“Once you get to know Seb, you'll change your mind about him. He has a really big heart, just a strange frickin’ way of showing it,” she assured me through her fit of giggles.
“Are you sure about that?”
She chuckled again. “Believe it or not, I am.”
We talked for a while longer, thoroughly enjoying each other’s company. I described Delani to her and told her how the two of them would get along well. She talked to me about her upbringing and how her and Sebastian had always been really close. I confessed my hesitation about being gifted, and in return she told me how she abandoned her bedchambers in the castle to live at the dormitories with the rest of the first years. The king had tried to convince her otherwise, but she threw a fuss about having thefull academy experience.
Thanks to her company, the night was going much better than I had expected. That was until King Hawthorne and his soldiers paraded into the center of the hall. “Good evening, students, soldiers, and royal citizens. I hope you are enjoying the first gala of the academy year.” His voice bellowed throughout the great hall.
I had no trouble making his words out—I was standing right in front of him and his advisor. Sebastian was stationed beside his father. He fidgeted with a button on his wrist, looking almost uncomfortable.
Having missed the information when the other students received it, I gave the king my full attention as he discussed the expectations for the school year and explained the process of being sworn in as a soldier. He went into detail on his criteria for choosing his head soldiers, and urged all of the new students to strive for reaching that goal.
He briefly introduced the topic of Draemor’s war threats,which I already knew from our conversation. Then, just when I thought he was about finished, his eyes darted towards me. He motioned for me to approach with a wave of his finger.
My breath quickened.Was he really going to do this now?
My feet froze to the marble floor beneath me, and the strength of my gut was tested as the wine I drank bubbled and sizzled its way up into my throat.
When I still did not move despite his continuous gesture, King Hawthorne leaned over and whispered to the brown-haired soldier I had seen Sebastian with earlier. The soldier nodded and left his formation to come towards me. I looked towards Sebastian as the soldier dragged me forward, but his eyes avoided mine.
King Hawthorne placed his hands on my shoulders, putting me on full display for the crowd standing before us. “I assume most of you have heard the rumors of a new Caelestis Academy student who has been gifted constellastones from the Goddess of the Mind?” he asked the crowd, waiting for the chatter to subside before he continued.
I gazed nervously around the room and watched as hundreds of faces pointed their focus at me.
King Hawthorne took a breath. “I am honored to be the one to confirm your suspicions and introduce you to Maeve Willawood. She contains the most blessed gift of the gods, and as a kingdom, we must do all we can to ensure that knowledge of this gift stays within the boundaries of Caelestis.”
He could have worded the following information in a way that made it seem less intimidating, but he said the threat just as bluntly as he had to me yesterday. “If I hear of any traitorous activity regarding this information, then the person responsible will be executed.”
That information did not go over well with the crowd, and chaos broke out in spouts of angry heckling.
“So it's true? Why weren't we informed of her gift at Jewel-Light?”
“Freak!”
“Why would Blythe choose her?”
“What makes her so special?”
Those were only some of the comments I heard. There were some words of amazement, but I tuned them out along with the proclamations full of rage and jealousy.
The attention made my body temperature rise as panic started its heated course through my veins. My nails tore the skin of my palms as I locked eyes with Pia, whose face sunk as she noticed my skin fade to the color of snow.
“Are you positive she has constellastones? From here they look like diamonds.”
“She's a fraud.”
“You mean to tell us that if we so much as speak to an outsider about her, we will be killed? That is the most?—”
“Enough!” King Hawthorne barked, his voice echoing throughout the hall and making me jump. “I will not tolerate any of this!”
The crowd quieted.
“The rest of the kingdom will be made aware of Maeve's great gift to Caelestis by the end of the week. The Duke will travel through our villages and cities to spread the word. In the meantime, pick your jaws up off of the floor and enjoy the rest of your evening.”
I shuffled uncomfortably when the king at last released his grip on me and strode out of the hall, leaving me as the focal point of the room.
His soldiers dispersed into the crowd, and I should have done the same, but my body was paralyzed. The pallor of my cheeks was replaced by a deep shade of crimson and my eyes filled with scalding tears, brought on by the horrified looks directed at me.
