"Arabella. Your sister. I want you to arrange for her to meet me in the courtyard at midnight tonight, near the statue of Saint Sorath."
"Why?" she snapped, finally finding the will to speak again. It was behind her tone of indignation that she hid the sudden fear and suspicion wracking through her body in waves, a tactic she'd been perfecting for years now.
That wicked smile returned to spread along his face, as thin as frost forming over glass. "Wouldn't you like to know?" His tone was roguish, but a shadow lingered in the sharp edges of his expression. "Convince her and no one will ever know about our little adventure, I'll give you the wand back."
"Never. I would never subject Arabella to the likes of you." She made another fruitless lunge for the wand, catching his arm instead when he pulled it back at the last second.
"Never? Such a strong word. I believe you've forgotten just who you're dealing with, Seren." He twisted out from under her iron grip to shake the wand just out of her reach, taunting her.
"Oh, I think I do.” She swiped again, half-tripping over a mossy cluster of stones. “I know a serpent when I see one."
His dark chuckle skated through the air as he sidestepped, but caught her before she fell. "Then you should also know who my uncle is. How, as headmaster of Mistral Hall, it would take him less than a sentence to arrange your expulsion. He and Sinclair go way back. Before you go thinking you can turn this on me, realize I am heir to his position. Who would they believe?"
Seren felt the truth in his words. The weight of it was heavy, unrelenting. She straightened, pulling away from him. "What do you want with her?"
He leaned back into the scarred oak, smirking. "To proposition her with a choice. I won't harm her. I'd just like to see if she has a bit more sense than you."
Seren sneered, about to hissnoagain. But her gaze flicked to the wand held over her, both literally and figuratively. She’d learned magic thus far, but likely not enough to beat him in a fight for it.
Pushing off the gnarled tree trunk, he tossed it in the air before catching it with ease as he headed up a short incline to a small clearing. When he looked back over his shoulder, the sharp angles of his handsome face were caught in the spill of light and dark that filtered through the branches overhead. Seren searched him for passion or regret, a hint of reason behind what he was doing, but she found nothing. He was a guarded fortress that only showed what he allowed.
"I'll leave the choice up to you, then. Don't let me down. I would miss you terribly if you were expelled and sent home to your backwater village. Or worse." The threat was there, real but unspoken. Seren imagined it—her magic being burned from her veins.
With one last little toss of the wand, she watched him flick his wrist. A green portal started from thin air, first a small circle before expanding so widely that he could step through without ducking. It closed behind him in a resoundingsnapthat startled a scourge of starlings from their perch.
The moment he was gone, Seren's knees gave out and her chest heaved under the sensation of being cracked in two. With searching fingers, she gripped the rough bark of the willow tree, adjusting so that she could sit down with her back against it, rest her head, and close her eyes tight in defiance of the emotions welling up inside.
What could be done? Why had she trusted him? Perhaps she thought she'd seen a glimpse of the same shadow that lived in her. Something that could bind them in a mutual understanding of what it meant to be gray rather than shining white. Clearly, she was mistaken, Calder was made of darkness, through and through. The thought made her mouth taste of bitter ash and deadly nightshade.
All that was left now was a choice.
Beneath her, her strong legs tensed, she rooted her feet and rose in one swift motion. She would do what Cal asked, if only to keep from being expelled, but he was dead wrong if he thought she'd be sending her sister alone in the night to meet a wizard full of wiles that rivaled her own.
Chapter seven
Arabella Marudas
Aracollapsedontoherbed. The gentle vibration of Juniper's purr rumbled under her hand as she ran her fingers through his soft downy orange fur. Fighting with Ariminta and then again with her own sister had left her emotionally exhausted. All she wanted to do was curl up with a book and read until she was too tired to keep her eyes from closing, letting the smell of the ink and parchment lull her to sleep.
This was not to be the case, however, because just as she opened her book, a knock sounded at the door. She huffed a breath and exchanged a look with her fox. He appeared equally annoyed as she got out of bed, disturbing the cozy nest of pillows he lay in.
Ara put on a bright smile and opened the door, joking, “Roxie, have you finally learned to knock?”
Her sister’s pale face stared back at her, her lower lip chewed raw. Her dark eyes darted up and down the hallway before she snarled, “Well, are you going to let me in, Bella?”
Ara stepped away, letting Seren in without a word. She closed the door with a soft click and waited, her hand still on the knob.
Seren paced back and forth, the sound of her footsteps echoing in the room as she twisted a strand of hair around her finger. Every so often, she would glance up and stare at Ara, shake her head, and return to pacing. Juniper’s small face poked out of the cozy den, watching Seren’s every move.
The distant caw of a raven from the open window broke the heavy silence. Ara walked to the small window and looked out over the moor where just that morning she had seen Calder Darkmore disappear. “After this afternoon I didn’t think it likely we would speak again so soon, Seren.”
The unfamiliarity of her sister's requested name made her uneasy, as if she were speaking to someone she had never met before. The woman before her was no longer the little sister she knew. Earlier this afternoon had made that obvious.
“Neither did I, Arabella, but my situation has changed. I need—” Seren’s words failed her, and she stood still, unable or unwilling to continue.
“Seren, what’s wrong? We can fix this, but you have to talk to me, please?” Ara asked, her blue eyes searching Seren’s dark, imploring her sister to trust her as she had before their father died and she left for Calami.
Seren glanced over her shoulder as if someone might hear them, alone though they were in the dorm room, she turned back, her eyes wild. “Bella, I need you. I need your help.”
