Academy of Falling Kingdoms Box Set

by Marisa Mills

  Alexander fought with a viciousness that there hadn’t been before, and soon I was sweating with exertion. I wondered if this was his way of trying to punish me for lying to him, because this definitely wasn’t the same Alexander who had teased me when I cut his neck during a fight. This time, it was like he was trying to beat me into submission. Vibrations traveled through my muscles as I parried his blows, and I felt a stabbing pain where Gabriel had shot me. Then Alexander’s blade slipped from his hand, landing several yards away. I froze, stunned. There was no way I could’ve possibly disarmed him so easily.

  Alexander’s face reddened. “You cheated,” he hissed.

  But I hadn’t!

  Tell him he should be prepared for anything in battle, Lucian said.

  So this was Lucian’s doing. “I…I didn’t mean to,” I said.

  Alexander picked up his blade and glared at me. “Is this going to be how it is, Wynter?” he asked. “You’re going to fake your swordplay, too? Is there anything about you that’s real?”

  I felt, for the first time, genuine anger towards Alexander. I never knew where I stood with him, and each time I felt like we were becoming closer, he’d decide we were enemies again. The way he could be so charming, and then so cruel the next moment, made my head spin.

  “That isn’t fair,” I said. “I thought you’d accepted where I was from.”

  Why was he being such a jerk?

  “I also said I was really angry over it,” Alexander replied, “if you recall. And that was before Viviane told me why you were really here in Reverie. I knew you were a fraud. I didn’t know you were a thief.”

  Aha, so they had been talking about me behind my back.

  “You think I chose this?” I asked. Alexander huffed, narrowing his eyes.

  “Nice job disarming your opponent!” Delacroix said, nodding to me. “But that’s just one duel. Get back into it, you two. You can talk after class!”

  I moved into a fighting stance. With a grimace, Alexander raised his blade.

  “You’re still keeping things from me,” Alexander said, swinging wildly. “But whatever, it’s not like you care about what happens to us mages.”

  Anger made me bold. I was tired of defending myself to this spoiled prince. He wouldn’t think twice about blowing my cover, damn the consequences. I dodged his blade and spun under his arm, pushing him so hard he stumbled. The tip of my blade was pressed against his chest when he turned back around. I was faster than him, I realized. I didn’t need to be stronger.

  “I saved you, didn’t I?” I asked coldly, before lowering my sword.

  Alexander looked away, towards the trees on the edge of the property. He gripped his sword so tightly his knuckles were turning white. I knew he was trying to decide whether or not my secret was worth keeping. I had to convince him I wasn’t a threat, to him or anyone else in Reverie.

  “The only thing I’ve stolen is Nick’s old journal. And for that privilege, I’ve been attacked by demons and treated like trash by nearly everyone in Reverie. Whatever is happening at the Academy, I think it may be connected with what Dorian is searching for. Maybe you were right. Maybe we can figure it out, together.”

  Why stick your neck out for these mages? Lucian asked. It doesn’t involve you.

  But how could I look away while demons attacked innocent people? Tatiana, and Jessa, Alexander and Viviane. Professor Gareth, who’d been there my first night in Reverie and who’d saved us. Delacroix, who’d been hurt trying to save Viviane from the spell controlling her. Kris, who’d nearly been killed by Vivian. Lucian wasn’t entirely wrong. Most mages were treacherous and self-serving. But some of these people were innocent. Surely, they were worth protecting.

  “How can I trust you if you don’t trust me?” Alexander asked quietly.

  “I do trust you,” I replied. He scoffed, raising his sword again, as if preparing to attack. But his eyes searched my face, as if he’d find answers there.

  “What if I…” I trailed off. “What if I tell you what I know? All of it. Will you trust me, then?”

  No! Lucian protested. Absolutely not!

  But that wasn’t just his decision to make. It was mine, too. And what was it Dorian had once said? Sometimes, you had to give people a little bit to make them do what you wanted.

  Don’t take advice from that polished swine.

