Solasta Academy: Blood & Moonlight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Arzhel

Every ounce of his being told him to wake the fuck up. So he listened. When he finally did, the image of Coach Gideon slicing Calia's cheek sent him into a frenzy. Something so feral that he instantly stood up with pure venom in his voice, shouting at him to get his hands off of her. He should have figured out sooner that Gideon was the killer. He had access to everything on campus and was in a position to get away with it. No one would suspect that he was a psychopathic killer because he coached all the student-athletes at Solasta. He immediately met Calia's terrified gaze—her face caked with bright makeup and the ribbon in her hair...

Shit.

Arzhel glanced at what she wore, and it was like she was dressed up as a doll in Gideon's imagination. His delusions saw her as something to possess, to control. He rattled his chains again, even if it strained his wrists to do so. "Let her go!" he growled.

"Not yet, boy," he spat, waving an iron blade before him.

But Calia's soft yet defiant voice said, "This was my mother's clothes."

Gideon widened his smile as if he were lost to the memory of Juliette Nox. He recalled that he went to Solasta at the same time as her. "From the moment Juliette stepped foot in Solasta, she became everyone's crush. She knew this fact and used it to her advantage." Gideon scowled. "The boys in our grade lusted after her, but she couldn't care less about playing with our feelings. We would do anything to get her attention, you know." He shook his head as if he was still bothered by the actions of Calia's mother. "Gods, you don't know how painful it was when she went missing."

"How did you get her clothes?" Arzhel asked.

Gideon whipped his head toward him, clenching his jaw. "You'd be surprised how blind Soari's friends are," He admitted as he raised a brow at Calia, who paled at her guardian's name. "They kept your old apartment locked up, and it only took me mentioning your name to let me in. Too trusting, I'd say." Daggers shown in Calia's sharp silver eyes, and Arzhel stilled—as if bracing for her wrath to come out. "You two could have lived lavishly, but she chose to keep you hidden from the rest of us. She could have convinced those mortals to give her all sorts of money, but she didn't in case we picked up on her scent. The closest we ever got to Juliette was ten years ago."

Something flashed in Calia's expression as if remembering a certain memory of her mother. She turned toward Arzhel and mouthed, "Mister Cuddles." Of course, Juliette Nox would risk everything to give her lovely daughter a teddy bear. Tears sprang from Calia at once, not caring if Gideon watched her with curiosity. With longing. "Why were you so intent on finding her?" she then asked, seeking the full story, not for her mother but for Calia, who desperately needed to know.

"I loved her more than anyone else," Gideon said grimly. "Even more than him, but who cares about that now? She's dead, and I found out that she had a daughter. One who is an exact replica of Juliette. How could I not fall in love with you, too?" Gods, this man was fucking crazy. A predator in a place where students should be safe. Yet here he was, hiding in plain sight. "Before she ran away, I confessed my feelings to her. But of course, she was in love with him. Even though I could have treated her better than he ever would, she didn't listen."

"That's why you killed those students?" Arzhel urged. "To get back at Juliette."

"To keep Calia protected from those fucking bullies!" he shouted. Arzhel took a step back—knowing all too well when to escape the rage of a deadly creature like him. Something he learned how to do at a young age when his father's personality changed from calm to madness in a matter of seconds. "They had it coming, of course. I told them to leave what's mine alone."