Page 162 of A University of Betrayal

“I have a feeling there’s a lot I don’t know yet, and since my friendlyescortsaren’t telling me a damn thing, I have no choice but to ask you traitors.”

Ouch.But well deserved. If it brought us closer again, she could insult me all day.

Larissa eyed us both with obvious frustration on her face.

I didn’t have the answer to all the crazy stuff that was going on in Blairville, but she was still my friend, and I wouldn’t be keeping any more secrets from her from now on. I hoped she knew that and sighed, which got her attention.

She seemed to be fighting a battle betweenprideandcuriosity.And I knew which side would win.

“Grace doesn’t want me to...” Julie looked a little unsettled, and Larissa interrupted her directly.

“Forget Grace for a few minutes. She’s not here.” A similar battle now seemed to be raging inside Julie. The one betweenreasonandcuriosity.“Besides, I don’t understand why everyone’s like this anyway. You don’t even smell that tasty. And you...” Larissa looked at me. “You don’t smellat all.”

I stiffened.

I should slowly get used to the fact that my elemental magic was too weak for others to detect, that I didn’t have any in me, which of course didn’t explain why I didn’t smell like either Senseque or Ruisangor.Something was wrong with me.

Larissa raised one of her elegant eyebrows. “Which brings me to the question:What the hell are you?”

“She’s one of us, except... her magic couldn’t be activated yet. Some Quatura suspect that this magic is even too weak, which would make her human,” Julie explained quietly.

You could see that it took Julie a lot of effort to talk to Larissa, although it had been easier for her a few weeks ago. When we had been looking for Erik.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Julie.

She hadn’t said another word about him until today.

“She’s not human,” Larissa huffed. “Humans smell... delicious.”

My gaze slid to hers and I knew exactly what she meant. Scrutinizing her, I tried to hold her gaze.

I wanted to know how she dealt with that smell when she walked around campus. Was she disgusted, like me, or could she just deal with it? Were all Ruisangors like that? Did they repress it? After all, it wasn’t the human himself, but his blood that they smelled. But something she had said bothered me now. Because Grace and Julie didn’t smell sweet... neither did Emely or Julian.

“Anyway. I want to know what you are capable of. Miles said you’re like witches, and you control the elements.”

“Something like that,” Julie said.

“So, you can burn down Bayla’s...” She pointed a finger at my bed. “…nightstand, there?”

I took that personally and snorted in playful annoyance.

She was always like that when she was angry. For a moment, I wished she could give me some of her anger so that at least Alarik would be happy with me.

“No. Everyone controls a different element. Some elements are rarer and some are more common. While most are Earth Quatura, there are fewer Air Quatura or Water Quatura. Fire Quatura are the rarest.”

Larissa nodded with interest. “And what is your element?”

Julie seemed uncomfortable with the question.

I had seen the magic burst out of her and literally save me from the rite of passage. Only that hadn’t been normal. Julie had a special gift, but her answer was simple.

“I’m an Air Quatura.”

“Interesting,” Larissa mumbled and reached for one of the cameras on the shelf above her bed.

“This man...” Julie murmured quietly. “All this information is contradictory.”

I’d never heard her talk to herself before, but now I couldn’t help but stare at her.

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