“What did I just tell you, Seren, about my clothes?” he said with an exasperated sigh despite the pain he must have been in.
Seren conjured another ball and shifted her stance. “Why are you doing this? Why me? Why Ara?”
He spared a glance for Ara before stepping toward Seren, hands raised before him as if pleading his innocence. A little late for that.
“Your sister is exceptionally special. I’ve known it for a long time, but I had to meet you first to know for sure. It had to be one of you. I didn’t force this decision on her, Seren. She chose this.”
“Chose what?” Seren seethed.
“Chose to be a part of something bigger than you or me. She will change everything,” he said with an air of wonder as if lost in his beliefs.
“Bella, come over to me.” Seren held out the hand not holding the orb.
Arabella shook her head lightly, but her eyes were still foggy. “Calder?” she murmured.
Rage was all she knew as she threw the ball at Calder, but he was ready this time. He caught it just as she and Atwood had done in the trial. Except, this wasn’t a game. This was her sister and she would fix the wrongs she had set in motion.
A shout from Calder was her only warning as a strange smooth yet scaly presence wrapped itself around her feet. Seren looked down to see a massive black snake curling around her. Even as she thought she should feel fear at the proximity of it, she couldn’t muster even the smallest bit. In fact, a strange sense of warmth, of belonging filled her chest. The snake, satisfied with its position around her, reached up its long neck and opened its massive mouth, fangs glinting against the moonlight.
Seren realized where the snake had focused its attention a moment before it snapped its mouth around his leg. Just as quickly, the snake retracted its bite and settled next to Seren, though it was poised for another attack. Calder shouted in pain and ran a hand over his leg where his pants were ripped and blood dripped.
“I should have fucking known you would have a snake for a familiar, but did it have to be so fucking huge and hostile?” Calder growled.
A familiar. Seren’s heart raced as she studied the black serpent. As if sensing her study the snake turned and large green eyes focused on hers. She knew this creature, and it knew her. She was magnificent.
“Hello,” Seren said.
The snake inclined its head and seemed to wrap itself tighter around her, the pressure warm and reassuring.
“You should probably thank me for helping you to find your familiar so early. Most witches wait years to come into their power and find theirs. So, I suppose you are welcome,” Calder said.
As if that were all the reminder they needed, their attention turned back to him. “I think it’s time you tell me what you did to my sister.”
The snake slithered towards Calder as Seren said the words as if their will was one and the same. At the glint of fear in Calder’s eyes, Seren smiled.
Chapter nine
Icarus Atwood
Astreakofdarklightning rippled across the autumn sky, and Icarus Atwood knew something was wrong. The evening patrol of the grounds had fallen to him, so, of course, it would be tonight of all nights that something went amiss.A prank, he tried to console himself,just students up and about exploring the boundaries of their magic.Testing his patience.It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, but certainly an annoying one. And yet, a swell of anxiety built within his chest. After the events of the day, it felt right to be wary. The thought quickened his steps along Calami’s browning grasses.
A thin veil of clouds passed over the moon, carried along by a fierce breeze rolling in from the east. His ink-stained fingertips lifted to brush back rogue strands of curly dark hair fallen over his forehead onto the gold-rimmed spectacles resting low on his nose. Moments before the blast of light, he’d been lost in murky thoughts of the past. Of the legacy he’d given up, traded in, to sit in a dusty office, grading the papers of errant young witches who giggled through his lectures and batted their long eyelashes at every presenting opportunity.
“Eiridis,” his voice curled into the night around him, a soft summoning, answered by the indignant hoot of his owl familiar. From his perch in a tree above, the creature's yellow gaze appraised Icarus with an edge of contempt. The hour was late, and it was clear he would rather be free to stretch his brown-speckled wings and scour the sprawling meadows for field mice than play lookout for his master. All the same, it took but a soft whistle and a gentle motion of Icarus’s hand to send the owl off to scout ahead.
Eiridis wasted little time flapping into the navy sky. He circled twice and then tilted north for the lonely thicket of trees that made up the Whispering Woods, before rounding toward the courtyard where the lightning had arisen. Icarus sighed as the weight of his familiar’s absence settled over him, but he knew Eiridis’ keen eyes could spot trouble in an instant and tried to relax into the knowledge of it.
Just young witches. Rebellious but harmless, testing their limits.
He sucked in a breath, the air cool and inviting. It provided a clarifying effect that the indoors didn’t offer, one he sorely needed after the day he’d had. His mind wandered to the stolen Pavor wand, and the thought was followed by a set of eyes so dark they were almost black. Next came moon-shadowed hair, flowing like black silk to frame a face so compelling and sorrowful, an ache settled through him just to think of it. He'd been denying any thoughts of her from the very moment they parted in the library, her regal form and gaze full of defiance despite the promise of obedience in her tone.
Trouble.That had been his first thought in the maze, and he didn't dare repeat his second—even to himself.
A sharp screech erupted into the night, pulling Icarus away from what he shouldn't have been visiting in the first place. His shoulders squared, and he jerked his head up to the source, dreading the shiver that coated his skin as his familiar soared towards him. The tips of the owl’s feathers danced with the wind as he flapped sporadically, setting a tempo of panic within Icarus’ chest.
"What did you find?" He called up at him, feeling a lurch burrow deep in his stomach and release an icy blaze that sent waves of adrenaline rushing through his veins.
It was an awful feeling—one of the many things he didn't miss from years lived during the Trinity War. Though he’d never stood on those front lines, he’d seen his father and uncle come home in blood-stained clothes—most of it not their own—faces so grim he hardly recognized them. His family had lived in so much fear, wondering if the day would come when his father would not return. That he would forever stare at an empty seat before the fire, or at the head of the table and feel the pain of missing him. Such a heavy burden for a young man to bear, and an even heavier one followed. At sixteen, he’d made a choice that changed the course of not only his life but his family’s lives forever.
