“I expect to see you higher up the board, Winifred. I noticed you’re about eighth down. That’s unacceptable. You are a Venus, and you should be higher than them. Unless you wish to end all this silliness, leave the academy and the war to your brother, andcome home with me?” I open my mouth to tell her no, but she continues on. “You’re just not cut out for this, silly girl.”
Yes, I am. “I’m working on it. I promise. I won’t let our family down, and I do not wish to give up. You always said Venuses do not fail. I will not.”
“Well, it is good to see you are at least listening to me some of the time.” She picks at an invisible bit of dust on her jacket. “As for your brother getting married, of course, that has to be a priority because he’s found someone. But I’ve made a list of eligible witches in the academy for you, daughter. I expect you to meet with them, find out if any of these men could see themselves marrying you. I’ll give you until after the wedding, and then I will expect a firm answer. Remember to mention your family name and good breeding. It will be the primary interest in you for any man.”
Aster scoffs and clears his throat.
Not my personality? Just my womb, got it. “I will meet them all and get back to you.”
The food I’ve eaten turns to ash in my stomach. I nod, keeping up a fake smile like I always do around my family. The truth is, I don’t trust any of them. My mother is always scheming. My father bows down to her and does anything she wishes, as long as he can be left alone in his books and research, in the libraries in our home. My father used to let me hide with him when mother was in one of her bad moods. Then…there’s my brother, Lock. I look across the table at him. He is the image of witch royalty—perfection. The pretty boy, the heir to the Mercury clan and to the Umbral Authority. The one my mother trained to be exactly like her and knocked out any traits of my father, who raised Lock like he was his own son. Any goodness my brother might have gotten from my father is long gone now, especially given the fact that he’s clearly somehow manipulating Juniper into marrying him. From the first day, it was obviousthat she had no real feelings for him, but she clearly had no choice in the matter. I just can’t figure out why.
Something about Juniper bothers me, not in a bad way, but draws me in. I think perhaps there’s something she’s lying about. I don’t know what it is, but I’m determined to save her from this hellhole of a marriage with my brother. “Winifred. Go find Melody, Juniper, and that dragon, whatever his name is, and get them to come back to the table. I was going to have drinks afterwards. They weren’t dismissed.”
“I’ll find them with Aster.” I rise to my feet.
Aster stands with me. “It’s a pleasure meeting you all.”
I look around at their reactions to Aster, knowing damn well that they’ve not acknowledged him once since he sat at the table. They don’t now, pretending they didn’t hear him and carrying on with their boring conversations. They pretend like our bonded aren’t even real people.
My father’s bonded died years ago, but my mother’s bonded didn’t, and he practically lives as a slave around our household. He never said more than a couple of words to me growing up, mostly because my mother would cast spells against him if he dared try. He wasn’t released to go back to the shifters after the time he was meant to be fighting in the war. My mother didn’t fight; she sat on the sidelines bossing people about. He had to be forced to live with her as a form of protection for her job. I could tell that he hated every moment of that. He’s a wolf shifter just like Aster, but I’m determined Aster won’t follow the line of what my mother did. I mean, he definitely won’t because I’m not an important heir anyway because they chose my brother. I’m the spare, and even if Lock died, they would find a way to marry me off to someone they wanted on the Umbral Authority. It’s been made clear to me from a young age that I’m not enough. I’m weak and useless compared to my brother.
I quickly make my way out of the door in the direction they went. Aster is at my heels, and I appreciate he stays close. When the door to the dining hall closes, I step back to his side. “I’m so sorry about them.”
“My senses suggest our missing guest went this way.” Aster doesn’t acknowledge my apology, and I don’t blame him. I should have made them be nice to him and dealt with the punishment after. He walks ahead of me, my eyes flickering over his suit. It’s a dark shade of blue, which brings out what looks like little flecks of blue in his brown eyes. His long braids are perfect, soft, hanging down the back of his neck, and small jewels hang in the braids. He’s probably the most stunning man that I’ve ever looked at and very distracting to share a room with, but he doesn’t look at me like that. I don’t think he’s even seen me once since all this began, since he saved me and we bonded. He makes it very clear he’ll do his duty, he’ll look after me, but there’s something like a wall between us, and I’m not sure why. Maybe he just hates witches. I mean, so many of them do.
