Page 76 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate?
Prince Winston was on us in an instant, surprising my classmates as they parted to make way for him. He focused on Claude, first. “Affinity to all Elements. Expected.”
Claude beamed widely. “Awesome!”
Winston turned to me next. “You, on the other hand, need a retest. Professors, please.” He walked back to the front of the group, and I stood there aghast; did he expect me to follow?
I glanced back at Dahlia, Claude, and Elias, and the three of them looked as confused as I was. With hesitancy, I walked after the Prince, and I realized every student had a glow around them in reds, blues, greens, and yellows, with the rare oranges, and no purples. I was the only one without.
When I reached the front where our three professors were, I was very sure everyone’s eyes were on me. I didn’t want to look back to confirm.
“It’s alright, Bea,” Derrick murmured as Uriel placed a hand on the top of my head. “This happens occasionally.”
Samuel clicked his teeth. “I told you not to resist.”
“I’m going to recast the spell,” Uriel finally exclaimed, more for my benefit than the others’. “This shouldn’t be painful or intrusive, but let us know if you feel there’s something wrong.”
Great. If it wasn’t supposed to be intrusive, then what happened to me?
Uriel whispered the incantation again, his brown eyes boring through mine. As his hand glowed, the light spreading to me, the prodding was there again, attempting to dig into my head. Ifought off the urge to grab my head by clenching my hands into fists and squinting my eyes shut.
I couldn’t let them know.
Not yet.
Not ever.
I should eventually.
Never, ever,ever!
“There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Derrick’s voice broke me out of my internal panic, and I opened my eyes to my three professors watching me expectantly. I unclenched my glowing green hands.
Green.I was normal! With an Earth affinity!
My gaze found Winston off at the side, and despite his gentle smile, his royal purple eyes felt like slicing into me with how intense he observed me. Like he was scrutinizing every movement I made.
“Now that we’ve determined your affinity, the glow will stay for about an hour. Please line up to get your affinity recorded,” Samuel announced as he gestured to the senior mages, tables set out for each of them, ready to take down information. The students began to form lines, and I was about to follow Dahlia when Derrick grasped my wrist.
“You were panicking and didn’t tell us,” he revealed as he let me go, just as the Prince stood next to them three. “Why? I was waiting for you to say it first.”
Damn it. I thought I got away with it.
“Not used to probing magic,” I hedged, my eyes traveling between them.
“It’s a diagnostic, not a probe,” Uriel pointed out.
“Isn’t it the same thing?”
“Trust your brattiness to think you know better than your professors,” Samuel scoffed as I glared at him.
Folding my arms over my chest, I scoffed back. “Well, I’m very sorry. Are you going to punish me, professor?”
Samuel suddenly coughed as Uriel stared at him in disbelief, with Derrick in a blush and Winston’s lips pulling down just the tiniest bit.Satisfying. I prepared to head for Dahlia when I was stopped again, this time by Winston’s hand on my shoulder.
“Bea, you’re very good at dodging questions,” he muttered in a mix of amazement and annoyance. “But it won’t work on us. Why didn’t you tell us?”
They really wouldn’t stop asking if the interrogation the other day was anything to go by. Mixed with the truth, then. “I'm scared the spell won’t work again, putting me in a precarious spot. And I don’t know what I’ll do if that’s the case.”
Uriel nodded. “Truthfully, if a diagnostic spell doesn’t work on you, it’s going to be unprecedented.”
