Oh no.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
I did not like where this conversation was heading.
“The Academy tried stopping me eventually.” She smiled faintly, though there wasn’t an ounce of warmth in it now. “By then it was already too late.”
The room darkened another shade as I saw professors confronting her and students gathered secretly in underground chambers. Ancient symbols carved into stone floors pulsing with black light. And the younger version of the Priestess standing at the center of it all, with absolute certainty burning in her eyes. I shivered at the images and brought my gaze to hers.
“They thought they could contain what was happening beneath Shadowick Academy.” She smiled and took a sip of tea before setting the cup down. “But the shadows had chosen.”
Ice slid through my veins as I realized that the Academy hadn’t feared ordinary ambition. It had feared her.
And judging by the way the darkness moved around her even now…
Maybe it still did.
Silence settled between us while the fire crackled softly beside the shelves, and I became painfully aware of every tiny sound in the study. Branches scraped against the windows in uneven patterns while Barlen quietly gathered her abandoned teacup.
I swallowed slowly and tried to ignore the pressure building behind my ribs.
The unsettling part was that I understood fragments of what she was saying.
And I didn’t mean the terrifying shadow ritual portion of it because absolutely not. I preferred my magic to be significantly less horrifying and involve fewer underground chambers.
But then I thought back to the dragons.
Okay, maybe not significantly fewer underground chambers since they often proved useful for hiding things like dragons and ancient documents.
But I understood the feeling beneath her words. The frustration of being told to stay smaller. Safer. Easier for other people to manage. I’d spent a lifetime doing that.
The Priestess watched me carefully over the rim of her teacup that Barlen had already replaced, and the look in her eyes made me wonder if she could somehow see every thought trying to tumble through my head.
“You feel it too,” she said quietly.
“No,” I answered a little too fast.
A faint smile tugged at her mouth like she didn’t believe me for even a second.
I shifted farther back into the chair and folded my arms. “There’s a pretty massive difference between power and whatever creepy shadow basement situation you got yourself involved in.”
One of Barlen’s shoulders jerked beside the shelves, and I realized with complete horror that the furry goblin was trying not to laugh.
The Priestess let out a long sigh that carried the exhausted energy of someone dealing with a particularly stubborn child.
“You reduce things into mockery when they frighten you,” she said.
“Well, humor is cheaper than therapy.”
That earned me another suspicious choking sound from Barlen before he quickly busied himself stacking books that absolutely did not need stacking.
The Priestess carefully set her teacup onto the saucer. “Stonewick filled your mind with fear long before you understood what shadow magic truly is.” Her gaze held mine steadily. “Tell me honestly, Maeve. Since stepping inside Shadowick, has the magic itself harmed you?”
I opened my mouth to answer and then stopped.
The horrible truth was that the shadows themselves hadn’t been what hurt me.
