Page 30 of Unicorn Shifter Academy
Raze didn’t deserve to be abandoned to fend for himself. There were too many creatures of late, and Corruption had made an unexpected reappearance. It should have been eradicated, but with the escape of Khimaira, the ancient, foul magic seemed to have returned to our forest.
Which didn’t bode well for the rest of the realms if it got out.
My people's safety and the realms we protected should have been my top priority. Instead, I became more concerned with my mentor and the female who clung to him.
She was special. I knew that much, but I also didn’t trust her.
Because how could I? Female Unicorns didn’t exist, so what the fuck was she?
Unless… the Elders had lied to us.
Blasphemy,I chided myself. I was not one to doubt the Elders, and I wasn’t going to start now.
Relief rushed through me when I spotted the oily sheen of the Academy’s defense systems. It took our entire collective to maintain the massive, impenetrable bubble that kept the pristine white walls laced with vines and flowers safe.
It was attuned to our species, so I slipped through with ease.
The fact that the female didn’t ping off of my back should have dismissed any doubts about what she was, but I still found her nature difficult to believe.
The irony. Many of the other races were magically influenced not to believe in Unicorns in order to keep our kind secret and safe. Was this how they felt when they caught a glimpse of one?
A horse’s neigh sounded from above, along with the flapping of wings.
I glanced up to spot the warlock and his Mermaid Shifter friend on the pegasus he’d summoned.
Right, I’d have to let them in.
Pacing the path leading to the Academy’s iron gates, I lowered my head and sent a streak of power from my horn.
It shot into the barrier, providing a temporary opening for the visitors to descend.
The malewhoopedas they landed. He jumped off of the creature’s back and helped the female down. “That was a blast!” he said excitedly.
I snorted. This wasn’t supposed to be a fun field trip for off-worlders. I was breaking a hundred rules by bringing them here, but I couldn’t just leave them in the forest. No telling what kind of damage they’d do if they were infected with Corruption and traveled back to the human realm. We’d worked too hard to defeat darkness, only for it to spread again because I’d played by the rule book.
Raze had taught me that the rules existed as guidelines, and sometimes they had to be broken. It was against my nature to take matters into my own hands, but I trusted Raze.
And in this case, I knew what I had to do.
I had to protect him.
And I had to protect the female.
My heart told me what she was, even if I couldn’t make logical sense of it.
She was my soulmate and Raze’s soulmate, too… and this was where she belonged.
BONNY
I was startingto feel dizzy, but it wasn’t just because I was covered in blood, both red and black, and the lion’s poison was definitely messing with my head.
It was the view.
We’d arrived at a place straight out of a fairytale. A massive bubble crested over a small city—more like a series of castles—that was surrounded by cast-iron gates. Vines grew up the sides of the pristine white walls, and the towers glistened with crystal accents.
Spires of gold pierced their air, the ends faintly glowing with power that streamed into the barrier surrounding the entire vicinity.
I could sense the intense level of magic in this place. It made my ears hum with a faint melody I couldn’t place, and my heart swelled with the feeling of goodness and the sense that I was safe.
