Page 8 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

“Yeah.”

“Who are those guys she’s sitting with? The ones that are laughing?” One of them was the scarred man with golden-brown hair that had watched me fall over with such dispassion. I made sure to angle my face so that it didn’t look like I was watching them.

Freta let out a soft, shaky breath. “They’re the golden boys. The three of them are heirs to their courts, and they’re some of the most powerful courts in the realm. The blond one is Jasper of Court Vespa. They say his beast is a dragon, but his family has kept it under wraps. No doubt hoping to really impress their rivals when it’s revealed at the Academy.

“Next to him, the one with silvery hair is Sebastienne of Court Laurel,” Freta continued. “Though he prefers to be called Seb.”

He, apparently, could turn into a wolf. I could see it. His build was sleeker than Jasper’s, his face a little more pointed. Even with this distance, it was clear he would be just as devastatingly beautiful. His hair was silver-gray, his nose straight and strong. A cruel smirk twisted his lips.

“The last one is Gareth of Court Thunderwood. His beast is a black jaguar.”

Gareth had darker skin than either Seb or Jasper, a bronzy color. His hair was black and tousled. He draped himself in his chair as though he owned the hall. Surprisingly, he was far more muscular than the other two. His shoulders were wide enough I could have sat on one side of his head and Freta on the other. I doubted he’d break a sweat.

But what really set them apart was the way they acted. Gareth, despite his apparent languidness, was continually scanning everything around him. His expression changed ever so slightly when his eyes landed on this person or that, as though he was hunting and deciding whether they were a threat or his prey.

Seb pretty well ignored everyone except whoever was listening to him at the moment, his gestures arrogant.

Jasper, on the other hand, gave no indication what he was thinking. He had the same cold expression on his face now as he had when he watched Flora knock me over.

Considering that even blank-faced Jasper had laughed at the no-killing rule, I immediately decided that these were three I would do my best to avoid. Thankfully, so far I’d had only the one unfortunate encounter so far. With any luck, I’d learn the rules quickly so I could nip that in the bud.

I turned my face back to Quincy, but he was apparently done his speech. When he sat down, food appeared on the table. To my surprise, it was predominately fruit and vegetable dishes. The meat was limited to giant slabs of roasts and birds, turkey probably. There was a far greater abundance of salads, as well as roast and spiced root vegetables like carrots and parsnips.

Despite the anxiety that twisted my gut, I still served myself. I kept in mind the charts of a healthy, balanced meal that the orphanage was always putting on display. Everything was extremely tasty, but I didn’t have much extra space in my brain to enjoy it. The only reason I ate was to keep my strength up.

If those three ‘golden boys’ had laughed at the no-killing rule, did that mean they had killed before? For that matter, not even Freta blinked at the possibility of people killing each other in these binding trials. Had she killed anyone? She might be warm and friendly, but she was still fae. I couldn’t let my guard around anyone.

I wished I could have heard what Quincy said about them. Clearly, it was something everyone already assumed everyone else knew about. Getting information was going to be difficult.

I waited until a few of the other students left the table before I pushed my chair back, too. Freta said something about seeing me around, and I gave her a friendly smile. Just a while ago, I thought of her as an unexpected friend, but could I trust her?

Outside the great hall, I found a nook and sat down for a bit, trying to process everything that happened. It all felt like something out of a nightmare. I looked through the papers I’d gotten before, and was relieved to find that there was additional information, just as the headmaster had said. I tapped my assigned dorm room number, but I would find it later.

Right now, I wanted to get a better look at the academy in general. Back at the orphanage, I knew where to hide, where to run to, how to escape if needed. Here, I was so out of my depth that if someone were to attack me, I wouldn’t get very far.

Where to start? Naturally, I was drawn to the forest, but it was getting dark outside. Best to stay inside for right now. Who knew what sort of animals the fae might keep in that forest?

Shouldering my knapsack, I trotted to the nearest staircase and started to explore. The first few levels that I came to were filled with classrooms. The hallways were long, carpeted in black, and contained torches along the walls that lit up with dancing blue flames when I came close. I peeked through a few doors to find a typical classroom inside. Rows of desks faced a blackboard. It was so ordinary that it set my teeth on edge.

After some time, I came to a staircase that led toward one of the towers. Checking the map, I figured I was in the west corner of the academy, but the rooms in the tower were unmarked. Why was that?

Cautiously, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The temperature here was markedly lower than it had been in the main part of the academy. A huge window ran the length of the tower, disappearing both above and below me. It allowed the last of the dying sunlight into the tower, making the torches unnecessary.

Here, the staircase wound up as well as down. I checked the map again. My dorm was on the fifth floor, and I was on the third. So if I headed up, I could probably find a door that would lead me to it.

I’d gone halfway up the stairs when I heard footsteps coming toward me. I hesitated, then kept going. I couldn’t avoid passing someone on a staircase, after all. Soon a young man turned around one of the corners. He paused when he saw me.

“You’re going in the wrong direction,” he said.

His tone immediately rankled. I smoothed my expression as best as I could as I studied him in silence. His face was symmetrical, with softer features than most of the other fae I’d seen. Blond hair, gray eyes. Skin a similar hue to mine, although his had something of an olive undertone mine didn’t. It was difficult to tell what his build was beneath his loose-fitting uniform.

In the orphanage, he would have been considered the most attractive person in the building. Here, among so many beautiful fae with their overwhelming auras, he was almost plain. Still far from ordinary. Even Freta wasn’t pretty in comparison. I must look like a slug to him.

He descended a few more steps, frowning. My heartrate spiked. Was he sensing my lack of aura?

“You’re headed toward an area that’s only meant for year-fours and teachers,” he told me. “I got mixed around as well. I was looking for the dorms, but there aren’t any doors connecting this tower back to the main building.”

“Okay,” I said, as though I didn’t care. For all I knew, he was playing a prank on me. Even if this led to a forbidden area, I had to know the layout. I wasn’t going to have the map on me forever, and I needed to get a mental map in place.