Page 35 of The Fifth Heir

I froze.

“Talia,” Torren said.

The crystal moved before I could set it down.

It circled my throat and closed.

Cold passed through me from my neck to my feet.

Then came heat, wind, darkness, and a sharp blue-white chill.

The wall runes ignited so brightly that I shut my eyes.

Magic struck every room at once.

Water rushed into the bathing tubs. Fire filled the common-room hearth. Air swept across the training terrace, and locks released throughout the study with a rapid series of clicks.

Behind us, somewhere beyond the dressing room, stone split apart.

When I opened my eyes, Torren, Rafe, Sebastian, and Leander were staring at me.

The torc no longer felt cold. It rested against my skin as if it had been shaped for me.

Not a borrowed relic.

Mine.

Sebastian stepped closer.

“May I?”

I nodded.

He lifted one hand but stopped before touching it. His eyes followed the clear ring around my throat.

“It’s almost invisible.”

“So am I, apparently.”

His gaze met mine.

“Not anymore.”

The words settled somewhere the magic had not reached.

A heavy door opened in the common room.

Voices reached us from the corridor. The headmaster called our names, followed by Malcolm’s sharper orders.

The Fifth Wing had released us.

Or admitted them.

We returned to the common room as academy officials came through the newly opened outer entrance. Malcolm stopped the moment he saw my throat.

The headmaster did not.

He approached until the crystal torc caught the firelight between us. Color spread across its surface, visible for one breath before disappearing.