water lapped gently against the sides of the tub. Aria hummed something under her breath, completely at peace.

And I lay there in the warm dark, trying not to think about how easily satisfaction had come. How natural it had felt.

How much harder it would be to resist the second time.

* * *

I woke to Aria’s relentless energy filling the room.

“Come on, Lily! First day of actual classes. We can’t be late.”

The previous night felt distant. The warmth, the satisfaction, the quiet contentment—all of it had faded with sleep, leaving only memory and a faint unease I didn’t want to examine.

I sat up. My body felt different. Lighter. The constant gnawing need had vanished, replaced by a clarity I hadn’t experienced since arriving in Hell.

Aria was already half-dressed, pulling on her Academy uniform—a fitted black skirt and a white shirt that somehow managed to look both proper and provocative. Her tail swayed as she moved, completely unselfconscious.

I glanced at my own uniform laid out on the chair. Right. Time to pretend I belonged here.

We dressed quickly. Aria chattered about the day’s schedule while I tried to recall what I’d seen on that parchment yesterday.

“Seduction first,” Aria said, grinning. “With Professor Moira. Then we’ve got Maths, and after that Basic Magic Theory.”

Seduction.

Of course the first class at a succubus academy would be seduction.

What did I expect? Calculus and thermodynamics?

At least Maths came after. Something familiar. Something I could actually do without faking competence I didn’t possess.

We left the dormitory and entered the corridor. Other students moved in clusters toward the Main Academic Building, wings folded, tails swaying. The conversations around us ranged from complaints about early mornings to graphic descriptions of last night’s activities.

I kept my expression neutral and followed Aria.

The classroom wasn’t far—second floor, eastern wing. We climbed the stairs and turned down a corridor lined with crystal sconces.

Then Aria tensed beside me.

I followed her gaze.

A platinum blonde succubus stood ahead, surrounded by four others. Her posture radiated authority—chin lifted, wings partially spread in a casual display of dominance. The succubi around her leaned in whenever she spoke, laughing at her comments with practiced enthusiasm.

“Wait,” the blonde called out.

Her voice carried command easily. Students in the corridor slowed, turned, watched.

Aria grabbed my wrist. “Shit,” she whispered. “That’s Valentina Morgenstern.”

The name meant nothing to me.

“Who?”

“Just—” Aria’s grip tightened. “My mother warned me about this household. Act natural.”

Natural. Right.

Valentina’s gaze swept over us. Her eyes were ice blue, sharp and assessing. She took a step forward, and her entourage moved with her like a coordinated unit.

She stopped three paces away.

Her attention fixed on me.

“You,” she said, pointing. “Come with me.”

The words hung in the air.

Around us, students watched. Waiting.

What the fuck?

Aria’s hand on my wrist trembled slightly. “Just do what she says,” she murmured.

But something in me recoiled at the command. At the expectation that I’d simply obey because this stranger decided she wanted my compliance.

I’d spent seventeen days pretending. Performing. Hiding.

This felt different.

“I don’t want to,” I said. “I’m perfectly fine staying here.”

The corridor went silent.

Valentina’s eyes widened fractionally. “What did you just say?”

“I said I don’t want to.” I met her gaze. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Students stared at me like I’d just announced my intention to challenge Lucifer himself.

Aria muttered something under her breath that sounded like “now you’ve done it”—but when I glanced at her, she was smiling.

Valentina’s attention shifted. “And who is this?” She gestured toward Aria with casual disdain. “You think this common trash is more worthy of your time than me?”

The contempt in her voice sparked something hot in my chest.

“Yes,” I said. “That’s exactly what I think. And if you’re calling her trash, doesn’t that make you worse than trash?”

Aria’s smile widened into a grin.

Around us, someone laughed. Then another. The sound rippled through the corridor—quiet, quickly suppressed, but unmistakable.

Valentina’s face flushed. Her tail snapped behind her. “Silence!”

The laughter died instantly.

