Page 56 of The Art of Exiley

“And Gwen?”

“She misses you the most.”

And then Prince Alexander sweeps away.

I look up at Rafe, who is back to his stone-cold self.

“Are you kidding me?” I whisper to him. “You’re aprince?”

He looks at me with disdainful amusement. “Obviously.”

Once all the delegations have arrived, the crowd makes their way through the archway that leads to the auditorium in the Autumn wing. The other apprentices who will be presenting their galleries are with their families, and I find myself on my own, awkwardly scanning the room for a familiar face.

“So, you’re the provincial Sire,” a melodic voice says from behind me. I spin around and see a petite woman in all black. She’s striking, with olive skin and dark brown hair in a sleek topknot. A pearl hoop hangs from her right earlobe, indicating that she’s a Cipher master.

“Aria Loew,” she introduces herself.

So this is Michael’s older sister. How is she so short when he’s so tall?

“Ada Castle,” I respond with a smile that she does not return. She is assessing me, looking more through me than at me.

“I know who you are.” She lifts her arm and slowly strokes her fingers through the air around me like harp strings. An onyx ring adorns her pointer finger. In my apprentice classes, we’d learned about some of Aria Loew’s research—smart, sciencey stuff I never really understood about strings that connect the universe. I knew she was doing further research in Avant, but I hadn’t realized she joined the Mystic guild as her ring would suggest. I had been under the impression that the Mystics barely accept anyone. In fact, I think Hypatia had told me they’d only accepted one Genesis student into the Mystics in the past two decades. She must have been referring to Aria Loew.

Aria inspects the air that flows through her hands and says, “Though you’ve been here such a short time, so many ties bind you to our people.” One dark eyebrow arches high in surprise as she adds, “Including to my brother.” With a quizzical look, her thumb and pointer come together and pull at something invisible. As if feeling the tug, Michael, who is a few yards away, conversing with a bearded and bespectacled old man, turns to glance in our direction. When he sees us, he says some last words to the man and heads over. Aria releases the invisible something and scrutinizes me more closely. She is now exploring the air with both hands, tugging and pulling at an invisible tapestry woven around me.

It’s pretty creepy, and it feels like she’s doing some kind of divination, like maybe she can somehow know things I really need hernotto know. I shift my feet uncomfortably.

Aria brings her fingers close to her face and inspects the emptiness between the pads of her fingers. “You have secrets,” she says in a singsong voice, “but don’t worry. I won’t tell. Your intentions do not oppose my own.” I release a tense breath, not at all comforted by her words. “A piece of advice,”she says, meeting my eyes too sharply. “You should be asking more questions about why you needed to be rescued.”

What the hell?

She drops her hands as Michael approaches, gazing at her with a beaming smile and arms outstretched.

“Ari!” He envelops her in a hug that she tolerates more than returns, though her expression is pleased, with the quirk of a smile that reveals she has the family dimple. “I see you’ve met Ada.”

“Yes. She’s fine. I don’t mind her,” Ari replies, and Michael’s grin tells me that this is her version of a compliment. “I need to visit the library,” she says. And then walks off, leaving me with an exasperated but still smiling Michael.

“Well, that’s my sister.”

“She seems lovely,” I respond, and from the way he grins, I feel like I’ve passed some kind of test.

Ugh, that dimple! I remember the feeling of being the one to make it flash. I also remember the feeling of him playing guitar while looking into my eyes the other night.

I want to say something, anything, to reignite that intimacy. But he’s already looking away, nodding at two professorial-looking women, and I remind myself that I’m not supposed to be playing these games.

“I’ll see you when Quorum begins,” he says, walking toward the women. Then he turns, gives me an encouraging smile, and adds, “Stop worrying. I can tell you’re worrying. Just answer their questions honestly. You’re going to be great.”

The auditorium has amphitheater seating with a stage in the center. At the front of the stage, there’s a long table where the guildmasters sit taking notes. I watch from a section to the right of the stage along with the rest of the apprentices who will be presenting their galleries. Hypatia is sitting next tome, vibrating with nerves and rhythmically running her tongue back and forth along her teeth. She’d missed lunch with us yesterday because she was receiving treatment for her mystery illness, and today she’s positively shining with vitality. She keeps waving excitedly at her parents, who are sitting with Prince Alex. Because, of course, if Rafe is a prince, that makes Hypatia royal too. Can’t say I saw that one coming.

The Quorum begins with reassignments from Avant, like Simon. He bumbles through his gallerie, but, honestly, compared to anything I’m used to from teen boys back home, it’s quite an impressive display. I especially like one of his inventions—a lightweight portable boat that can be carried like a backpack and assembled quickly when necessary. It’s cool, but when he’s questioned about it, it’s revealed that the motor is too heavy, and the boat has a tendency to leak. He also performs a song on his hurdy-gurdy—a guitar-like instrument with a hand crank and a wheel that is much less ridiculous than it sounds—and when it comes to music, he is, as Hypatia has told us, quite talented. He’s reassigned from the Avant Artisan guild to the Genesis one, and he replaces his amethyst ring with a stud in his ear. Hypatia applauds enthusiastically for him.

The reassignments are followed by the masters who are seeking entrance to new guilds. Today’s group is small and has no one that I know. The last group will be journeys qualifying as masters, but first the big deal that everyone is most excited for is the apprentice placements.

Headmaster Bloche calls up each apprentice one by one to present their gallerie and to be interrogated by the guildmasters. Pockets of the crowd cheer each time an apprentice accepts a position in one of the guilds.

I take deep, calming breaths the way my pitch instructor, Madam Adelina, taught me, but my nerves are tenacious, and it’s hard to pay attention to the other galleries.

“Next apprentice is Hypatia Vanguard, fourteen years of age,” the heraldannounces. “Her mentor is Donatello Bloche, headmaster of the Genesis Institute and master of the Sophist, Alchemist, and Cipher guilds.” Wow, I didn’t realize that the headmaster himself mentored Hypatia. I guess that’s how it works when you’re a member of the royal family.

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