Page 34 of Alchemy of Souls

Bingo. This is what I was after.

“What did you tell her?” I ask.

“Everything, mate. What happened during the exam. About Belrose calling the Archive Key. Of course, I didn’t tell her you didn’t get marked Gifted, because I didn’t know that at the time, but I’m sure she realizes that things may not play out the way we planned,” he says, and I let out a breath.

Bas’s cousin, who was like an older brother to him, failed his Uni exam a few years back and chose to leave the wards instead of becoming a Laborer. Sage connected Bas and me after that, and we’ve been scheming together ever since.

“How did Sage respond?” I ask.

“She was super interested in Belrose. Said the Key would be a game changer. Told me to tell you to get it at all costs.”

“Working on it,” I say, even though I feel a twinge of discomfort about deceiving Eloise, one I don’t have time to analyze.

CHAPTER 20Eloise

Maggie and I follow the other first-years into the training room— a giant cavernous auditorium containing any number of weapons stations.

“Well, if that isn’t a thing of beauty,” Maggie says with her hands on her hips, staring up at the thirty-foot rock-climbing wall that isn’t plastic nubs on an angled surface, but wood that mimics rock.

“Not as pretty as that,” I say, gesturing to the wall of blades, my hands itching to hold the double-sided axe and the throwing daggers.

Maggie waves her hand dismissively. “So ye can shave the chin hair off a granny from six yards away. But can you scale your house like a supervillain and illusion a rat onto your older brother’s chest as he wakes up?”

I burst out laughing. “Tell me you didn’t do that?”

“Might have wee’d himself.”

My laugh cuts short, though, because Grayson enters the room. He’s at the tail end of the pack next to Bas, which strikes me as odd, considering he’s been so far up my butt I thought I’d have to surgically remove him. Now all of a sudden, he’s lingering behind? And sneaking out before I’m awake?

His sapphire eyes find me, just a hint of a smile pulling at his lips, making my stomach dip in response. I glare at him.

“For someone you supposedly hate, you do an awful lot of starin’,” Maggie says.

“Just want to know where to point my blades when the time comes,” I say with a shrug, though the motion bothers me because I think I picked it up from Grayson.

“Uh-huh,” Maggie offers, not convinced.

I don’t get a chance at rebuttal, though, because Akari walks through the door with a fourth-year student dressed in dark brown. He wears a black belt, signifying he’s been chosen to train as a Guardian—an honor I can only hope to claim one day.

The entire room goes still.

“I’m not one for coddling and hand-holding,” Akari says in lieu of a standard greeting. “I’m the head of the University Guardians and in charge of overseeing your combat training. My name is Akari and you can address me as such. I’m not going to welcome you with flowery language or tell you something’s good enough when it’s not. From me you’ll have the blunt truth. You are the descendants of ancient Mage warriors, and I intend to do everything in my power to see that you live up to that potential.” She pauses, sweeping her eyes across the room.

Some of the students puff themselves up. Others look at their friends, likewho is this woman.

“You’ll find that the training here is more rigorous than what you were accustomed to at the Academies,” Akari says, bracing her leather-bound wrists behind her back. The fourth-year mimics the posture. “You learned hand-to-hand and you learned spellwork but were never asked to kick, cast an illusion, and Alchemy a dagger in one lethal attack,” she says, gesturing toward a large circle patternedon the wood floor. “Here, there is no mat to soften the blow. No net to catch you. Starting now, when you train you’ll use all your skills to defeat your opponent, just as the Lawless will use everything in their power to kill you.”

Maggie and I glance at each other, my stomach bottoming out.

“Before I can teach you, I need to know what raw materials I’m working with.” She pauses. “Pierce,” Akari says, and the fourth-year student steps forward. “Step into the sparring circle.” She sweeps her gaze over the crowd like she’s looking for someone in particular. And that someone very unfortunately turns out to be me. “Belrose, join him.”

My body temperature immediately spikes from a rush of adrenaline. Because what are the chances that I’m called first. Is she suspicious of me?

Pierce isn’t a big guy, but that’s the thing about magic, you don’t need to be any particular size to wield it. What he lacks in mass he makes up for in focus and confidence—perfect posture, relaxed shoulders, and a self-assured smirk. I can tell immediately he doesn’t think much of me.

His eyes find mine and he doesn’t look away, like he’s inviting me to fail so he can move on to the next.

We’ll see about that.