Page 30 of Grave Situation

“You deserve nothing,” I tell him flatly. “What you know is what most of the mages here know. What makes you think you deserve to know more than level-3 mages? You, who are the most untrained here? The lowest of the low? Most of whom, statistically, will either leave at the end of the year or die before graduation. And you claim to deserve to know more than those who’ve worked and studied and achieved for more than a decade? Some of them for multiple decades?”

Drey shrinks a little in his chair but lifts his chin. “Wealldeserve to know.”

This time, I don’t squelch the pride. Maybe the little fucker will actually achieve something someday.

“Fortunately for you, everyone isgoingto know. An announcement will be made tomorrow morning.” Before they can get too excited, I hold up a hand. “My master and I fought hard to gain special permission to tell yousomedetails today.”

This time, I can’t stop the excited outburst of questions. So I stand with my arms folded and wait for them to fall silent.

“Thank you for that extraordinary waste of all our time. I can assure you that you’ll be sorry in a moment, when you hear what I have to say. First, though, let me warn you… if one whisper of what I tell you is leaked beyond this group, the regret I will make you feel will linger with you until your dying day… whichmay not be too far off. Learning secrets is a privilege, and as a mage, you need to be able to keep those secrets. Learning secrets early because Master Samoine and I put our reputations on the line for you… well, you don’t want to know what will happen if you betray my faith in you.” I skim my gaze along the rows of students, making sure to lock eyes with each of them. “Understood?”

Some of them are pale, but they all nod and murmur agreement.

“Excellent. As I said, I can tell yousomethings. First is that today will be the last class you have with me for the foreseeable future.”

A protest rises but stills under my glare. They’re learning.

“I’ve been called away. You’ll understand more tomorrow. Your new professor will join us later. She’s a level-3 mage, and I consider her to be outstanding in Talent and personality… a trait many of you still lack. She will also not take any bullshit from you, so don’t waste time trying it. Time is of the essence right now.”

I wait for another murmur of agreement before continuing.

“We’re also going to deviate from the planned curriculum. As I said, you’ll understand why tomorrow. We’re going to begin work on something that ordinarily isn’t taught until third year. There are reasons for that, and the primary one is to keep you alive. So you will follow all instructions to the letter, and you will not do any foolish experimenting of your own. Understood?”

The murmur this time sounds rather frightened, and I sigh.

“Do any of you know what support magic is?”

There’s a moment of confused silence, and then Lenora says, “Isn’t that b-battle magic?”

I nod. “Yes. Today you’re going to start learning support magic. Those lessons will continue for as long as possible, and then you may be called on to use them.” Eyes widen, and Igrimace. “I see you’re beginning to understand. We have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.”

CHAPTER NINE

I slipout of the classroom a few minutes before the class is due to finish, taking advantage of my students’—myformerstudents’—distraction with the new magic they’ve been taught to sneak away and leave them in Preet’s hands. It’s for the best. If I dismissed the class myself, there would likely be some awkward farewells—and attempts to ask more questions, never mind that they already know more than they really should.

There’s a lot still for me to do before I have to get on a godsdamned horse tomorrow, but first I’m stealing ten minutes to go to the kitchens and beg for lunch. The cafeteria will be opening soon, but I want to avoid the possibility of being cornered by mages with questions.

My mission is successful, and I hide in the scullery with my sandwich as I reach out to Master for an update.

“Class is done. Do you need me there?”It’s a courtesy question—of course he does.

“No.”

What?

“You need to begin packing. We’re almost done here for the time being, anyway. The stone has made it clear that it’s told us what it can—the rest depends on what happens next.”

In other words, the rest depends on how soon the rogue mages raising zombies decide to unleash them on us all… and how soon I can find the stone’s champion. No pressure there. Just the most important race of the past thirty generations.

But…“Don’t you need me there while you speak to my mystery healer traveling companion?”

Master’s long pause has me setting my sandwich down. What’s happened? Did one of the councilors say something idiotic that he needed to call them out for?

“We already spoke with him. I thought it best that way. He was shocked, of course, but is willing to do what must be done and has gone to make preparations. You should go see him.”

I blink a few times. They spoke to him without me there? I knew Master planned to read the list to the stone this morning—we decided that last night. We could have done it then, but with so many of the masters already miffed about Master Samoine having constant access to the stone, we thought it best to let them think they’re important. I assumed, though, that telling the healer was something I would be there for.

“You spoke to him without me?”I try not to let it sound accusatory, but that’s hard with telepathy.

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