Clarissa's POV

It’s been a week. One week since Dante married Willow. One week after Anya’s death. One week since I told Damon that I wanted things to go back to normal between us.

Willow’s tears had decreased, but she was still tremendously sad. The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with her when we called him to have a look at her. Yet, her skin remained ice cold for a while before returning to its average temperature.

It was unlike anything any of us had ever seen before. We didn’t know what the cause was, and the doctor did not help us one bit.

Today was the first day we would take her back to school with us. The first time she was ever going to step foot in our academy. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Everyone knew that she’d married her sister’s supposedly mate.

While Dante was always in love with Anya, I didn’t believe that she was ever his mate. If she were, she would have had strong feelings for him, but she never did.

However, everyone at school did not know the whole story. Both Willow and Dante did not want the truth of her sister’s death to be revealed to the public. They didn’t want people to know how horrible of a person she was.

Besides, if people knew the truth about Anya, Willow’s life would be even worse. It was always going to be difficult the moment people knew she was Anya’s sister. I still remember how hard it was for Autumn when she married Atticus. This time it was much worse. Luckily for Willow, we would do our best to protect her from the public.

“Did you see the articles posted this morning?” Autumn asks me.

“The ones about Willow and Dante?” I ask her.

She nods. “It reminds me of my first day at the academy as the wife of Atticus Fawn.” She purposefully said his last name.

“I remember,” I tell her. “I feel so sorry for her.”

And for me. It’s been a tough week acting like Damon didn’t mean as much to me as he did before. I’ve been the one avoiding him as much as I could. I wasn’t sure how far I’d have to push him to admit that he wanted to fight for us.

It still surprised me that Damon had called off the wedding after telling me multiple times that it was the right thing to do. What had caused him to change his mind? I would never know the answers unless I confronted him about it, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. I was tired of chasing him.

“Damon hasn’t been showing any interest in me since our last conversation,” I confess to Autumn. “It’s bothering me. He’s giving me exactly what he thinks I want, but this time it’s not what I actually want from him.”

She sighs. “Give him some more time. He’s giving you space because he thinks that’s what you want. Eventually, he isn’t going to be able to control himself.”

I’m about to disagree when I spot him walking toward us, and I try to act unbothered. The key word there is ‘try.’ I’m not sure how successful I was.

“Can I walk you to class?” he asks me the second that he reaches my side.

Autumn gives me a look as if to say, ‘I told you so.’ She leaves us alone, and I feel like pulling her back. I didn’t want to be alone with him; that’s when it’s hardest to control myself.

“I could walk myself,” I tell him.

He shrugs his shoulders. “Wasn’t this what you wanted?” he asks. “For things to return to normal. This is what I always do. I walk you to class and tell everyone around you to treat you with the respect you deserve.”

While it was true that he’d always done this in the past, it still felt weird after everything that had happened between us. It also feels weird now that Anya is no longer trying to come between us.

“You don’t have to do this,” I tell him. “Not anymore.”

He grabbed my hand and stopped me in my tracks. The devastated look on his face takes me aback. Did my words hurt him that much?

“I know that you’re angry with me. I can feel it every time I get near you. I’m willing to do everything you ask of me, but what I’m not willing to do is stop protecting you. And this, Clarissa, happens to fall under that category,” he says in a low growl.

“But—”

“I don’t care who comes into your life and who goes out of it,” he adds. “But I’m always going to be here protecting you. As long as I’m alive, I will keep you safe. So please, do not stop me from doing the one thing that I love most in this world.”

My heart skips a beat. This was unexpected. I didn’t think my words would have affected him this much. But it still wasn’t the confession that I was looking for.

“Clarissa Fawn!” the professor exclaims as he sees me standing outside of the classroom door, staring at Damon. “You’re late for class as usual. What are you doing just standing there?”

I lower my gaze; I can’t look into his eyes. “I’ll see you after class.”

I can feel all eyes on me as I enter the classroom. I know everyone will have plenty of questions for me, but I didn’t think they were brave enough to ask them, especially not after seeing Damon right outside the door, still looking into our classroom. He was making sure that no one was trying to bully me, just like he’d always done in the past. I tried not to melt at his earlier words.

Protecting me was the one thing he loved the most in the world—his words, not mine. My cheeks felt hot, and I needed some water to cool down.

It was hard to pay attention in class after that little incident. I often wished that I was in the same class as the rest of my family. I hated being away from them.

I was surprised when I saw Willow walk through the door in the middle of our class, totally distracting me from my earlier thoughts.

“Class,” Sir Richards calls for our attention. “Meet your new classmate. Willow Edwina.”

His words surprised everyone in the room, including me. What was she doing in this class?