Page 30 of Shadow Caster
Garnet grinned. “I guess you wouldn’t.” She clapped her hands. “Next up, the Impox. Who can tell me about those?” She scanned the class. “Mr. Carmichael?”
Thomas lounged in a seat by the window, his long legs stretched out under the table. “Fox spirit and imp hybrids. Feybloods renowned for their ability to control the minds of others once they’ve tasted their blood.”
Urgh. I was beginning to sense a theme with the whole endangered thing. Mind manipulation, shape shifting, it was like the Watch strived to eliminate any threat to the status quo.
“Aren’t they extinct?” someone else asked.
“Not quite,” Garnet said. “We have a few in captivity.” She stood and rounded her desk and flipped through a huge book. “You’ll be tested on endangered creatures at the end of the term. I suggest you all brush up on them.” Her gaze fell on me. “I’m always here if you need help.” She stood tall and glared at us. “Now, get your arses out of here, and get ready for the ceremony.”
A collective whoop went up, chairs scraped as one, and bodies headed for the door.
The weight of how much I didn’t know would have to wait. I had a party to go to.
* * *
Minnie smootheddown her uniform and fiddled with her hair, which was perfect as usual. Her side of the room looked like a bomb had hit it, which was strange considering the dress code was uniforms.
I tugged at the neck of my tunic. “Why do they have to make these things so uncomfortable?”
“It’s only because you haven’t bothered with a uniform since you got here,” Minnie said. “You’ll get used to it.”
“It’s a fucking party, and we have to wear this shit?”
“It’s a ceremony.”
“With food and booze, right?”
“Not booze.” She turned to me with a shocked expression. “The revelation nectar. Seriously, Indie, how do you not know this stuff?”
“Because it’s the kind of stuff you learn from your parents, and mine had no interest in teaching me.” I turned away and grabbed a hair brush off my dresser. “I wasn’t worth the effort.”
“Indie …”
I shot her a wry smile. “It’s fine. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. It’s just a fact. They wanted a son to carry on the Justice name for our line—sons mean a larger cut of the pie when it comes to inheritances and legacy money. But they got me instead.” I began to brush my hair. Why was I telling her this stuff? I never talked about this shit. But the words were pouring out now. “I was five when I heard them talking about it. I’d just learned to tie my shoelaces, and I ran to their chambers to tell them. I heard them talking about me. My mother said they’d need to make the best of it, and my father was adamant they should keep trying for a son. I had toys and clothes and a pretty room, but I didn’t have their love, and suddenly, it made sense why. They wanted a boy.” I began to braid my hair. “So, I decided to become one. I put away the pretty dolls and picked up a rapier. I learned to fence and box. I got into sports and athletics. But nothing mattered. It took me a while to figure out the whole money thing, the legacy inheritance, and the way it was determined by male bloodlines. I knew then they’d never love me the way parents are supposed to. So, I left.”
“Indie, I’m so sorry.” Minnie stroked my arm. “That’s harsh.”
“It’s life, and I’m over it. Once I finish my sentence here, I’m out. Like hell am I dancing to anyone else’s tune ever again.”
She blinked up at me. “But you won’t forget me, will you?”
My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. Should I tell her she was my first real friend? The first person not paid or coerced to spend time with me? Should I tell her that she was the only person that made this place bearable?”
“No, Min, I don’t think I could ever forget you.”
She grinned. “Good, because if you try and do a vanishing act on me, I will have no problem using my Nightwatch skills to hunt you down.”
I didn’t doubt her.
She tucked her hair behind her ears and pouted at herself in the mirror. “Now, let’s go watch some shadow cadets be crowned. I hear they have seven different kinds of cake at these things.”
Despite my general derision and disinterest in everything Academy, there was a definite pique in my curiosity. Not many people could say they got to experience a Revelation ceremony. And they had cake.
It might be fun … right?
Eleven
There was a general aura of high expectation on the air, especially among the males. After all, the shadow knight gene was passed down from male to male. How many cadets would be identified tonight? How many would be marked once they drank the revelation nectar?
