“Speaking of sticks up asses,” Dori muttered, her expression darkening.
“Embercrest,” the guy said. “Don’t tell me your sentence is over already.”
“I won’t,” Dori said.
“Then why are you here?” one of the women asked. Her gaze flicked to me. “There is no wayshe’scoming inside.”
“She’sbeen invited here by Heidi, so back off.”
“I didn’t get a memo,” the other woman said. “And as prima incantor, I would have been informed.”
Dori’s lips pinched. “I see you got what you wanted, then, Viola.”
Viola smiled and shrugged. “Don’t I always?” She slid a glance up at the guy, who quickly looked away.
Undertones and tension thickened the air. “Well, if you’re done blocking the doorway, I have an appointment to get to.” I strode toward them, expecting them to move, but they held their ground. “Seriously?”
“I need to see some evidence of thisappointment,” Viola said.
“It came by raven,” Dori bit out.
“Shame,” Viola said. “I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“Since when do prima duties extend to monitoring the tower entrance?”
“Since we had a change in coven management,” Viola said. “The other primas and I have agreed on it. No outsiders without a pass.”
The bitch was clearly on some kind of power trip, and the only way to deal with someone like her was to give her what she wanted—with a side of repercussion of course.
I crossed my arms and shrugged. “Fine, I’ll just wait right here. The poor new student with no family, simply trying to fit in while fighting prejudice from the very leaders that are supposed to be setting an example.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Youaresupposed to be setting an example, right? For the younger incantors and sorcerers inside?” I indicated the tower. “Isn’t that what people in authority do?” I looked to Dori wide-eyed. “Isn’t that part of what a prima incantor is meant to do?”
“Totally,” Dori said, biting back a smile.
I nodded slowly. “I thought so. And I’m sure Heidi will come looking for me soon enough and be interested to know why I’m standing out here, teary-eyed and flustered.” I blinked a few times, summoning tears. “And when she asks, I’ll be sure to tell her about yourpolicyand how you called me a filthy, dirty, Onyx bitch.”
Viola stared at me wide-eyed.
“She won’t believe that,” the other woman snapped.
I allowed my eyes to fill with tears, then blinked, releasing fat droplets down my cheek.
Viola swallowed hard.
“You’re chaos,” the man said in a tone that was more awe than disgust.
I beamed up at him through my tears. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
“This is a waste of time,” Viola said. “You’rea waste of my time.” She lifted her chin. “Enjoy your short visit. Come on, Tristian.” She grabbed the man’s arm and yanked him aside. “Freak.” She spat the word at me as if it were a weapon.
I blew her a kiss as I walked through the door into a small redbrick entranceway. A second door opened into a cozy room lined with bookshelves and dotted with a variety of seating, ranging from armchairs to stools. A fire burned low in the hearth at the back of the room, barely embers now, and a staircase wound up to the first-floor balcony overlooking the sitting room and library area.
“Wow,” Dori said. “That was…wow…” A slight frown marred her forehead, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was thinking.
That if I could act that well, summon tears on demand, then could I be trusted? Ineededher to trust me, and that meant giving her a crumb of the truth. “Look, life was hard for me out there, so I learned how to cope the best I could, and putting on a front was my strongest defense. Attack them before they can attack you.”
