Page 28 of House of Ydril

I throw him an annoyed glance. “The text said it was a Favorday party etiquette meeting.” I Iet my hand dart to my runes, checking if maybe I’ve unlocked one of them. “How was I supposed to know it was mandatory?”

“Is Favorday part of the Trials?” he demands.

“It is,” I begrudgingly admit. “But I mean, really,” I rush to protest, “in what parallel universe would I need to know whether to bow in front of the Archduke?”

“The parallel universe called tonight’s Favorday party,” he snaps at me. “In case you didn’t know, sometimes parents decide to come to this event and some of those parents are really high up on the ladder. But I guess you simply don’t care whether you embarrass us all.”

I can’t stand it anymore. The arrogance. I turn to throw daggers at him. “Not true. I just don’t care whether I embarrassyou.”

He gets in my face. “Well, I don’t give a fuck,” he snarls. His knee is pressing into mine and sending a shock through my body, making me move to pull away. He doesn’t let me. He grabs my wrist and makes me face him. “Youwillbehave.”

For a second, I just stare at him. “Fuck. You,” I say as I break free.

I turn my eyes back onto the birds, but I can tell he’s throwing daggers at me.I’m not letting him distract me,I repeat to myself.

I ball my hands into fists and try again. But now I’m so pissed, I can’t even use Sight, let alone do anything else.

I hear him let out a bitter scoff and get up, the chair scraping against the weathered hardwood floor. I force myself not to look up as he walks away.

But then I hear Professor Byrne say, “Your Majesty, you haven’t finished the assignment.”

I hear said Majesty walk back to my desk and stop right in front of me. When I look at him, his eyes are already fixed on the birds.

Without so much as a frown scrunching up his face, he almost instantly makes them all stop flying. The very next second, they all get sucked into the ball. I draw in a breath, watching the light coming from the ball flicker and go out.

“There,” he snaps as he turns to the professor. “It’s finished.”

Then, without so much as throwing me a glance, he leaves the classroom so quickly, it’s like I watch him get sucked out.

After he’s gone, I spend the rest of the class waiting for it to end, fuming.

As soon as the bell rings, I elbow my way through all the students leaving the classroom to catch the professor before he’s finished packing up for the day. “Professor Byrne…”

He looks up and says, “Yes, Miss Longborn,” in a voice that’s warm but a little absentminded.

“I just have one question for you,” I start with bated breath, trying to catch his eye as he goes back to shoving papers into his overflowing attaché. I catch a nod instead. “Do the names Syllia and Drannor Olarel mean anything to you?”

This gets his attention. “Olarel?” he frowns as he stops packing and straightens up, scratching his neck. “Sure, there was a Syllia Olarel who is now best known for her dabbling in Divine Magic.”

“Yes,” I rush to say, “but she lived in the sixteenth century. How about fifty years ago?”

The professor shakes his head. “There were no members by the name of Syllia after the sixteenth century. Or Drannor for that matter.”

“No?” I ask hesitantly. But he must have known them. They had to have gone to this Academy and he teaches a mandatory class, which meant that he must have been their professor at some point. I choose to push a bit more. “They would have been students here in the late 1970s.”

“No, I’m sorry,” the professor just says, shaking his head with a sorry look in his eyes. “If it were any other family name, I would have told you I couldn’t be sure. But the Olarels were a famous house. It wouldn’t have been possible for me not to know or simply to forget.”

My logic exactly, I think to myself. I nod and I say thank you, choosing not to push it any further. By the time I barge out of the classroom, Nuala is already waiting for me.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go to the Archives,” I tell the friend I was supposed to go to the next class with. “You don’t have to come with me,” I finish with my lips pressed tight.

And I head straight for the stairs, Nuala rushing to catch up with me. “But what else is there to go through? We’ve scoured all the books that could haveanythingto do with your parents.”

I stop walking and turn to face her. “No, not my parents,” I say with determination in my voice. “Professor Byrne.”

She stays silent for a moment, watching me with eyes full of surprise. Finally she says, “What? Why?”

“Because he’s telling me he doesn’t know who they are and I don’t believe him. I think they’re all hiding something from me.”

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