Page 34 of Shadow Caster
Brunner stared at me from behind her desk, her face an unreadable mask. They’d placed a chair against the wall, so I was facing the room as a whole. Master Hyde leaned up against the windowsill, his arms crossed over his chest. Madam Garnet had taken up a spot by the bookcase opposite me, and now they were all staring at me.
So much for getting to eat cake.
Hyde had dragged me out of the ballroom so fast my head had spun. We’d come straight here, and the last six minutes had passed in silence. It didn’t look like anyone was going to be breaking that silence any time soon.
There was a mark on my chest. A shadow mark.
It had to be a mistake.
There was no other answer.
The door opened, and a portly man with wispy gray hair and ruddy cheeks stumbled in.
His attention went straight to Brunner. “Ines, you wished to … Oh, ah, hello there, Archer. Melle.” He nodded at Garnet. His gaze fell on me. “Student whose name I do not know.” He smiled pleasantly before focusing on the principal again. “You wanted to see me?”
Brunner tapped her fingers on the desk. “The revelation nectar …”
“Yes?”
“You mixed it to the usual specifications?”
He frowned. “Um, yes. Yes, of course I did. Is there a problem?”
Brunner fixed her steely eyes on me. “Master Herman is responsible for our hothouse and also takes Herbs and Toxins. Show him please, Miss Justice.”
I tugged my top down to show yet another person the top of my tit.
His hand flew to his mouth, and his ruddy cheeks lost the red tinge. “Oh … Oh, my.” His hands fluttered around his face. “Two parts honey pea, three parts Linga root …” He fell into a mutter, reciting the secret recipe. He looked up and nodded. “Perfect. It was perfect. You have others marked? Males?”
Brunner nodded.
“Then it works. The nectar works as it always has.”
Hyde pushed off the sill, and his arms dropped to his sides. “But she’s a fucking woman.”
“Ten out of ten for observation.” The words were out before I could stop them.
He glared at me, and I glared back. Like hell would I be cowed, no matter how badly my limbs were quivering right now.
I looked to Brunner. “It’s obviously a mistake. Shadow knights are male.” I indicated myself. “Breasts and no dick equals not male.”
“The nectar has never failed us,” Brunner replied calmly. “It identifies the gene and manifests the mark. You have the mark, which means, as unorthodox as it may seem, somehow you have the gene.”
“Ines?” Melle said. “You really think a woman could have the gene? After all this time.”
“I believe there’s an explanation for everything.” She smiled tightly at me. “I’ve sent a messenger to summon your parents. We’ll start there, and then move on to council advice if need be. I’d rather not escalate the issue if, by some chance, there has been an error.” She fixed her attention on Master Herman.
The Herbs and Toxins master shook his head. “No. No, the nectar was brewed to perfection.”
Principle Brunner canted her head as if listening for something. “I believe your parents have arrived.”
The door to the office opened a moment later, and my father strode in, dressed in all his Armani finery. His distinctive cologne filled the room and turned my stomach. I clenched my teeth.
A diminutive woman tottered in on six-inch heels behind him. My mother. Perfectly coiffed and powdered. She was a beauty, and she knew it.
Master Herman didn’t even bother to hide his gawp.
Her gaze fell on me, and there was a flash of something akin to concern, but it was so fleeting I was sure I’d imagined it.
