Page 25 of Shattered & Returned

I twisted my hands in my lap.“Homeschooled. My mother didn’t have any relatives—not that I knew of, anyway.”My gaze flickered to Sindy, searching and uneasy.“I don’t have any special abilities. Maybe they made a mistake? Dragged me here for nothing.”

“Nope.” Her head shake was decisive. “They don’t make mistakes. Recruiters can see bloodlines. Sense them.”

The air left my lungs in one sharp breath.

“They did mess up my tower assignment, not that I’m complaining.”A sly grin spread across her face.“Getting to stay under Professor Ravencrux’s wing? Chance encounters in the halls?”

“Where were you supposed to be?”I asked.

“Stardust Tower—with my coven.”She shrugged, but her fingers twitched like she was resisting some invisible pull.“Headmistress Kate Stardust oversees all witchcraft, crossroads magic, and…necromancy.”

“Then I’m grateful for their mistake,”I said, meaning it.“I’d hate to have missed meeting you.”

Despite all my reservations about this new school, I got a roommate who was open and friendly. She didn’t look at me like I was some fragile freak, unlike those narrow-eyed whisperers back in that French town.

“Want a hug?”she asked suddenly, grinning.

“Uh.” I blinked. “Yeah. Why not?”

She crossed the room before I could overthink it. I stood too quickly, our foreheads nearly colliding, and then we were both laughing. Her arms wrapped around me, warm, solid, scentedlike jasmine and candlewax. The first hug I’d had in years that wasn’t from my mother.

When we pulled apart, I nodded at the untouched middle bed.“Where’s our third?”

“Vacant,”Sindy said. Then, with deliberate lightness:“You’re actually Lara’s replacement. Go on. Ask what happened to her. Consider it your first real lesson here.”

“What happened to Lara?”

Sindy examined her nails.“Sent home to regrow her arm. Forsaken Academy only keeps elite supernaturals. No cripples. Bad for publicity.”

My lungs tightened.Iwas handicapped. Asthmatic. Yet they’d taken me anyway, despite Morrigan, Dante, and Orren’s exchanged glances when they’d discovered it.

“A lioness shifter took her arm,”Sindy continued casually.“After Lara fucked her boyfriend. Lionesses are territorial. Lucky we’ve only got one here.”

One was enough.Especially when she’d severed a limb without batting an eye.

“No shit!”My voice cracked.“Well, no love triangles for me—not my style.”

Sindy gave me a look of interest.“People maim each other for dumber reasons too.”

A chill crept up my spine. Was this friendliness or a warning?

“Are you a black witch?”The question escaped before I could stop it.

She flashed me a mischievous grin. “Gray.”

Gray was better than black.Probably.

“That’s good, right?” I murmured.

“One last thing,”she said, leaning in. “The academy sits atop hell’s gate—right between the mortal and immortal realms. None of us see ghosts. But if Nighthaunts appear? Don’t scream.You don’t want to draw their attention. And never,everenter Obsidian Wilds, the dark forest near our tower.”

But I’d already wandered into those shadowed woods and found my first real pleasure there.

Chapter

Ten

Bloom

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