Page 22 of The Last Bell
“Butyouput in a wedge,” I say, my mind jumping to the time when magic flickered in my blood for a moment before disappearing again. “You can take it out. You’ve done it before.”
“I am happy to encourage it.” Coal takes a step forward, the carved angles of his face so deadly, even I want to shrink away.
“Wallop away,” Krum tells the warrior impassively before turning back to me. “A test, yes. I’ve run several of them during the decades. But did you wonder why it was so very short? Did you ask yourself why, if I was going to test something as important as the return of magic, I didn’t let it stay open for several hours? Enough to perhaps give Owalin and his warriors a chance to exercise the power held in shackles for so long?”
“He didn’t dare hold it open longer lest the flow of magic shattered the gateway completely,” Arisha says quietly, her face coloring when the entire attention of the room shifts to her. Eyes widening, she tries to step back—only to hit Tye’s large body instead. The male puts both hands on her shoulders, squeezing lightly.
“Go on and tell them, braids,” he mutters into her ear.
The girl swallows. “He knew that once the magic started flowing fully, he could no longer stanch the flow. And he didn’t want to release the dam until Owalin’s warriors were ready—especially since they knew there were other fae somewhere in the vicinity.”
“Ah, so you do have a thinking being among you,” says Krum, nodding to Arisha respectfully—before swinging a gaze that is anything but to River. “But no need to take our word for it. Wait until Lunos sendsexperts. It little matters. The truth is the truth: there will soon be no mortal realm, and the humans can return to their rightful place as servants to the higher beings.”
Silence grips the room in an icy wave that seems to freeze everyone in place. My own blood chills with Krum’s words and with Arisha’s fallen face that tells me she believes the male. That everything we sacrificed to come here was for nothing. Even River’s face is a frozen mask, the sparks of failure dancing in his gray eyes twisting my gut.
“We need to raise an army,” King Zenith of Ckridel says finally, his words hitching as he shatters the silence. A murmur of slow concern echoes from the other monarchs in the back of the room. “There might be no stopping magic from coming into our world, but we can stop the magic wielders who bring it.”
“No,” I whisper, softly at first, then with force. “No. Whatever the answer is to this, it isn’t war.”
“She’s right.” Stepping forward, Katita stands beside the table with River and me, regal and polished once more in a simple forest-green gown, her golden hair gathered in a nest on top of her head. “We don’t need to build an army. We need to build an alliance. This Academy was built to bind together the children of the powerful continental families, and it has worked. And this year…this year, we’ve been fortunate. Because we had yet another family join us. A deputy headmaster. An instructor. A healer. A student. And even that rogue over there, who should by all rights have been banned from the Prowess trials.” She jerks her head toward Tye, the small quirk at the corner of her mouth taking the sting out of her words.
“When we were going to lie down and surrender, it was Leralynn who reminded us that the power lies in our own hands. Our unions. Our alliances.” She turns to Arisha. “Now that the wards are open, how quickly will the magic spread throughout the continent?”
Arisha bites the end of her braid, her blue eyes glazing in calculation. “It’s hard to say,” she mutters, “but given that it took decades to spread from the rip on the mountain to the Academy, I would imagine it will be years until it creeps through the Ckridel kingdom. Decades before it covers the continent. But it will.”
Katita nods, turning back to her father. “Then I propose we open the Academy immediately to our friends in Lunos. If King River would agree, let us invite faculty and students from Slait to join us here, to learn and grow together.” The princess turns slowly, until it is me she speaks to alone, our whole complex history laid out clearly on her face—competition, rancor, partnership, and finally, respect. “Maybe, if we do this right, if the Academy becomes a place of learning known throughout both our realms… Then when your children come of age, you will want them to come study here. To spar and learn and fight and discover truths with the royals of our world. With the children I will one day bear.”
I only realize I’m on my feet when my arms are wrapping around Katita. After a moment, she pulls me against her. “Thank you for coming here, Lera,” she whispers softly for my ears alone. “Thank you for protecting my world.”
16
Lera
“Do you need help, lass?” Tye asks, climbing through the window of my bedchamber to land with a flourish on a small open spot in the middle of the floor—a feat made more impressive by the clothes and bags spread on every other surface. Minion, testing each item of clothing for rip-worthiness against his claws, arches his tiny back and hisses at the guest.
Arisha rolls her eyes. “You’ve been able to use the door for months now. Do you just enjoy making this seem…illegitimate?”
“Yes, of course.” Tye blinks in surprise at the question, his messy red hair and sparkling grin making the image irresistible—and he knows it. “Why wouldn’t I enjoy it?” After picking his way across the room, he grasps my hips and lifts me up for a thorough kiss that sends tendrils of warmth all over my skin, the little prickles of fire heading right down to—
I smack him, wriggling down to the floor as I close my thighs quickly.
That wasn’t my own heat tickling my sex—that was the bastard sending tiny sparks of literal fire sneaking toward my apex. Right in the middle of my packing. With Arisha watching. Thanking the stars that Arisha’s mortal nose lacks the ability to scent just how quickly my body roused to Tye’s intentions, I give the male the best glower I can summon while pressing my legs together.
Arisha snorts. Clearly, what my friend lacks in smell, she makes up for in eyesight—my heating face clueing her in to exactly what instincts are pulsing about. Gathering the remaining shreds of my dignity, I brush down my light blue gown, which arrived in a chest of at least a dozen others in River’s sister Autumn’s luggage three weeks ago.
Once Katita’s plan was affirmed by the other rulers, the choice for the initial cadre to the Academy turned out to be the simplest one to be made yet. Retrieving the Mystwood key the Night Guard once used from their mountain lair, Shade shifted to wolf form to deliver the news to Lunos. A week later, he returned with Autumn and her mate, Kora, along with Kora’s quint, to take on the Academy billets for the coming semester.
With her brilliant mind, Autumn will make an incredible deputy headmistress to the Academy, taking the place River was now vacating. As for physical training, anyone who thought trading Coal for Kora would bring about a more pleasant experience in the sparring ring was going to enjoy a shock. Although River decided against sending fae students to the Academy this year, we both hope to identify a handful of candidates to start the following semester.
“Any word on the new headmaster?” I ask Tye. “I imagine Sage will no longer be gracing these halls with his brave leadership.”
Tye picks the hissing Minion up by the scruff of his neck, the kitten clawing the air in indignation. One set of green eyes locks on another, and Tye lets loose a low feline growl of his own.
Minion goes limp and cute at once, licking his little nose piously with a pink tongue.
“River is proposing Princess Katita for the post,” Tye says, dropping the cat onto a pile of my lacy underwear. Of course. “Given that it’s her vision, after all—which goes to show the importance of keeping your mouth shut, lest you get tagged with extra work.”
“Katita?” I frown. “Isn’t she a bit—well, young?”
