The Shadow Student (Wraithwood Academy #1) - Teresa Hann Page 0,35

possible,” I said lightly. “We’ll probably head back to the dorms after that, and honestly you should too. We’ve spoken with the front desk and booked this study room solid until the duel, so feel free to leave your things in here—key’s on the table.”

Darshan raised his brows. “I didn’t even know you could book a room at the library for that long. Great House privileges?”

It was getting really hard to smile. “Something like that. Anyway, don’t stay up too late, we have class tomorrow.”

“Heh. You too.”

Aegis followed me out into the dim hallway. I was glad I walked ahead of him, so I didn’t have to worry about him seeing my face.

When he’d noticed Darshan waking up, Aegis’s hand had instinctively twitched toward his back. Toward the concealed knife holster strapped there.

I didn’t know if he would’ve really done it, if it had turned out that Darshan had overheard our conversation and learned that I wasn’t really Cly. I didn’t know if the boy I’d grown up with could kill someone in cold blood. But until that moment, I hadn’t realized that I didn’t know.

I wasn’t willing to bet Darshan’s life on the answer.

My earlier hopes had turned to ashes in my mouth. I couldn’t tell Darshan the truth. I couldn’t involve him in a game he couldn’t afford to play.

By the time we reached the gymnasium, I’d managed to force my thoughts back toward business. The place seemed a lot different at night, deserted and cavernous, with darkness on the other side of the glass. Our footsteps echoed against the hardwood floor.

“The dueling area for three on three should be bigger than for one on one,” I said, looking at the lines on the ground and counting off a few squares. “From… there to here, right?”

“Yes,” said Aegis. He seemed more withdrawn than usual.

We stepped into the dueling area. “Let’s begin,” I said.

The first thing I did was snap out a wind spell, buffeting Aegis backward.

There were better ways to control an opponent’s movement and positioning in a normal duel. But I wasn’t using Aegis to practice for the duel. I was using the duel as an excuse to practice for Aegis.

I needed distance when fighting a Spellbreaker who could drain magic with a touch. I’d modified the wind spell so that none of the magic in it got anywhere near Aegis; instead, it pushed air at him from a distance, so that only the physical wind hit him. It was far less efficient and precise this way, but that was the price I paid fighting against a Spellbreaker.

Aegis recovered quickly, bracing himself with enhanced strength from his lower magic. We began a careful dance, with him trying to close the distance, me trying to shove him back.

Even as my aim improved, I began to feel the cost in magic. Sweat trickled down my back as I knocked Aegis off balance with the smallest gust possible. Aegis rocked back, but righted himself quickly with magic-enhanced agility. How could I keep him down without direct magic?

I dug around in my jacket pockets. My hand closed around two pens.

I tried to throw the first, like a dart. Aegis dodged easily. He might not have as much raw magic as I did, but I’d been running on low battery for weeks, and his combat reflexes had been honed since he could walk. He closed in—too close range for more wind magic.

I gritted my teeth. This time, I let Aegis lunge toward me with an open-palmed strike. I boosted my agility as hard as I could, then twisted aside at the last moment, jabbing the second pen against a pressure point in his wrist.

Aegis grunted, faltering.

But his hand had touched mine. The barest brush of contact. That was all it took.

The magic poured out of me, harder than ever before. I couldn’t stop it, any more than I could stop water from running downhill. My limbs went deadened and weak. I could barely stand.

Aegis swept my legs out from under me and pinned me to the ground.

His grip was gentle but firm, unbreakable without enhanced strength of my own. I shut my eyes and waited for him to finish the count.

“In an actual duel, the judges would probably disqualify you for the pens,” Aegis said. “Since you used them as weapons, which are prohibited.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said dully.

The weight of Aegis’s body left me. Only my thoughts weighed me down now.

Had he noticed my ulterior motives? If he had, he didn’t