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Yet my heart still rammed into my ribcage, as I couldn’t expel this foreboding feeling that I was a target here. That fucker druid wouldn’t go easy on me.
“Let the first bride trial begin! May the odds be with you!” Headmistress Ethel shouted with fake cheer, and half of the students applauded, confident that they’d be chosen.
Cami darted a worried look at me. She’d pass to the next round for sure, but I was the wild card. I beamed at her to try to convince her not to worry about me. Again, what was the worst that could happen even if I was the target in this ritual? The druid wouldn’t be so stupid and ruthless as to drag me to his dark altar to sacrifice me in front of everyone, would he?
I chuckled nervously to myself at the absurdity while Sy stayed alert, watching my six like a hawk.
The long lines started moving forward. America from the House of Fae was the first to go up. She stood in front of the druid, who chanted something. A crystal teacup materialized beside the crystal teapot, and the teapot tilted all by itself and poured the pale blue liquid into the cup. The first teacup floated to America. She took it with a shaking hand. Then, with a determined look, she lifted it to her lips and downed the potion.
The cup in her hand vanished.
Everyone held their breath while staring at the crystal ball. It was so quiet that we could hear our own heartbeats. The crystal ball spun, humming, before it pulsed red.
America cried in joy, “I’m in!”
“That’s your destiny, Lady America!” Headmistress Ethel beamed in pride as she congratulated her niece. “May you shine like a star!”
A sentinel in a gray academy uniform escorted America to the right side beneath the flowing banner of star charts. The fae chick stood tall with her chest puffing out and her chin lifted.
A student from the House of Vampires moved toward the druid to receive the potion. She drank it, and the crystal ball turned red. Then candidates from each house took turns taking the potion, and a dozen students were escorted to join America after the crystal ball beamed red, deeming them worthy.
“This is the fucking first trial?” I asked Cami in a whisper. “Pucker said it was supposed to be a culling.”
Headmistress Ethel stared hard at me from the raised dais where she could see everyone, and I zipped my lips.
A short girl from the House of Shifters wailed after she received green from the crystal ball. She begged for a second cup of potion, but she was denied. A few more students also melted down when the sentinels half-dragged them out of a side door to where a boat was waiting to cart them away from Shades Academy.
The princes in their royal seats looked bored, not slightly impressed by anyone who passed through the first trial, without a care for the crying and whimpering of the rejected.
Then it was Cami’s turn.
I smiled at her encouragingly. “Break a leg.”
She narrowed her eyes at me.
“It means good luck,” I explained. “Now go knock them dead, she-tiger.”
She shook her head. “I’m not even a shifter.”
She strolled toward the druid to take her potion, and the crystal ball beamed red instantly. I wasn’t a little bit worried for her. Of course she’d pass. She was a royal.
More candidates streamed toward the druid to drink the potion. Some passed, and some failed. I grinned as I watched my geek friends get in.
Then it was Bea’s turn, and my heart pounded. She was an oddball like me, but then she also got accepted, and my breath eased.
The line moved faster. Before I knew it, I was pushed ahead for my trial.
I strolled toward the glass table and paused a few feet further from the druid as I eyed the crystal ball overhead. My heartbeat calmed in my ears when I didn’t see my father pop up in it.
I could feel all the princes’ intense, expectant gazes drilling holes in my forehead. I slanted a glance at them, my jaw locked stubbornly, as I was determined not to cause drama to entertain them.
A new teacup appeared in the air, the crystal teapot poured the liquid into it, and the cup floated toward me. It seemed nothing was out of order, as it was the standard procedure. Yet my shoulder blades tingled, and my sense of danger flared.
I snatched the teacup and peeked down.
Shit!
There was something at the bottom.
