Page 33 of A University of Betrayal

My panic ate away the last of my control. Like a trapped animal, I broke free and turned toward the council members, who of course rushed toward me again, but I wouldn’t let them. I made a quick motion with my hand and sharp shards of ice grew out of the ground, denying them access to me.

With glazed eyes, I looked at my hands, then back at the dangerously shiny ice on the ground in front of me.

When I looked up, I saw the horror in all their glowing eyes, but there was one pair of eyes that stuck with me. I would never forget that look from Gloria,never.She looked at me as if she had just seen a ghost. Her pale face lost all expression as she stared at me like I was her biggest nightmare come true.

I stepped backward, further and further, faster and faster. And finally, I stumbled around and stormed out of the temple. Behind me, pandemonium broke out.

The Legend of Walter Robinson

(He Got What He Deserved)

Secession Studios, Greg Dombrowski

My body had calmed down again after the first outburst in public.

I should have expected something like this to happen sooner or later. I had never been able to control all this power inside me. This destructive magic within me was stronger than me, almost like a monster that took what it wanted and retreated until it got hungry again. I was at the mercy of this power.Defenseless. A victim of myself.

I hadn’t gotten very far. Only as far as the lowest corridors of the underground system of Moenia before I was thrown through the air and violently pushed to the ground by extremely aggressive Council members. They had barely given me a chance to breathe. Then they had brought me here, thrown me into the drawing room on the first floor of the villa as if I were a prisoner, and positioned themselves in front of the doors and windows.

What did they think? That I would run away? To where? I was trapped here. Except that from today, it would also become a physical state. Besides, I hadn’t been able to make any further use of this magic. I probably needed a control stone, but I would never find one for these strange powers.

My heart was still beating wildly against my chest. Everything inside me told me that I was about to face the worst torture of my entire existence. I had indirectly attacked Council members, actively fought back against them, and I had ruined Grace’s first ceremony. A politically important ceremony for Amara. And Bayla... There was no one I hadn’t disappointed, angered or frightened.

The door flew open and I jumped up.

Six Quatura entered the room.

Bayla and her mother, who looked very confused, an Amara who seemed to be discussing something, her expression full of despair, Grace who just stared at me, as did Amanda, Gloria’s daughter, and at the front Gloria herself, as if she were something special.

She looked annoyed, angry, but most of all, as always, menacing, especially in her white billowing robe. And if you knew anything, it was that the angry and menacing Gloria was something no one wanted to be confronted with.

“Bring her to me!” she shouted angrily, and the Council members disappeared. Only one stayed behind and closed the doors.

Gloria stepped toward me, her gaze full of emotion, clearly anger among it.

“How could you keep something like this from us all this time?” she shouted angrily, making me tremble inside. I couldn’t get a word out and looked down, but she took my chin in her bony fingers.

My body wanted to tremble, but instead, it froze.

“I expect an answer!” Her irises lit up grayish.

“Gloria!” Amara pushed between us, shoving me further back. “She’s scared and in shock, just like the rest of us!”

I had never seen her get so loud toward Gloria.

“The highest law of the Circle is obedience and loyalty to the Councils!”

“As well as the unity of all Circle members in crisis situations,” Amara added resolutely, and I wondered again about her rebellion against Gloria, which immediately subsided when the door burst open once more and Margot was pushed roughly inside.

The Council members to her right and left bowed slightly to us, or rather to Gloria, and left again. Gloria immediately stepped away from me and Amara and walked toward Margot.

“How on earth is that possible?” she exclaimed and pointed at me, causing everyone to look at me again, but then at Margot.

I stared at the woman they called my mother, trying to pierce her with my gaze, which took all my strength. Margot stared back at me. Tears shone in her eyes.

“Who is the girl’s father?”

An awkward silence fell over the salon. I didn’t know much about him and would have liked to leave it at that, but something told me that Gloria knew something I didn’t. Memories of something very unpleasant crept out of my subconscious. Gloria knew him. She had given him the money back then…

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