I scoff and bury my face in my hands. Why me? I’m not trained for this. I’m not taking the crown anytime soon. I have years.
“Soraea,” he whispers, prying my fingers away, making my skin pebble with the energy flowing through me. “Please. You’re the smartest person I know and the only other person who has magic that isn’t Bonded.”
“You have magic,” I say. It’s not a question. “Oh, gods.” I let the truth of it settle over me. Memories rush forward, our connection, strange sensations…strange urges.Magic.“Okay,” I whisper. “I’ll help. But nobody can find out. Where do you want to start?”
The edge of his mouth tips up in the beginnings of a smirk, just enough for the shadow of his dimple to appear.
“You’re the smarty pants, you tell me.” I nibble on my lip, leaning back and letting the cool stone seep through the material of my shirt. “What do you know about the Ancestor Isles?” I play with an invisible thread. “They’re as untouched as can be. Maybe they have ancient texts or scrolls? We need to find out more about the veil and how Astor and Calia powered it.”
“Really?” he deadpans. “That’s where you want to look? That’s almost impossible. They only allow ten visitors a year. I’m not even sure we can play the royal card.”
“You can ask,” I say sweetly, lifting a shoulder. He makes a grunting noise. “And you should see if you can get reports from the Protos. Maybe have them deliver them directly to the palace?”
“Yeah,” he mumbles, his gaze drifting eons away.
“I’ll see what I can find on the Nexus.”
His face drains of color as his gaze returns to mine—the muscles of his jaw locked. “You can’t! Raea, you could get in serious trouble.”
He’s right; the Nexus is an illegal platform for selling black-market information. If you’re caught selling or trading, you can be sentenced to a full year on the moons. “Well, where do you suggest we look? We can’t exactly search for unBonded magic manifestations, or veil-magic, without it being flagged.”
The bell rings to signal the end of classes. He stands quickly, leaning close so only I can hear. “Find books, Soraea. They aren’t traceable, and I don’t believe for a second they’ve all been destroyed.”
Before I can answer, he shifts in front of me, his body a shield against curious eyes. “In the meantime, I’ll get us a pass to the Isles.”
With an hour to spare before Bonding class, a few of us gather in our favorite study room, the one with the projector. Aolyn and Kamden have joined, along with Tate and Ciara, all of whom seem to think I have the answers to everything.
Our politics assignment is due in two days, and we need to propose solutions for challenges faced by three different trade planets from three various kingdoms. I glance at Aolyn and whisper my thanks. She had this assignment last year and is only here for moral support.
Kamden, one of the junior Recon division students, is quick to jump in and help. It seems he is one of the only students I’ve met who took his tour seriously. He’s smart, but easy going, and when I catch him staring at Aolyn, she tells me how they met over break when he was in Ateria skiing.
It was a week that her father sent her away from Cryos, so she spent an insane amount of money renting out half of the fanciest resort on Ashum, inviting her friends and their friends to join, and spent a week partying.
She giggles when she says her father didn’t even bat an eye when he got the bill. He tossed it aside and muttered that he had more important things to deal with, and to talk to their treasurer to pay it.
My jaw drops. If my father had received a bill like that, I’m pretty sure he’d send me to one of the labor camps for a month just to teach me a lesson.
“Let’s go to the village,” Kamden says, dropping his tablet on thetable. He grins, revealing perfectly white teeth. His bright green eyes light up when Tate shoots to his feet.
“Yes. Right after class,” Tate agrees, shoving a hand through his black locks.
“I’ll go,” Ciara says, head resting on the table, her brown hair splayed out around her like a blanket. It’s down to Aolyn and me. We both look at each other and shrug.
“Okay, let’s go. Let me put my books away. I’ll meet all of you after class by the doors?” Aolyn asks. We all nod and head to our rooms before we need to be in the hall for class.
After switching into a gown and cleaning up, I find Cole waiting outside my door with a satisfied smirk. “You look stunning,” he comments, holding out his arm like he’s going to physically escort me. I snort and turn down the hall.
“I find Bonding to be rather dull, wouldn’t you agree?” he asks, coming to walk beside me. “Not that you care, but my brother said he’ll see you after class. He was pulled into a palace meeting.”
Well, that was quick.
I glance up at Cole and shrug. “I think I’ll be just fine.”
He chuckles and opens the door to the bridge. “This is why I like you, Raea.” He doesn’t say more as we enter the hall of students filing into their dorm sections and finding seats.
During class, Professor Becca teaches us about the point of The Ceremony. According to the text inA Seer’s Didactic on Lumos Ceremonies,without the Lumos Bond, magic would disappear completely. The magic gifted to Bonded couples comes from the gods, allowing the Bonded to help our system in ways the gods no longer can. Essentially, it’s now up to us to protect the system.
Something gnaws at me as I read and read the passage about the gods gifting us the power in their place. After a few minutes, I give up. My head hurts, and I need to be done thinking for now. In fact, the village sounds like the perfect distraction.
