The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

The towering figure wrapped his arms tightly around her from behind, halting the supernatural power she was about to unleash. "Vivienne, don't hurt yourself." Vivienne Hawthorn blinked in surprise at the familiar voice before quickly grabbing the man in front of her. "Mr. Wolf, are you alright?"

Just as Percival Ellington was about to respond, a pained "Ouch!" came from behind. "Geez, kiddo, got yourself a partner and forgot your old coach, huh? I nearly got a hernia from that freaky thing, and you didn't even check on me?" Dawson was the first to dash in, and seeing the scene before him, he felt a lump in his throat, his annoyance nearly blowing the roof off. "Vivienne, how could you play favorites like this? Is our combined worth really less than his alone?" The other apprentices trailing behind saw their beloved Vivienne in a tight embrace with Percival, worrying over him intensely, and felt as if their already wounded hearts were stabbed yet again. And it was a deep stab indeed.

A stab that felt a hundred, no, a thousand times worse than any physical injury.

How had their Vivienne fallen for this man?

"Vivienne, my hand's injured. Check it out, will you?" Donald's voice broke the tension, prompting others to lose their patience.

Larry chimed in after, "Check what? You should check mine first. What's your injury compared to mine? I nearly coughed up blood, did I say anything?"

Eric added with a sigh, "Vivienne, my heart's racing. Am I about to die?"

The others: "...You win."

Jerry Perez was visibly frustrated. "Still arguing? We barely managed a simple barrier and almost got Vivienne hurt, and yet here you are, trying to take credit..."

As Vivienne turned her sharp gaze to Finnian, who seemed to find the situation amusing, it was clear she suspected him of stirring up this commotion.

Finnian chuckled, standing upright suddenly, his eyes still carrying his usual slyness towards Vivienne.

"Both sides of the hand are flesh, after all. Bringing them here to see the action is fair, isn't it? After all, we're all in this together, and it wouldn't be fair for you to hog all the glory and forget about your coach and brothers." Vivienne: "..."

Did they seriously think this was some sort of treasure hunt?

defend their coach, "Vivienne, don't be mad at coach. It was our idea to come. He just hinted at it, nothing

of him when

added their two cents, "Exactly, Vivienne. You didn't even tell us about such a big deal. Do you see us as outsiders? Even if we're not much, we could still help." Finnian: It's like I'm

no injuries on Mr. Wolf, finally tuned into the others'

of

leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry, Thomas has found Dorian and the others. Thaddeus is being taken care of by the

up, meeting Mr. Wolf's confident gaze,

comforting to have Mr. Wolf around. Dorian and Cordelia were important

silent communication, a cold laugh cut through the air, a voice enhanced with power declared, "Perfect timing. With all this supernatural energy around, I

hadn't noticed anyone else there, so absorbed were they in Vivienne's

a dark shadow crossing

man, thinking a bunch

Old?

beat. With that face, you're older by a mile. In front of an ancient witch like yourself, I dare not claim to be old." "Insulting my face? You're asking

Finnian, who countered with his inner energy. Despite holding

her attack, determined to

to intervene when Percival, using his top-tier

lips curled

a flicker of movement, appeared before Finnian, delivering

the

couldn't dodge in time and coughed

"Master!"