Chapter 1
The manor had been silent for so long that time itself seemed to have stopped inside it. Heavy dark curtains covered the floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing daylight to seep in only around their edges. The antique grandfather clock in the hall had not moved in years. Pale ash lay cold in the fireplace.
Vines had climbed from the garden up the stone walls, wound around the carved railing of the second floor, and reached all the way to the sill of the eastern bedroom. The master of the manor was named Rhaevan. These days, very few people dared to say that name aloud. He lay asleep in the center of the enormous bed, half swallowed by shadow.
Silver-gray hair spilled across the pillows and fell past his shoulders, an icy contrast against his pale skin. His human shape concealed most of what he truly was, but a faint patch of dark markings remained near his left collarbone. The pattern trailed over his shoulder and disappeared around his back, almost like scales.
When the thin band of sunlight between the curtains shifted across his chest, those markings contracted once. Rhaevan opened his eyes. For the first few seconds, his pupils were so narrow they were nearly vertical slits. The unnatural shape slowly softened as his awareness returned.
The manor sounded exactly as it always did: no footsteps, no servants moving through the halls. He had lived alone here for so long that the rise and fall of generations beyond his land had become little more than a blurred sense of passing time. But something was different today. Rhaevan remained still.
A scent had drifted across the forest from far beyond the estate and passed through a barrier that had stood for centuries. It was faint enough that even most high-ranking monsters would never have noticed it. The scent was warm and alive, touched by a sweetness he did not recognize. Rhaevan frowned, pushed back the thin blanket, and stepped barefoot onto the cold marble floor.
He crossed to the window and pulled the curtains apart in one motion. Daylight flooded the bedroom, illuminating a room that had not been fully exposed to the sun in years. Beyond the eastern grounds stretched an endless forest. On the other side of it stood the academy—built by humans long ago, then gradually taken over by the very creatures it had once been created to contain.
Rhaevan stood at the window and looked across the trees. The dark scale-like markings near his collarbone surfaced again, deeper than before. The scent had entered his territory. He raised one hand to the side of his neck.
His fingertips brushed a small patch of newly formed scales. His body was responding to something. That realization turned his expression cold.
* * *
Elowen stood outside the academy’s main gate and checked the email on her phone for the third time. The address, student number, and enrollment date all matched. Her acceptance letter definitely named this place. Her dorm room had already been assigned, and her first-semester courses were listed beneath it.
Still, the old black iron gate in front of her made her hesitate. A huge welcome banner hung above it. WELCOME WEEK — ALL SPECIES Elowen stared up at the words for several seconds, looked back down at the school name in her email, then finally dragged her suitcase forward. She followed a group of students through the gate.
She had barely made it ten yards inside when she noticed a young man in a black coat walking on the other side of the stone path. A pair of black horns curved backward from his forehead. There were no straps, clips, seams, or anything else she could see holding them in place. When he turned, a pair of golden eyes met hers.
Elowen looked twice before smiling at him. “Sorry, but… did you make those horns yourself?” The man stopped. He glanced at the freshman badge pinned to her chest, said nothing, and kept walking. Elowen watched him go.
Even the weight of the horns looked convincing when he moved. The school was taking Welcome Week far more seriously than she’d expected. By the time she reached the main courtyard, the costumes had gotten even more elaborate. A girl in a short skirt walked past with a long gray-white tail hanging behind her, the tip curling once around her calf.
On the other side of the path, a tall student came down the steps carrying a stack of books. He had an extra eye on either side of his forehead, and all four of them moved independently. Elowen stared despite herself. All four eyes turned toward her at once.
She lowered her head and became deeply interested in the campus map. Farther ahead, an upperclassman named Auren stood beside the fountain. He had short silver-white hair, dark skin, and a pair of black wings folded neatly against his back. Someone called his name from across the courtyard.
When he turned, his wings spread half a meter before settling back into place. A single black feather drifted down through the air. Elowen halted. She discreetly took a photo from a distance, zoomed in, and stared at the spread of his wings long enough to forget she was supposed to be looking for her dorm.
Auren noticed the phone in her hand and looked across the fountain. Elowen put it away at once and hurried off with her suitcase. Checking into the dorm was unexpectedly easy. The administrator verified her student ID without asking anything unusual.
Her room on the fourth floor of North Wing had already been prepared. A key, campus card, and printed schedule waited on the desk. Elowen dropped off her luggage, grabbed the materials for her first class, and left again. The main academic building required her to pass through the dining hall.
