Page 8 of Shadow Caster
Master Payne smiled smugly, which irritated the fuck out of me. Like what the hell did he have to be smug about? I’d answered the question.
I shot Minnie a sideways glance to catch her staring at me.
“Well said, Miss Justice,” Master Payne said. “Now, who can tell me about the feybloods’ heritage?”
The spotlight was off me, which was what I’d wanted. So, why did I feel so annoyed?
* * *
“Well, he certainly grilled the class.”Thomas shoved past us, eager to get away from the classroom.
“Watch it!” Minnie snapped.
He spun to face us and bowed. “So sorry,ladies. No, let me amend that, lady and tramp.”
One of these days, he was going to get acquainted with my fists.
“He’s not a weaver,” Minnie said.
“Huh? Thomas?”
“No, Carter Payne. His powers were nullified by the shadow knight gene.”
We made our way to the next class, riding the wave of students who filled the corridors with every bell. Chatter rose up around us, but it was easy to tune it out.
“That shit is true?” I shot her an incredulous look.
“Yep.” Minnie shouldered her way through a knot in the crowd.
Everything was fucking legacy in our world. Legacy nightblood families and legacy weaver families. Even the moonkissed had their pack hierarchy. Payne was one of the three legacy weaver families. Nightbloods were forbidden to procreate with anyone other than nightbloods, and it was the same for weavers. The three weaver families intermarried to keep the weaver gene strong, because without weavers, magic would be lost. They were prized by the Nightwatch, and Payne had lost that power by being born with the shadow knight gene. It was rare in weaver families, and when it happened, the man was usually shunned by his peers. Marriage was out of the question.
“Why isn’t he a shadow knight?”
Minnie shrugged. “I guess you’d have to ask him that. As far as I know, he’s been a tutor here forever. He teaches and also runs the med bay. Not that anyone ever gets sick. I heard he uses it as a lab for his alchemy experiments.”
Sounded boring. “Not interested. Let’s get some food.”
As we made our way toward the canteen, my mind wandered back to the system and everything that was broken. I couldn’t wait to finish my sentence here and get out.
* * *
The canteen wasthe communal hub of this place, sporting a lounge area and an upper balcony heaving with books and nooks where you could curl up and read. The food was varied to accommodate the various supernatural species of cadet, and the atmosphere was thick with activity. Unlike my old nightblood school, there were no real cliques here.
The Watch had a no-tolerance policy for that kind of mentality. We were training to be Nightwatch, and that meant working together as a team whether you were nightblood, moonkissed, or feyblood. Unnatural if you ask me. Like was drawn to like, and once these cadets got out of this artificial environment, they’d go back to their prejudices. Nightbloods had a natural aversion to moonkissed and vice versa. And the feybloods that went here thought they were better than everyone else because they were descended from the shining people.
Outside, they’d be called bastardized fey. But use that term in here, and you were asking for a disciplinary.
At least the queue for food wasn’t too long. My stomach rumbled as we lined up with our trays.
Minnie grabbed an apple, and I did the same even though there was no way that was hitting the spot for me today.
“You need blood,” Minnie said.
We got to the moonkissed woman who was serving. She raked us over. “Type?”
“Two O neg, please,” Minnie said. “Heated.”
“Not for me.” I held up a hand. “I’m fine.”
