Page 30 of A Dusk Of Stars

How did he manage to get to me this much,again?

Sure, he was an asshole. He literally told me I was wasting his precious time.

It didn’t exactly come as a surprise though. There was the night of the Opening Ceremony, when he showed he was arrogant and self-centered. Then there was what I saw of his Shapeshifting Studies class yesterday, when he showed he was downright selfish and cruel as well. It was stupid of me — to dismiss the way he behaved and try to make myself approach him with an open mind. Still, it was a conscious decision based on an existing impression.

So no, his being an asshole is not all that’s bothering me.

Lying my ass off…

Sure, at certain moments, Iwaslying. I don’t exactly enjoy it, but I’ve been lying my ass off ever since I was sixteen, when I ran off and started trying to build an actual future for myself.

But thisparticular situation is no different than all the rest, I think as I remember how naked I felt with him interrogating me like that. I mean, I need to protect myself, don’t I? And if there’s one thing that life has taught me…

I can’t exactly be myself around others without getting into serious trouble.

It makes me let out a laugh, when I realize I’m getting myself worked up over nothing.

Why should I let these special classes make me start doubting myself all over again? From all I know, it could be later this afternoon that they figure out I’m not a shifter and stop requiring me to come to classes in general.

A smile tugging at my lips, I get up, check my schedule and leave to grab a bite before I have another class.

Just as I pass the entrance into the Junkyard, I hear people chanting something I can’t quite make out.

Curios, I back up and take a peek.

What I see makes a frown scrunch up my forehead. There’s a crowd forming a circle, and in the middle of that circle, I see this pompous-looking fae guy getting into Raven’s face.

***

“Nym, Nym, Nym,” the students keep chanting as I keep trying to elbow my way through them.

“You want me to leave her alone?” the pompous Nym drawls mockingly as he turns to some tall, disheveled vampire in the first line. “I’m not sure you understand who you’re talking to.”

“Yeah,” some guy who’s obviously his bruiser chimes in from the sidelines, this smugness in his voice, “this is Nym of the House of Zylphyra,stupid.”

I keep going, this bad feeling in my gut making me start ordering people to move the hell out of my way.

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I hear the vampire yell. “You were afterme, remember?”

But it’s the very next second that I look ahead and see Raven shift. Nym lets out a laugh as the bird flies higher into the sky.

His two bruisers tear themselves from the crowd, moving as if they’re about to use magic to stop the bird from escaping.

“No need, you two,” Nym shouts in an amused voice. “I’ll take care of this myself.” And — his eyes fixing on the raven again and the Runes around his neck starting to glow — he slams the palms of his hands together and I see the raven stop, writhing in pain as it starts to get even higher up in the air, obviously not of its own volition.

I shove the last two people blocking my way and just as I step onto the empty circle where the action is, I let my voice boom, “That's enough.”

The chatter dies down. With the corner of my eye, I see the raven drop to the floor. I breathe a sigh of relief. Nym turns to look at me, frowning.

His eyes narrow. Then a smirk tugs at his lips and he saunters up to me. “Aren’t you that Scion they’re claiming is a shifter now?”

“Yes,” I say with determination, “as a matter of fact, I am.”

“Well, why don’t you go back to the dirty hole you crawled out of?”

Everyone around us snickers.

I just look at the fae for a second.

---