She slowed at the entrance. An enormous digital menu had been divided into several sections. CARNIVORE MEAL PLAN BLOOD DIETARY COUNTER RAW FEEDING AREA Elowen stood in front of the Blood Dietary Counter for a while. A red-haired girl near the front of the line glanced over.
The name tag on her chest read SELENE. Her skin was so pale it was nearly bloodless, and when she spoke, the tips of two sharp fangs showed beneath her upper lip. “First time seeing one?” Elowen pointed at the menu and smiled uncertainly. “Does the cafeteria match the Welcome Week theme too?” Selene’s lazy expression paused.
Her gaze lingered on Elowen’s face before slowly dropping to her throat, where it stayed a second too long. “You think this is Welcome Week decoration?” There was something odd in her tone. Before Elowen could explain, someone at the counter called Selene forward. The redhead turned away, then glanced back once more with the corner of her mouth slightly raised. “Enjoy your first day.”
A chill crawled over the back of Elowen’s neck for no reason she could name. She decided not to get in line and went straight to the academic building instead. A notice on the corridor wall caught her attention. Students entering heat must report to the Medical Wing.
Elowen read it as she walked, assuming heat referred to some kind of medical episode. Another notice appeared farther down. Full transformation is prohibited inside academic buildings. She stopped.
Drama department? Special-effects program? The four-eyed student from the courtyard happened to come down the adjoining corridor, now carrying one extra book. As he passed, one of his eyes deliberately rotated toward her.
Elowen tightened her grip on her schedule and did her best to look composed. This school had committed impressively hard to the immersive Welcome Week experience. Her first class was called Inter-Species Social Conduct. More than twenty students were already inside.
As soon as Elowen sat down, she noticed a boy in the front row named Toren. He had short dark-brown hair and a pair of completely uncovered wolf ears. Every time someone scraped a chair across the floor, the ears turned toward the sound. Selene sat to his right.
Apparently, she had chosen this class too. When she spotted Elowen, she didn’t wave. She simply leaned back in her chair and gave her the same unreadable little smile as before. The bell rang.
Professor Halden Mirel walked in. According to the course schedule, he was an older man. His gray-white hair was carefully combed, his suit immaculate, and a pair of thin-framed glasses rested on his nose. He looked normal.
For the first time all morning, Elowen relaxed. Halden turned and wrote the course title on the board. The next second, an eye opened slowly on the back of his neck and swept across the classroom. Elowen’s pen froze above the page.
Halden turned back around as though nothing had happened. “We won’t cover anything complicated during the first week. The academy has revised its cycle-management rules this year, so I’m going to start with the violations we see most often. Predatory drive, hunger cycles, and mating cycles are not excuses for crossing another person’s boundaries. Anyone entering a cycle must register with the Medical Wing within twenty-four hours. Hybrid students must also submit updated hormonal records.”
Elowen wondered whether she’d misheard him. No one else seemed confused. Toren was actually taking notes. A hybrid student on the other side of the room raised his hand.
His name was Jasper. He had one wolf ear, while a short dark-red horn protruded from the opposite side of his forehead. “Professor Mirel, I switched to my third suppressant last month and it only holds for half a day now. Do I still register under a wolf cycle?” Halden glanced at the roster. “Your demon lineage has been dominant since last year. Stop treating yourself as if you’re purely wolf-blooded. See Vessa after class and have the dosage adjusted.”
He marked something beside Jasper’s name. “And don’t increase it yourself. You remember the two students who ended up in isolation last semester.” Jasper clearly wanted to argue, but thought better of it and sat down. Elowen stared at the words she’d written in her notebook—HYBRID, WOLF, DEMON LINEAGE—and became increasingly uncertain about what kind of course she’d somehow enrolled in.
A soft sound came from the back row. “Ah…” Elowen kept her eyes on the professor and pretended not to hear it. Professor Mirel continued explaining this year’s updated regulations. From the back came another muffled sound. “Mmm… slower.” Elowen’s pen stopped completely.
Toren’s wolf ears flattened backward. He had obviously heard it too. Selene couldn’t even be bothered to turn around. She simply flipped a page in her textbook.
Elowen lasted a few seconds before finally looking over her shoulder. Two upperclassmen sat against the wall in the last row. Their badges identified them as Joren and Maeve. Maeve was practically in Joren’s lap.
