by Belle Malory
I argued my case while both Xander and Grandpa stood in the back of Headmaster Waddley’s office. Once I was done, he was astounded by what I told him. “You’re really a bibliomagus?”
I nodded.
He looked around me. “Is it true, Franklin?”
Grandpa nodded. “My granddaughter is no liar.”
Waddley sat back in his chair, looking mystified. “Haven’t met one myself in several decades. Truly, it’s a remarkable ability. One that would certainly help with academic studies.”
I asked him to dual-enroll. Actually, triple-enroll, if it were possible.
Why should I be limited to one house, when I could excel in several? These last few weeks, I aced all of my classes. I had so much time on my hands I was bored. If Waddley gave me the chance, I knew I could pull this off.
But Waddley had several problems with my request. The first, that it would weaken my magic. And the second, that I would become an outcast. We went back and forth arguing for a long while about the implications. “Acceptance in Mythos begins at Arcadia, and acceptance at Arcadia begins in your chosen house. Mortals do not major in all of their collegiate studies—it’s the same principle.”
“Many of them do become double majors,” I said, pleading. “And gifted students can obtain more than one degree. At least allow me the chance to try. Let me be your test student. If my magic weakens, I’ll stop.”
He tapped his fingers against his desk, staring at me. “You’re not going to let go of this, are you?”
“Probably not.” I grinned.
He let out a breath. “I’ll agree to a few Ares courses, but you will remain in House Aphrodite—”
“And Athena?” I was pushing my luck.
Waddley shook his head. “Let’s see how you do with the extra Ares courses first, then we’ll talk about Athena.”
I nodded. “Fair enough.”
“I have to admit it, Miss Thorne. You’re not what I expected.”
“Thank you, Headmaster.” I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but I chose to take it as one. Considering how far I’d come since my human life, unexpected was a good thing.
Once the meeting was over, Waddley asked Grandpa to stay behind to discuss the arrival of Hollows at Arcadia. Before I left, he leaned over to kiss me on the top of my head. “Proud of you, Sher Bear.” It meant more than he could know.
Xander and I exited the building into the courtyard, stopping by the fountain. I looked at the surrounding houses and buildings. Next semester would be a busy one, but I knew I could handle it. After everything, I was ready and excited.
“You feel at peace with that?” Xander said, steering me to face him.
I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“How about this?” He threaded his fingers through mine. Heat rose in my cheeks, and I grinned, unable to help it.
“I feel pretty at peace with this too.”
There in broad daylight, in the middle of the courtyard, we held hands without a care in the world for who might be watching. It was both thrilling and terrifying, but what other people thought no longer mattered. I was both Ares and Aphrodite, both love and fire, and I was damn proud of it. Let them all watch if they wanted. We were too caught up in each other to notice.
That’s why neither of us saw her approach.
“Well, well. Look at who’s leveling up in the boyfriend arena.”
Her voice sent chills down my spine. I froze, afraid to move. Afraid to speak. Afraid if I turned around, my entire world would come crashing down. With every fiber in my body, I hoped she wasn’t real. I’d rather be a hallucinating loon, rather than have her actually be here.
Xander felt me stiffen and his eyes drifted behind me. He tightened his grip on my hand.
“I have to hand it to you, sis. I thought you’d still be wallowing. You really managed to surprise me.” She slowly circled around us. “Then again, who would care about Connor when guys like this exist?”
My legs trembling, I turned to face her.
I wasn’t crazy. Riley stood in front of me, no longer looking like the sister I knew. Her long, strawberry blonde locks had been cut to her shoulders and dyed a bright, fire-engine red. She wore a leather toga, in the same style of the Ares gladiators, and her arms were fastened with metal armbands. Even her eyes, hazel, like my own, seemed colder now.
“Why are you here?”
“Tut, tut,” she said, sucking her teeth. “That’s no way to greet your sister.” She leaned in to give me a quick hug. My eyes flared as she stepped back again. I sensed her magic, far more powerful than I would have guessed. How had I never noticed it before?
Xander protectively moved in front of me, eyeing my sister with all the distrust in the world.
