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“And me,” Damon said.

“Well,” Harpy began, smiling at Casey. “I’m glad I came with Casey. It helped knowing someone at first.”

My light then shone, directing me to my next class. We all rose, silently making our way out of the dining hall.

Arthur’s hand was still in mine as we were directed outside the academy. Ten or so other students walked close by, all following the same direction as we were. Willa then appeared, smiling brightly at us. We were just at the beginning of the forest, near where the lone bench stood.

“Hello, class!” she greeted, waving us hello. “I have something truly exciting planned for today! It will be your last class with me before we start your testing! Exciting, huh?”

We nodded. Her enthusiasm was contagious and I felt buzzed and ready for whatever she had planned for us.

“Today, you’re teaming up with your mate! But here’s where the fun starts, you will shift to your mate’s form and together you’ll find out what you believe is your mate’s most powerful ability. That’s right! You’ll spend the next two hours trying out the form and evaluating what you think its strongest power is.”

That sounded fun enough, so I nodded along.

“I cannot wait to hear what you think once you’re done!” She continued, bouncing on her feet slightly. “And to make it even better, I’ll have you both write down what you think and then we can see if your mate agrees.”

“Are there prizes?” someone behind me asked.

Willa threw her head back and laughed. “How about some cake when you’re done? Does that sound okay?” We cheered at that, making her giggle with delight. “Then go on, shift!”

Chapter Thirteen

My body was aching and if I hadn’t already known these past few weeks would’ve been brutal, then now I knew for sure. Ever since Willa had us doing the training in our mate’s form, we’ve been dealing with so many different trials we had to go through, most of them training and that was the reason for my body hurting.

Arthur was heaving in air next to me, his torso moving rapidly as he tried to survive another class with Hamascus. Hamascus was a new teacher, our training teacher. I hated the man. He had this gleeful look whenever we panted for air, like our torture pleased him. It was unnerving. And he had this scar on the right side of his face, giving him a look of danger.

“Move!” he yelled, making three students stumble. Today we trained on the beach, and gods it was hard running in the sand. Hamascus had placed several logs we had to jump over and once we’d reached the end of the beach, he had us running all the way back again. He never said how many laps we needed to do, but we’d survived two.

“If I don’t survive this,” Arthur began, panting. “Just know that I love you.”

My heart stuttered. He’d never said those words before, even now months later. I hadn’t spoken them either, too scared of ruining this good thing we had going.

“I love you, too,” I breathed, then started laughing, too damn happy to stop it.

Arthur also laughed, both of us so filled with endorphins we couldn’t stop the happiness between us from blooming.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Hamascus boomed, making us startle. He’d somehow sneaked up on us, glaring at our slumped bodies on the sand as he stood there, towering over us, hands on his wide hips. He looked mad.

“Sorry!” we both blurted, hurrying to stand as sand cascaded down our sweaty bodies. We were in shorts and short-sleeved shirts, both of us looking terrible, well not Arthur, who always looked so damn edible, but I knew I looked like crap as Hamascus glared at us.

“Two more rounds,” he rumbled, making us nod rapidly. I was sure just one more lap would kill me, but I apparently feared him more than death.

“I can’t feel my toes,” Jamie whined as we ate dinner.

“I can’t feel my will to live,” Myve declared, making Hans look fondly at her as he shook his head.

The once lively dining hall was muted as all students slumped in defeat. We’d all been tortured today by Hamascus, and now we tried to move without it hurting.

“Is that headmaster Wren?” Casey whispered. The headmaster stood and chatted with one of the cooks, laughing as he threw his head back, the casual pose and happiness so alien on the usually stoic man.

Myve sighed. “He’s so handsome when he laughs.”

“Hey!” Hans exclaimed indignantly.

“He really is,” Arthur and I said in unison, making us high-five.

Myve just rolled her eyes at us before returning her attention to Wren. The man turned, smiling in our direction, then strode in front of the food, clapping his hands.