Page 163 of Sorrow & Strangers

I’m not sure why, but his words feel weird against my skin, making me uncomfortable. “Okay, well, today has already been a shitshow. I think it might be best if I head home, take a nap, and see if I can start it over,” I say, putting my sai back on their shelf and turning to leave the sparring room. Max grabs my arm, and I stop to look up at him with a soft sigh.

“We’re friends first,” he says, shifting his hold to squeeze my hand lightly.

“I know.”

“You swear you’re good? I don’t need to kick anyone’s ass?”

“I’m good,” I say, giving him a small smile.

“Sure you don’t want to finish up here?”

I shake my head. “No, I want to go home.” I’m not sure why, but I’m just not feeling it today, and the stranger has left me in a bad mood. I don’t want to take it out on Max, especially when he’s helping so much with Rafe.

I squeeze Max’s hand and leave the sparring room. “Rafe,” I call on my way through the gym. “Time to go.”

“Go? You barely started,” he says, dropping the ridiculously large weight he was using.

“She’s not in the mood,” Max says, heading toward the front desk.

I roll my eyes and leave the gym, not waiting for Rafe to tidy up his weights. A few moments later, I hear his footsteps pounding on the path behind me.

“What’s up?” he asks, a little winded as he slows to match my pace.

“Just want to get home,” I say, and while he stays close and watches me carefully, he doesn’t push or demand anything else.

Back at the house, I go straight to my room. I don’t know if I am tired or more emotionally exhausted, but either way, I know I can’t actually go back to bed. What I really want to do is hide away today, but I have my training with the headmaster soon. I flop onto my bed and pull my pillow over my head, wondering if I should cancel, but quickly dismiss the idea when I remember how annoyed he was the last time I was late. Ugh, these men just won’t give me any peace.

Forty-five minutes later, I peel myself from my bed and make my way across campus to the headmaster’s office. I was hoping the fresh air and sunshine would lift my mood, but it’s even more sour when I knock on his door.

“Enter.”

I step into his office feeling irritated with everyone. After the time I spent last night with the stranger, I was frustrated, and every minute since, my mood has turned more annoyed and angry.

The headmaster doesn’t look at me for a long moment, and I’m about to say something when his gray eyes flick up. His gaze immediately lands on my neck. There is a flicker of surprise at the bruise, but he masks it quickly and wordlessly waves his hand, opening the portal to the training field. I step through, and he follows.

“You seem on edge, Miss Tuatha De Daanan. Is something wrong?” he asks once the portal snaps closed.

“I’m fine.” The words come out sharper than I intended.

“Then let’s begin,” he says, and I can feel the annoyance dripping off him that I dared to snap at him.

The headmaster pushes me hard for the whole session, and by the end I’m still frustrated, but I’m too worn out to be prickly anymore.

He hands me a towel. “Now, I am going to ask you again, Miss Tuatha De Daanan. Are you okay?”

“Yes, sir. Did I not perform well?” I ask, and I can still hear the sharpness of my voice. I guess I was wrong about the prickliness.

He shakes his head, his jaw tight. “The opposite, but I did feel the start of malevolence in one of your counters.” He watches me. “There is a crispness to it,” he says, answering a question I’ve not asked yet. “A sharper edge to the rune.”

“I apologize, sir.” Using malevolence in rune-wielding can be dangerous, potentially fatal, with Daoine Sith anyway.

“Do not misunderstand. Infernal runes are not like the others, including Daoine Sith. They are strengthened by the caster’s more volatile emotions. An enraged demon is a deadly one.”

I frown. “So . . . I should be drawing on malevolence when using Infernal runes?”

“It is not something I can endorse as your headmaster, but if it comes to a true fight, Lucifer will not hold back.”

I nod, my mind already reworking the runes and how I use them. We have been playing with Infernal runes a little in the last couple of days, and while demons require demon blood to use them, I am able to use my own on my skin, though they are powerful and should not be wielded often. They are also more powerful if using demon blood, so I have taken to keeping a small vial of Rafe’s blood on me at all times.