Dunveil was already holdinghis lecture when Anees delivered Lory to the blue room two hours, a quick breakfast, and a light sparring session later. Much to her surprise, taking punches at hand-to-hand combat hurt less than the glares of her fellow ashlings as she entered the room silently enough to make the Veiled Hand proud and sat down at the edge of the second to last row, two chairs away from where Aiden was reading from a small book, entirely ignoring the Knowledge Hand at the front of the room.
“Ah, Ashling Vednis… I’ve been wondering when you’d return to class,” Dunveil greeted with a schooled expression and a hint of a warning, reminding her of Anees’s words to keep what happened to herself, not reveal the branding or anything about the deal she’d been offered.
Dunveil didn’t offer any explanations to the rest of the class. Instead, he continued his lecture, not in the least bothered by Lory’s squirming. Frost lowered the book for a heartbeat, throwing Lory a glance that told her he had expected her back soon.
A few rows ahead, Thal’s black curls bounced as he turned in his seat, measuring Lory with a crease of worry between his brows and a hint of fear brightening his eyes. Beside him, Tabi and Jarek watched with raised brows as she shrank in her chair, wishing she could use her powers to disappear.
Anees had warned her of that, too—not to use her magic under any circumstances. Even in self-defense. The Triad would be watching her closely, and any unsanctioned use of fire would make it that much harder for her to pass her trials—because if they felt like they couldn’t control her, they wouldn’t want her to live.
Pursing her lips, Lory inclined her head at all three of them, glad to see Jarek and Thal alive and intact after what happened at the Veiled test with the bridge, and simultaneously fearing what they’d have to say about Lory’s flaming powers. Would they still consider her a friend, or would they despise her the way most ashlings in the room seemed to—the number of hostile stares she earned with her mere presence was more than any girl should need to handle.
“You’ll get used to the stares,” Aiden murmured, sliding over the two empty seats to sit next to her, his broad frame blocking out the rest of the row.
He didn’t seem to care that Dunveil was already speaking about the Great Purge once more or that the rest of the class wasn’t paying attention to the Knowledge Hand, rather following any of Lory’s movements with rapt interest as if she might burst into flames then and there. All Frost did was play with little sparks of glacial cold in his free hand, showing the rest of the world that he had the answers to her fire should it dare ignite, and the grin he put on was nothing less than ruthless. One wrong word, one wrong step, and whoever tried to get close to her would get that ice shoved down their throats before they’d even get a chance to make Lory upset enough to lose control over her magic.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and when Aiden nudged her with the side of his arm, sitting there for another hour and then heading out to Veiled practice with the rest of the blues didn’t seem so daunting. All she needed to do was focus on Dunveil’s voice while simultaneously keeping her eyes open for any potential dangers coming from the people who witnessed her go up in flames on the roof.
Guardians, if she had managed to control herself, she might have been able to hide her magic long enough so the entire school hadn’t learned what she was. But this way, there was no going back, no denying it, no obnoxiousFalcrest-set-me-on-fire-with-a-torchstories she could tell. This was happening;this, she couldn’t hide the way she’d hidden her past.
“The Great Purge came with countless casualties on either side of the conflict, but the magic wielders had destroyed too much of the land and brought misery over the continent.They couldn’t be allowed to live without clear rules, which they didn’t accept. To protect Brestolya, most had to die.
“Some were smart enough to surrender, though, and pledge their loyalty to the king of Brestolya when they were overpowered by masses of soldiers, vastly outnumbered despite their magic. They were the first to hone their powers into weapons. They turned against the king’s enemies and fought in battles for the greatness of Brestolya. In the end, only registered magic was allowed to live, and only four types of magic were accepted into Ashthorn,” Dunveil narrated, his hand casually resting on the pommel of a weapon at his hip that he usually wasn’t wearing. “Matter manipulation, nature magic, including all variations of air, water, earth, and healing magic. Light magic, and mind magic, including knowledgists, empaths, and dreamweavers.” His sharp black eyes darted to Lory in a clear warning.
