We had far more important things to focus on. Like my powers. And revenge. And my uncertain future.
“Tell me more about Midnight Fae Academy,” I said, needing a new topic.
Fortunately, he conceded and dropped the other one.
Thirty minutes later, I had a thorough understanding of the Academy. “So it’s like a university for fae.” He’d mentioned dorms, finals, course schedules, professors, and even intramural sports. “Except there’s only one available, not a whole smorgasbord of choices.”
“It’s also not voluntary,” he added. “All Midnight Fae from twenty to twenty-four years old are mandated to attend.”
“Oh.” That sounded a bit ominous. “Even Halflings?”
“Yes.”
“So I won’t have a choice?”
“Not without Council intervention, no.” He cleared his throat. “But it’s where you belong, Ella. Your aging will begin to slow in the next year or so, and when your powers finally manifest, you’ll want to be around your own kind for training. There’s no reason not to enroll.”
“Unless I want to go to a human university,” I pointed out, folding my arms and leaning back into my chair.
“Sure, but why would you do that?”
“Maybe I want to at least have the choice,” I countered.
He gave me a look that said he knew I was just being difficult. My life goal was to escape, and he’d offered me the opportunity on a pedestal. Why would I reject it?
“Okay, let’s say I go.” I held up my hand to stop him from commenting on my loose agreement. “What if I can’t access my powers? How will that impact my enrollment?”
“It’ll prove problematic,” he confirmed. “Which is why we’re going to focus on releasing them.”
Chapter Fifteen
Tray
One Month Later
I sat in my usual booth, my brother across from me, enjoying a bucket of his favorite flavor of wings. But I couldn’t stomach mine. “I’ve tried everything, Kols. Nothing is working.”
We’d attempted all the tricks I’d learned as a kid, even a few I’d read about in a variety of dark-magic books. With each trial, Ella grew more agitated, her belief in her lack of powers growing by the day.
But I knew they were in her somewhere.
I just couldn’t figure out the key to unlocking them.
Kols wiped off his hands with a napkin, his manners as formal as ever despite the messy meal. “I’m telling you, T. Just bite her.”
Flames flickered across my hands on the table, my patience at an all-time low. “That’s your solution to everything, isn’t it?”
“Have you tried it?” he countered.
“Of course not. It’ll initiate the mating bond.” Oh, fae could bite humans as often as they desired without any side effects—assuming they didn’t drink too much, of course. But biting a fae with a desirable bloodline? Yeah, that created an eternal promise, one the females of our species were bound to regardless of their willingness.
I didn’t want to do that to Ella.
Even if the Council required it.
“You’re going to have to bite her eventually,” Kols pointed out. “So why not start now and see what happens?”
“Sure. The second you bite Emelyn, I’ll bite Ella.”