“Please. I’m not stupid. I know how things used to be with royalty in any country. The only things hiding in my DNA are potential genetic defects because cousins used to marry.”
Professor Mykene let out this long-suffering sigh likeIwas the one being difficult.
“There’s always one in each group.”
She waved her hand and this swirling vortex opened behind her. A gorgeous, white owl flew through and landed on her shoulder.
“After we do the ritual, you’ll get a vision with a clue. A lot of originals had an animal associated with them or a familiar. Athena was associated with owls. This is my familiar.”
“Pretty sure whatever you drugged us with makes us susceptible to manipulation and you’remakingme see an owl. The drugs are probably going to wear off soon and that was why you offered to feed us.”
The owl hopped over and landed on my leg. And then it bit the shit out of me and flew off. I jumped up and yelled.
“Your fucking pigeon bit me. Do birds get shots? If you gave me some kind of disease, I’ll ruin you!”
“Nyctimene is a magical creature and doesn’t carry any diseases. I believe she was proving a point and would like to prove another since you disrespected her.”
“You keep that bird away from me!” I warned.
The owl made this noise. I didn’t speak bird, but I was pretty sure it was mocking me. It was rude and I couldn’t do a damned thing about it. If it were a human, I’d just whip out my phone and ruin them. I had big opinions about hurting animals.
“I believe the point of the entire exercise was to prove you aren’t hallucinating. It was a short-acting sleep potion that allowed us to bring you through a portal. You were all out maybe five minutes. It’s not even a drug. You were given a very small dose of a sleeping potion. No side effects, you just went to sleep for a bit. It’s magic.”
“It was still rude. And my parents know how I feel about getting kidnapped. Everyone kept trying to kidnapmeinstead of my brother who is going to be king. It’s exhausting.”
“Yes, that’s the council, not me. I keep trying to change it. I’ve got a student willing to give testimony to help me get it changed. You could help with that.”
I just sniffed.
“I could do that. I’mmuchbetter at public speaking than my brothers.”
“Back to the issue at hand. You belong here. Your parents knew that and that was why they let us take you. The birthmark on your neck is probably why people kept trying to kidnap you instead of the heir. We try to keep that it means something a secret, but a lot of people we don’t want to have that information do. Most of the time, all of you are safe, but you’re a public figure, so someone would have found out.”
“I thought it was just because I’m so much better looking and smarter than my siblings. It was the birthmark?”
“Most likely, yes. Do you have any requests going forward?”
“I don’t want a roommate. I can’t stand sharing my living space with anyone else.”
“That’s probably a hint as to who you are. I can arrange that. Anything else?”
That was easy. I was expecting some kind of bullshit bonding like they threw at me in school. Group projects wereagonyand so was getting up and telling the class five interesting things about yourself. It was more than just my five interesting things could get passed on to parents and end up in the tabloids. And it was stupid. Most people weren’t interesting and their five tidbits were boring.
“I don’t want to do trials with idiots, and you kidnapped a bunch of them. I want to be paired up with that Egyptian fellow and the girl with diabetes. They seem intelligent.”
“That’s Khalid and Sage and I can do that as well. Khalid asked to be paired with her and so did Liam.”
“Which one is Liam?”
“The Irishman with the big mouth.”
“Is it against the rules for me to kill him if he annoys me?”
“I wouldn’t try with that one. He’s deadlier than he looks, even without magic.”
“Who did Sage request?” I demanded.
I didn’t even know why I wanted her to pick me. She didn’t know who I was. I hadn’t talked to her yet, and I didn’t know if she was annoying or not. I knew she was smart because she knew how to advocate for herself instead of hiding that she would need help. I could appreciate that.
