Year Two: Rebels - Cara Wylde Page 0,47

a Violent Reaper. Still a bit of a jerk.”

“So, you guys are friends with two of the descendants? Wow. This is great. This is going better than I thought.”

“I know all of them,” Lorna said. “My family has connections.” She folded the paper and gave it back to me. “Do you want me to talk to them?”

“Yes, please.”

“What do you want me to tell them?”

I thought for a second. What did I want her to tell them? Yes, the stars would be aligned right in approximately thirteen months, but I still felt like we were running out of time. It didn’t make sense to beat around the bush.

“The truth. Tell them the truth.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It was taking Lorna some time to get in touch with all the descendants of the original mages. It was the night of the Yule Ball, and I still hadn’t heard from her. I hadn’t been in the mood to go shopping for a dress, so I let Corri choose one and bring it to me. That was how I ended up dressed in a beautiful blue and silver gown, with matching high heels and long, white silver gloves. The cast had come off a week before, and my arm was perfectly healed, albeit a tad tender. It was a good thing I could maneuver my scythe with my left hand as well. Having my right arm broken had been a blessing in disguise. I had the perfect excuse to not take notes in class, which meant that for the rest of the first semester, I’d been pretty absent. Physically absent at the beginning, and mentally absent at the end. My grades were better, since I was a natural, apparently. But my worth score was still kind of in the gutter. That was mostly because the professors didn’t like that I could skip almost an entire semester and still catch up with their other students. They took revenge on me whenever they felt like it. I didn’t care. As long as Headmaster Colin kept me around, I was fine. I wasn’t sure why he did it because he could’ve suspended me countless times, but he wanted me at the Academy, and he was really stubborn about it, too.

As usual, the dining hall had been turned into a ball room. Just like last year, I was put at the table with Hayley, Silene, and their parents. Corri was as excited as ever, taking small bites from everything – fruits, cakes, cookies. Since the staff didn’t have plates and cutlery for her size, she materialized them out of nowhere and proceeded to help herself. Honestly, I was here for the same thing – the food, the music, and some company. The four cabals had prepared a demonstration with scythes and teleportation, but I wasn’t going to participate this time. I got out of it by telling Silene my arm didn’t feel great. She understood. The truth was that I was done with all of it. I was done with the classes, the tests, the parties and balls. I was here because Yig was here, and because the Academy seemed to be the place where I could fulfill my destiny. It was one piece of the puzzle, and I intended to use it without allowing it to use me.

“I can’t believe you came to the ball alone,” Hayley teased.

“What do you mean?”

She motioned at one of the VDC tables. I stole a quick glance and saw Davien drinking me in. I smiled.

“Oh. We’re not a thing.”

“Really? After what you said to Domina? I don’t believe you.”

I shrugged. “So, we hang out sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we’re together.”

“Come on.” She pouted. She turned and motioned at another VDC table. “What about Seth? Even Professor Maat knows there’s something between you, and since she basically lost you in Heaven, she accepted it.”

“Yeah, she’s not giving me a hard time anymore. But she’s wrong. Seth and I aren’t a thing either.”

She rolled her eyes. “Domina and Professor Maat are both out of the way. Seth is free of Cleo, no one is bothering you anymore, so what gives?”

“I’m just not in the right headspace for relationships right now. Can’t a girl have fun without having so many expectations thrown at her?”

Hayley looked at me for a long minute, trying to decide how she felt about that.

“You know what? You’re right. Yes.” She leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You don’t have to date them if fucking them is enough.”

“Hayley!”

Her parents hadn’t