I exhale. “Deal. But the sessions don’t start until after I pass the first gauntlet, and I can veto the dates at any time if they conflict with schoolwork or otherwise . . . distract me.”
“Done. But I get an extra day working with you on testing your powers. Once we can pinpoint them down exactly, we can use spells to help you control them.”
I narrow my eyes at his amendment, but it does make sense that we would need an extra day a week, if only so I can learn how to not use my magic on accident. “Fine.”
He grins, and something about the gesture makes my stomach flutter. “Game on, Princess. But you should know, I’m cutthroat when it comes to getting what I want.”
I don’t doubt that for a second. Only this time, what he wants is me.
All of me.
Forever.
18
I poke at the salad on my tray, eyeing the now empty spot where the roll sat moments ago. I’ve never liked salad unless it’s drowned in cheese and dressing, but both items were gone by the time I made it back from changing at the dorms.
“So, the blood just exploded from your locker when you opened it?” Kyler asks. She’s a first year and is too new to know I’m a social pariah, which is why she keeps asking questions about the incident earlier instead of pretending like the others that it didn’t happen.
I nod, half looking at her as I search for just one tiny crumb of goat’s cheese to add to the limp kale impaled on my fork. “Yep. Like in those cheap horror flicks.”
“And it was real blood?” she presses, biting her lip.
Giving up on my salad, I settle my attention on her. She’s pretty, in a naive, wholesome, girl next door kind of way. Fine shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. Bright brown eyes that glow from within. A smattering of freckles.
Mack says her grandparents have deep ties with the Fall Court King, but she seems too oblivious to the Evermore’s cruelty to have ever truly been around them.
“Probably not,” I lie before instantly regretting it. Letting someone like her continue their make-believe fantasy that the Fae are decent is cruel and dangerous. Kyler is soft spoken and kind, two personality traits that don’t benefit mortals here.
“Good.” Kyler’s eyes brighten as she leans forward on her elbows. “Hey, does anyone know what happened to the girl who used to live in my room? I found some of her stuff still in the drawers. Expensive makeup, that kind of thing.”
Mack and I share a look. A few seats down, Richard and Jace whip their heads in our direction.
Thank the Shimmer, Kyler doesn’t seem to notice as she adds, “I think her name is Evelyn? I found some of her old school papers too.”
Mack gives a careful shrug and makes some excuse about Evelyn leaving before shifting the conversation to our upcoming exams today. Only our tight circle knows the truth about how she turned, and we’ve all been asked to keep that inconvenient detail quiet.
As Mack opens her teal folder and pulls out the study guide, any appetite I had left vanishes. At this point, I’ve studied enough that I know the answers to each study guide question, but . . . still.
I can’t shake the feeling that I have to be perfect this semester.
Other than the locker incident and a few other juvenile pranks—like someone setting deranged brownies loose in our dorm room one night while we slept—nothing serious has happened. Yet.
But I can’t afford one single mistake.
Mack pulls out her Poisons and Potions quiz sheet, color coded like the obsessive overachiever she is, and begins rattling off questions.
“What species of mushroom is used to reduce anxiety?”
“Bisporos tranquaire,” I answer.
“What type of moss is used as a stabilizer in elixirs?”
“Ash moss, which is actually a liverwort, not a true moss.”
“What is the uncommon name for the rare monkshood plant?”
“Dragonsbane,” I say. “It was declared an illegal substance by the council after the last war, along with a host of other poisonous plants, after it was used to nearly eradicate the entire dragon clans of the Winter and Fall courts.”