The Shadow Student (Wraithwood Academy #1) - Teresa Hann Page 0,3

wasn’t dependable for me. And he’d put that competence to use destroying my and my mother’s lives.

I’d liked him, once. Maybe more than liked. But now, the touch of his hands stirred a deep, painful rage.

At last, Aegis lifted the gemstone free of the necklace. Cly was putting on her own silver necklace, covered in a different pattern of runes, but with a matching empty socket at the front. “Be gentle with me,” she said, pouting at Aegis.

“It’ll only take a moment,” Aegis said. With the same tools, he inserted the ruby into her necklace.

Cly gasped pleasurably as the ruby flared with an unearthly light.

The Redbriar family owned thousands of years’ worth of magical heirlooms, and this pair of necklaces was one of them. The ruby served as a battery, temporarily draining magic from the wearer of the source necklace to charge up the wearer of the destination necklace.

There were strict limitations on their use, of course. The necklaces could only be used by a pair of blood relatives. Moreover, given that magic was said to come from the soul, mages considered it a violation of the worst kind to transfer it directly to another mage—worse than giving somebody your arm or leg. That was why Leda couldn’t get one of Cly’s other full-blood relatives to share power with Cly, even when Priam was starting to look toward a half-blood bastard for an heir.

But Priam was dead. And guess who was half Redbriar and willing to do anything to save her mother?

My stomach twisted as I watched Cly send the pages of her orientation packet swirling around the room with a wave of her hand. “Whoo!” She was laughing, eyes aglow with hunger, like a thief with her hands overflowing with stolen gold. She waved her hand again, and an illusion came over her face, adjusting the angles and proportions until they were as perfect as a doll’s. Another wave, and her hair grew glossy and voluminous. She was giving herself a makeover with a piece of my soul.

Cly summoned dresses from her wardrobe, picking a red, high-collared minidress that hid the necklace. Great House students were allowed more leeway with clothing than the no-names, who were required to wear business casual, and she wanted to stand out. “Okay, I’m feeling great!” Cly said, admiring herself in the mirror. The pages drifted to the floor around the room.

“Ready to start introducing yourself?” Aegis smiled at her encouragingly.

“Well, I’ve come all this way, so it had better be worthwhile,” said Cly. “You know, I’m starting to think it might be fun, even.” She stuck her chest out, striking a laughable pose. “Showing the world what the latest Redbriar can do.”

“Should I go with you?” asked Aegis.

“I'll be fine,” said Cly, rolling her eyes. “For once, I’ll get to do all the intimidation. I’ll do it outside so you can watch from the window, but let me have my fun.” She flounced out of the room impatiently.

Aegis started toward the window, but hesitated, turning to me.

“Hello,” I said. “I’m glad you remember I exist even when you don’t need to use me as a living battery.”

Aegis sighed. He hesitated, then, to my surprise, bent down and unlocked the shackles around my ankles. “I know you won’t try to escape without your mother, Cassandra,” he said, shifting to unlock my wrists as well. “Just… be understanding with Cly, okay?”

I flexed life back into my hands, feeling a faint trickle of magic return as I followed him to the window. “Why should I? Cly’s never returned the favor in her life.”

Below, Cly put her plan into action. The Redbriars had kept me and Cly hidden away at home for most of our lives, with only relatives and vassal families for company, to conceal my existence and her lack of magic. Nonetheless, rumors about the Redbriar heir had swirled around mage society for years. Wraithwood Academy, aside from being an institution for education, was also a gathering place for young mages from all over, and it provided the perfect opportunity to Cly to publicly lay those rumors to rest—with her stolen powers.

Outside the building was a grassy green, criss-crossed with paved paths lined with trees and benches. Will-of-the-wisps drifted across the lawn, dyed gold from the afternoon sunlight. Chatting students walked in twos and threes, reconnecting at the start of another school year.

There was one student walking alone.

The boy was dark-skinned and lanky, probably another first year, with his nose so deep into a book