Page 107 of The Powers of Nyx

Vanya and I waited outside one of the lecture halls, early because we were still—mostly—avoiding the dining hall. “What are your plans for the weekend?” she asked, cocking her head in my direction. “I was thinking some window shopping might be in order.”

I shifted on sore feet and shook my head. “I’m going to see my sisters. I don’t like leaving them for too long.”

Sympathy filled her eyes, and she offered me a smile. “I forgot. Sorry.”

Vanya knew the bare basics of what’d happened, only because it was one of the few things that didn’t need to be hidden from her.

Shrugging, I met her stare before looking away. “It’s fine. I’m hoping for a quiet couple of days with them. They aren’t...used to it all yet.”

“If you need any ideas for things to do with them, I can—”

A hard gust of wind pushed Vanya, and before she could catch herself, she crashed into me. I huffed as my magic rose within me sharply at the attack; my skin pricked, telling me the threat was close. That we weren’t alone.

We hit the wall hard, and a sharp, protruding rock cut into my side from the impact. I bit my tongue as Vanya stumbled away from me, her eyes wide with anger, cheeks flushed.

Gripping my side, I turned towards the group of mages who had attacked us. There were three in total; one with dark hair, brown eyes, and a pale complexion, another with a shaved head, silver-eyes, and dark skin; and a third, who had light brown hair, blue eyes, and olive skin. They were perhaps three of the plainest looking men I’d seen so far during my time here.

“Oops. Did the little witches get hurt?” dark hair goaded, cocking his head to the side as his eyes scraped over me. A sneer curled his lip, and his hands fisted.

I gritted my teeth as silver-eyes took a step towards us. Fire ignited along the tips of his fingers. “You think you’re powerful enough to take me?” he growled.

Oh, the strength it took me not to roll my eyes at him. I thought mean girls were bad enough. Now I had to deal with the fragile egos of men, too? Gag me.

“I think if you’re here, cornering two women on their own with your friends, and threatening them without an audience like in the dining hall, that you must be a coward.” Well,hedidn’t know he didn’t have an audience. Elias was still shadowing me, and his anger flooded the bond now. “And I never said I would take you. You just assumed.”

Silver-eyes grinned like I’d made some kind of joke. But I wasn’t laughing. Not like I could with the shooting pain in my side. So much for magical healing. It would be nice if it kicked in.

“You challenged me when you suffocated my flames,” he growled. “Now, it’s time to pay it back. What are you going to do with charms, little witch? You won’t be able to stifle these.”

As he raised his arms, fire ignited along his skin, over the sleeves of his uniform. Part of me expected his clothes to burn off, but they didn’t. A bonus, I supposed. I stepped in front of Vanya, who had her arms crossed. If he thought charms were useless, then he’d think her illusions might be, too. But at least if he hit me with the fire, then the charms still built into the ring from my first magic lesson would protect us.

Silver-eyes brought his hands together and the fire grew into a ball between his palms. The heat of the flames radiated throughout the hall. Uncomfortable warmth rolled over me, and the light of his fire burned almost blue as it danced across his flesh.

“Ivy,” Vanya hissed, gripping my arm. “Usually, I would say we should stand our ground, but he kind of has a point. Charms and Illusions can’t really beatfire.”

I didn’t look at her as I replied, “Only if you aren’t creative. Come on, use your imagination.”

She snorted, but her grip on my arm loosened.

If silver-eyes thought he’d get to do this without an audience, he was sorely mistaken. The hallway filled with students, and that familiar warning tingle ran over my skin, alerting me tohim. The weight of stares almost overshadowed the burn of the mage’s flames. I had to force myself to keep my gaze on silver-eyes and not seek out the one I truly wanted to see.

Despite planning to rely on the ring and my charms, I couldn’t ignore the electricity building underneath my skin. My magic wanted out. Wanted to play.

Fuck. That would negate everything I’d done this week to blend in.

Silver-eyes released the fire, and it hit the dome of protective energy surrounding Vanya and me before fizzling out. The ring burned from the impact, and I knew the chances of it working again were slim to none.

The mage growled and took a threatening step forward as students snickered at his attack. “You bitch.”

“Aw, did poor little mage get performance anxiety?” Vanya teased. She stepped out from behind me. “You really set yourself up for that one.”

I snorted. “Are you done now? Because I’d actually rather be listening to Professor Ira talk about how we can communicate through mirrors right now.”

His gaze darkened, features contorting into anger. We’d pissed this one off. Were we not all in our twenties? Why was he acting like a ten-year-old out in the school yard throwing a temper tantrum because he wasn’t allowed on the swing-set? Were all the students like him? It didn’t sit well with me knowing that these were the supposed future leaders of our world. There wasa hell of a lot of pressure on me to be Queen, but these guys were supposed to make up the council?

We were doomed.

A trickle of amusement came down the bond at that thought from Adrian, but he neither agreed nor disagreed. I’d have to ask if his peers were like this.

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