Page 332 of A University of Betrayal

Then I noticed some men in visibly expensive black suits standing at the bottom of the stairs, but they too stepped aside.

None of them said a word, and I walked past them with my head held high, without inspecting them too closely, knowing that I had just left some Ruisangor speechless.

I was glad they were here because Gloria hated them. Just as she would learn to hate me.

I walked on, through the students who had stopped dancing, to the Circle where Bayla, Larissa, and Julian stood.

Before I got to them, I stopped and turned to the people, grateful that I had Salma running through my veins. “This is a ball.” I shocked myself with my confidence and the shakiness that had completely disappeared from my voice. “Why isn’t anyone dancing?”

The orchestra, which had stopped, immediately started playing again. The puzzled faces slowly turned away from me and resumed dancing, although I could still feel some of them staring.

Then I turned to my friends and the Quatura.

The looks on their faces?Priceless.

Larissa grinned at me and was the only one not staring at my small baby bump. The others, especially Amanda, Amara and Diana Adams, stared at it in disbelief and I pushed the feeling of shame aside and even added to it by running my hands over my belly, smiling.

When I spotted Margot, I avoided her gaze. I didn’t want to know what she was thinking.God, how little I cared aboutherjudgment, right now.

Bayla took the opportunity to escape what seemed to be an awkward situation, as she crept further and further back until she was able to steal past Diana and the others, toward a pillar at the side of the hall.

I looked at Gloria. She was staring at my face. Her right eyebrow twitched, and my smile gave way to the one I’d given myself in the bathroom half an hour ago.

“You...” She clenched her hands into fists. “You...”

Before she could finish speaking, I walked past her without a second thought, my head held high and straight.

Here, in front of all these people, this woman couldn’t hurt me.She could kiss my ass.

Even though I could still feel the fear deep inside me, I did my best not to let it show.

Ignoring the whispering that broke out behind me, I walked to the buffet, heading in the direction of where the Senseque had grouped themselves, and reached for a glass of water.

With each sip, I felt the water getting colder. It felt refreshing, and I washed down the last of my fear, doing my best not to stand out with my trembling knees.

I was aware that I still didn’t have a crystal around my neck that would bind my powers to me better. It could burst out of me at any time, and I had to be ready to get out of here if that very thing happened.

I should have gotten a crystal, but since I didn’t fit into the normal elemental category, Amara seemed to have trouble performing the ritual, and it just hadn’t worked out yet. The Councils had forced her to devote herself to research a solution to my problem, and now my aunt was under pressure because of me.

A glance at the Senseque told me that they all looked as if they had been hit by a brick. A few of them were looking at me, but most of them were staring at the Ruisangors with a tense posture, and only now did I notice the man with the scar who was...staring at me.

A shiver ran down my spine, cold and piercing.

It was Nicolaj DeLoughrey. The man about whom many horror stories were told. The visual image of immortal grace and the attractiveness that the Legacy Ruisangors seemed to be born with, combined with destructive darkness that emanated mainly from the four furrows in his face and the cold, piercing gray eyes.

He turned his gaze away from me, looked back at the Copelands. And I remembered how to breathe.

There was a sharp noise, and the last people who had been looking at me covered their ears, along with the rest of the hall. Me too.

Every Breath You Take

Chase Holfelder

The orchestra began to play out of tune until it fell silent.

The strange sound... It came from the auditorium’s loudspeakers.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a deep, obviously artificially altered voice rang out loudly through the speakers. “May I have your attention, please?”

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