Page 21 of Faerie Trials

Mike shifted ever so slightly so the side of his nose slid along my own. Had I thought his looks melted me before? His breath on my skin, the slight scent of peppermint, did me in. I could not have moved from the chair if I wanted to. My fingers itched to grab him.

“What will you do about it, Miss Tavi? Will you choose to accompany the prince the next time he gets a wild hair under his crown?” His voice had dropped into growl territory.

“I would be delighted to, Your Majesty,” I agreed in a breathy voice. “Whatever impish head you need beaten in or squished, I will come to your aid.”

He chuckled, a low rumble in his chest. “One of the many things I appreciate about you.”

“My ability to hurt people who would hurt you? Yes, I’m sure it’s something you greatly admire.” I edged back just far enough to see the way he bit his lower lip.Iwanted to bite his lip. Although we were alone, I swore I heard angels singing. “You were awfully mad at me for what I did with the muskie, if you recall.”

There were flecks of gold in his eyes, like little lines of sunlight cutting through the green leaves onto the forest floor. “I…may have overreacted,” he admitted, and his lips tugged up in a smile. “I was running on adrenaline, upset about nearly cheating, and angry about allowing myself into a situation where some creature got the better of me. Not to mention how you could have been hurt.”

I took an uneven breath and stared at him. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“How different we are. You are the most unpretentious person I know.”

“Ah, not what you meant to say, I’m sure. You meant to say you are the one who has fun all the time and I’m the one who is stuffy and dull,” I said.

This time I wasn’t imagining it at all. Though our gazes were locked, Mike’s index finger definitely trailed a path of pure fire along my own, then the rest of his fingers covered the top of my hand. I felt scorched all the way to my toes.

“You’re trying to say I’m an arrogant playboy only after having fun?” he questioned.

“I didn’t say anything even remotely similar to that,” I protested.

“Well, I know you can’t mean it about you being stuffy and dull.”

“Maybe I’m just a girl who thinks she can have it all.”And is going out of her mind trying to accomplish it.

His forehead rested against mine and I closed my eyes, relishing the contact. “It’s a wonder we’re still friends. You dull, me arrogant, and neither one of us having a clue what to do about it.”

Close. He was so close, and I didn’t want to think about the distance there really was between us. Not with my lips tingling and his nearing—

Then the giant doors to the room burst open and a flood of laugher from the hallways reached us. The moment broke and Mike slid away, hiding his next words with a cough.

“Anyway,” he said, clearing his throat, “I’m not sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

My brows drew together. “What?”

He pointed at the open book before me. “There. You aren’t going to find anything on Dorian Jade. Not when he wants to remain a mystery and he’s willing to go to any lengths necessary to keep it that way.”

A hard knot settled beneath my sternum at the approach of two other Elite Academy students. The moment ruined, I could only offer them, and Mike, a small grin. The real world always dashed fantasies. Mike was not mine. Mike could never be mine.

It was better for me to remember that than risk breaking my own heart on nothing but a dream.

10

Idecided to use my limited free time wisely and search the sister school for more half-shifters. Okay, maybe itwasn’tso wise and I should have been using my time to practice for the Trials. Yet there I was before my regular meeting with Juno, walking the paths, trailing my hands along the stones and sending my magic senses out in a wide net.

I’d found, through trial and error, I had the ability to use my inherent power—cognitive manipulation—to scan people’s energies. To reach out with my magic and touch their minds, to see their energy and, yeah, manipulate them.

I tried not to think about themanipulateword. Even though it was my own innate power, it felt unethical somehow. Unethical to cause someone to experience something that wasn’t real, merely on my whim alone. But this felt different. If anything, in this case I was doing something good. I was trying to get a baseline energy signature for any other half-shifters in the area, ones even the Claw & Fang might not know about. They hadn’t known about that threatening boy when I told Selene and Buzz the story. At least, they acted like they didn’t know. Maybe they did and I was being kept in the dark for a reason.

I didn’t want to think about that either.

At any rate, as long as I didn’t impose my will, I saw no harm in what I considered reconnaissance. So I sent my power out to search the halls for anyone with the shifter energy signature. We were distinctly different from full-blood Fae or elf or troll. Different from chimeras or griffons or any other creatures we’d learned about in class. I always thought it was because shifters were tied to the moon. We carried a certain something in our blood and energy that other creatures did not. I latched on to those differences now—and found way more than I’d thought I would.

Holy shit.I stopped suddenly, shocked and wishing my senses were betraying me.

Standing outside of Juno’s office with my eyes closed, I found the furious boy who’d threatened me, as well as several more shifters scattered throughout the school, presences I hadn’t felt before. None of them were familiar to me, and definitely none I’d seen at a Claw & Fang meeting. There were at least five hiding in plain sight! Though I didn’t see their faces, I saw their natures, and knew they wouldn’t be able to hide from me anymore. Not just wolves, either. I also saw a were-dingo, a were-fox, a were-bird, and something reptilian I didn’t really understand.

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