Page 10 of This Monster of Mine

Reining Caelum to a halt, she dismounted before the Academiae’s gates. Ur Dinyé’s most prestigious school rose from the heart of Edessa, a spider at the center of a web, waiting to bleed its next unwary victim dry. As it had her.

Icy bands tightened around Sarai’s chest. The palatial complex of orange-red limestone sneered down at her like a haughty lord, its moonlit towers, assorted spires, and domes bristling that she had dared return. Asking if she hadn’t learned her lesson.

“I’m back,” she whispered. “You won’t get rid of me so easily this time.”

Sconces bracketed the metal doors before her, casting a flickering glow on the letters engraved at the top.Lisran Tower Gate.According to a map Cisuré had drawn in an old letter, this was the Academiae’s northwestern tower.

And Sidran Tower rose to the north.

Her jaw clenched. Eight towers at cardinal directions around the Academiae. Eight Tower Gates beside each, guarded by magi. Sneaking in wasimpossible, but somehow, at fourteen, she’d done it and fallen into Death’s arms. And she couldn’t rememberwhy.

“Speak your business,” came a stentorian roar.

Her eyes flew up to the sentry in the Tower Gate’s watchtower. She lowered her hood. “I’m Sarai, the new Candidate. I was told to come here.”

The man raised an eyebrow, before the latch locks crowning the doors snapped down. The Gate creaked open with a screech of hinges, revealing a violet-robed magus who gave her a scathing perusal.

“The mountain girl arrives at last.” Taking Caelum’s reins, he rapped on the ladder leading up to the watchtower. “Hand over that aureus. Told you she’d come. No sense in these northerners. Petitors dying on the job, and they’re walking in.”

Asshole.She tamped down her irritation as the sentry tossed down a gold coin with a resentful grunt. Patting Caelum farewell, she made to enter the Academiae when the magus blocked her path.

“Not so fast.” He smirked. “Confirm your identity first, or we’ll have every northern barmaid racing here and calling themselves a Candidate.”

Sarai pricked her finger, smearing blood acrosszostabefore forcing a smile. “Yes?”

A nasty gleam lit his eyes. “I think you’re a looker. Truth or lie?”

Her nails bit into her palms when the syllables reverberated in jarring echoes. “That’s a lie.” While he guffawed, she wiped her blood overzostaagain, turning the rune dark. “Can I enter now?”

“Wait over there. Someone’ll come for you.”

Another guard. “I really didn’t come all this way just to flee before the Robing.”

“Like I care.” He rolled his eyes. “Wait in the courtyard, mountain girl.”

Biting her tongue, she took her first steps into the Academiae in four years. Snatches of conversation reached her as the magus called up to the sentry.

“Can’t believe she came. Ten aurei says she’ll be the first to kill herself …”

A muscle twitched in her jaw. He wouldn’t be the only one with that opinion. Pacing the courtyard, she waited for her newest minder.Gods, they’re being ridiculous.She could understand their vigilance if she’d been dragged here kicking and screaming, but she’d walked in. An unsettling suspicion pricked at her.Unless this isn’t about me. From Gaius to the magi here, no one had acted likeshewas the problem but like they’d been shielding her from one.But that doesn’t make sense.

Stowing the puzzle away for later examination, she took in the view. Eight towers encircled the Academiae, tens of miles apart. A maze of walkways, colonnades, and ramparts bridged instructional buildings scattered across the grounds, magi of various disciplines still training in courtyards despite the late hour.

Magic was like coin. Some Urds had more than others, and you could only blame the gods if you weren’t born with much. Every country had an element that most of its people could manipulate, Ur Dinyé’s being lightning. Its formation, redirection, and use in combat was the land’s most common magic—albeit one she didn’t possess—followed by agriculture, healing, and the odd Petitor and illusionist. Some people had a strong talent in only one branch. Those, like her, with ability in multiple branches had limits. In addition to a Petitor’s abilities, she could only use one illusion rune,nihumb. Her only attempt at a more powerful illusion—hair color—had failed, drained her of magic, and left her feeling like she’d been beaten to a pulp.

Talent aside, the biggest hurdle for many was training. Schools offered tutelage at hefty prices, resulting in people going into debt for the prospect of a better future. Others sought work as fabri,tradesmen in the north, or apprenticeship in the southern Guilds, which didn’t require coin for entry but assigned exploitative, backbreaking hours. Entering the Academiae, Ur Dinyé’s best school, was a dream for most. As it had been for her.

Sarai stared at the sconce-lined courtyard.What did you think?she asked her fourteen-year-old self.What did you see here?

Rain, whispered the hole in her mind.Splinters of ribs shoving through lungs with each breath. One eye ruptured upon impact—Sarai slammed a hand into the wall, cutting off the memory.

Breathing hard, she focused on the banners draping the courtyard’s walls until their letters swam into view.All citizens capable of Probing, meet with an assessor now!one demanded. Join with a Tetrarch and earn four thousand aurei every year!

Join with a Tetrarch.Sarai snorted.Now there’s a turn of phrase.But gods, that salary! Clutching the gold coin left in her pouch, she imagined four thousand of them. She could eat three meals a day, feed Arsamea’s poor for years. Could toss Marus into the tunnels and kick his face until—

A bright bolt danced jagged across the sky. Her head whipped up to the black-edged horizon just as thunder rent the air.Shit.If the lightning bristling under those clouds was any indication, Edessa was about to get one of its infamous storms. And she was outside.

Sarai didn’t pause to think. The rules for surviving stormfall were the same as for an Arsamean snowgale: get indoors and stay indoors. She raced under an arch and out of the courtyard, searching for shelter. Similar frantic footsteps came from the surrounding courtyards, but given how quickly they faded, everyone else knew where to go.

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