  I felt sick with the thought that I was anything like Dorian. But his advice worked, didn’t it? He was keeping me here with the promise of providing for my family. And the last time I’d really disappointed Dorian, when I tried to steal his mother’s tiara, it was because I hadn’t trusted him.

  Maybe the key to earning Alexander’s trust and regaining whatever friendship we’d had before, was being willing to share more information. After all, he already knew the worst of it.

  “That’s an interesting proposition,” Alexander said.

  Although his voice was cool, the bright interest in his eyes gave him away.

  Wynter, you cannot trust him!

  I wouldn’t tell him everything. Just enough to satisfy his curiosity. Enough to win him over. The thought of being honest, almost honest, with someone was freeing, anyway.

  And if he betrays you?

  I swallowed around the lump in my throat. It was a gamble. I was hoping he wouldn’t. But Alexander already knew I was a fraud. What did I have to lose?

  Ten

  I’D NEVER TAKEN A CLASS with Professor Conrad before, but he was hard to miss. His golden hair was straight and sleek, and it fell into the most enchanting pair of green eyes. It wasn’t the usual teal green like Viviane’s eyes or even the dark green of Sterling’s, but an actual emerald green, the sort of pale green eyes that belonged to fairy tale heroines. He was young, too, although I wasn’t sure whether he was as young as Delacroix or if he just carried his age well. It was difficult to tell with mages; most of them looked younger than they were.

  I’d never even spoken to Conrad, except for the one time he’d rushed in and saved Alexander, Viviane, Jessa, and me from a demon. That seemed so long ago. Back then, I’d barely been able to hear Lucian or use his fire. If Conrad remembered me at all, he said nothing when I walked into the ballroom. This wasn’t the same one destroyed by Viviane during her testing; that one was still closed, although I’d seen the occasional student sneak into marvel at the destruction.

  I glanced around, searching for a familiar face. A shadow flitted along the floor, Lucian eavesdropping. I knew he wasn’t happy with my decision to tell Alexander the truth, but at least, he wasn’t giving me the silent treatment. Now that he was free, sometimes he did a little exploring on his own, but always came back quickly.

  The class instructions stated that I had to wear a formal gown. It seemed silly and old fashioned to me. I’d gotten used to wearing thick leggings under my uniform and a long-hooded cloak for warmth. Sometimes I even wrapped the cloak tight and got away with wearing pants all day. But then I noticed, all the boys were wearing dresses too! Some kind of long, open robe. Most of the other students, however, were wearing black or gray. Even most of the girls wore slimming, tailed gowns with minimal decoration and stiff helms that hung just off the floor.

  Mine, meanwhile, was flame orange, trimmed with light pale gauze. I looked like a peach, and I didn’t know anyone here. I sucked in a deep breath and smoothed over the lace skirt of my dress. One of the nobles looked familiar. Tall, dark, well built. One of Alexander’s friends I thought, Brett maybe. I’d seen them together, but we’d never spoken. He waved at me and I waved back.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Kris enter. Her dark hair was pulled back behind her ears. Tatiana entered a few minutes later and joined us.

  “Nice dress,” Kris smirked.

  “Viviane assured me it was be an appropriate choice for dance class.”

  “Of course she did,” Tatiana said. “That girl lives for drama. And you look very nice, by the way. The loose layers
of fabric help build a static charge, generated by the movements. But it’s really about how you move, not what you wear.”

  “Do you know how to dance, Tati?” I asked.

  Tatiana laughed. “I prefer the term flailing,” she said.

  I can help with that, Lucian said.

  I hoped that by ‘helping’ he didn’t mean trip up or hurt Tatiana.

  Don’t be ridiculous. This one is slowly working her way up the scale of tolerability.

  Really?

  Yes. There’s you at the top. Then, this one.

  Now, I had a morbid desire to know exactly where Lucian ranked everyone.

  I shook my head to break the interior discussion I was having with my personal demon.

