Page 27 of Shattered & Returned

What unique background? My pulse jumped as every head in the room swiveled toward me.

“Well,” I managed, heat rising in my cheeks, “what if someone doesn’t know their ancestry? How would they figure out which magical system they belong to?”

I braced myself for her to dismiss me, to declare my admission a mistake, that I didn’t belong among these descendants of gods and magical lines. I wouldn’t have argued. A quick scan of the classroom confirmed I had none of the telltale signs of magical heritage. No strange markings, no gleaming eyes, no glowing aura surrounding me. Just…ordinary.

“A legitimate question, Bloom,” she said. That’s when I noticed it—she hadn’t used a single student’s name except mine. Even when permitting others to speak, she’d merely nodded or flicked a wrist in their direction. But my name? She kept saying it, deliberate as a struck bell. “Generally speaking, your magic carries its own signature, as distinct as your bloodline, even if its origins remain unclear. This semester, we’ll guide each of you in recognizing your elemental affinities.” Her gaze held mine a beat too long. “The most powerful gifts often stay buried the deepest.”

I scribbled it down like it mattered, though half the words might as well have been another language. The truth curdled in my stomach: I was no scion of gods. Sooner or later, they’d all see through me, a fraud, and the school would toss me out like a weed among roses.

Fine. Embarrassment wouldn’t kill me. But the gnawing worry about my garden—whether the plants had enough water, if the frost had crept in—twisted my ribs tighter than any magic lesson could.

Chapter

Eleven

Bloom

Magic Lessons

Sindy and I slipped into the lecture hall just before class began, finding two empty seats in the middle row near the left aisle. We barely had time to settle in when the room fell silent, all chatter dying mid-sentence as every head turned toward the entrance.

He walked in like he owned the place.

Dressed in crisp dark slacks and a white button-down with sleeves rolled to his forearms, he moved with effortless confidence. A vintage gold watch hugged his wrist, its band engraved with symbols so ancient they predated written language.

His face belonged on a marble statue—high cheekbones, a sculpted nose, sensual lips that curled into a smirk as he baskedin the attention. The room seemed to brighten when he smiled, as if someone had turned up the sun.

Next to me, Sindy’s mouth hung open. She wasn’t the only one staring. Every girl in the room had gone still, their eyes tracking his every move.

I recognized him right away, the pretty boy who’d sneered at Orren and called him a dog.

Sindy clutched my arm. “Oh shit,” she whispered, voice trembling. “He’s coming this way.”

I didn’t budge. “Why? We got here first, and he’s not getting our seats.”

Sindy elbowed me hard. “Are you serious? That’s Sebastian.”

The name rippled through the lecture hall in hushed tones:

“…never comes to first-year classes…”

“…third-year elite track, why is he even?—”

“I heard he dueled a professor last semester!”

I shrugged, keeping my voice flat. “So he’s a third-year hotshot who skips class. Big deal.”

I knew better than to trust beauty—that sweet poison that made you forget your own name. I’d learned that lesson when the devil first appeared to me, his cold, brutal elegance so arresting, his beauty a weapon, and I’d let him bite the peak of my most sensitive flesh!

Sebastian carried that same dangerous allure, though where the devil had been shadows and dark star, this golden boy wrapped his viciousness in sunlight. Every perfect angle of him was a hidden threat.

And now he was sitting right beside me.

Sindy practically vibrated with joy as Sebastian settled into the seat, his scent of sharp citrus, warm cedar, and something unidentifiably powerful invaded my senses. It was overwhelming. Deliberately so.

“Hello, new girl,” he purred, that golden lock of hair tumbling perfectly across his brow, his molten gold eyes regarding me. “We’ve met. I’m Sebastian.”

Next to me, Sindy swayed like a sapling in a storm as she drank in his flawless smile.

---