Page 18 of Shadow Weaver
Kash yawned next. “Must be catching.” He grinned.
“Miss Justice, you will refrain from using your shadow casting ability until you have mastered control of your connection to the weave. Is that clear?”
After what had just happened, and the way I felt, all rubbery and weird, that sounded like a top idea. “Agreed.”
She studied me for a long beat. “Once you can commune with the weave and return unscathed, then we will work on casting and shielding. I think some one-on-one sessions may be in order.”
What? “I have shadow cadet duties.”
Her mouth turned down. “You also have a duty to the weave, Miss Justice. Whether you like it or not. If you do not master your connection to the weave, you are putting us all in jeopardy. Do you understand?”
Her gaze was insistent, penetrating.
Shit. “I get it.”
She blew out a breath. “Thank goodness Master Payne discovered who and what you are … For all our sakes.” She turned away. “Miss Raj, educate Miss Justice on the origins of the weave, please. The rest of you pair up and practice advanced levitation.”
The Raj girl joined me and pulled up a stool. She shoved a notepad and pen my way and then grinned good-naturedly.
“Hi, my name is Joti, and I’ll be your guide for the history of magic.”
* * *
“No one knows their name,”Joti said. “We call them the Original Weavers. The first and only ones of their kind. They created the tapestry of power that covers our reality as a protection. And they touched some of us, gifting us with a connection to the tapestry. Allowing us to tap into the power and manipulate it. They warned us that in order to maintain this connection, our bloodlines must remain pure. Latrou, Raj, and Payne. Three bloodlines that have been connected by marriage for centuries.”
“Until me.” I arched a brow.
She winced. “Yeah …You’re not the first, though. There have been … slips. But none of the progeny ever exhibited weaver power.” She frowned. “The weaver parent was lucky.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there are consequences for breaking the law and probably more so if the progeny ends up with weaver power.”
“What kind of consequences?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. This sort of thing hasn’t happened in a long while.”
I’d have to ask Payne. The last thing I wanted was for him to be in trouble because of me.
My head began to pound, and my knee bobbed; I was suddenly eager to be out of this room, to be anywhere but in this room.
The chamber was beginning to feel claustrophobic with all the wary glances being thrown my way. You’d think I was a ticking time bomb.
Maybe I was.
My connection to the weave could fuck it up for them all. My existence could hurt Payne.
“It’s okay,” Joti said. “You’ll get it. I know you will. Everything will work out the way it was meant to.”
I gave her a skeptical look. “Miss Optimistic, aren’t you?”
She shrugged and then leaned in. “To survive in the elite, you need a little optimism.”
“Not a fan?”
“Just doing my duty to the family. Honestly, I just want to graduate and open a school for underprivileged supernaturals. The slums are filled with orphans with no access to education. No proper home. Once I graduate, I come into my inheritance, and that’s what I’ll be spending it on.”
I’d seen the supernatural slums. I’d lived in them amongst the desperation and poverty. I’d engaged with the children of bastardized fey and shunned moonkissed not under the protection of a pack. And she was right, the best place to start, the only place to start, was with the next generation.
