Ashes and Stardust

As they entered the dining hall, students naturally turned to look at them. Many were well aware of the powerful House of Silvercrest, whose current Duke was King Iskara's younger brother. 

The Silver siblings were famous in their own right, and much like Prince Ivan, they drew considerable attention. However, Cece and Damien were sharp and reserved. They didn't mingle easily or allow others into their circle. They were one of those who could sniff people's intentions. So seeing Evelyn walk in with them came as a huge surprise. 

The truth was, Cece and Damien were initially just curious about why a woman who looked so otherworldly was wandering around the academy at night, so they approached her out of boredom. After speaking to her, they actually liked her pure nature so they decided to befriend her.

Back in the dining hall, they made their way to Ivan, who was sipping on a glass of blood. The nearby students left a few empty seats around him, too afraid of offending him by sitting closer to him.

Damien grinned at Ivan and took a seat next to him casually, while Cece and Eve sat across from them on the opposite side of the table.

"Hello cousin! Looks like it has been a good morning for you." He said it in a teasing tone.

Ivan gave his brother a side eye and continued to sip his drink, royally ignoring him. His gaze then shifted to the princess, who would be studying with him from now on and wondered why she was with his cousins in the first place. 

He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to judge if she is one of those clingy women attempting to get close to him through his cousin. So he asked "And since when did you two start picking up strangers to eat with us?"

Evelyn heard his remark and pressed her lips together, choosing not to respond and risk starting an argument with him. Especially, since it hadn't been long since he had basically handed her a death threat and warned her not to get in his way.

Damien beamed and replied, "Oh Evelyn is no stranger to us. We are actually friends. Isn't that right Evelyn?" He looked at Evelyn with mischief brewing in his eyes.

Evelyn glanced at Ivan before offering a smile to Damien. "Yes."

"And when did that happen?" Ivan tilted his head slightly and continued to stare at her.

Cece replied this time, "Last night" and then she told him "We were just getting off the carriage but you decided to push ahead without waiting for us." she said it in a slight accusatory tone.

Damien chimed in as if he was sharing some juicy gossip, "Oh, poor Evelyn was wandering this spooky old castle all alone last night, totally lost. She told us she ran into this unbelievably rude, pompous guy who couldn't even give her directions to the dining hall!"

Damien continued spilling the tea dramatically, while Eve's heart rate spiked as she felt intense glare directed at her. Swallowing nervously, she slowly looked at Ivan and yep, he looked one second away from roasting her alive.

Clearing her throat she quickly added, "Actually he was not very rude if I remember correctly. I almost fell after the collision and he was kind enough to catch me before I hit the ground."

She laughed nervously, as if trying to save her herself from the jaws of doom itself.

Suddenly remembering how close Ivan had held her, heat rushed to her face. She looked away from him and turned to look at Cece and then Damien, wishing them to stop digging her grave, but the gods had other plans.

Cece frowned slightly and said, "Oh you are too kind Evelyn, from what you described, the guy was a complete jerk. People like that don't deserve kindness." Then her voice dropped icy cold, and she added menacingly, "If it was me, I would have slit his throat for disrespecting me"

"I would have ripped his head off." Damien said cheerfully as if offering a baking tip.

And that was the moment when Ivan's cold facade cracked. He slammed glass on the table with a loud thud, startling everyone. 

The siblings fell into confused silence, their imaginary murder plan momentarily forgotten as they stared at their cousin. Eve started to chant a silent prayer to every god out there to end her misery.

"What's wrong with you?" Damien asked after a few seconds to Ivan, eyeing him like he's grown a second head..

"Nothing, we have classes to attend, unless, of course, you've all decided to apply for permanent staff in the academy." Ivan said coolly.

Then he turned his icy gaze to Eve and added "Since your fate has, unfortunately, been tied to mine, I expect you to catch up quickly rather than waste time chit chatting." saying that he got up and left.

The three of them just sat there in stunned silence. 

The siblings exchanged glances as if trying to ask each other for their cousin's sudden outburst. Eve sighed and prayed to gods again to give her strength to get through this.

Cece mumbled, "What was that about? He is usually so calm."

Damien also wondered out loud, "Who knows, maybe he is worried about studies."

Cece gave him a doubtful look, then turned to Eve, "Don't mind him, Ivan is actually hard on the exterior but he's actually gentle when it comes to his people." she smiled softly and said "He just needs some time to warm up to you."

"That's right, you just have to be patient, like…saint level patient." He gave Eve an encouraging smile.

Eve gave them a slight nod, but thought that with the way things were going, she suspected Ivan would rather chew glass than "warm up" to her.

They talked some more, and Eve learnt that Damien's assigned partner was a woman named Emily, who was a human and Cece had been paired up with a man named Edward, who was a lumen.

Damien, Cece and Ivan had joined this academy last semester, six months ago. While Eve and other new students joined a semester later than that, so technically they were all in the same year. They were just were six months behind. Each semester consisted of six months and each year had two semesters.

Which is why buddies played a crucial role in helping the new students.

She also got to know that Ivan was one of the top students of the academy. 'No wonder he was angry when he found out his grades would be affected by mine through that one subject.' Eve thought. 

Eve decided there was no point fretting over it now. All she can do is work hard to not disappoint anyone, but also for the sake of her kingdom.

With breakfast done she headed to her first class: History.

On entering the classroom she spotted Ivan sitting in the middle seat next to the window. Taking a deep breath she made her way to him and sat down next to him. 

Cece and Damien entered the class shortly after her and went to sit beside their respective buddies.