me.” He snapped his fingers. “Her schooling. You said you went to a special school?”
“An academy, yes.”
“They have schools for kids? For reading and divination and all of that?”
“Yup.” I rose to my knees. “I’d love to try the tea you gave me. Why don’t I make a pot, and I can show you some information about my old school?”
I set up a copper kettle on a portable gas stove to boil some water while I searched for the pamphlet the Dawn Academy sent me every year. It was in my desk in the front office, and as I shuffled through the drawers I found myself sneaking a peek through the open doorway at Markos, who was lounging onto the cushions and staring up at the glimmering ceiling.
He was a curious alpha, and by that, I meant I was curious about him. His level of dedication to getting Elise on the path of becoming a reader was moving. I knew many fathers who would not have been nearly as open-minded about such an eclectic and misunderstood skillset, and I thought his commitment was quite cute.
And he was quite cute, too.
No, no, no!
I rubbed my cheeks; they were warm and I knew I was blushing. It was silly of me to think such things about him, to even remotely acknowledge his physical attractiveness… I was bound to my oath; it was my sacrifice to retain my special abilities. The only reason why I was so curious about Markos was because of that vision. Everything else was inconsequential and meaningless.
The tea kettle whistled and I sifted faster through the papers in the drawer, found the booklet I was looking for, and hurried back to the other room. Markos had already reduced the flame and was pouring water into the cups.
“I should be the one serving you,” I said.
“Sorry,” he said with a guilty smile. “Habit.”
I sat down and gave Markos the pamphlet for my old academy. “The Dawn Academy,” he said, flipping through it. “Wow. This place looks serious.”
“It’s one of the best academies in the country. They’ve been around for centuries and have schools covering a range of classical disciplines, from healing to the fighting arts. And it just so happens one of their divination campuses is here in Mir.”
Markos looked overwhelmed.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“It looks amazing. Really amazing. But I doubt I could afford a place like this. I mean...” He flipped a page and showed me the annual tuition fees written there. “This is three times what I make in a year. And she’d be in school for at least another seven years.”
It felt like my body had turned to stone. I couldn’t believe how naïve and thoughtless I was being.
“Of course,” I said. “I’m sorry. Oh, I’m so embarrassed. I honestly hadn’t thought about the tuition—when I went to the Academy, I was chosen by a special council, which paid for my tuition.”
“Wow. I mean, Elise is really dedicated. She’s got a lot of talent, right? Maybe she could be chosen, too.”
“Elise is very dedicated, but I was chosen for a specific and rare ability. If she carried the same ability, I would’ve been able to detect it.”
His shoulders slumped. “Shit.”
“I’m sorry, Markos,” I said. “I was careless. I got your hopes up for nothing.” I reached out and touched his arm. A sudden flash of light filled my mind’s eye, and I saw the briefest glimpse of that same hazy form from the other day. It was Markos’s fortune, and it had to be something extremely intense for me to tap into it without any preparation at all. What was it? I wanted to see more, to read what was there.
“Everything okay?”
Blinking, I looked down and realized I’d zoned out and was rubbing my hand against Markos’s forearm in a failed attempt to get the vision to come back. I gasped and pulled my hand away.
“Sorry,” I squeaked.
He looked curiously at me and then touched his arm where my hand had been. Had he felt something, too? “There’s gotta be other schools, right? Other places she could go?”
“In Mir… there may be a few. But to teach a child, they’re all special academies.”
“And special academies mean special prices,” he said glumly. “Damn. I guess that takes that plan off the table.”
“There is one option,” I said. “High school applicants to the Academy are eligible for a wider range of scholarships. She could enter the Academy then.”
“Sounds like there’s a ‘but’ coming.”
“But,” I said, adjusting my glasses,