“I decided to enroll,” Riley said, completely unphased by Xander. “I refused to let you outshine me in Davidson—I definitely won’t let you outshine me as a mage either.”
“Dad’s okay with this?”
She rolled her eyes. “Dad tried to hide this place from me. As far as I’m concerned, he has no say in the matter. By the way, did you get my monsters?”
I gaped at her. “You sent—”
“The chimera?” She nodded proudly. “The nightcrawler and dragon, too. Turns out I can conjure them from the underworld. Not many are as talented as I—you should be happy to call yourself my sister.”
Beside me, Xander grew tense. “More like devastated,” he said scowling. “You nearly killed her.”
She laughed once, as if she got a kick out of him. “Yeah, well that is the point, isn’t it? These sisters shall not rest until one destroys the other.” She quoted the script written on the stone tablet.
“You know about the curse.”
She nodded, biting her lower lip. “Shame, isn’t it?”
Persephone’s Cure flooded back into my mind, and it hit me. Maybe Riley coming to Arcadia wasn’t such a bad thing after all. “I might have found a way to break it,” I said, stepping around Xander.
“Break it? What for?”
She had to be joking. “How about, to keep us from killing each other?”
“No, sis.” She shook her head. “There’s no point in doing that. One of us was bound to destroy the other anyway.”
That hot, fiery feeling began to buzz out from my core. I stretched out of Xander’s grip. “Sheridan,” he warned softly.
She wasn’t taking the curse seriously, and it was pissing me off. After everything I’d gone through, after almost dying on the Curse Breaker’s table just to try and stop myself from killing her—how dare she act like this wasn’t a big deal!
“This isn’t one of your foul little games, Riley. This doesn’t end with you stealing my boyfriend or hurting my feelings. This ends with one of us dying. Don’t you get that?”
“I do.” She lifted her gaze to mine, all of the playfulness gone. “I understood it the moment you shoved those scissors into my shoulder.”
I sucked in a breath. “Riley, I’m sorr—”
“Save it. I’m not interested in your fake apology.” Her eyes burned into me like hot coals. “And I fully understand how this ends. I haven’t come to Arcadia just to learn magic. I’ve come to take my rightful place as an Ares descendant, and I’ve come to win. The only way this story ends is with my knife in your heart. Believe me, I’m looking forward to that moment.”
All the rage and animosity I’d been holding back went out the door. I didn’t care anymore. I wanted to hurt her—physically hurt her. I raised my arm, but Xander’s hand struck out first. His grip was like iron around my wrist.
“Xander, let me go.”
I looked over at him. His arm trembled. Sweat beaded along his brow—he was fighting it. He looked at me, his eyes full of remorse. He didn’t want to stop me, but he had no choice.
“Oh my God.” We both realized what it meant at the same time.
I was never the sister he was bound to protect. He never made the Silver Oath to my mother.
Riley was too smart not to notice. “What a unique situation,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Careful, little sis. I might just have to relieve you of your current man candy. He seems rather…useful.”
I lowered my arm, stepping away from Xander. He looked at his hand, turning it back and forth, stretching out his fingers, like he couldn’t believe what he’d done.
All of those times he protected me, he never had to.
Riley laughed, seeing our matching looks of devastation. “This oughta be an interesting year,” she said, turning to leave. “See you later, Sher Bear.”
Hearing my own heartbeat thudding in my ears, I tried to calm myself down. Where was the balance and inner clarity I’d worked so hard to achieve?
Small hiccup, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut.
I could handle this.
Just a tiny, minuscule hiccup.
End of Book One
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed living in Sheridan’s world for a while.
As an author, my goal is to make you feel something, to put a dreamy smile on your face, to make you laugh, cry, or just to escape life for a little while. I hope I have done that.
Reviews are deeply appreciated. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review.
Oh, and don’t forget to preorder Book Two:
Deviant Descendants
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OTHER BOOKS:
THE TWELFTH KEEPER
CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 2)
OCEAN OF STARS (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 3)
INFINITE NIGHT (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 4)
ELECTRIC SKIES (TWELFTH KEEPER, BOOK 5)
WANDERLOVE
FORETELL
Coming Soon:
Deviant Descendants (Descendants Academy Book Two)