Jaden Everson had never liked me. That had been clear since day one. If I hadn’t seen him with Corinya that one time, I would’ve thought that he didn’t like anyone.
“Why would you help me?” I asked, focusing on his stillness, his rigid stance, and his irrational display of disrespect.
Silence thickened between us, wrought with everi and distrust.
“We all made the choice to come here,” he said quietly. “We all knew the risks. Your path takes you to a dangerous place, should you choose to walk it. That risk is weighed against our desires and we all must make a choice. We shall see what yours is.”
“It was Corinya, wasn’t it,” I asked.
A flicker of surprise.
“She is why you are helping me,” I muttered.
He gave a low, annoyed grunt and left, leaving me there with useless scrolls scattered about and a hollow pit forming deep within me.
My hood hunglow over my face as I reached for the door leading out of the dorm’s common area.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
I cringed at Roslyn’s ill-tempered voice.
Before I turned around, Isabella’s door popped open. “What are you two shouting about?”
I groaned, turning around and lowering my hood.
Roslyn stared at me hard, her arms crossed.
“Well, out with it?” she snapped.
I thought she might start tapping her foot for a moment and I lost all my steam.
“I was going to break into an office for a book,” I said sheepishly.
“An office?” Roslyn asked incredulously. “Whose office?”
I looked at my feet and muttered, “Kalmont’s.”
“Ezreal?” she nearly shrieked. “Anna, for the love of Sairyn, Blake asked me to keep an eye on you. Could you please make a tiny attempt not to seek out trouble?”
I glared at her before I started heading to my room when Roslyn motioned for me to join her.
I gave her a questioning look.
“I have a feeling I already know what book you were looking for,” she said quietly. “And I have already swiped it.”
I spenthours ignoring Roslyn and Isabella chatting through the night as I read the tome Roslyn gave me. We were in her room and I sat in the window seat, soaking in as much information as I could, relaying the essential facts for Roslyn to weigh in on as needed.
After exhaustion was starting to take me, Isabella was nearly bouncing as she paced, having had far too much of Roslyn’s special tea.
“Okay,” Isabella said. “Let’s recap: The Falls is the only kingdom to openly have blood mages in their ranks, where they are honored for their power, but Celestia is also rumored to have an elite faction of blood mages.”
She flicked her index finger out as she paced and continued.
“Blood mages are not immortal but they can live far longer than the average mage, which is still longer than the average human,” she said, flicking out another finger. “It is possible for a blood affinity awakened mage, or a ‘blood mage,’ to stopdrinking blood, but they will be like a lifelong alcoholic trying to abstain from alcohol, which can sometimes be a train wreck. What am I missing? You’ve been prattling on, Anna.”
“It’s hard for them to give up blood, much like an alcoholic struggling to give up alcohol, because it gives them such additional strength. When their everi binds with the life force in someone else’s blood, it becomes exponentially more powerful,” I said. “It’s hard to give up this kind of power.”
Isabella frowned and crossed her arms. “They sound like vampi?—”