Her skirt had ridden high over her thighs, her face buried against his neck. One of Joren’s hands was locked around her waist. Whatever they were doing, there was no innocent explanation for it. Maeve took a quiet breath. “Ah… Joren, wait.”
Alec, who was sitting nearby, finally snapped and glared at them. “If you two are going to keep doing that, go outside. Professor Mirel is literally standing right there.” Joren looked up without the slightest trace of embarrassment. “We’re almost done.” Alec rolled his eyes. “You said that last time.”
A few suppressed laughs spread through the room. Elowen slowly turned back around. At this point, she no longer knew whether she was supposed to look at the board or bury her face in her textbook. Professor Mirel clearly knew what was happening too.
He cast one look toward the last row. “Joren. Maeve. Disrupt the class again and you both lose today’s credit.” Maeve finally moved a little farther off Joren.
Elowen stared at the professor. That was the concern? Class credit? After hesitating, she raised her hand.
Professor Mirel nodded for her to speak. Elowen chose her words carefully. “Professor, today’s my first day, so maybe I don’t understand the rules yet. But… is that normally how something like that is handled here?” Halden followed her gaze toward the back of the classroom and clearly understood what she meant. “Students in an active cycle have reduced self-control, but the academy does not allow them to interfere with others. Joren and Maeve are adults. They’re responsible for their own behavior. If they continue violating classroom policy, it goes on their disciplinary record.”
Elowen somehow felt even more confused after the explanation. Toren finally turned around in his seat. “You’ve never seen someone in heat before?” He frowned as he waited for her answer. Elowen glanced at the enrollment papers spread across her desk. “At my last university, nobody ever did that in the back row during class.”
Toren looked as though he was about to say something else. Then his nose twitched. His expression changed. Both wolf ears shot fully upright.
Elowen noticed and frowned. “Did I say something wrong?” Toren leaned back instead of moving closer. “What’s your department?” “Business. I’m a business major.” “I meant your bloodline. Your species.”
Selene straightened in her chair too. Elowen shifted under the sudden attention. “Everyone in my family is normal. What exactly are you asking?” Toren’s mouth parted. “Human?” “Yes.”
She looked at Selene. “Is that a problem?” Several students nearby had already turned around. Jasper leaned over from the front row, nostrils flaring faintly. Elowen instinctively pushed her chair backward until Professor Mirel tapped the desk. “Class first.”
One by one, the students looked away. Elowen barely absorbed another word for the rest of the lesson. The second the bell rang, she packed her things and left. Toren seemed to call her name once from behind, but she didn’t stop.
Right now, she only wanted the administrative office.
* * *
The administration building was much quieter than the academic wing. The woman at the front desk was Agnes Harrow, a woman in her sixties with gray-white hair pinned neatly behind her head. She wore a navy suit and an identification badge naming her as the academy’s senior administrator. Her face looked perfectly human.
At least, Elowen couldn’t see anything unusual about it. That made her feel marginally better. She handed over her student ID. “Hi. I’d like to double-check my enrollment information. A few things happened today that were… strange. I’m starting to think I may have come to the wrong campus.”
Agnes placed the card in a reader. Elowen’s complete record appeared within moments. Agnes verified her name and dorm assignment, then opened the course page. “Your registration is complete. Is there a problem with your class schedule?”
She turned the screen toward Elowen. Elowen had no idea where to begin. “I saw people with horns. Someone had a tail. The cafeteria serves blood. My professor has an eye on the back of his neck, and there were two students in class who were…” She stopped.
Agnes took the course schedule from her, saw the instructor’s name, and said, “Halden? His third eye has always been there.” Elowen said nothing. The two women stared at each other across the desk.
The calm gradually drained from Agnes’s expression. She picked up Elowen’s student card again and reopened the empty lineage field in her record. “Did you complete a bloodline registration before enrollment?” “I don’t even know what that is.” Elowen looked directly at her. “My parents are normal people. So am I.” Agnes’s expression sharpened. “What about you personally? Have you ever transformed? Been cursed? Experienced any sudden physical changes?”
Elowen shook her head. “No. If any of that had happened to me, I wouldn’t be standing here asking what this school is.” Agnes stopped questioning her. She took the ID card and disappeared briskly into the office behind the desk.
Less than a minute later, she returned with two people. The younger man was Iven Korr, who handled the academy’s bloodline archives. He carried a device small enough to fit in his palm. The woman beside him was Vessa Renn, a senior physician from the Medical Wing.
