A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,76

none of them understand why I feel the way that I do, and I hate them for it.

“Thank you,” I mumble as I walk away from both Seriesa and Glera.

I try with everything in me to ignore the stares on the way to the tables and—

CRACK!

Vertigo. Cement. Crashing.

The porcelain bowl from my tray splinters into a hundred pieces across the floor. Something struck me across the face.

“Ugh!” My voice ricochets violently as pain shreds my backside and elbows. As soon as my eyes work again, I take in a supply unit with a metal tray in hand—what she must have hit me with. Although her face is twisted with rage, I recognize her as Danny, a curvaceous supply unit with brown hair that falls past her waistline. One of Anaya’s apprentices.

Still in shock, I reach up to my face and touch my cheek. Searing with pain and wet with blood, I recoil.

“Hey!” Glera calls out as she makes her way toward me, but Emi stops her. Emi whispers to Glera just loud enough. “If you intervene, Anaya will make it worse.”

My bewildered gaze falls to the background, to Anaya, who is staring at me, snide and bitter. I reluctantly return my attention to Danny, who is but a glorified minion. A thousand thoughts and emotions fill every corner of my mind.

Savvy’s voice echoes across the cafeteria. “Wavorly?”

I catch a glimpse of her and Katarii between the other girls, but they are stopped short of my full sight when Anaya stands to halt them. The dubious Anaya eyes Madam Seriesa, our only overseer at the moment, who has suddenly lost interest in anything but the line of trays in front of her. She lifts her gaze once to me, before turning into the kitchen. I gulp, suddenly frightened by how many hands could have staged this. Isn’t Seriesa on my side?

“Continue,” Anaya commands Danny while her threatening stare keeps my friends at bay.

Danny nods, and apparently noticing the Laisse chain that now hangs freely to my rib cage, admits, “I don’t understand, why you?”

Everyone falls silent to better hear. “There is nothing about you that is especially appealing. Flat-chested. Bulky thighs. Your weird hair. And your lack of respect for our lord Zein. How could you ever be given the Laisse?”

Ouch. Okay, that was harsh. And even more ouch when the majority of the room nods at her assessment. If I could right now, I would drown every last one of them.

I give Danny my signature look of annoyance while cradling my slick and throbbing cheek, but I refuse her a response. I’m as ignorant to the answers as she… well, maybe not quite as ignorant. My feet slide under my body and I pull myself up to walk past her as if nothing happened, though I know I won’t get far before she tries something.

She doesn’t even allow me to get an inch beyond, when she grabs the neck of my robe, intending to throw me backward. But I grab her wrist and twist before she can think, wrapping her arm around my back and flipping her onto the ground. Her mouth gapes, aching for air that the hard ground knocked out of her. Everyone takes a step back, and I turn to Anaya.

“Next,” I say, wiping away the blood that accumulated along my cheek.

It takes two whole seconds for a hesitant, yet determined Anaya to strut over, her painted nails clacking against her own shiny metal tray with irritation.

I raise my fists defensively and crouch into a fighting stance, my body remembering my self-taught, low-level combat training from the recreation hours back at Nightingale. My heart thunders against my chest wildly, pumped full of adrenaline.

Danny stands, clutching her abdomen, gasping and huffing like a raging bull. She takes a step toward me, and my eyes leave Anaya for a split second, who then makes her move—swinging her tray from around her body to drill into my head. I duck while grabbing Danny’s hair and sling-shot her straight into Anaya.

“Get out of the way!” Anaya screams as her puppet falls onto her—the closest thing to a distraction I’ll get. I sprint for her and in two strides my fist connects with Anaya’s cheekbone, sending her stumbling into the sea of supply units.

Her comrades catch her. She slowly turns her face back toward me, her eyes saturated with tears of anger, and now fear. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, but now that we’re here, it’s time for her