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I feltmy heart rate calm in my chest as I stared at the long sinewy tail of the monster on the page in front of me. There were four skulls on the page, a clear indication of just how dangerous he was, but even so, when I looked at the strong lines of his body sketched out onto the page, it made everything melt away.

They’re planning a dungeon dive,Nibblet said in my mind.They want Uthred to prove himself. I don’t know what for, but they… they’re coming over here.

That melty calmnesssolidified back into the jagged edges of terror.

I reachedout and took a steak knife from where it rested on the table, sliding it into my lap.

Anna lookedat me with an expression I knew far too well. Fear sits on a bed of exhaustion, like a horse forced to run too many miles, stumbling one hoof after the other towards the end. We couldn’t run. The school was in a massive caldera, with a fortress built at the only opening to keep us trapped in here. Even if we got out of here, none of us knew how to make a portal to get back to the mundane. The only fate that was left for us was to try to survive here.

Survive long enoughto learn enough to find a way out.

“You, mundane, what is your name?”a voice came from behind me.

I hunchedmy shoulders and I looked back over one of them to see what I feared had come true. The Princes were behind me, standing around our table, and they were all looking at me. They weren’t wearing their blue jackets that marked their ranking at the school. Instead they were dressed in Dungeon diving attire, different types of armor based on their role in the party. I didn’t know most of their names; there was only one of them I really paid attention to, one whose exceptional cruelty was whispered about around campus, and he was the only one who had a small crease in his forehead, like he didn’t understand what was going on.

Except for Uthredwho was dressed like he was going to a party that was both casual and high end at the same time.

He hadred sweatpants that had black stripes following the lines of the pockets, zigzagging back and forth, like they were supposed to be designer pants instead of just plain old sweats. He had paired them with a black tank top, and a pair of gold sneakers. He also had a gold chain around his neck.

Uthred toweredover the rest of them, a good foot and a half taller than the rest. It was normal for lycans to be big and bulky, but he was the biggest one I’d ever seen, built like he was born to wield an ax and pillage the shores of distant countries. He was tidier than I was used to seeing him, having buzzed his hair and trimmed his normal five o clock shadow. My stomach dropped at the sight of him.

Uthred had a bad reputation,even for a lycan. That reputation wasn’t improved by the fact that he had just challenged one of the Kings and gotten his ass handed to him in front of the entire commons room. Everyone just witnessed his humiliation just a little bit ago.

I suddenly realizedsomeone had asked me a question.

It hadn’t been Uthred.

One of the other princes,the shortest one with sandy brown hair and more freckles than was reasonable on a person, was sneering down at me, the smile on his face a sickening accompaniment to his look of disdain. What had he said? Did he ask my name?

“I’m Fiadh,”I said, hoping that was the right answer to a question I didn’t pay attention to.

“Feeeuh?”he asked, both his eyebrows shooting up. “What kind of dumbass name is that?”

I didn’t respond.

I knew betterthan to talk back.

In my firstmonth here at the school, I’d seen a 'Proper Student' cut their initials in another student’s cheek because they didn’t like the way they spoke to them. Mundanes were never considered ‘Proper Students’. To be a 'Proper Student', you had to have been born in the magic realm and grown up in their messed-up school system.

Being importedmeant you didn’t matter.

“Look at what she’s reading,”The blond man said as he leaned forward over the table, his cracked lips curling into a twisted grin that showed too many teeth. My eyes flickered over the details of his appearance. His hair was cropped unevenly, as though hacked with a dull blade, and strands of it fell over his pockmarked forehead.

I’d noticedthat some of the ‘Proper Students’ didn’t seem to know how, or didn’t care to take care of themselves. They were ragged looking.

The worn leatherof the ragged blond man’s vest creaked as he pressed his weight on his scarred, calloused hands, the dirty nails tapping on the open page of the book. “We have a wannabe monsterfucker.”

I suckedin a harsh breath at the label.

He wasn’t wrong.

I’d rather bangthe monster on that page than any of the monsters standing in front of me.

“Which one isshe dreaming about boning, Rorik?” The redhead to the right said as he crossed his muscular arms, his scarred knuckles ridged and raw from some recent fight. His tangled curls looked stiff, as though they hadn’t seen water in weeks, and his hollowed cheeks gave his face a feral, hungry look.

The crusty blond,Rorik, straightened as he dragged the book off the table, hitting me in the shoulder with it as I flinched to the side. I took the opportunity to grab another napkin off the table, dropping it on top of the dirty steak knife I had in my lap. He held it up, and four of the five of them looked at the page that was open.

“This little monsterfuckerwants to ride a snake,” Rorik laughed. “Looks like you picked the right one, Uthred.”