light swirled and twisted, mixed with a deep, beautiful orangey-red. The vermilion became flames, licking my palm as if it were dry wood, and the teal transmuted to a light blue and then swirled in my hand like a mini water tornado. Yikes. This didn’t look like fire element.
My stomach dropped.
“How many affinities does she have?” someone cried from behind me.
I grimaced. My attention jumped from my hands to the high mage who still held them. He muttered a chant under his breath and opened his eyes, fixing them on me. There was disappointment there and … fear, but then it was gone.
“Sorry,” I whispered, guilt wiggling in my gut. Perhaps that was residual discomfort from whatever that pain was. “I tried to pick one.” My voice was barely a whisper, meant only for him.
He shook his head. “No matter, Nai. You did fine.”
Pride swelled within my chest, and a warm trickle of energy flowed up my arm. The ache over my abdomen waned like putting aloe vera on a sunburn. “Thanks.”
“She has two affinities!” the old man told the crowd, which now pushed closer, including the teachers. My gaze scanned the crowd before landing on Rage. He’d pushed off the wall and now stared at me through a slitted, sharp gaze.
“What in the name of the high mage?” a man shouted, his voice raspy and harsh.
I spun on my heel and faced the High Mage Council. The one dressed in royal blue glared at me. “It’s been nearly a century since we had a student with two affinities—and that alpha almost destroyed her clan.”
I gulped as silence descended over the crowd.
He took one more step toward me, and my entire body stiffened. “We’ll be watching you, wolf.”
Shock ripped through me, and shame burned my cheeks.
My eyes flicked to Kaja, who looked down at her feet. Rumor was that a century ago, a Harvest Clan alpha had two affinities and went mad from it. She had to be put down…
Before I could retort, the high mage at my back cleared his throat. “Calm yourself, Kian. I’ll keep an eye on her myself. Now, back down so we can finish.” His tone was clear. That was an order, and this badass was clearly in charge of the others. The old man’s shield, Kaja’s sister, stepped closer to him as if threatening Kian to refuse.
Kian scowled but said nothing more.
Ha! Take that, a-hole.
“Fire is her stronger affinity,” the old high mage declared, ignoring me except to hold up my hand as all traces of my affinity test vanished but for a small glowing of my palms. “Water affinity is also present. She’ll need to be trained by both the fire and water elemental mages. See to it that she has all things needed for training.” He nodded at me and pointed to a mage master teacher dressed in black with purple and gold trimming on his cloak. “Start with Mage Carn, Fire Master.”
Whoa. None of the other students got assigned a mage teacher by the High Mage Council.
I nodded, careful not to seem too excited. Especially with Kian still glaring at me.
After closing my palms, I expected the colors to go away, but they didn’t. I could still see threads of energy looping and twisting around my finger.
Knock it off. I shook my palms to try and clear them as I stepped down from the stage and walked toward the mage teachers.
A few minutes later, the high mage told a mage teacher to take the crystal back to the safe, and then all of the high mages and their shields left. Gone. No long-winded speeches about how we should live up to our affinity or how those with power should use it for good—none of that. Kudos to the high mage for doing it right. I was getting sick of the stares—two affinity freak over here. Just my luck. I couldn’t even take this test right.
A beautiful older woman, with long dark hair and piercing green eyes, strode over to the podium and rapped on it with a gavel. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. “Hello, new students, I’m Elaine, the headmistress of Alpha Academy. I’m sorry the alpha king could not be here tonight to welcome you. He had a pressing matter.”
Did her gaze just flick to me?
Oops.
“I’m not one for speeches, but as alpha heirs, you’ve been entrusted with great power, and all of us here at Alpha Academy expect you to honor the gifts you’ve been endowed