The Harbinger's Forbidden Mate

POV: Rory Hale

The thing about promises is that they break as easily as glass.

I promised myself seventeen would be my year. My year to escape heartbreak, my year to finally breathe. But instead, seventeen became the year everything shattered like someone had taken a hammer to the fragile bits of my life and smiled while they watched me bleed.

"Just one year," I mumbled under my breath, glancing at the shattered restroom mirror in the school's hallway. My image peered back at me with storm-gray eyes that seemed too old for my age. "One year. Stay unseen. Survive senior year. That's all you need to do."

But of course, the cosmos has a terrible sense of humor.

By lunch, I had already perfected the art of invisibility. Hoodie up. Head down. Earbuds in, even if the music wasn't playing. Don't look at anyone, don't speak unless you're forced to.

The cafeteria smelled like grease and disinfectant. I brought my tray to an empty corner and sat alone, thinking that was precisely where I wanted to be. The truth? I used to sit in the middle table with individuals who smiled too much, laughed too loud, and vowed we'd always be together.

"Don't tell me you're hiding here," a voice said, and my chest went cold.

I didn't have to look up. I recognised that voice too well.

Tyler. My ex-boyfriend. The boy I believed I'd marry someday. The same boy who had been tangled up with my best friend, Emma, in the back of his car only three months before.

My hand squeezed on the plastic fork till it almost shattered. "Go away."

He slid into the seat across from me anyhow, smirking like he had the right. His brown eyes examined me like I was a piece he couldn't quite fit back together.

"You're still mad," he observed nonchalantly, like I had no right to be. "I told you it was a mistake."

"A mistake?" My laugh was sharp, unpleasant. "Funny, I don't remember you tripping and falling into her."

His sneer faltered. "It didn't mean anything. You know you're the one I"

"Don't." My voice was frigid. "Don't you dare say love. You don't get to use that word anymore."

For a moment, stillness spread between us. But then he leaned closer, dropping his voice. "You still think about me, don't you?"

I wanted to shout, but the fact was louder than any denial. Of course I thought about him. About us. About everything we lost. But I wasn't about to surrender that authority.

I shoved my tray away and stood. "Here's a thought, Tyler: choke on your fries."

His giggle followed me as I walked out, but my hands were shaking.

By the time math class rolled around, I was fatigued. The teacher droned on about math I didn't care about. Numbers blended together on the whiteboard. I kept my head low, sketching broken hearts in the margin of my notebook, reciting my quiet mantra