My shoulders shook as I lifted the emerald-encrusted goblet. Desperate to look anywhere but at the liquid in the cup, my eyes shifted to the side and caught the gaze of the vampire headmaster. His lips turned up in a self-satisfied smile, and I shuddered. He was probably getting a lot of joy out of this, the sicko.
Just do it, Odie,I told myself over and over as the chalice came closer to my mouth.
The scent of metal flooded my nostrils, and saliva filled my mouth once more as my stomach threatened to heave its contents into the cup.
But then, I noticed something else. The blood in the cup didn’t just smell like metal. There was another aroma there too, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but had smelled before. I pressed my lips together in thought.
The vampire headmaster shifted, and I caught him glance up and tilt his head toward the tunnel of magic churning above us.
Magic.There isn’t only blood in the cup, but the power of the predominant magical species of Earth.
My eyes popped open. While I wasn’t sure that drinking in magic would do a damn thing for me, it made the blood more palatable.
Riding the wave of realization, I brought the cup to my lips and sipped.
It tasted like blood, but there were pleasant undertones too. Tastes that evoked images of green woods and moon-filled nights and ancient rites and blood-filled wars.
It was four cultures of magicals in one glass.
“Are you quite done, Miss Dane?”
Headmistress Wake’s stern tone snapped me out of my revelation.
“Perhaps this one should be at my school?” the vampire whispered, and the shifter chuckled from beneath his hood.
“Yes.” I returned the glass to my headmistress, and went to claim the envelope that held my partner’s name.
I sat at the table, Alex on my one side, Eva on the other, fingering the wax-sealed envelope. I hoped more than anything that when I opened it, I’d see Alex’s name.
The line moving through the magic tunnel dwindled, and soon, the final first year had completed the ritual. As soon as they claimed their envelope, the tunnel vanished, and the professors, along with the heads of the other schools, sat. Only Headmistress Wake remained standing.
Her heels clacked against the wood floor, and I couldn’t help but think that while we were all sweating bullets, the headmistress probably lived for this shit. She paced through the tables twice before stopping in the center of the room.
“Who here is interested in knowing what species of magical will be your opponent this Beltane?”
No one spoke, but we all leaned forward, telling of our interest.
Headmistress Wake smirked, and her attention turned to the table at which the other heads sat, still hooded. “Will the representative for the oppositional species please reveal themselves?”
The tallest figure stood, and my blood froze, knowing who it was before he took off his hood.
Vampires.
Eva’s hands shot out to clutch both Hunter’s and my forearms, while murmurs rose from the rest of the tables.
Of course it would be vampires, the magical race we’d only recently begun studying, and never encountered. Why would we even consider anything else?
Headmistress Wake was still smirking at the front of the room, but Headmaster Ezra had retaken his seat. The only tell that he was enjoying himself at all was the faint upward curl of his lips.
The headmistress strode toward the middle of the room. “There is one more thing that you should be aware of, before you discover your partner’s identity. During the Beltane Trial, we allow you use of your totem.”
I gasped, and Alex gripped my hand. Holy crap. This was huge. Other people had been practicing with their totems for months, and some were getting pretty good at using them. While Alex and I were not among those people, ours were connected to Merlin and Morgan Le Fay. In proximity, they reacted to one another.
My hope that we’d be paired multiplied by a thousand.
Headmistress Wake lifted her arms, and a hush descended on the room. “Now that you know what you shall face, and the advantages you will have, I give you permission to open your parcels and learn the name of your partner.”
Papers rustled all around me. Eva practically tore hers in half to get it open. Concern about her pairing overwhelmed me, and my envelope remained on the table.
