Page 36 of Shadow Caster
My father spun on his heel and headed toward the door. “Not my problem. The deal still stands, except now you own her.” He grinned over his shoulder as if this was some kind of twisted victory. “Not many shadow knights being born recently, are there? I doubt the council would want to lose a shadow knight that could protect thousands of humans over the lost life of one.” He looked at me. “It looks like you’ve been given a chance to redeem yourself. Don’t mess it up.” He clicked his fingers. “Come, Lea.”
My mother looked torn, and for a moment I thought she’d come to me, hug me, something. But with a final lingering glance at Master Carter, she followed my father from the room.
Silence descended like a shroud.
I could feel them watching me—the girl who’d absorbed her sibling in the womb. Who’d killed her brother. No wonder my parents hated me. A wave of emotions smashed into me, and I took a staggered step back. It pooled in my chest and then hardened into a rock that pressed onto my heart. My eyes burned and stung.
No. Like hell would I cry.
I raised my chin and glared daggers at everyone in the room. “Stop it. Stop looking at me.”
“Justice, I’m so sorry,” Brunner said softly.
Garnet nodded, her mouth twisted in sympathy.
Fuck them and their pity. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What now? What happens to me now?”
“Too many students saw the mark,” Garnet said to Brunner.
“I know,” Brunner replied.
Wait … no. They couldn’t seriously expect me to go through with this. “Then tell them it was a mistake. Get rid of the damn thing. You have weavers. Get them to hide it. I didn’t come here for this.”
But no one was listening to me.
“We can’t turn our backs on this and pretend it’s not happening,” Garnet said. “She’s an anomaly—a woman with the gene. We need to explore this.”
Brunner pouted in thought. “If we let this go, then the conscription law will be questioned.”
“Then we conscript her,” Hyde said, his intense gaze on me. “She has the gene, so she has the power.”
“Hyde,” Payne said. “Maybe we need to stop and think about this.”
“Thank you!” I threw my hands up.
“There’s no other option,” Brunner said. “It’s what the council would want.”
For God’s sake. “Doesn’t it matter what the fuck I want?”
“No.” Hyde narrowed his gaze. “In the forest the other day when the youngling attacked, what was your first instinct?”
Huh? “Fight.” Where was he going with this? “It’s always to fight.”
He nodded. “Then you belong with us. Pack your things, and make your way to the shadow cadet dorms.”
Damn it.
“Um, Archer,” Melle said. “The dorm is male only.”
“There’s an empty room on the tutor floor. She can have that,” Archer said. “That way, I can keep an eye on her.”
He meant, make sure none of the horny boys bugged me. They’d made up their mind. I was trapped, and there was no getting out of this.
I grit my teeth. “I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” Hyde replied. “But the shadow cadets are my responsibility, and now that you wear the mark, so are you.” His smile was brittle. “Forget what you’ve learned so far. Your real training starts tomorrow.”
Thirteen