We go into a room, and I pause, smelling smoke in the air. Aster’s eyes widen slightly, and he turns around, locking the door behind us in a hurry.
“I believe that’s what’s left of your aunt,” he says quietly, pointing at the pile of ash on the floor. “Kane’s scent is all over this room. He must have burned her to a crisp. I know you want to go back in there and scream and cry that your aunt’s dead and tell them, but that will get them in so much trouble. I’m asking you not to. I’m loyal to the dragons. They’re practically our royalty to us. So I’m asking you, please, not to.”
“I wouldn’t anyway. You seem to have judged me from the minute that we bonded, that I’m somehow on my family’s side, but look how they treat me!” I wave at the door. “They’ve always treated me as an outsider. I have no loyalty to them, and I certainly have no loyalty to Melody. She was an abusive asshole.”He genuinely looks shocked and stares at me for a long moment. “In fact, she definitely deserved that because, well, she used to beat me as a kid when she came to our house. I know damn well she was beating Juniper. I was never allowed to meet her, but it was obvious from how she talked about her foster daughter. I didn’t learn her name until recently; they just called her ‘that useless foster.’ I think my mother was very happy about that because she wasn’t a person too shy to beat me when I wouldn’t bend to her will. I’m not going to tell them shit, but we need to hide this for Juniper.”
Aster turns his head to the other door. “Someone is coming. Go and distract them, and I’ll figure something out. Don’t let them come in here.”
I nod, rushing to the other door and slipping out to the other side. My breath hitches as the headmaster, Mentor Parker, walks straight to me, his long red cloak blowing in a faint breeze behind him. His powerful, tall body fills out his slightly old-fashioned suit, and his pocket watch glitters in the firelight as my eyes drift up to his face. Our headmaster is thirty, I learnt from my mother, and he is far too good-looking to be a teacher in the first place. His jaw is smooth and defined, sharp in a way that is noticeable. His eyes are brown and smoky, but his hair is the shade of fire or blood. I don’t know much about him, only that he is from the Parker clan, hence his last name. “Winifred Venus.” A shiver burns through my body as he locks eyes with me. I have to stretch my neck to really meet his gaze, and it’s so intense, I can only pause. “What are you doing out here?”
“My family is having a meal, and I stepped out to let them talk privately for a moment.” I’m such a bad liar. Can he see through me?
The headmaster steps closer, far too close. He smells like peppermint and something magical, but I’m not sure what it is. “You seem nervous.”
“Y-you make me nervous, headmaster?—”
He cuts me off. “Call me Luke. It’s my real name, not my clan name.” His eyes run over me before meeting my gaze. “Does knowing my name make you less nervous, Winifred?”
I cock my head to the side. “Maybe, Luke.”
He laughs, and I grin back. His laugh is really nice to hear and makes him less intimidating. “I wanted to speak to you, so this is the goddess’s fortune. Your mother is concerned about your place on the leaderboard and wishes for me to give you private tutoring lessons. Come to my office every evening at eight.”
Private lessons with the hot headmaster? How could that possibly go wrong? I gulp. “Okay, Luke.”
He laughs again, turning from me and walking away as I watch him go. I completely forgot about the room behind me for a moment there and the fact we need to hide the remains of my aunt. I slip back into the room, and Aster’s shoulders drop. “Good job getting him to leave.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, knowing I did nothing really. I look around at the room. It’s pretty empty of anything, but there are loads of strange ornaments and a few that possibly could look like an urn to hold ashes. If we can hide enough of them, a simple water spell will clean up the ashes from the carpet. “Grab some of the empty decorations that look like urns, the vases and things. We can fill them up and pop a quick binding spell on top to lock in the scent and make sure no one can open them without us knowing.”
“Your mother is crazy to think you need any extra help. You’re one of the smartest witches at this academy.” Aster shakes his head. “I’m so glad you don’t like your family. They really suck.”
Warmth fills my chest as I gather two of the big vases, and Aster gets another two. For the next ten minutes, we scoop theashes into the urns. When we’re done, I stand up and close my eyes, using a water-based spell to wash our hands and any of the ashes left over on the carpet until it’s clean. We bind the vases, which are now urns, and pop them on the bookshelves. “Can you still smell anything that happened here?”
“It’s very faint. A shifter would have to be looking directly here, and even then, I doubt they could scent who died,” Aster offers, and my shoulders drop. Good, we got away with this for now.
