Page 45 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

“What did he do?” Seb asked.

“Pissed me off.”

I watched them go. Once they were out of sight, my legs gave out. The spear clattered to the ground, and I fought the urge to vomit. Penry was crying softly behind me. It was over. This time.

But we were going to go through this again. How would we survive this again?

***

The feminine pink of the Alegro room seemed morbid after what happened in the trials. Silas had been injured, one arm in a sling and his side bandaged. If he was high fae, the nurses would have used healing magic on him, but we could only use our potions.

Freta sat on the couch, her legs curled beneath her. “Seb, Gareth, and Flora were the top three students in the trials,” she reported, one hand under her chin. Me and the other two had hidden out here as soon as we’d been treated for our injuries, but Freta had gone to the feast to hear the results. “They will be receiving special perks for their impressive demonstrations.”

“And deaths?” I asked, bracing myself.

“Four were killed by the beasts. Jasper killed one, and Red and Savannah killed another student.” Freta shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck. “Three unbound students got their beast forms. Including our own Z,” she added, nodding toward me.

Including me, the human. It was impossible.

“How did you do it?” Penry asked, sounding desperate.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

Silas leaned forward. “Why don’t we walk each other through what we did? We might have some luck figuring out the best strategy for the future.”

“We’ll have time to do that later,” Freta said. “I stole some wine from the kitchen. Let’s celebrate our survival, shall we?”

The idea of celebrating anything at all felt in bad taste. I should be relieved that we’d all survived. I had saved myself and Penry. I’d managed to kill two of the beasts and now officially had a bound form.

I got to my feet. “You all celebrate without me. I’m exhausted. I think I’ll just take a sleeping draught and go to bed.”

Freta looked up at me. “At least get something to eat first, Z. You’ve especially had a huge shock to your system. You’re going to need extra calories over the next few days. A first bind is hard on the system.”

I nodded, forcing a smile. As she produced the wine for their celebration, I slipped away. It was nighttime outside, but sounds of music and laughter came from everywhere. Several bonfires lit the grounds, and fireworks kept going off above us. I stared upward at the colorful lights, uncertain if it was the night or something else making me so cold.

I started toward the dorms, walking slowly. Now that I had a bound form, I was considered a step above Penry and Silas. In fact, with a double kill count, I was considered stronger than Freta.

Half-human. That’s what everyone thought I was. But I was human! I was human, so how did I have a bound form?

A wolf that looked exactly like Seb’s beast form.

I made a detour to the kitchen and grabbed a few desserts, hoping that they would taste good enough to keep down. Then I went to my dorm room, hoping that Freta would stay celebrating with Silas and Penry late into the night. I wanted lots of time to be alone here.

Flora would definitely try to seduce Seb tonight, claiming victory in the binding trials and wanting to celebrate. Would he take her up on the offer? I thought about the way he’d looked at me after the trial ended. There had been something in his dark eyes. Interest, maybe? Having a wolf for my beast had to mean that my mother was part of Court Laurel…

The common room was filled with students chatting excitedly. A few of them invited me to join them, but I ignored the invitations. Now that I was potentially powerful, they wanted to get to know me. The same people who laughed and cheered when the golden boys taunted me.

It wasn’t until I was back in my dorm, staring at the desserts, that I let myself really accept it.

I wasn’t fully human. I was at least partly fae and I had magic. Abigail Jones might very well have been my true mother’s name, and she might have been part of Court Laurel.

But…

But it was Seb’s form. That wolf had looked exactly like his. How much of that could be explained away by coincidence? I hadn’t seen any other beast forms from Court Laurel. Maybe they were more similar to each other? I was stressed when I ended up in that wolf form. Maybe I just imagined that it looked like Seb’s. I would need to take the form again and look in a mirror to know for sure.

Shape-thieves are fae who cannot bind with their own beasts, and so steal the strength from others. They contain a magic of chaos, one that twists their minds into creatures of evil and violence.

The memory of Miss Wren’s class came unbidden. My stomach churned and I lay down in my bed, unable to think about eating.