<h4>Chapter 86: Threatening Regina</h4>


    <strong><i>{Elira}</i></strong>


    ~**^**~


    "Let me remind you of something, Omega," Kaelis said. "People like you... don’t belong in ces like this."


    "Know your ce," Soraya added dryly. "Because next time, you might not walk out of this room so calmly."


    Thorne chuckled. "Or at all."


    A few moreughs followed, the cruel kind, but I stayed still. If they expected me to break, they’d be disappointed.


    Just then, Caleb Fenmore pushed himself up from the plush white couch and strolled over to where I stood, hands in his pockets, azy smile ying on his lips.


    "You know," he said, voice dipped in warm charm, "I quite like a girl who knows how to walk into a fire and pretend it’s a breeze."


    He circled slowly, not threatening, just amused—before leaning in, close enough for me to catch the scent of cedar and spice.


    "I’d say you’ve got guts, Elira," he murmured. "A shame they are wasted on someone who doesn’t know how to use them."


    I blinked at him.


    He smiled wider. "But don’t worry. I’m always happy to... mentor people who need guidance."


    I turned my head slightly away from him, feeling my stomach tighten in difort. Not because of him, exactly — but because of how easy he made the mockery sound like apliment.


    "Enough, Caleb," Kaelis drawled. "We are not here to entertain her."


    He winked. "Just trying to keep things interesting."


    And just like that, I was dismissed.


    "You may go," Kaelis said coldly.


    I gave the room onest nce — and I didn’t care how stiff my steps were as I turned and left, keeping my head high.


    I mustn’t let them see how easily their words and actions got to me.


    But the second I stepped into the hallway and the door clicked shut behind me, rage surged through me like a wildfire.


    My hands clenched. My face burned.


    <i>How dare they.</i>


    Every single one of them—mocking, judging, threatening me like I was some intruder in a world they ruled.


    I was still fuming, my thoughts swirling, when I heard my name from that familiar, unbridled, wicked tongue.


    "Elira."


    I turned and saw Regina walking toward me with slow, confident steps, her expression unreadable.


    "You looked so pathetic in there," she said with a small, cruel smirk. "It’s almost impressive."


    I tilted my head and smiled faintly, but there was no warmth in it. "It’s funny you say that... because I noticed something."


    Regina’s smile froze.


    "It seems," I said softly, almost innocently, "that your fellow council members don’t know we are cousins..."


    Her eyes sharpened.


    "...and they also don’t know you are not engaged to Professor Zenon."


    Her mouth opened slightly.


    "...and that Professor Zenon is my mate."


    The effect was immediate.


    "Shut up!" she hissed with a sharp voice as her eyes grew wide from shock.


    I scoffed, stepping forward until there was barely a breath between us.


    "Why, Regina? Are you so afraid of the truthing out that you can’t even hear it whispered?"


    She trembled, her fists clenched tightly. "How dare you talk to me like that—how dare you, lowlife, threaten me—"


    But I wasn’t done yet.


    I leaned closer, my voice a notch lower. "I’m only saying what’s real. But if you touch me again... if you ever try to harm me... I won’t keep your little secrets anymore."


    Then she screamed and raised her hand — fast. But I was faster, catching her wrist mid-air.


    The air between us thickened, and I could hear it — her furious, rattling heartbeat.


    "Don’t," I said. My voice didn’t tremble, even though my insides were on fire. "Try that again, and I will walk right back in there and tell them everything."


    Her eyes widened is disbelief. She probably couldn’t believe that a moment like now would ever happen.


    Then, I flung her hand away, meeting her gaze with onest stare that felt like a line being drawn in the dirt between us.


    Then I turned and walked away — my knees trembling slightly, my breath uneven, but my face?


    I made sure it was calm andposed. Because for the first time, I had stood up to wicked cousin and tormentor.


    And I didn’t regret it, at least not yet.


    ---


    My hands still trembled as I reached my locker. I forced them to move, to twist the dial, to unlock the door.


    I reached in and grabbed my backpack, my phone, and the two gift bags Lennon and Rennon had given me earlier this morning.


    Then I mmed the locker shut and turned toward the dorm. My thoughts chased themselves the whole walk.


    Had I gone too far with Regina?


    Would she retaliate?


    Would the Student Councile after me for real this time?


    But under all that panic, something else bloomed in my chest: A quiet kind of power.


    And honestly, I wished I could face all my bullies every time—this same way.


    ---


    The hallway outside our dorm was quiet when I arrived, and the moment I stepped inside, the warm noise of familiarity hit me like a soft breeze.


    "Elira!"


    Three voices chorused at once.


    Before I could even fully close the door, Cambria wrapped her arms around me in a hug — tight and grounding.


    "You’re back!" she said, her voice muffled against my shoulder. "And in one piece. Thank the moon."


    I let out a shakyugh and hugged her back. The tension in my chest cracked a little.


    Juniper stood with her arms crossed, watching me closely. Nari lounged sideways on her bed, a mischievous grin on her lips, and Tamryn sat near the window, sipping something warm from her mug.


    "So?" Nari asked, lifting a brow. "What happened? Are you cursed now or something?"


    I blinked, letting out a tiredugh. "Not cursed. Not yet."


    "Then why did they summon you again?" Cambria asked, pulling away just enough to study my face. "What did they want?"


    I hesitated for a moment, ncing at the familiarfort of our room, and then I told them.


    Most of it.


    I told them how the Student Council called me in just to mock me. How they insulted me, one by one, like I wasn’t even in the room. Like I wasn’t a real person.


    I told them about Kaelis’s fake-sweet cruelty, about Soraya’s cold words, about theughter and the threats.


    I told them about Caleb Fenmore too — the way he flirted while throwing in jabs like roses with thorns.


    But I left out the parts about Professor Zenon.


    And I definitely left out the part about Regina being my cousin. Or the way I’d just ckmailed her outside that door.


    Some things were still too messy to exin.