Read Online Academia of the Beast: A Dark Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by K.N. Lee - Free Book Online

inside her stomach.

CHAPTER 10
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    H OURS DRAGGED ON in silence as Byron drove from the city. They entered the Briar Woods that encircled all of Elastria. The birch trees were bare except for thin icy branches, with etchings along their white trunks that reached toward the sky.
    Byron seemed to tense, his eyes checking his dashboard every few minutes.
    “Is everything okay?” Allyn asked. “Do we have enough fuel to get to the next station?”
    He nodded, scowling at the dashboard. “It’s the check engine light I’m a little worried about.”
    She sighed. “Of course. I’m starting to wonder if we are cursed, Byron. Since the day we met, everything has gone wrong.”
    His eye twitched, his jaw tightening. “Nothing to worry about. We are going to make it.”
    “That’s what you say about everything, and it hasn’t been true so far.”
    “I can handle this.”
    As he said those words, the car sputtered to a stop in the center of the pitch black road.
    “Like I said,” Allyn whispered. “Cursed.” She couldn’t believe that they’d broken down seconds after she asked him about the car’s condition.
    “Fuck,” he said and slammed his hands into the steering wheel.
    Allyn pursed her lips, looking out her window into the darkness of the woods on either side of the car. The hairs on her neck stood on end as the little bit of heat that the car had struggled to putter faded. She shivered and glanced at Byron who sat there in silence.
    “We can walk,” he suddenly said and Allyn’s brows rose.
    “You’re kidding me.” Allyn threw up her hands, fed up with his awful decisions. “Walk where? I haven’t seen any stations or signs for anything in miles.”
    He looked at her. “I have a friend that lives close by. He will let us stay with him for the night and I can call a mechanic in the morning.”
    “We can’t afford a—”
    “Enough, Allyn! Just shut up for once.”
    She was startled by his outburst.
    “I know what I’m doing.”
    Bottling her own anger and annoyance, she looked away, her skin starting to heat with rage.
    Best to just keep quiet, she thought, balling her fists. She closed her eyes and exhaled. How many years had it taken for her to learn to control her rage? If the nuns at the convent were good at anything, it was teaching her to bottle her anger.
    Byron had no idea what he dared to awaken within her.
    Deep breaths, Allyn.
    A sudden surge of wind blasted into the car as Byron opened his door and got out. Cursing into the air, he stepped into the night and slammed his door. She watched him come around to her side and she dreaded getting out when he opened her door.
    “Come on,” he said. “The faster we start walking, the faster we will get there and get warm.”
    Her eyelashes flickered as the wind blew at her face.
    “Bloody hell,” she muttered, wishing she’d stayed with Aude and Khia.
    The kindness she’d wanted to see from Byron had ended the moment he’d gotten her into his car. Now, he seemed to be agitated.
    “Who is this friend of yours? You never told me that you knew someone that lived on the outskirts of Elastria.”
    He walked from the street and into the woods without looking back to make sure she was close behind. Afraid to be left alone, Allyn hurried to catch up with him. Her heels stabbed the icy earth as she scurried into the woods.
    The sting of frostbitten flesh made Allyn wince as her cheeks tightened and seemed to crack. She rubbed her hands together, desperate for some small measure of warmth as Byron led her down a worn path through the woods. She pulled her coat closer, shivering, as her eyes scanned the darkness that smothered them.
    Trees surrounded them—skinny trees that reached high to the black sky were now covered in a cloak of white snow that continued to fall in fierce torrents.
    “Did you hear my question? Who is your friend?” Allyn asked, her teeth chattering.
    Byron sighed. “You don’t know him.”
    After