  “I’ve never danced before in my life,” I told Tatiana. I mean, not really. Briar and I jumped around together outside the taverns, when we were out late and the banjo was going fast. We’d grab hands and spin in circles until we fell down laughing.

  “Good. Then, we’ll pair up,” Tatiana said. “That way, I know you won’t hate me if I step on your feet. Not that I’d have a ton of people wanting to dance with me anyway. Crazy Tati. You know.”

  I winced. “You’re clearly so smart, though,” I said. “It isn’t fair.”

  Tatiana shrugged. “Life usually isn’t. But you know that. You’re from Argent.”

  I think it was the first time someone had referred to the Lower Realms without making it an insult. Most mages thought Argent was just a human backwater of Reverie; nothing more than service providers and manual labor, though some of the richer ones did put on airs.

  “Your father sounds really interesting,” I said, trying to remember what I could about his bookshop. “I…I’m a bit envious, actually. I was raised by my uncle, and he didn’t care too much for me learning. It might’ve been nice to grow up surrounded by someone so enthusiastic about knowledge.”

  Tatiana’s face softened. She put a hand on my arm, barely a hairsbreadth from my scars, although she couldn’t know it. I tugged my sleeve down to cover them. Rich girls from Argent didn’t have scars. Not when they could pay to have them removed, or better yet, casually avoid sharp objects. Gabriel had made sure my skin was a map of my mistakes; each cut to symbolize a failure I’d have to live with forever. It was his idea of both discipline and education. But if anybody saw them up here, they’d figure out I wasn’t really a mage; that I’d cheated on the entrance exam; that I didn’t belong here.

  I felt Lucian stirring in my mind, like he was about to respond, but for once he stayed quiet. I guess he didn’t feel that my abuse was joking matter.

  “You’re welcome to visit,” she said. “My father lives nearby. You should come see the shop sometime.”

  “I think I might,” I replied. Sometime.

  Tatiana smiled. “Let me know ahead of time,” she said. “He’ll insist on cleaning the house up. We never have company. My father’s research makes people uncomfortable.”

  Suddenly, I remembered something. When I was at the club, I overheard someone say a ‘sky is falling’ man was killed by a demon. I was glad Tatiana’s father seemed fine, but it couldn’t have been a random attack. Why would a rogue mage release a demon and kill a conspiracy theorist that everybody probably thought was crazy? It didn’t make any sense.

  Unless he was killed by someone else, and the demon attack was just a cover.

  Conrad whistled sharply and we all turned towards the front in loose lines.

  “Everyone, we’re going to begin with basic steps today!”

  I steeled myself, worried that even basic might be too much for me. Conrad went through different positions, giving them all names and demonstrating. We mimicked him through what he claimed was a basic waltz. It seemed simple enough, although I suspected once music and partners were added, it would be anything but. I knew I’d never manage anything close to Jessa’s effortless elegance, but this was fine. Left, right, back left, back right. Easy. However, I soon learned that these steps were only the beginning.

  Conrad led us through a series of precise movements and poses, each with complex names like owl in flight or pelican on sand. And it wasn’t just footwork; we had to keep our balance as Conrad twisted our figures into just the right angles, even positioning our wrists and fingers, and made us hold the uncomfortable pose for several minutes. Soon I could feel sweat on the small of my back, and my thighs were burning.

  “We’re learning the twelve basic postures right now, but there are fifty-four steps altogether,” Conrad said. “These can be combined into hundreds of different rituals. Subtle changes in tempo, clothing or music will alter the magic, but the process is the same. The movements generate energy like a spinning conductor. Once it’s charged, you release it. Think of it like an arrow and a bow. The hard work is drawing the string back to your ear to create tension. Then you simply let it go.”

  While speaking, he’d been rotating through a series of sharp, sudden movements, alternating slow, smooth strokes and fast snaps like a striking serpent. I felt the hairs on my arm raise, before I noticed the pink glow on my skin. “With enough concentration, many things are possible.” He spun, his long robe flailing around him, then vanished into thin air before reappearing a second later on the other side of the ballroom. There were murmurs from the other students, then a brief round of applause and a few whistles.

