of wands and crystals. “As we all know, illusion magic is intention,” Mara said. “The emotion with which you cast a spell means everything. And while Seelie magic is typically cast using the best of intentions, Unseelie magic is not. Now, though most Seelie fae struggle with casting dark magic at all, each of us are still capable of harnessing the magic of our extinct cousins, to a point.”
Professor Mara rapped her knuckles on the board. “If a Seelie fae tries to perform advanced dark magic, they will die. This is because dark magic is not a quality that our bodies naturally possess, unlike Unseelie fae. White magic harms none, while black magic is done for evil or selfish intent.”
Kiara frowned, but she didn’t speak up. Professor Mara continued her lecture. “Now, the witches and warlocks of the Miriamic Coven in the West primarily harness black magic for their powers, and obtain their magic from demonic sources.”
“That’s not true,” Kiara whispered under her breath, but only loud enough for me to hear her. Around us, other people were nodding introspectively.
“Witches use wands or crystals for purposes of storing their magic. Arcanea have no desire for these kinds of items, as we consider them objects of demonic lore,” Professor Mara said.
Mara rattled on and on. With each word, Kiara seemed to get only more pissed. I knew her. She wouldn’t speak up— she was too shy.
But I wasn’t like that, and I was tired of watching her squirm, so I raised my hand for her. “Is it possible that Unseelie magic can be used for... I don’t know... good?”
Several gasps rang throughout the classroom. Professor Mara lifted an eyebrow and said, “Now why would you ask a question like that, Miss Sosna?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I was just wondering.”
Mara’s gaze rattled me. “Fae magic was once seen as neither good nor bad, but that is no longer the case. Unseelie magic is dangerous, especially to us Seelie fae. Any result it might bring about is irrelevant.”
When class was dismissed, Kiara gathered her things and stomped out of the classroom. I hurried to catch up with her, and almost lost my books. I had to struggle to grab them as they nearly tumbled out of my arms.
One of them did. I had to bend down and get it off the floor before scuttling after Kiara. It was the black-bound book I’d bought at her sister’s shop last year, the one with the beautiful drawings, written in a language I couldn’t understand. I still hadn’t deciphered any of it, but I carried it with me most of the time, because I thought it was pretty to look at between boring class hours when I had nothing to do.
“You seem peeved,” I said as we left the classroom. “Is something bothering you?”
“It’s because Professor Mara’s lecture is wrong,” Kiara said firmly. “Unseelie magic is dangerous to Seelie fae, yes, and it can have consequences, but if used wisely it can be a tool for good. And she knows nothing about the Miriamic Coven. They got their magic from a demon long ago, but that doesn’t mean they harness only demonic powers now.”
Kiara took the crystal out that she wore underneath her shirt and grasped it tight. “Tools of magic aren’t inherently evil or good. The meaning you apply to them makes them what they are. That’s the basics of fae magic. I can’t believe she’s so discriminatory.”
I shrugged. “Well, prejudice is high amongst the Arcanea. Are you surprised she didn’t do any research?”
Kiara huffed. “No. I guess it’s not uncommon.”
Her tone was depressing. “You seem to be taking this very personally.”
Kiara bit her lip. “You know that my mother was kicked out of Arcanean society, because she fell in love with a human.”
“Yeah.” Wasn’t anything I cared about, but I knew to most idiots around here, the idea of a fae loving a human was scandalous, even if we had interbred with them centuries ago.
“Well, that’s not the only reason, if I’m being honest.” Kiara sighed. “My mother was playing around with dark magic. Nothing that would harm her, but stuff forbidden by the Seelie besides. They argued it wasn’t our way. My mom was a big advocate for Unseelie magic— said we needed to stick to our fae roots— but the people in Dolinska ran her out of town.”
Kiara looked down. “Siona and I share the same views, but we can’t speak them out loud. Even though Siona runs a contraband shop,