Someone needs to put a leash on this girl.
The second I have the thought, I shake it off. That’s dangerous; even I can admit that, and I don’t even like women like that.
My ability to shadow walk is limited, unlike my brother’s and father’s. I inherited more of my mother's skinwalker abilities, which serve me well enough that I’m not mad about it, but in these kinds of situations, it can get annoying.
I have to have seen my destination, and the shadows I walk in need to be deep and relatively close, only about three hundred feet, which sounds great until you learn the academy sits on about three thousand feet of land.
Usually, it wouldn’t be a big deal, though, as I don’t mind walking or even running. Shadow walking takes more magic than it’s worth most days, which means I have to feed more, but right now I need to be discreet and quick.
Which is why when I walk out of the next set of shadows down the hall from where I just saw mybrother,I nearly walk right into her. I quickly back up into the shadows again, coming out down the hall while holding my breath.
She notices, though, because, of fucking course, she does.
I’ve been watching her for a while now, and as much as I don’t enjoy this, it’s impossible to miss things. Like the way she’s always on alert, or how she jumps at sudden noises and movement.
Things people might not notice if they weren’t paying attention, but that’s all I’m doing, and the more I look, the more I find.
Like the way she always reaches for that pendant on her neck whenever anything happens. Good, bad, happy, mad, it’s in her hand. If I didn’t know she was a dud, couldn’t sense the lack of magic in her, I might think she was a witch using a talisman.
Well, that and if talismans were possible anymore. The last witch with enough power to do something like that was burned at the stake a few hundred years ago, thanks to our council.
That’s what fear of races does: creates chaos and senseless violence.
It’s one of the reasons I don’t broadcast what I am, and Julian never shows off, despite him possibly being the strongest fae born in a million years.
It’s safer to be underestimated.
The queen and her daughter were a perfect, terrible example of that.
Jealousy killed them and left the king heartbroken, something everyone in our kingdom suffers from.
“What are you doing?”
Shit, today is not my day.
Somehow, I found a place where I belong, as crazy as that sounds.
Julian continues inviting me to practice fencing with him, and I’ve been tempted to decline to study, but… well, I just don’t want to.
I enjoy spending time with Julian; it’s easy in a way that I’ve never experienced before, and I may or may not be a pretty good fencer, thanks to Jordan.
Maybe that’s why I found myself trying more when we practiced and letting myself enjoy it.
It was fun for the sake of it, not for a medal or a scholarship.
Gavin backed off a bit, too. He wasn’t ever nice exactly, but he was no longer going out of his way to be an asshole, which is all I ever really needed.
Of course, the universe can’t let me be too happy, though, and balance came in the form of Rose.
Don’t get me wrong; I’ve dealt with bullies before, but before Jordan was here. He was a buffer of sorts, and usually it was more just snide remarks about my brains or my ‘attitude.’
I’ve never dealt with a mean girl who was just mad I existed.
She hasn’t said or done much when anyone else was around, but I’ve gotten a few shoulder checks, snarky comments, and been tripped a few times.
Very childish, but annoying nonetheless.
She’s also been stuck to Gavin’s ass like an octopus, and while he doesn’t seem to mind, I’m reminded that just because he’s no longer being an ass, that doesn’t mean he’s a friend.
