“You come from Fae,” Ophelia said as she took a seat in her much larger chair, which looked more like athrone.
Fitting for a queen of a rather spooky, beautiful castle such as this...
Her words fell on me, light at first, but stirring a strange sort oflongingin me. All my life I’d been told stories about the Fae that lived in the woods. Growing up, I was always told to keep to the path if I found myself alone in those very woods, and on plenty of those hikes and trips with my mom and dad, I’d been herded close to them as they pointed at the naturally occurring, unnatural oval arches. I could tell by the way they clutched me, by their voices, that they were afraid. But why, I didn’t know. And every time I’d asked about it, about the Fae, I was told it was a subject best left buried. Talking about the Fae was just as dangerous as falling into one of their rings.
Suddenly, Ophelia Blackthorn’s words hit me, square in the chest. They settled there like a weight, holding me still, fixed to the tufted velvet padding beneath my arse.
“Me? Fae? That can’t be, my mom, my dad, they’re—”
“Do you doubt my knowledge, Violet?” the woman looked at me, her bright eyes sparkling with an eerie glow that both made the hairs on my arm stand at attention, and made my insides churn with interest.
Because I’d only seen that sort of glow once before, in the mirror. Right after my mother died.
Even now, frozen in place, those thoughts threatened to rise up, to take me under again. I had to fight them. I had to stay vigilant.
“No,” I said, biting my lip as she stared me down.
“I know perhaps this news is a bit jarring, and I had hoped we could ease you into things, which is why I requested your presence ahead of the rest of the first years,” Ophelia started.
“I see you’ve met Miss Caldecott.” She raised an eyebrow and I realized it was my turn to finally speak.
“Yes,” I said, still frozen.
“And I assume your acquaintance went well, given the fact Miss Caldecott is still upright on two legs instead of sitting on a lily pad somewhere...” she said with a smirk.
Her insinuation was not lost on me, and a part of me wasn’t surprised she knew about how I’d once turned my next door neighbor’s son into a frog for a whopping two hours. By accident, of course.
Because he’d been terrorizing the frogs and fish in my backyard pond for nearly a week, even though I’d kindly asked him to leave them alone...
Even though I hadn’t actually told anyone what had happened.
Raymond told everyone that would listen, though, but thankfully, the adults were less inclined to believe a rambunctious six year old who said he’d been turned into a frog.
“Um... she seems... nice, I guess.” I tucked a hair behind my ear, feeling quite on the spot.
“Good, I’m glad. Because you will be rooming with Delaney this year. First years do not typically room with second years, though in your case, I make an exception. That will be all, Miss McCreanor.”
“But wait... I... I have questions!” I said, scrambling to find my words, worried I’d just blown my chance to find out exactly what this woman meant about my heritage.
What about my parents?
What about this Fae bloodline thing?
The questions were endless in my brain, but Ophelia Blackthorn did not look up. She only answered me, no—my thoughts—as if it was something so commonplace. As if she always pulled in young, unsuspecting witches and wizards to her office to drop massive bombshells like the one she’d dropped on me.
“In due time, my dear. You are dismissed.”
CHAPTER4
Violet
“You must be prettyspecial if headmistress Blackthorn pushed you ahead of the other first years,andbunked you with a second year,” Delaney said with a grin.
I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to disclose to her. She seemed nice enough, but I didn’t really know her all that well yet. Plenty of folksseemednice, when really they’d use whatever they needed to to get a one up on you, or remind you of the hierarchy.
And even though Blackthorn Academy wasn’t high school—I’d been out of high school technically for two years—it was still a prestigious academy full of powerful witches and wizards.
I kept with Delaney’s pace as I carried my duffel down the hall, my arms gripped around it’s thick, heavy shape that prevented me from seeing everything in my path except the tall, beautiful woman leading me down winding corridors.
