Page 35 of The Reign of Blood

“Because I haven’t deemed it so,” she breathes, making my eyes narrow as I try to twist my face to her, but again, I feel only restraint. The only thing I can seem to do is move my damn mouth and my eyes.

My teeth grind together as she yanks at my cloak, pulling it aside before tugging at the neckline of my black t-shirt to reveal the top of my back.

“What are you doing?”

My heart races, panic clawing at my skin as I try to act as unfazed as possible, but it’s harder than I care to admit.

“This will hopefully only hurt… a lot,” she muses with a chuckle before something slices into my skin.

I wince. The hiss from my lips is impossible to deny as she pierces my skin at the top of my spine. Pain vibrates through me, even when she takes a step back. As she comes into view, I notice the gem is no longer in her hands.

Is that the weight I can feel pressed against my flesh?

What the fuck has she done to me?

Leaning against the desk, she grins at me, pride erupting from every fiber of her being. “If anything, I’m doing you a favor.”

“What have you done?” I ask, my head feeling light and fuzzy as a sense of dread clings to me.

“I’ve weakened you.”

“Stop giving me bullshit answers. What have you done?” I snarl, eyes narrowed so tight they’re almost closed.

“I’ve limited the magic you can access.”

She did what?

That’s bullshit. I haven’t even been abusing my magic. I’ve spent a solid ninety-eight percent of my time here so far pretending I could only access earth magic.

“You can’t do that.”

“I just have,” she retorts with a devilish smirk consuming her face.

“This is torture.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You won’t get away with this,” I promise, the weight on my back becoming heavier the more aware of it I become.

“Oh, but I will, and I am. No one will challenge me, not when it’s for the safety of our people. Besides, The Council has agreed.”

“The Council isn’t supposed to be in charge of the academy as we try to find the heir,” I snipe, and she shrugs.

“The Council are still our leaders until someone is deemed the heir. Until then, you’ll do well to fall in line.”

She waves her hand dismissively as she saunters around her desk once more, and the restraints confining me to the seat ease. I’m up on my feet in a flash, eager to ruin her, but I can’t.

I fucking can’t.

The glimmer in her eyes begs me to. She wants to paint me as the bad guy. Going for her will only make me out to be the villain.

Fuck.

Hands clenched at my sides, I take a deep breath, which does nothing to quash the anger burning through me.

“Is there anything else you need?” I grind out, eager to get as far away from her as possible.

With a shake of her head, she waves a hand toward the door.

---