My dad peered at me with slight concern. “I guess so. Be safe, okay?”
I dipped my chin in agreement. “Eden seems nice. I’ll have her to show me around.”
He set the fork down and stood, looking me right in the eyes. “Honey, just be careful, okay? Eden and her mother seem very nice, but the next person might not be. I got up early and took a walk to get the lay of the land. People are already talking. They’re…scared of you. And fear can lead people to make bad decisions.”
I swallowed hard. They were scared of me? My heart sank at that, but at the same time I was filled with anger. I hadn’t done anything for them to fear.
Or had I?
A memory of grasping the guard’s blade and turning it to ash invaded my mind, but I still wasn’t convinced that was me. And all of the stuff Clarke and the queen said about me, I hadn’t really processed yet.
Daughter of Marissa Bane.
“I’ll be safe,” I told him just as a knock came to the door.
He squeezed my hand, hug hard, and I squeezed back.
“Love you, Dad. Feel better, Hip!” I turned for the door.
Eden was waiting for me, and she appraised my outfit when I stepped outside. “Looking good. You must have a friend with really nice style who gave you those clothes.”
I laughed, already liking her personality and sense of humor. “I do, thank you.”
We walked out of Street D while Eden explained everything and gave me a tour of the West Side. She lived on Street B, house number three. She worked on the East Side of the city at Cara’s Coffee Shop. We were only permitted into the East Side with our ID cards to go to school, work, and school events, but had to be home by ten p.m., which was curfew. Eden was a rare pyroportal fae, which, she informed me, meant that after years of study, she would be able to create fire portals that transported people to far-off destinations. She could also conjure fire at will, which was more common among pyro fae. There hadn’t been a pyroportal fae in over a hundred years, and so the queen had allowed her entrance to The Academy even though her mother was a weaker-magic fae. Mable could only control and manipulate heat in a very small way. Eden explained that her mother couldn’t conjure fire but could keep it burning longer. Nothing useful to the queen or The Academy.
“So, our magic runs in our lineage? That’s why you can do stuff with fire? And you live on the West Side because your mom’s magic is weaker, even though you are powerful?” I asked as we showed the guards at the East Side gate our ID badges. They glanced briefly at them and waved us through.
She nodded. “My mother comes from generations of weak pyro fae. That’s why she lives on the West Side.”
“Then how did you get such powerful magic?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t prying too much.
Her cheeks reddened and I knew I’d gone too far. “I’m sorry, I’m such a snoop! You don’t have to say.”
She waved me off. “Everyone knows. My mother had a…one-night affair with a powerful pyro fae on the East Side when she was barely older than us.”
Oh… “I see.”
Eden nodded. “He was eighteen, didn’t want her to keep the baby, but she refused to take the herbs to expel me…and here I am.”
My heart ached at how flippantly she spoke about expelling a pregnancy. Sure, it happened in Isa as well, but it was never taken lightly.
“And your…dad?”
“I don’t call him that,” she warned. “His name is Jameson Beckett. I see him once a year at The Academy fundraiser. He’s rich. He got married to a powerful water fae and has a family now. One of his daughters will be starting school at The Academy in a few years.”
That had to be so hard. To see him off with another family and giving them what he couldn’t give her mother.
“I’m sorry,” I said, not even realizing we’d reached the open gates to The Academy.
She waved me off. “Old news. I’m told that if I marry a powerful fae, I will take onhisname and pedigree and then be permitted to live on the East Side,” she said with a mock rich fae accent. I giggled, and then we stopped before the gates and she faced me.
“Look, I don’t want to…do you a disservice by not warning you about how this might go in there,” she said as fear flashed over her beautiful, freckled face.
I laughed. “I’ve been bullied at school since I was born. Calling me names, testing my curse by touching my skin and hair to watch me writhe and scream in pain on the floor. I can handle it.”
Her eyes grew wide, mouth going slack as she looked at me in horror. “That’s awful! If anyone touches you on purpose like that, I’ll light their hair on fire!”
Whoa.