She opened her mouth—probably to say something cutting or threatening—when footsteps approached from behind.

“What’s going on here?”

Professor Moira walked toward us, her expression pleasant but her eyes sharp.

Valentina straightened immediately. The fury smoothed from her face, replaced by a cool mask. “Nothing, Professor. I was simply making an acquaintance.”

Moira’s gaze swept over the scene. Her lips curved slightly—not quite a smile, but close.

“I see,” she said. “Well, class begins in five minutes. I suggest everyone find their seats.”

She continued past us toward the classroom, but not before I caught the definite amusement in her expression.

Valentina watched her go, then turned back to me.

“You got lucky,” she said, voice low. “But the Academy won’t protect you forever.”

She spun and strode toward the classroom, her entourage trailing behind like obedient shadows.

The corridor emptied quickly after that. Students filtered into the classroom, throwing curious glances back at us.

* * *

The moment Valentina disappeared into the classroom, Aria whirled toward me.

“That was amazing!” She grabbed my shoulders. “Did you see her face? I thought she was going to spontaneously combust right there in the hallway.”

I blinked. “Why didn’t you want me to do it, then?”

Aria’s grin faltered. “Because—okay, yes, it was incredible watching you destroy her ego in front of everyone. But Lily, she’s a pureblood.”

“So?”

“So you’re a commoner. I’m a commoner. We’re—” She gestured between us. “—bottom of the food chain here.”

I frowned. “You were angry too. She called you trash.”

“I was angry.” Aria’s tail flicked. “And I’m thrilled you defended me. Really. But there’s being angry and there’s being suicidal, and what you just did—” She blew out a breath. “We are in deep shit now.”

“We?”

“Well.” Aria tilted her head. “I’m in slightly less deep shit than my favourite roommate, but still.”

Despite everything, I almost smiled. “I’m your only roommate.”

“Details.” She waved a hand. “Point is, Valentina won’t let this go. Purebloods don’t forget public humiliation.”

The weight of what I’d done settled over me. Not regret, exactly—Valentina had deserved every word—but awareness. I’d made an enemy on my second day.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll handle whatever comes next.”

“Awww.” Aria’s expression softened. “You don’t have to protect me, you know. The Academy’s supposed to keep us safe. Mostly.” She paused. “What happens after we graduate is a different story.”

Right. The Academy enforced meritocracy within its walls, but it couldn’t shield students from the political consequences that followed them into the wider world.

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Morgensterns aren’t exactly known for being powerful these days,” Aria continued, her tone turning lighter. “So there’s a chance nothing will happen. I’ll just move to a different Circle after graduation. Start fresh.” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically. “Alone. Friendless. Because my new roommate decided to antagonize the first pureblood she ever met.”

“Stop performing.”

“But I love to.” She grinned.

I shook my head, but something in my chest loosened. “I’m not planning to spend my entire life in this body anyway.”

The words came out before I could stop them.

Aria’s eyebrows rose. “What?”

“I mean—” I scrambled for a recovery. “I’m not staying at the Academy forever. A few years, then I’ll figure things out.”

She studied me for a moment, then shrugged. “Fair enough. Still, four years is a long time to have a vengeful pureblood watching your every move.”

Four years.

The timeline stretched ahead of me like a prison sentence. Four years pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Four years navigating a society built on cruelty and dominance. Four years feeding.

Unless I found another way out.

The Library. Planar travel research. Summoning contracts. There had to be something I’d missed, some loophole I could exploit.

And if Valentina Morgenstern wanted to make my life difficult in the meantime, she was welcome to try.

What could some pureblood do to the literal Princess of Hell?

Not that I could tell Aria that.

“Come on,” I said. “We’re going to be late.”

Aria linked her arm through mine as we walked toward the classroom door. “You know, most people would be terrified right now.”

“I’m not most people.”

“Clearly.” She squeezed my arm. “That’s why I like you.”

We stepped into the classroom together.