Page 87 of The Black Witch

He eyes me with exaggerated displeasure. “Andyou’re betraying your grandmother’s legacy by having no power.”

“My aunt’s already given me an earful about that,” I comment bitterly.

He laughs again, his gaze full of mischief. “Isuspect you simply...how shall I put this...interferedwith Fallon’s all-consuming quest for Lukas Grey.” He gives me a significant look. “That’s like getting between a lion and its prey, that is.” He smiles again then grows more serious and looks closely at me. “Seriously, though, you should consider staying away from Lukas. Crossing Fallon Bane...” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “That’s seriously not good for your health.”

An icy chill pricks at the back of my neck, sliding around my throat, working its way under my tunic. I shiver and hug myself tight.

“Drafty in here,” I say to Curran.Of course it is. So much cold stone. So far underground.

He looks at me quizzically. “I think it’s quite warm. There’s Verpacian Elm stoves all around us...”

He’s cut off by the sound of smart footsteps on stone floor outside, followed by the creak of the door’s hinges.

We join the class in sitting at attention, faces turned to the front.

Our green-robed professor sweeps down the center aisle, and I’m thrust into immediate confusion by the long, green hair that flies out behind him like a pennant.

I riffle through my papers, checking.

Professor Xanillir is supposed to be an Elf. Awhite-hairedElf.

The professor swoops around his desk and podium, turns to face us and the entire hall lets out a collective gasp.

He has the long hair and sharp features of an Elf. The gracefully pointed ears and silver eyes.

But he’sscaled. Completely covered in small, emerald scales that catch the lamplight and reflect back every shade of green, his hair a slightly deeper green than his shimmering skin. And the Elfin-styled tunic that peeks out from under his robe is forest green, covered with sweeping rune-marks that glow as if lit up from behind.

He’s one of the Smaragdalfar. A Snake Elf.

I look to Curran with confusion, but he’s busy gaping at our professor.

Snake Elves are mine Elves. Deep-earth Elves. Dangerous Elves locked in their underground cities by the Alfsigr, controlled with mine demons and pit dragons.

And I’ve never seen one. Ever.

How did this one get out? How did a Snake Elf come to stand in front of a lecture hall? In professorial robes?

I reach back and pull my cloak from the back of my chair, over my shoulders.It’s so cold in here.

“I am Professor Fyon Hawkkyn,” the Smaragdalfar says, his voice elegantly accented, his star eyes full of hard, searing light, a row of golden hoops pierced through each ear. “Professor Xanillir has resigned in protest of my appointment by Vice Chancellor Quillen. If any of you wishes to move to another section of this lecture, you may speak with the registrar.”

The Elves rise in one gleaming white motion and silently glide out of the hall, the entire left side now emptied.

The Snake Elf’s expression remains unflinchingly hard.

The Gardnerians murmur uneasily amongst themselves, shifting about before settling back down to attention.

Professor Hawkkyn’s star eyes sweep coldly over our side of the room. They catch on me and bore in. Recognition lights, like Bornial flint catching fire.

“It seems we have a celebrity amongst us,” he marvels, his mouth tilting with incredulity, his eyes tight on me with unnerving intensity. “The granddaughter of the Black Witch.”

An amorphous dread washes over me, pooling, and I’m overcome by the sense of real danger—something silent, waiting to bare its teeth. I pull my cloak tighter around myself and stare back at the Snake Elf.

“There will be no preferential treatment here, Mage Elloren Gardner.” The words are matter-of-fact, but etched in stone.

“I wouldn’t expect it,” I reply, my voice reedy from the hollowing cold. I glance at the stove closest to me, its red coals glowing hot. I can barely feel its heat.

The feeling of dread grows, like I’m being watched, even after the Snake Elf takes his eyes off me.

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