“Runes?” Morgan arches a sharp brow and tips her head to one side, gaze flicking to the parchment Maeve is studying. “I took Runic Rituals and Applications last year. You need any help?”
I reach up to scratch the back of my head, where my hair is buzzed short. “Nah. My sister’s helping me. Thanks though.”
Maeve still doesn’t make any indication of having realized Morgan is standing beside the table.
“Oh, okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you at the game, then.” Morgan’s lips pull up into a smile. “I’m looking forward to beating you again.”
A competitive flame flares to life inside my chest. “Not a chance. This year we’re taking theArcane Cup.”
Last year, Morgan’s team, the Sigil Strikers, beat us in the academy’s runeball championship. I’m pretty sure it took me a month to drag myself out of bed afterward. This year, there’s no way I’m letting that happen. We’re going to crush her and her Strikers.
“From one captain to another,” Morgan says, and she reaches out to put a warm hand on my shoulder, “I’d warn you not to get your hopes up.” Her smile is sharp and catlike. And before I can respond, she’s moving away, her purple-trimmed robe whispering around her, the other two girls following in her wake.
My eyes follow her across the library until a tingle in my spine makes me turn around.
And Maeve is glaring at me like her eyes might be able to set me on fire. Or strike me with a bolt of lightning, which I’m pretty sure she can do—storm witch and all. She’s low-key terrifying that way.
“What?” I ask.
Maeve drops the parchment with my rune maps onto the table. “You know, Idohave better things to do than sit here all day trying to help you.”
My eyes narrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“She was thethirdwitch to interrupt us, and we’ve only been here for half an hour. You’ve spent more time flirting than even trying to understand this rune enchantment.”
“Flirting? That’s not tru—”
“Aric! Hi!”
A witch from my history class waves as she walks by, and I toss her a smile in return.
With a huffed sigh, Maeve pushes up from the table and grabs her robe from where it hangs on the back of the chair. It’s trimmed in green, designating her as a third-year student, just a year behind me.
“Whoa, where are you going?” I ask.
She tosses her hair back and levels a glare at me. “Until you decide you’re serious about studying, I’m done.”
“Maeve, wait. Maeve!”
But she doesn’t listen. She slips her bookbag over her shoulder, then strides across the library without a single glance back at me. When she’s gone, it’s just me and my failed rune maps and the ring that refuses to glow.
“Fuck,” I grumble, thumping my elbows onto the table and rubbing my hands down my face. “I’m so screwed.”
The table rattles, and I glance through my fingers to find Leo occupying the seat Maeve just abandoned. He’s staring in the direction she went, a wistful look on his face.
“Your sister is so hot,” he says, finally turning his dark eyes to meet mine. “Can youpleaseintroduce us?”
I snatch my rune maps off the table and barely resist the urge to crumple the paper in my fist. “No.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you went throughfourgirls last year”—I stuff the paper into my schoolbag—“can’t keep your hands to yourself to save your life”—I grab the silver ring and ease it into a small pocket in my bag and zip it up—“and Maeve has zero interest in anyone at this academy. And besides, you’ve been begging me for two years, and the answer is and has always beenno.”
“You are such a prick,” he says with a groan.
“Yup.” I push to my feet and grimace when I bump the table, sending it rattling. This academy is very much human size—not exactly a good fit for orcs, even half orcs like me. “I’m going to the field. You coming?”
Leo looks up at me and arches a dark brow. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing homework?”
