“Well, I’m glad he’s helping,” I said, trying to appease Miss Iris. “But if he wandered off, you better find him. You know that the academy is a maze.”
Miss Iris pursed her lips. “Don’t I know it. And he already seemed pretty interested in the school. I had to go out of my way earlier because he was dying to see a portrait of Dad. Said he wanted to see how my genes were going to hold up—the dog!” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I wouldn’t put it past him to take a self-guided tour. Why are the men I date always trouble?”
“Like Mother always says, trouble attracts trouble.” I teased, which earned me a playful poke from Miss Iris.
“I’m sweet as pie, and you know it!” Miss Iris winked, making me chuckle. “Well, I best be off. These drinks aren’t going to serve themselves. I’ll catch you later, love. Good luck tomorrow. You too, Mr. Wardwell.”
Finally alone again, I turned my attention to Alex. He was watching Miss Iris go, an amused look on his face.
“She owns the café in town. Her father used to be Headmaster here, so we have a special connection.”
“That makes sense. It’s a unique situation to be in,” Alex said, pivoting to face me again. “Speaking of unique, that was some challenge today, huh?”
“Did you expect any different?” I asked my tone light, although I was truly curious. As a non-legacy, what had he been expecting?
“Ha. Not really. My parents were fanatical about being the best and trained me as if I was going into Hell itself. I knew these exams would kick my butt. Something tells me you were prepared similarly?” Alex quirked a sexy, dark eyebrow.
My hand flew to my heart. “Me? No way!”
We both laughed, and when our mirth petered out, Alex shook his head. “I guess I can’t say for sure what I expected, but I was pretty positive that whatever I came across would kick my ass. And I was right. That river challenge was almost the end of me!”
“How did you make it across, anyway?”
“Shielding saved my butt. Twice a fae creature almost got me but his hand—or webbing, I guess—ran into the shield. If he made his move a second earlier, I’d have been taking a swim.” He paused and then added. “How is your injured friend, by the way? She was rushed off pretty quickly after you guys crossed the finish line.”
“Tabitha,” I said, trying to hide how impressed I was that Alex could manage to create a shield while he was in motion. I had to be stationary to make one. “She’s fine. She got her leg caught in a trap, which sucks, but it’s totally healable. Not like some of the more serious injuries.”
With only thirty seconds remaining in the challenge one kid had been carried across the finish line by four others because he’d lost so much blood from a wound inflicted by a tiger-shifter. As soon as participants had crossed the finish line, or the time was up, depending on which came first, the injured had been spirited away to the infirmary. Since then the healers had been working hard to ensure everyone was cured quickly.
“No one said these tests were safe. In fact, they assured us that they weren’t. Why else would we have to sign a waiver? These exams are meant to stretch us to breaking. After all, spying isn’t safe,” Alex muttered.
“Yup. Some people just don’t prepare well.” An image of Jackson flitted through my mind, and I pushed it away, unwilling to think about him when Alex was standing right in front of me. “So, what do you think—”
A boom of laughter cut across the room, loud and vivacious, prompting us to turn around. When I saw who was making the commotion, I smirked.
Hunter stood in the middle of a circle of hopeful initiates, mostly female. All the girls were shrieking with laughter at something he’d said, but his influence didn’t stop there. A few older men were on the outskirts of the group literally grasping their guts from laughing so hard.
Although he couldn’t have known it, Hunter had probably just earned himself a couple of brownie points with Mother. Charm mattered when applying to Spellcasters. It was one of the reasons my mother chose to hold this function and the dinners, which everyone was encouraged to attend. She wanted to see who mingled well and who was awkward. It wasn’t an official part of the testing, but everything we did during these three days mattered and was taken into account as a reflection on our character.
I turned back to Alex, ready to make a smart ass remark about how my friends were crushing hard on Hunter, but stopped short when I saw his face.
He was staring at Hunter, lips pressed together and blue eyes blazing with irritation. For a split second, I was confused. But then his parents’ mention of their family feud came rushing back, and I realized that I’d nearly said a very dumb thing.
It was obvious that the families had staked out spots on opposite sides of the room. Their backs were even to each other. A blatant snub.
Right then and there I resolved not to bring Hunter up again. Even though he was nice enough and had helped me get through the first exam, I didn’t want anything to damage my chances of getting closer to Alex.
Chapter Ten
My body sagged as I trudged to Alice Kyteler Hall, where the mental examination would take place. Thankfully, even though my muscles ached from yesterday, my mind was clear and zinging. I was pleased with my choice to sleep in my family suite, rather than in the first-year tower with most of the other hopeful initiates. Hell, I’d even gone to bed two hours earlier than normal, because while I had no idea what we’d encounter during the mental exam, I did know that this was the test most students failed.
Rumor had it that one year the students were instructed to write a twenty-page paper on the workings of the United States government. Another year, they had to discuss liaisons with various fae courts. As usual, my mother never confirmed or denied these rumors. She didn’t even tell me about her own entrance exams and those had beenforeverago.
My nerves began to tingle, as they always did when I thought too much about this particular exam. Shaking them off as best I could, I turned into another hallway and caught sight of Phoebe and Tabitha giggling outside Kyteler Hall.
“Hey, ladies,” I said when I got close enough. “How’s your leg, Tabby?”
They both jumped, apparently so embroiled in whatever had made them laugh that they hadn’t heard me coming.
