Nightshade Academy by HS

Author:HS
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, romance, romantasy, fictional, fiction, enemies to lovers, found family, wielders, training, shadow wielder, shadows, ice wielder, magic, assassins, academy, nightshade academy, xane rhyten, adeline thorne
Publisher: HS
Published: 2025-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

THE MEETING FINALLY ends.

I push open the heavy oak doors of the war chamber open, the scent of aged stone and iron lingering in the air behind me. My footsteps echo faintly down the crimson carpeted corridor, flanked by towering black white columns and banners of deep Varethian red. Rich, dark, blood-like. The color of power, according to them. The color of Varethia.

I’m still in the same castle I have grown up in. The same halls that have watched me learn how to wield a blade before I knew how to speak to nobles. The same walls that have been burying every whisper of betrayal and ambition. I hate coming back here.

I pass down a line of windows stretched across the eastern corridor. Sunlight sneaks in, weak and pale, doing little to cut through the natural gloom of this place. It’s always been like this. Cold. Controlled. Regal to a fault.

And quiet.

Too fucking quiet.

My steps slow as I turn into a familiar hallway. One that I never intend to walk down but somehow always ends up here every time. At the far end, behind glass and dust and time, there’s a portrait hanging. A portrait of them. My parents.

They stand side by side in the painting. Tall, composed, dressed in ceremonial crimson and black. My mother wears a tiara that barely sits on her head, like she doesn’t need to prove who she is. My father’s standing straight, a hand on the hilt of his sword, the same cold determination in his eyes that made half of the continent respect him... or fear him. Sure, my dad betrayed Varethia by marrying the heir of Velcyrs then proceeded to move there without anyone’s knowledge. But one thing he didn’t do is betray his brother. Betray his kingdom. I understand why he did what he did. Everything he’s done has been out of love.

My mother’s eyes look kind in the painting. Strands of her black hair fall on her face, doing nothing to hide her eyes though. She might look kind here but I know better. She wasn’t cruel. Just sharp. Sharp in a way queens have to be. I didn’t know her for long, after all. My kingdom has been destroyed by the time I turned six years old. The made up story that my father got married in secret in Varethia spread like wildfire. No one dared question mine or my brother’s births after that. No one really knew who we were. And it’s still the case.

I step back, and turn away, leaving the past behind for now. There isn’t time to mourn the past right now. Not when history’s trying so hard to repeat itself.

And not when I have someone else to protect. Someone who has no idea how deep this kingdom’s rot really goes.

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