Lo had moved on to another partner, laughing as he switched between dancers. I let the rhythm carry me alone. The heat rose again, heavy as a hand.
When I dared another glance, Kael was still watching.
He stood at the back of the room, silver-threaded velvet drinking the light, Selena and Jorren at his side. He appeared to be listening to them, yet his eyes… His eyes were fixed on me.
It grew harder to focus on the music. Every turn, every lift of my arm seemed caught beneath that stare.
Two men edged too near, brushing against me as they danced. They moved with careless arrogance, laughter sharp as glass. Their tunics of blue and gold gleamed under the chandeliers, the kind of shimmer that only old money or spoiled blood could afford.
A bead of sweat rolled down my forehead, threatening my makeup. That decided it. Time for a retreat.
There was a lavatorium in the entrance hall, but I knew students would be waiting in throngs. Through the side door, along the gallery by the gardens, there was another, quieter, more secluded. I slipped through the crowd, heat slick on my back, breath catching as I broke free into cooler air.
And still, even as the door closed behind me, I could feel his gaze following.
Chapter 14
Evie
They had altered the gallery. Arches that opened onto the garden were strung with soft, magical fairy lights, and portraits of old academy deans looked down from the wall. Henrich Eisenberg, garbed in teal and gold, stood beneath the crystal chandelier.
I paused to drink in the colours and the delicate fading the artist had coaxed from paint. Gold had been laid in thin sparks around Henrich, and seeing his face made me ache for the years before the plague, when everything still revolved around books and practice and the slow, patient work of magic. I had graduated during the Breath of Death, a hollow, lonely ceremony, then taught at the academy, and then I became a magister. That was my story.
The other lavatorium sat at the gallery’s far corner. I slowed my pace, relishing the cool night air that slipped through the arches. The gardens spread out into shadow. If I narrowed my eyes, I could just make out the outline of the necropolis.
“She’s there!” a man called from behind me. He sounded drunk.
I quickened my steps so I could slip into the lavatorium and avoid him.
“Hey! Not so fast, little mouse.” Another voice. Closer this time.
I glanced over my shoulder. The two students from the dance floor trailed me.
They caught up and boxed me in. My back hit the stone, and the two men reeking of mousseux stood before me, cutting off any escape.
One had filthy black hair and skin too pale, even for Hauvia. The other was blond, freckled, with blue, lizard-bright eyes. Drunk, they laughed like goats.
“Well, hello there,” the pale one said, trying for seduction and landing on a bleat.
“Running from us, are we?” the blond asked. “We had a good thing going. Why did you leave?”
“We know every girl from fourth year, but we don’t know you. Where have you been hiding?” the pale one pressed.
“You better watch that tone,” I warned. I hated to pull rank, but, “You are speaking to Magister Evangelina Corvo. You do not want your record to show you harassed a member of the Court, do you?”
“That accent…” the pale one murmured, ignoring the rest. “Sounds very… sexy.”
“Magister…” the blond paused, as if the title had only just landed. “Isn’t dancing like that a bit… inappropriate for a court wizard?” He smiled, vile.
Every muscle in me tightened. I wanted to slap them both, to kick them where it would hurt and make them understand I danced as I pleased.
“And that gown you wear is an invitation,” the blond said, still smiling.
That was his undoing. He had just signed his own expulsion in red ink and sealed it with black wax.
He leaned in, ready to carry out whatever filthy plan crawled in his mind, and I readied my fist.
I punched him in the nose.
