Nocticadia: A Dark Academia Gothic Romance

My stomach gurgled as the brand pressed into my skin on a sickening sizzle. What felt like white-hot knives sank deep into my flesh, and my arm shook as a Devryck held my hand in his, watching me with intensity.

Nails digging into his palm, I let out a quiet cry of pain as the searing heat beat down into my bones.

He sent the man branding me a murderous glance, and the hot metal released its hold, leaving behind an unbearable agony that rendered me dizzy.

“Look at me, Lilia. It’s over. It’s all over.” Devryck brushed the hair from my face, which must’ve been as white as snow right then.

I swallowed back the urge to throw up, as the man standing before me yanked my shirt back in place, covering up the mark he’d just scorched below my collarbone.

“It’s done,” one of the masked men said, his voice flat. “Having taken our vows and branded your flesh, you are now a member of The Seven Rook Society. Welcome, Miss Vespertine.”

The surrounding Rooks clapped in a clamor, as I breathed hard through my nose, willing myself not to pass out. I had no idea what any of it meant, what I had agreed to, but I had a pretty good idea that not agreeing to their membership would’ve resulted in death. Not that I could see their faces behind the masks, but I got a sense these men didn’t fuck around.

A particularly wild glint lit Devryck’s eyes as he pulled me to my feet, which felt unsteady, at first. My knees wobbled, and at a rush of acids up my throat, I swallowed hard, desperate not to puke all over the tiles below. One of the masked men approached me, handing off my own neatly folded mask and robe.

“Miss Vespertine, you will be given access to a password protected website,” the one I’d come to learn was Chairman Winthrop said. “There, you’ll find the handbook and resources at your disposal. This meeting is adjourned.”

All seven men at the front of the room filed out.

The surrounding masked faces exited, as well.

Resources at my disposal?

Devryck took hold of my hand and led me out of the room. Instead of following the rest of the crowd toward what I assumed was the exit, he guided me down the hall in the opposite direction. The two of us slipped into a dark room, similar to the one we’d just left, and he backed me against the wall.

“Are you all right?”

“Well, I mean, it burns a little, but I’m sure it’ll heal okay.”

“No. I mean, did anyone … hurt you?”

“Are you asking if Caedmon hurt me? No. He didn’t. No one hurt me.” I gave a hard shove to his chest. “Except you. You lied to me, Devryck. You told me that it was all in my head!”

“Shhh. I did it to protect you, and it was wrong, but goddamn it, Lilia. You don’t know these bastards. You don’t know what they’re capable of.” His brows came together in a tight frown. “If they would’ve hurt you, I’d have found myself in a very dangerous place.”

From what little I’d already seen, and the way they seemed to protect their identity, I understood his concern. Even having reported the birdman costume I’d seen the night of the gala to Dean Langmore as a means of steering them away from Devryck, I was probably walking a thin wire. “Is Langmore a member?”

“He is. Perhaps one of the more diplomatic ones.”

“What do they mean by resources at my disposal?”

“As a member, you will have access to whatever you want. There is a lot of money and a lot of power in this organization, Lilia. I suspect they made you a member based on the potential of what the research will bring.”

It seemed like they were offering the world for a lie. “But you were wrong. It’s not my research. I’m just an undergrad here.”

“Who has a very significant role in my lab.”

I dropped my gaze to his shirt, just noticing a speck of red at his collar. “What happened to you?” I peeled back his coat and took in a much bigger splotch of what definitely looked like blood, and he let out a groan.

“I was shot. Seems your father didn’t much care for the worm cocktail I made him.”

“Shot?” Panic goaded me to tear away at the buttons on his shirt, trying to see for myself.

He grabbed my wrists and kissed my knuckles. “It’s all right. I’m fine. Hurts like fuck, but I’ll live.”

I relented my mission to check him over, but couldn’t peel my eyes from the blood that bloomed over his shoulder. Blood the others in the room hadn’t taken notice of. “You were going to make Lippincott one of your test subjects?”

“Seemed a waste to kill him outright.”

“You’re a sick man, Doctor Death.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, careful to avoid his shoulder, and pulled him in for a kiss. “Positively crazy, I think.”

“I am. Crazy enough to admit that I would’ve killed every person in that room a moment ago. I’d have killed Lippincott, Gilchrist—my own brother, if he’d laid a hand on you.”

My brows came together in disbelief. While I suspected I ranked higher than Lippincott, or Gilchrist, I couldn’t have imagined the man would’ve offed his own twin.

“I’ve staked my claim on you, Lilia. God help you.”

“I’ve done just fine without God’s help,” I said, pressing my lips to his. “I just have one request. Can we not sleep where Angelo is tonight?”

“We’ll stay the night in my lab office. I’ll deal with Angelo tomorrow. If you’d like, I can grab your personal things from the house.”

It was the pictures of Mom, Bee and me, and my mother’s paintings that concerned me most. And clean underwear, of course. “Thanks, but only if you’re okay to drive with that arm. Otherwise, maybe you want to give me the keys?”

“I’m fine.”

We headed back to his car, and as I approached, I took in the backseat passenger door, riddled with holes, and the blown-out window. Glancing back at his shoulder and to the holes again had my stomach gurgling. “How the hell did you only end up with a shoulder wound?”

“I don’t think they intended to kill me,” he said, opening the undamaged front passenger door, and I sank into the seat, ignoring the lingering sting where I’d been branded. He exited the underground parking garage and back onto the seaside road toward the Bramwell Estate.

When we arrived, a heavy exhaustion tugged at my eyelids. The mansion stood dark and ominous, as he rolled to a stop in the circular drive.

“Wait here,” he said, throwing the car in park. “I’ll be right back.”

“Are you sure? I can go with you.”

“It’s all right. I’ll only be a minute.”

Nodding, I curled up in the seat, ready to fall asleep, and he planted a kiss on my forehead.