Page 80 of Faerie Gift

What kind of questions could they possibly ask one on one they hadn’t asked on the written part of the exam? Melia spoke mostly about the comprehensive and practical portions of the test.

With nothing to go on, I waited.

My name was called finally and I stepped inside, the door closing automatically behind me. I nearly died on the spot when I saw Hoarfrost waiting for me behind the desk. I took a half step backwards under the sudden onslaught of nerves.

His ice-colored eyes speared me in place, clear and cold like the depths of a glacier as he pointed to an empty seat in front of him. “Sit down, Miss Alderidge,” he barked.

The end is here, I thought sadly, making my way toward him on stiff legs. The universe had a sick sense of humor. I plastered on my best professional face and did as he asked, slipping into the chair and facing him.

Any outburst would only shatter against his steel-like composure, and I wondered which one of us would start the screaming match this time around.

For the longest time we were silent. Staring each other down like two pugnacious wrestlers ready to face off in the ring. I didn’t want to speak first. I didn’t want to blink.

At last, Hoarfrost drew in a breath, and without looking down at the papers in front of him asked me my first question. “What is the best magical counteraction to an opponent using fire against you?”

It took me a moment to get my bearings. To draw my voice out from where it quivered in fear at the bottom of my shoes. “Ice,” I said at last. “The two elements are polar opposites and cancel each other out.”

He barked out his second question, rapid-fire. “What are the elements of life?”

“Water, earth, fire, air.”

“Titania, the original ruler of the Seelie Fae, met Oberon her mate and finalized their marriage in 570 AD. True or false?”

Everyone else thought the two Fae rulers were nothing more than fictional characters in a Shakespearean play. We’d been taught the truth.

I expected to stumble into a trick at any moment, but I knew the answer to this one. “Wrong. I-I mean false. Titania and Oberon have been together since time immemorial and no one has seen them in the last thousand years. There is no fixed date for the formalization of their marriage.”

Hoarfrost made a notation on the piece of paper in front of him. I couldn’t see what he wrote, nor did his face chance to indicate I’d given a right or wrong answer of any satisfaction. He maintained an expression of bitter indifference, giving nothing away.

“What crystal is generally considered the best for grounding and protection? Limit your answer to theoneyou feel is correct.”

Only one? If I had to choose— “Hematite,” I told him. “Hematite crystals are thought to pull any stray negative energy in the aura to the root chakra where it neutralizes harmful effects by balancing and aligning all seven chakras.”

Did he see how I shook?

“And how do the Fae commonly use this crystal?”

I answered his questions to the best of my ability although they covered a gamut of topics, from crystals to herbs to history to spells on how to stop flatulence, which I thought he made up on the spot and I still tried to answer correctly.

Most of the questions I nailed. I knew it, he knew it, and although he remained sitting placidly in his seat, he developed a small tic at the left corner of his icy blue eyes. He spoke faster, harsher, throwing trick questions at me repeatedly.

Still, I had the sneaking suspicion he was going to fail me regardless. He’d already made it clear how he felt about me personally, and no matter what I did—or didn’t do—I knew it wouldn’t be enough to change his mind. Things hadn’t gotten any better in class although I’d tried to follow Professor Marsh’s advice and keep quiet. Keep to myself.

Hoarfrost and I trod a very fine line between apathy and open hostility. As far as a student and teacher relationship, we had none. After what felt like hours, he seemed to reach the end of his seemingly endless form before he snarled, “Why do you think you deserve citizenship in Faerie, Miss Alderidge?”

Oh. My.Lord. Was he really going to ask me that? I felt my face blanch.

“Well? Impress me.”

His voice was rigid as iron and although I’d seen him angry at me many times before, this time he lacked even the thinnest veneer of peacekeeping.

He stared me down, waiting for an answer. An answer I wasn’t sure how to form, what he expected, or how to give him what he wanted.

Did I tell him what I thought he wanted to hear? Or did I give him the truth? How did I walk this tightrope without falling off?

My hands knotted on my lap.

“I’m not going to give you a sob story,” I began, “although I could if I wanted to. I didn’t have a happy childhood and I lost my parents at a young age because they were different. I lived my life on the fringes because I’m different, too. I have struggled to make my way here and I did it on my own in order to escape a bad situation.”

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