“Fail the grading,” he said.
“Fuck you.”
“If you don’t, there will be nothing but pain for you here. I promise you that.”
I lifted my chin and sneered. “Haven’t you heard? I don’t feel pain.”
Moonlight caught his pale eyes, pupils dilating to drink me in. “Oh, but you will, Anamaya. You will…”
A prickle of unease penetrated the haze of my ire. “What?”
He backed away, and I followed, pulse racing. “What do you mean?” Wait… “You think you can use Tamina against me? I beat her once. I can do it again and?—”
“Tamina has nothing to do with this.”
I wasn’t going to bite. I wasn’t… Fuck it. “Then what? Tell me!”
He smirked, already turning away. “Tell you and ruin the surprise? Not likely.” He walked off whistling a light, happy tune that left me buried beneath a fresh wave of doubt.
But maybe that’s what he wanted. To psyche me out.
My blood boiled. Who the fuck did he think he was? No one and nothing, that’s who. Just like everyone else here. Discarded by his royal father. Dark skies, why hadn’t I thrown that in his face? Ugh. Next time. I had no doubt he’d attack me again, but I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for him to act. I was going to take a jab at him first. I wasn’t sure how yet, but I’d come up with something.
For now, my focus had to remain on the grading. Retaliation on Sterling would have to wait.
CHAPTER 31
Sylph: An elemental creature that can become invisible to the naked eye. Suffocates its prey by stealing the oxygen from its lungs. Soulless creatures, sylphs are said to sometimes slip into the skins of their victims, desperate to feed on the lingering vestiges of a soul.
THE COMPENDIUM OF HORRORS
My blood was still simmering by the time I got back to Bramble Tower. Dori, Clary, and Benedict were in the sitting room, gathered around the coffee table by the fire, a deck of cards spread between them. The chatter died when I entered, and they looked up at me with enquiring expressions.
“How did the training go?” Dori asked.
“Training was fine,” I bit out.
“O-kay…” Dori shot Benedict a look.
I let out a frustrated growl, threw myself onto the sofa, grabbed a cushion, and screamed into it.
I resurfaced to three faces staring at me.
“That good, huh?” Benedict quipped.
I set the cushion down. “Sterling grabbed me on the way here.”
“What?” they said in unison.
“He threatened me.” I filled them in on the encounter, a prickly heat needling my cheeks at the memory of his hands on me. “I hate him. I fucking hate him so much.”
“We have to report this,” Clary said.
Dori rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because that’ll make a difference.”
She was right. “Reporting him won’t help. I have to deal with him myself.” I needed a weapon. Something small and easy to hide on my person. Something I could use to poke out his pretty eyes—and a glass jar filled with formalin to keep them in.
“Um. Ana…” Clary said. “Why are you smiling like that?”