  “Invisibility?” I asked.

  “Teleportation,” Jessa whispered. “Very difficult magic.”

  We tried to follow as he led us in the twelve basic movements. I felt like I was making a pretzel with my body, and I laughed at myself as I tipped over for the third time. Tatiana grabbed my hand and helped me up. After that, Conrad had us break up into partners and practice the waltz. Every five minutes, we switched partners, spinning and twisting apart before coming back together again in a fresh pair. For the first half hour, I concentrated on my feet until I could look up without tripping. After that it got more fun. I could make light conversation with my dance partner and even look around at the others.

  My next partner startled me, it was Kris, her eyes dancing in the lights. I realized we were both grinning. She lifted my hand and I ducked under her arm, executing a clumsy spin. We both giggled as we caught up with the others, trying to get back in sync.

  “Want to do something after class?” Kris asked.

  Her face was flushed with exertion, making her green eyes brighter. I shook my head apologetically. “I promised I’d meet Alexander in the library.”

  “Oh, like a date?” she asked, her smile faltering.

  “No,” I said quickly. “I mean… I don’t think so.”

  Would that be so terrible?

  “Just be careful. Alexander’s broken a lot of hearts, often without meaning to, though I’ve also seen him do it on purpose. But I get it. He’s a prince and all.” She waved her hand, like this didn’t particularly impress her.

  I didn’t care about him being a prince. It wasn’t like I was trying to seduce him and claim his fortune, although that’s what he’d thought the first time I asked him to dance, and probably what everybody else thought when they looked at me as well. And it wasn’t just that he was handsome. I knew he could be mean, sometimes, but he was also brave. Like the way he’d faced the first demon that attacked us, or how he’d pushed me out of the way in the Scraps to stab the monster. I may have saved Alexander once, but he’d already more than repaid the favor. And the way his lips curled up into that half-smile when he was joking, and the way his eyes looked like the blue sky on a clear day. And the aching, breathless feeling I felt whenever we were alone together. My cheeks grew hot as I realized I liked Alexander. A lot.

  “I mean, it’d never… we couldn’t…” I looked down at my dress and scowled. Viviane could make my life a living hell, and she wasn’t even trying yet. I had to stay away from Alexander or she’d expose me as a fraud; but I also had to work with Alexander and get him to trust me, or he
’d ruin me as well.

  “We like who we like,” Kris shrugged. “Forget Viviane. People are being really mean to her, behind her back. I think she’s just trying to get out of the limelight for a few days, generating gossip, hoping new rumors will spread so people stop focusing on her. But seriously, when you’re free, we should hang out more.”

  “We should,” I agreed. Her eyes searched my face for something, and she was so close I could feel her breath on my cheek. Then she spun away and left me with a new partner.

  The music increased in pace. The whole room were spinning together, breathing in and out in sync, like we were gears in a machine. In the center of the room, a table held a tall white vase filled with rosebuds. And they were moving. Vines weaved themselves down the vase in intricate patterns, while the rosebuds bloomed and faded, dropping a handful of red rose petals before changing color and blooming again. Conrad stood at the edge of the room, moving his fingers into subtle arrangements. His sleeves were rolled up, and the sigils on his arms pulsed with purple light.

  I got so distracted, I stumbled when we changed partners again. My new partner caught me. It was Alexander’s friend, Brett. He pulled me firmly against his body and whirled me back into formation until my feet could find the steps again.

  “Thank you,” I breathed.

  “Is this okay?” he asked, nodding at his hand on the small of my back.

  “It’s fine,” I nodded. I looked back towards the others, trying to find Kris and Tatiana, but everything was spinning too fast. I felt energy bubbling up my chest, an uncomfortable buzzing between my ears and pressure under my ribs.

  “How about this?” I looked up at him in confusion, for a minute. His face was much closer now and I could see the smirk. Then I felt his hand on my ass, half hidden in the folds of the dress. I broke away from him and stumbled to a stop near the center of the room.