‘I hate her already.’Yanric flapped his wings at the window ledge.
‘Shut up,’I snapped at Yanric.
“Miss Bane, if that bird flies in here, I will roast him for dinner. Your familiar is not welcome in my class,” she growled and a stone sank in my gut.
I could only nod, praying Yanric didn’t do anything stupid.
‘Roast me!’He laughed maniacally in my head. ‘I’ll rip her soul from her body and feed it to the grim!’
‘Oh Light.’I hoped he was joking and not capable of that.
‘Go away, please. You’re distracting me,’ I told him and didn’t look to see if he’d followed the command.
“Come on, Miss Bane, we don’t have all day. I’ve seen what the other students can do, and now I need to assess you.” She clapped her hands and pointed again to the center of the room.
I shared a fearful look with Eden and she winced, as if saying sorry she couldn’t help.
With a nod, I stepped up to the center of the room where the master had indicated.
“Now take off your gloves,” Master Knight said and I looked over at her in confusion.
She looked at me expectantly. “If fire erupts from your palms, I imagine you don’t want to turn that pair to ash.”
Right. Because fire erupting from my palms would be totally normal here.
Pulling my gloves off made me feel so vulnerable. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and threw my gloves off to the side.
Master Knight stood a few paces behind me, on my left. “Go on. Try to re-create what you did when you turned that Gilded City guard’s fae blade to ash.”
A few girls behind me gasped and I hated that Master Knight had just announced what I’d done.
“I didn’t mean to do that. I was protecting a friend,” I growled with more sass than I intended.
“Well, you can’t always wait for someone to threaten those you love in order to call on your power.” She snapped, “Come on,feelfor it. It’s there. Alive within you. A dark abyss filled to the brim with magic just waiting for you to call on it,” she taunted, and anxiety pooled in my gut, causing my legs to shake slightly.
I didn’t want to do magic yet. I wasn’t ready. I was still just getting used to the idea ofhavingmagic, I wasn’t prepared to use it. My hands shook as I tried to prepare myself to potentially see flames erupt from my palms.
“Master Knight, I think you’re scaring her. She’s not ready,” Eden said softly.
‘Permission to—’ Yanric began but I interrupted him.
‘No. I’m fine.’
“You’re scared?” Master Knight laughed a little beside me. “You carry the magic of the Bane family. You are the last living descendent of the House of Ash and Shadow, and I smell fear?” She sounded genuinely surprised.
I spun on her in a flash of anger, chest heaving. “Of course I’m scared! Everyone keeps telling me my magic is evil! So why in the Light would I want to use it!” I screamed at her.
I quickly glanced at Eden and the other students just in time to see their terrified looks because I’d just yelled at a teacher, but Master Knight seemed pleased with my outburst, as if she’d gotten what she wanted.
She swooped down, grabbed my glove and slipped it over her hand. Then she reached out and grasped my wrist hard, shocking me. Pulling my hand up between us, she looked me dead in the eyes and I swear in that moment she saw my soul. “Because, Fallon Bane, if you do not learn to use your magic, your magic will use you. Now, I’m not like soft and sweet Master Clarke. I am here to actually teach you, so that youdon’tend up like your mother.”
Her words shook me but they weren’t totally new, I’d already heard them from Clarke. My magic would control me if I didn’t control it.
Still grabbing my wrist, she pointed my palm at the far wall made of concrete. “Rage,” she growled and I swallowed hard. Being this close, I could feel the power coming off of her. It was like being near the electrified gates of The Gilded City, she hummed with magic. I had an instinctual knowing that if she wanted to light me on fire, she could.
“What?” I asked her.
“Rage. It’s an easy fuel for dark magic. So get mad and show me what you’ve got,” she growled between gritted teeth, holding my wrist so tightly with her gloved hand that it hurt.
