Page 23 of Shadow Caster
Minnie reached for my hands. “I don’t give a shit about that right now. I’m worried about you. I need to know you’re okay.”
Something bubbled up inside me. A welling feeling I’d kept at bay for the longest time. It expanded to fill my chest, rose up my throat, and pressed the back of my eyes and nose with a familiar sting.
And then my vision blurred. No. Fuck no.
“Indie? Oh, shit. Indie.” Minnie pulled me into a hug, and a strangled sob broke from my throat.
“Shit.” My voice sounded odd. I cleared my throat. “I’m fine.”
I pulled away, and she let me go, but the look in her eyes was determined. “No. Not this time. We need to talk. You need to tell me what happened, not just in the sim, but before you came here. It’s eating away at you. I know it is.”
The fight bled out of me. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was time to offload.
“Not here. Let’s go back to the dorm.”
* * *
Once I started talkingabout that night, about the loss of control and the blackout, the words poured out. My father’s face swam in my mind’s eye, cold and uncaring. His voice matter-of-fact as he laid out the terms. He’d done this to me. He’d somehow orchestrated my crime and was now forcing me into a role that would never fit.
“I don’t understand why.” I picked at the edge of the throw on my bed. “He hates me.”
“That can’t be true …” But she didn’t sound too sure.
I looked up at her with a wry smile. “My father has been very vocal about his desire for a son. I doubt anyone in the legacy circles could have missed that.”
She winced. “Yeah, it may have come up now and then.”
“Unfortunately, my mother never conceived again. I’m all he has, a reminder of what he considers his failure, and my father does not like to fail. He’s the first Justice not to produce a male heir.”
“Oh, babe.” Minnie sat cross-legged on the rug between our beds. “And then you had the bloodlust come over you—your worst fear … No wonder you bailed.”
“And now you failed the class.” I swallowed the lump on my throat. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. So, my A minus drops to a B.” She flashed her teeth in a cheeky grin. “I’ll make it up.”
She was covering. Faradays were renowned for the pressure they put on their offspring to succeed. A B average would not be enough.
Her expression sobered. “But what about you? I caught something about grades?”
Nightblood hearing had its perks. “If I don’t maintain a C grade or above, then I’m toast.”
We sat in silence for a long minute.
“You’ll keep the grade,” Minnie said. “We’ll cram for the end-of-term tests, and we’ll both ace them.” Her eyes lit up. “Indie. You can do this. You know you can.”
The confidence in her tone was infectious. I was far from dumb, I just preferred not to work at the academics. But with my head on the line, there was no choice but to employ the brain cells.
“We’ll get to work right after the goblet ceremony tomorrow.” Minnie got up and hurried to her wardrobe. “In the meantime, we’re going to get dressed and go to a party.”
“Urgh.” I slumped back on the bed. “I am in no mood to party.”
She threw some silken fabric at my face. “Put that on. I won’t take no for an answer.”
“Nothing new there.” But I couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice.
The fabric was a cerulean halter-neck top. Sod it. After the shitty day, and the shitty news, maybe a party was just what the doctor ordered.
* * *
