Covens of Midnight

Chapter 44: Valtheris Darkmoon

{IRIS}

"Do not fear, little wolf," he whispered. "I will make it quick... and painless."

The Bloodveil vials should keep him from detecting anything odd in my blood—but what would happen if he tasted it? What would he see?

Lord Val said that he couldn’t contain himself once he tasted my blood. What of this vampire then?!

He’s Lord Val’s enemy right? That makes him my enemy too!

I tried to shove him away—but my body wouldn’t move. My limbs refused to obey. Not even a twitch.

It was like invisible chains held me in place.

His doing!

This was bad.

This was so, so bad.

His fangs pressed harder, just breaking the skin—enough for a single drop of warmth to rise.

Lord Val, help—

"What do you think you are doing, Lord Valtheris?"

He stopped.

The puncture on my neck burned as air touched it, and suddenly I could breathe again. My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the cold marble floor, trembling uncontrollably.

D-did he... taste it?

I stared at my quivering hands, afraid to look—afraid of what I might find.

When no blood marked my skin, the tension snapped out of me at once. A weak breath left my lips, and I nearly sagged to the floor in relief.

It was only then that I looked over.

A woman stood at the far end of the aisle—dark skin shimmering under the candlelight, long white hair braided over her shoulder, and pointed ears marking her as something other than mortal. Her presence was sharp, commanding, like a blade sheathed in silk.

"Even if you are noble and lord among vampires, you cannot drink from the students," she said coldly. "I know that it’s your first time teaching here, but please mind the rules."

She turned to me. "Are you Iris Snow?"

I swallowed hard and nodded.

Her eyes narrowed, pupils turning into thin slits.

"The Landlady of the girl’s dormitory is searching for you. You are new. I shall let this incident pass—but the second time you break curfew, punishment will follow."

I remained kneeling, unable to move. My gaze flicked to Valtheris.

His expression was calm—too calm. Then a faint, unsettling smile curved his lips, the kind one gives when hiding a dagger behind their back.

"My apologies, Magistrate Yvena," he said with a casual shrug. "I simply found it suspicious that she has no scent and that she’s still wondering in this hour of the night. She could be a spy."

"The Dean recommended her," Yvena replied, her tone quipped. "That alone should set your worries at ease."

Valtheris chuckled lightly—yet beneath the sound lurked something dark.

"Very well, then. I leave her in your hands, Magistrate."

Then he melted into the shadows, vanishing without a sound.

Like he had never been there at all.

"Come here, child," the magistrate said.

I forced my shaky legs to stand and followed her out of the library. The moment we stepped outside, I felt like I could finally breathe again. The air tasted different—safer, somehow.

"Thank you, teacher," I whispered, bowing deeply.

She sighed, long and weary. "It is fortunate I drew the tarots today. Had I not foreseen a shadow near the library, things would have ended far worse."

"Tarots...?" I murmured.

"Never mind." She waved the topic away. "Listen carefully. Before wandering these halls again, read the student manual. All of it. This place is ancient—too ancient—and danger hides in every dark corner. Even we, the teachers, cannot protect you at all times."

Heat crawled up my face. "I—I’m sorry. I will read it tonight."

I had tried to read it. Truly. But the book was thicker than a wolf’s winter hide, filled with rules and laws written in the driest language known to existence.

I preferred stories. Adventures. Anything but legal text.

I should have forced myself, though. Had I done so, I wouldn’t have nearly died today.

Magistrate Yvena let out another heavy sigh.

"Truly... on your first day, and already you stumble into trouble? Is this fate?"

"Uhm... excuse me, teacher," I asked hesitantly. "Do you... know me?" She spoke like she knew me.

Her eyes widened slightly before she schooled her expression. "Do not mind it."

Without another word, she guided me toward the girls’ dormitory, her robes trailing silently over the cobblestone path.

And as we walked beneath the moonlit spires of the Covens of Midnight, I realized one thing:

I had stumbled upon the one vampire that I should have avoided at all cost.

Great.

Just great.

Should I call Lord Val about this?

The question gnawed at me as I stood frozen beneath the cold lantern glow. My fingers still trembled from the brush of fangs that had nearly touched my throat.

But after a moment, I shook my head.

No...

Surely nothing happened. And Lord Valtheris—someone as ancient and powerful as him—must have forgotten about me by now. I was but a speck in his world, a passing inconvenience he had merely met.

It would be of no consequence to tell him of this incident.

If anything, I would only trouble Lord Val about this.

But deep down—beneath the logic, beneath the excuses—I knew the real reason I could not bear to tell him.

I feared his disappointment.

The thought alone felt like ice sliding beneath my ribs.

By the time I reached the girl’s dormitory, the Landlady—a kind old woman known simply as the Landlady—appeared from the wall beside the staircase.

She drifted through the corridor like fog, her form flickering faintly in the candlelight. I had learned very quickly that she was, in fact, a ghost... a gentle one, thankfully, though she had a habit of appearing when least expected.

She had already reported my disappearance to Magistrate Yvena when I didn’t return after six.

Apparently, Magistrate Yvena was an Oracle—one of the few who could read the shifting tides of fate within the Covens.

She was the teacher summoned whenever a student went missing or wandered where they shouldn’t. And from the sound of her voice earlier, she dealt with such cases far more often than she’d like.

Covens of Midnight remained an enigma even to the oldest beings within its walls. Not even the teachers claimed to know all its secrets.

The academy was primordial, alive, full of magic steeped into the stones themselves—and at night, its corridors shifted, rearranged, birthed shadows that were not always shadows.

So the rule was simple:

No student outside the dormitories after seven.