“Who are you?” I breathed.
The woman blinked behind her mask. She took a second to answer before she spoke. “You may call me the White Rose.”
So no name. She was keeping it hidden from me, for obvious reasons.
I changed back into a man. My hand immediately went for the blade at my side. “Whoever you are, it’syouwho’s met their fate.”
I attacked, but the woman was waiting for me. She combated my blade with a dagger of her own, and my arm was sent swinging to the side.
My mouth dropped open in shock, but I gathered my bearings and charged again. I tried fainting at her left and going for the throat, but she dodged that and slashed at my chest. Blow after blow, our blades clashed, but she was too quick for me to make a move on. Every time I took a swing, she met me as an equal.
Her fighting style seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew it from— not to mention the woman was so skilled, I had no time to wonder, as all my effort was spent keeping up.
This opponent had the ability to guess my every move. How did she know me so well? Had she studied me in the King’s Contest and took notes for when we met? How long had she been following me?
I lost my temper and stabbed forward with a snarl, but the woman beat me to it. She ducked beneath my arm and kicked me in the chest, sending me crashing to the ground. My weapon went flying out of my hands. I fell on my knees, looking upward at the advancing sorceress.
Godsdammit, she was good. Her teacher had to be excellent. I struggled to get up as she approached, a deadly illusion growing in her hand. The illusion glowed white, morphing into an orb that grew with each passing second.
“I told you to leave,” she snapped. “I won’t ask again.”
I let out a laugh. “I’m stubborn like that.”
The sorceress threw the illusion. I rolled to the side and grabbed my blade as I did so. The illusion skirted me by, rushing past and blasting a hole in the ground where I once lay.
Our fight had caught the attention of others. I heard voices— cultists coming out of the cave to investigate.
I hurried to catch my breath as footsteps approached. The sorceress advanced, another illusion growing in her hands. I wasn’t so sure she’d miss a second time.
There were too many of them for me to fight off at once. If the cultists found me cornered by this sorceress, I’d be outnumbered.
I did the only thing I could. I ran.
* * *
I had escapedthe White Rose, but she still plagued my every waking thought. A week passed, and my painful defeat was still resonating within me at the hands of the mysterious woman. I panicked inwardly, thinking every moment the Arcanea Alliance would storm in here and arrest me for being the Phantom, but nothing happened.
I couldn’t concentrate in my classes. I couldn’t eat. I barely slept. I wandered through the halls of Arcanea University like a ghost, my mind in a craze, trying to figure out what had gone on that night.
What was more— I hadn’t put the mask on since. I’d been out late at night, but walking around as Prince Ethan, not as the Phantom. I considered it too risky, at least for now. I wasn’t sure if I was afraid of of the White Rose, or if I was afraid that whoever she worked for might be onto me. I knew where the Black Claw was hiding, but I couldn’t do anything about it until I understood who was tailing my every move.
The woman knew my name. She knew who I was. That was exceptionally dangerous. The only thing I couldn’t fathom was why she hadn’t turned me in yet... unless she wanted to use my identity against me, for blackmail or otherwise.
Whatever her reasons, I didn’t trust them. This woman was a threat. I had to be very careful.
I got out of Magic Rituals around twelve on Friday. When I headed to the cafeteria, my afternoon was ruined as I heard the sound of Elijah’s mindless babble. He was in a corner booth, bragging. Gabby sat on his lap as he boasted loudly for everyone to hear. A crowd of ten people or so were gathered around him, pressed into the booth or standing beside it.
My cousin had accumulated a lot of “friends” after he’d won the Contest. I caught sight of many recognizable faces in the crowd, and scowled. Quite a few of those people had attempted to kiss my ass in order to gain some favor in the realm. Now they were sucking up to Elijah. It was so typical.
“When I’m king, I’m going to make some changes around here,” Elijah said. “These peasants have been taking advantage of the system for too long. They need to work for a living.”
That was far past ironic, seeing as how Elijah, spoiled and rich as he was, never worked a day in his life. Made sense he wanted to cut social programs to fatten his own treasury.
Gabby fawned in his lap. “Exactly what I’ve been thinking, my dear.”
Elijah gave a smirk. “fae have been in hiding for too long. It’s high time these humans learned who’s really in charge.”
What an ass. Was he seriously considering exposing the supernatural world, and revealing magic to the humans so the Arcanea could try to take over? The last time the fae had considered that, it’d been over eighty years ago, and it’d started a world war between all the magical races.
