Page 67 of Anomalies

Nana and I were the only ones on that list as far as I know, and now…

She’s not lost me, and I’ve not lost her, we’re just…separate. Really, my old life is only a Banyan portal away—I just don’t have the clearance to get through it.

“She sounds a bit like Selene,” Gemma raises a blonde brow, plopping a piece of seedless watermelon into her mouth.

“She’s Selene with Kimber’s brain and your sound advice.” I push my tray forward, my appetite fleeting.

Her blue eyes glimmer, and I find myself smiling even though the expression is so at odds with everything I’m feeling inside. Guilt. I feel so guilty for leaving them without any explanation other than a lousy letter that I’m sure Ivy denied the legitimacy of, then ripped to shreds.

Gemma prods at another piece of seeded fruit. “What about your brother? Is he⁠—"

“G.” I shake my head, a hellish burn stinging my eyes. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Gemma abandons all attention she had on her breakfast to look at me. “Cin, just because I offer you the chance to talk about them, doesn’t mean you ever have to.” She slides her fingers through mine, the familiar twinge of healing magic eating away at all the physical aspects of guilt and grief and longing. She takes it all—the shortness of breath, the leaden weight in my gut, the lump in my throat. “That offer will always stand, Lucina. I know what it means to miss someone.”

I squeeze her hand back, wishing I could take pain away like she does. Lucky and undeserving—that’s what I was.

“Dammit,” Selene growls. “Why are you upset?” I flinch as she slams her tray down on the table and thrusts an arm out behind her. “Was it him?” she all but shouts, pointing a crooked finger at the Captain.

My cheeks redden when Callan whips his head up from the conversation he’d been in with his coven. His silver eyes scan me first, panic flaring as if he half expected to find me bleeding out over the breakfast table. I freeze under his stare, much like I always do, and his eyes narrow on Selene once he realizes all my blood does, in fact, remain in my body.

She just glares back at him, with all the wrath of a high-ranked Lakelet witch. The Captain might be the only one that can stomach the weight of her stare—I know I can’t.

“He didn’t do anything,” I assure her. “Please. Stop.”

Selene raises a brow at him, and he faces her fully, folding his arms across his chest in final warning. Selene might have her own arsenal of deadly weapons, but none compare to what the Captain’s capable of. The strength and sheer size of him alone keep everyone at a distance, but Selene’s never been—and won’t ever be— everyone else.

Though right now, I wish she’d have the good sense to at least try.

“Fine,” she huffs, breaking her stare, and I make the rookie mistake of thinking that meant she’d leave it be.

“Selene,” I groan when a heavy weight settles in the front of my brain, slithering through my thoughts like a snake. I’ve at least gotten good at noticing when she was there, but gods, I’m so tired of having my thoughts tampered with. “Get out of my head.”

“Make me.” The pressure intensifies, and I grit against the weight of it as sharp scales scrape against my most recent thoughts. “Guard your shit, Cin. Or am I wasting my time teaching you?”

“I’m. Trying,” I grunt. My fingers flex, my mind muddying as I compartmentalize her serpentine presence, boxing it up just like she taught me, then I force her out with all the strength I can muster. The weight lessens, then I leave a fuzzy sheen across the front of my brain, reinforcing it with a crackling wall of white flames.

There. Done.

I feel her tap along the outside of it, testing its strength. “Weak,” she says, slithering back out the same way she came in, then she points a fork in my direction. “Let me find your shields wide open like that again, and I’ll out everything you’re thinking.”

She would threaten the Captain on my behalf and then threaten me a minute later.

“I wasn’t thinking anything I wouldn’t outright tell Gemma,” I grumble, rolling out my stiff shoulders.

A lazy smile carves dimples in Selene’s ebony skin. “You sure about that?”

Gemma raises a brow, blue eyes darting between Selene and me.

I have no idea what she could be referring to. What had I been thinking? Gemma looks super fucking eager to know. “G,” I turn to her, “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

Selene’s smile widens, and my stomach sinks. “I’m talking about the way you freeze when the Captain⁠—"

“Where’s Kimber?” I blurt, my eyes bulging as I desperately force a new subject, and by some otherworldly miracle, Gemma doesn’t fight it. I death glare Selene when the Mender turns to search the busy Tavern, abandoning our topic of conversation.

Thank the gods.

Early morning light streams in through the stained-glass panes, a rainbow of colors painting the hardwoods, reflecting off the silver cutlery and frosted water glasses. I spot a table of Diviners, most of them with their heads in books, likely preparing for the same exams Kimber has been studying for.