Her dark hair was tied back, and her eyes were a pale gray-violet. Iven read through Elowen’s file before looking up. “We need to do a basic lineage confirmation. No blood draw. Just place your hand on the scanner.”
Elowen eyed the device. “That’s it? It’s not going to hurt me?” Vessa’s voice was gentler than the administrators’. “It won’t hurt.” She set the device steadily in front of Elowen. “We just need to confirm what your body is registering as. It takes a few seconds.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Elowen placed her palm on the surface. A soft blue light traveled from her fingertips to her wrist. The machine chimed. Iven looked down at the result.
All three of them went silent. SPECIES: HUMAN SUPERNATURAL LINEAGE: NONE DETECTED TRANSFORMATION STATUS: NEGATIVE Vessa stepped closer and checked it again. “Pure human.” The look on her face had changed completely by the time she said the words. Elowen removed her hand. “You have the result. Can somebody finally tell me what kind of school I enrolled in?”
Agnes did not answer immediately. She returned to the computer and pulled up Elowen’s enrollment file again. Iven stood beside her and scrolled through the record, frowning more deeply with every line. “Full student number. Dorm access, barrier access, class permissions— all active. No sponsor. No approving administrator’s signature.”
Agnes spoke quietly. “The main-gate barrier shouldn’t allow an ordinary human student to walk through on her own.” Elowen finally cut in. “I walked in through the main gate. I scanned my card once and it opened. You’ve all been telling me a normal human shouldn’t be here, but I am here. Can someone please tell me what this place actually teaches?”
Agnes studied her for a long moment. When she answered, her voice had become much more careful. “The academy enrolls adult nonhuman species and teaches them to control their abilities and function in society.” She paused to make sure Elowen was listening. “Humans originally founded it to prevent loss-ofcontrol incidents and protect the outside population. The system changed over time. Purebloods, hybrids, and transformed students can all enroll now.”
Elowen stood there, unable to process the answer fast enough. Agnes gestured toward the schedule she’d brought in. “The horns, tails, and wings you saw are real. The cafeteria supplies blood because some students require it. Cycle-management courses teach them how to deal with physiological changes. I’m sorry. We didn’t realize your situation until now.”
Every strange thing she’d seen that morning suddenly rearranged itself into a horrifyingly coherent picture. The horns. The tails. The wings.
The boy with four moving eyes. Selene’s fangs. Toren’s expression the moment she’d said she was human. Elowen pressed a hand to her forehead.
When she’d woken up this morning, she’d worried about a heavy course load and whether the dorm would be comfortable. At no point had she considered the possibility of accidentally enrolling in a monster academy. She leaned against the counter until she could breathe properly again, then lowered her hand. “Okay. I think I understand.”
Agnes waited. Elowen placed her student ID on the desk. “Please cancel my enrollment. I’m going home.” Iven sat down at the computer, opened the student-status page, entered administrator credentials, and submitted a withdrawal request.
The page loaded. A red warning appeared. He tried again. Same result.
Agnes came around behind him. After checking the permissions panel, she told him to use the academy’s highest-level administrative account. Iven logged in again and resubmitted the request. The system did not respond.
Several seconds later, new text replaced the old screen. STUDENT STATUS CANNOT BE REVOKED Iven’s hand stopped on the mouse. Vessa moved closer. Agnes told him to open the source of the enrollment authorization.
The file expanded. The line that should have shown an approving administrator’s name was blank. In its place was a string of extremely old academy identification code. The page refreshed.
ENTRY STATUS: VALID ENROLLMENT STATUS: PERMANENT AUTHORIZED BY: FOUNDING COVENANT Silence filled the office. Agnes stared at the last line for a long time. Color slowly left her face. Elowen watched the three of them react, and the small knot of unease in her stomach tightened fast. “What does Founding Covenant mean?”
No one answered her immediately.
* * *
Across the forest, the manor curtains remained open. Rhaevan sat in a high-backed chair beside the window, silver-gray hair falling over one shoulder. The dark scale markings that had once stopped near his collarbone had spread up toward his neck, their dull sheen shifting subtly with each breath. He looked down at the newly formed pattern.
For the first time in years beyond counting, his body had reacted in a way he could not control. The unfamiliar scent still drifted toward him from the academy. After hours of exposure, he could now distinguish the warm sweetness of it with perfect clarity—and beneath it, the unmistakable living vitality of a human being.
Rhaevan raised his gaze. This time, he did not look away.
