Page 49 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

Freta hesitated. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “I’ll catch up.”

Penry especially looked pale. She’d been there, too, at the end. When I told them about Robert, she had blanched. She looked just as pale now, her shoulders hunched. No doubt she was thinking about how easily she could have ended up just like Robert.

Silas and Freta closed protectively around her and left the room.

Jasper rose lithely.

I grabbed my things. Jasper must know about my apparent beast form. He looked at the rankings, too. So the question was, what was he really after? Was he rubbing it in to Seb that I likely was related to Court Laurel? Were they hoping to recruit me into their flunkies?

Memories of Jasper ripping Robert apart played behind my eyes. I glared at Jasper.

I hated that my body still reacted to him. Despite my feelings, it was glad to be so close to him. And wanted to be closer. My skin felt so cold, and I knew he’d be so warm. How could I feel such things when he’d come so close to killing me? When I’d seen him kill another student so brutally?

“You already know how the trial went. Congrats on getting away with murder, by the way,” I added bitterly. “What did Robert do to deserve to be killed that way?”

Jasper lifted one shoulder and dropped it. “He was a little shit.”

So nonchalant. As though killing a fellow student was no big deal. I wished I could understand. Did he really think so little of everyone around him? Didn’t he have any sort of a conscience? Probably not. Having a conscience would get you killed with the fae.

“Penry and I were lucky that the trial ended when it did, then,” I said, unable to stop the anger and hate from leaking into my voice. “Since we’re a couple of little shits, too.”

“You are. She’s … nothing.”

I resisted the urge to shove his chest. Atira watched us from her desk, and I didn’t want my detention to get any worse. The rest of the students streamed out, apparently wanting to get out in case things took a turn.

“Penry is better than any of you,” I hissed, hands clenched at my sides. “She doesn’t deserve to be here.”

“You’re right about that. She doesn’t deserve to be here,” Jasper answered with a sneer.

Heat flushed my cheeks. I grabbed my knapsack, spun on my heel, and tore out of the classroom. Jasper followed me out at a lazy pace that was more appropriate for Gareth than him. I didn’t look back, rushing toward the nearest secret passage. Lotmas’s class was next. How much trouble would I get in if I just skipped it?

Once in the passage, I leaned against the wall and pressed my hands to my eyes. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t understand any of this, and I didn’t want to understand. I wanted to go back to the orphanage. I wanted to be there, where the worst that could happen was Kili would beat on me. Hell, I’d happily take living in the slums and prostituting myself over this existence.

I dropped my hands, letting out a sigh. Okay, maybe I wouldn’t go that far. At least here, I had a chance of surviving and making it to something better. Even if it was next to impossible, I might not be brutally murdered.

Lotmas’s class was near torture. Those of us who had beast forms were meant to take them and fight each other, but I couldn’t change into my wolf even if I tried. Lotmas made me duel against several of the other students, and each time I got thoroughly beaten.

What I needed was a place to test out my theories. To try to access my beast and magic without any witnesses. But even if I had such a place, I wasn’t sure I could actually do it. Not without having further answers.

After Lotmas’s class, I kept my head down as I rushed out the door, only to slam into something hard and firm. A hand caught my elbow as I stumbled, unsteady after the beatings I’d taken. I jerked away, heart sinking when I glanced up. Gareth’s dark gaze stared amusedly at me.

“Steady there,” he said. “You know, for someone who apparently impressed everyone so much during the trials, you have been making a poor show of it lately.”

I pulled my knapsack onto my back, glaring at him. “Oh, and you’re concerned for me now, are you?”

“You’ve caught my notice.”

A chill stole down my spine. That was the last thing I wanted!

“It’s interesting, a half-fae having such a powerful beast form that she apparently can’t access anymore,” he continued, cocking his head. His predator eyes raked over me as though he was trying to see beneath my skin. “And being female, you may even be permitted to breed. Half-human blood, though … that won’t do much to improve the fae.”

I stepped around him, rolling my eyes. He assumed that just because I was a woman, that meant I wanted to be a mother. As if I’d ever want to bring kids into this terrible world!

“If the fae really wanted to improve themselves, they’d kill off all the violent ones.”

Gareth laughed. “You’re sounding pretty violent yourself.”