From the side of the room, Brycon’s know-it-all voice prompted. “What about ice and fire? Are they considered nature magic, too?”
The corner of Dunveil’s mouth twitched in obvious anger that the topic was being addressed at all. “Ice is nature magic in a sense, yes, since it utilizes water, but it is also a simple manipulation of temperature, which could be counted as a skill fitting into the matter manipulation part of the spectrum, even if it’s technically notmatter.”
Brycon didn’t seem convinced, his glare sharp enough to pierce straight through the room at both Aiden and Lory. He crinkled his forehead as if the danger their powers posed worried him less than their academic affiliation.
“And fire?”
“Is out of the question, Ashling Seine,” Dunveil barked. “Fire is neither nature nor matter manipulation, nor is it the light magic or a creation of the mind. It neither draws upon something preexisting, nor is it the pure manipulation of temperature. It’s volatile and dangerous, and creatures possessing even traces of fire magic shouldn’t be allowed to live.” Those last words were directed at Lory, and as the entire class’s gazes wandered between her and Dunveil, the room seemed to shrink until she could almost feel the Knowledge Hand’s hand close around her throat.
“Remind me not to run into him when I’m by myself,” she muttered at Aiden under her breath, who snuffed out the ice in his hand, opening the book once more, idly flipping a page as he seemed to ignore the rest of the room.
“Not a chance,” he muttered back, and with his finger, he pointed at a paragraph at the bottom of the page he’d been reading.The Great Purge is a great lie.
The page ended right there, and Lory didn’t dare gesture for Aiden to turn to the next one with the entire room’s attention lingering on the two of them, so she had to stroke her curiosity into compliance until the end of the class, when the majority of ashlings gave her a wide berth, Brycon spearheading them.
Thal, Tabi, and Jarek seemed to be waiting for the rest of the crowd to disappear, and Lory would have loved to linger, but Aiden pulled her to her feet, ushering her out of the room as Dunveil made his way toward them.
“We should get you all changed and ready for Veiled,” he said much too loudly to be casual. “I’ve heard we’ll be usingthe back part of the parcours today. You know, the one with the insanely large obstacles.”
Lory’s stomach folded in half as she sensed the others filing into the hallway behind her, forming a weak wall between the Knowledge Hand and her, while Aiden made sure they never got too close to the rest of the ashlings, who were peeking over their shoulder as if unsure whether to turn and confront her or run for their lives.
For now, they seemed to be opting for flight, because when they entered the training yard, the sun beating down on them with merciless heat, the crowd dispersed into groups of three or four, chatting as they headed to the farthest ends of the space.
Naturally, they weren’t alone in the yard. Veiled was the one subject blue shared with yellow, and when Lory searched for Brycon, he was already standing in a corner, whispering with Ricca and Solen, who both seemed ready to spear her with their swords.
Swords… The others were wearing a proper weapon while Lory still hadn’t been allowed as much as a butter knife since her new deal.
With a steadying breath, she slowed, letting Tabi, Jarek, and Thal catch up.
The latter beamed at her as she glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t know what you did to be allowed to live, you freak of nature, but I sure owe you my life, so I don’t care.” He threw an arm around her, earning a glare from Frost, who didn’t seem to be considering Thal a real threat, yet didn’t extinguish the sparkling ice crystals swirling at his fingertips.
A sense of warmth spread in Lory’s chest at the lack of judgement in her friend’s eyes as Thal beamed down at her with friendly, chocolate brown eyes. “Of course, I’m biased because you’remyfreak of nature.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting her go, handing her right into Tabi’s open arms.
“I couldn’t believe they let you live when Frost told us.” The woman folded her in, her array of braids tickling Lory’s cheek as she rested her chin on her shoulder. “What did they make you do in exchange for your life?” The question was a whisper, and Lory knew she didn’t truly expect an answer in front of the rest of the ashlings, so she swallowed the tears building at the back of her throat at so much affection and concern.
