Page 109 of The Serpent’s Shadow

“Want to take a stroll with me, do you? Like old times?” Her voice was all mischievous and smirking.

My eyes darkened. “I want to do much more than stroll with you, Ravinica.”

Her cheeks flushed with pink. She looked away, abashed as she understood me clear as day. “Tomorrow,” she said.

My brow furrowed. “Tomorrow is the full moon.”

“And a time to celebrate.” Another roguish, smug smirk, like she understood me better than I understood myself.

“It will be dangerous, Rav. I’ll be—”

“I know.” She pulled up close to me, neck craned, eyes drilling into my soul, breasts pressed against my middle. “That’s why I want it to be tomorrow.”

Realization dawned, yet it didn’t make things much clearer. “You daredevil, you.”

She cupped my cheek, batting her lashes. “I’m the only one who can calm your raging . . . heart. You know it’s true.”

She tugged on my short beard, went on her tiptoes, and kissed me.

When we separated, I took her chin with my thumb and forefinger, holding her there so we could gaze into each other’s eyes for another moment before the rush of everything around us hit—students, yelling, noisy bouts.

It all drowned away as I studied her wheatfield eyes.

I sighed low. Needy. “One of these days, I’m going to fuck you when I’m in my right mind, not my wrong one,” I murmured against the shell of her ear.

She smiled, goosebumps breaking out on her perfect nape. “Both minds are right for me, big boy. Because they’re bothyou.Pieces of the whole man.”

A low growl rolled up from deep in my belly, filling me with white-hot lust. “You play a dangerous game, sneak.”

“I know. Days like today, I want the best of you, Grim Kollbjorn.” Her eyes flashed with desire. “Other days . . . I want theworstof you.”

Chapter 32

Ravinica

A COMMENCEMENT SPEECHwas designated that Thursday evening in Dorymir Hall. The same place where orientation had been held at the beginning of the term, and where I’d attended my History & Tomes class.

Every initiate at Vikingrune Academy filed into the hall as the sun set and the day ended its stressful festivities. I’d heard in passing that nearly seventy percent of students had passed their Combat & Strategy final, which was a good ratio.

Some of the younger students were just as adept with weapons as their tutors. Others, like me, had to contend with people like Grim Kollbjorn and Sven Torfen, both of whom were renowned for their fighting capabilities.

So, at the end of the day, it was sort of a crapshoot, and entirely dependent on who you dueled. A further eighty percent of the failed thirty managed to claim victory via the loser’s bracket. Randi was one of them, and I was infinitely proud of her for concentrating and getting her revenge for losing against Grim all three bouts.

In Runeshaping Basics, the passing rate was ninety percent, and the same in History & Tomes. Eighty percent for Stealth & Interrogation, whose final seemed like it relied less on “stealth”or“interrogation,” and more on memory, smarts, and cunning.

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