I take a deep breath and scan the names below, looking for mine. My eyes are reading almost quicker than I can decipher. Samason Nivinche, the quiet boy from Willikson, Mayline Zhou, Zackary Winchell. The fact that they aren’t in alphabetical order just adds to the anticipation.
When I come to the last name and still haven’t found mine, a sigh of relief escapes me.
I drop my head forward.
Thank the gods.
Mentally shaking myself, I raise my head and continue reading. The next section in bold, eloquent letters says “Veil,” with more names listed below.
Mallory jumps up, punching the air next to me.
I pull my eyes from her and back to the list.
Emory Voss, Eryk Porter, Mallory Blaire… I continue reading through the names, the list getting shorter and shorter.
I come to the last name on the scroll, and it’s not mine.
Finnley Stax.
What. The. Fuck.
Finnley goes still next to me, apparently reading at the same speed.
In bold letters at the bottom of the list is another header.
Inconclusive.
There’s a singular name below it:Norissa Caderyn.
“It must be a mistake,” Finnley says under his breath, looking from the parchment to me and back again.
The academy doesn’t make mistakes.
I stare at my name like it betrayed me. I’m a Caderyn. We’re Veils.
Quickly, I peek over my shoulder at Ambrose. He’s watching me with an intense expression on his face. Both brows are drawn, and his sharp eyes are narrowed in on me.
I offer him a hollow smile and turn back to the list.
I blink at my name.
Still there.
“It’s okay. We’ll just head down to the headmistress’s office, and she’ll straighten it out,” Mallory offers. Her wide eyes are full of false optimism.
The headmistress. A shiver crawls across my skin. No one wants to go to her office. You stay off her radar at all costs. I can’t imagine crossing her threshold and not even belonging to one of the two regiments under her thumb.
Finnley squeezes my shoulder reassuringly. He doesn’t offer any more words of encouragement or false hope. This is why he’s one of my favorite people here. No bullshit, no making light of a bad situation, just there to walk through the misery with me.
This isn’t how I expected to be inducted into the academy.
So many years of envisioning this moment. Some little girls daydream of the day they’ll walk down the aisle and become a bride. Not me. I always dreamed of the day I’d see my name assigned to the Veils. Upholding my family legacy. Making my mother proud in the only way I’d ever be able to. Even when I proved to her time and time again that I wasn’t cut out for it. It didn’t matter. I had my sights set on wearing that uniform.
I turn on my heel and walk back toward my best friend. How do I even tell him? Everything we dreamed about while lying in those sawgrass fields staring at the midnight sky just evaporated into broken dreams. A wisp slipping through my fingers.
I stop in front of him, take a deep breath, and raise my head. Arctic eyes collide with my green ones.
He reaches for me, and I let him.
