King to believe me. "I was helping a friend, but she's not mine to help anymore. I've found a place with the Black Card. And I don't want to be alone any longer."
His currently blue eyes trailed over me and he nodded slowly, keeping me in his gaze. "You will serve me and the Card," he growled and I felt the brunt of his power as he tried to Dark Coerce me. The magic washed over my chest and fear slid through me as I worried the ring’s power wouldn’t be strong enough to counter it. But then the fire in me blazed and destroyed it in a rush of energy that scored through my limbs. Thank fuck.
I nodded as if his spell had worked and he smiled satisfactorily. He stood there waiting as the Card continued to chant and I quickly recalled what else I'd seen in my vision. What he was waiting to hear.
"I heard the call," I rasped.
"And the Black Card answered," chimed the rest of the room.
"And now I shall answer too," I breathed, letting a smile pull at the corner of my mouth like this initiation pleased me. King handed me a robe and I rose to my feet, pulling it on and tugging up the hood. "I'll follow the path the Card Master deals," I said firmly. "Until my card is cut."
"Let the hand of fate deal true," everyone replied and my heart beat frantically against my ribcage as the weight of what I’d just done settled over me.
King turned away, seemingly satisfied and a heavy breath left me as the members of the Black Card swarmed forward to help me down from the altar. I fell into their ranks with a surge of adrenaline racing through my blood.
I was one of them. A spy lurking in their midst. And King was my mark.
***
After a week of expecting to be summoned to exclusive meetings or welcomed into secret circles or some shit, I heard nothing more from the Black Card. And as I was working to act just like a good little initiated weirdo, I had to spend my time in school withdrawing even more than usual. New members were notorious for cutting off their friends and becoming distant. Luckily for me, I didn't have any friends, so I had no one to distance myself from. But even as I thought that, it made my gut twist. I'd spent so much of my life fearing what was lurking in my past, waiting to pounce on me at any opportunity that I hadn't allowed myself a single friend at Aurora Academy. My P.I. was the closest thing I had to family, but friends my age? Nope. Maybe I'd been overcautious. Maybe I could have allowed myself some semblance of a life here. Even if I was putting myself at risk of being discovered by whoever was searching for me from my past life.
I sat on the edge of the roof of the Vega Dorms, my legs hanging over the precipice that stretched out far below me. I still had my uniform trousers on, but my chest was bare, the sinking sun making the ink in my skin glint wetly in the light. I admired the set of wings around my ring finger, wondering what kind of magic could have made it possible for me to avoid Dark Coercion or any kind of mental invasion. Since I'd had it, I’d realised Sirens no longer affected me either as well as other Orders with mind or emotional manipulation powers. I wondered how long this protection might last though. It was a secret between me and the stars, one I couldn't risk telling anyone about - apart from Bill of course who'd decided it was ancient hocus pocus that I should count my blessings for and leave it at that. Whatever this shit was though, it was no doubt valuable as hell. But I hadn't found anything in the library that even hinted at what it could be. It was a mystery and maybe it would remain as one.
The stars gifted me a vision of Ryder suddenly, offering me a few seconds warning that he was coming this way up the fire escape. I frowned, wondering what the Lunar King wanted, but the stars wouldn't offer me any more than they had, only a vague feeling that his intentions weren't malicious.
I heard him step onto the roof and didn't bother to turn my head. "What do you want,