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Everyone started to shout at one another.

An alarm shot through me, as if something alien had brushed me. My gaze snapped to an egg-sized crystal ball in the druid’s hand. The crystal ball pulsed seven shades and colors.

The druid’s eyes widened, darting a loaded glance at me then staring at his crystal ball again.

“Can it be?” he whispered.

“What did you see?” Mistress Ethel asked curtly.

The druid leaned over to her in an inaudible whisper, yet my superior hearing caught it all while everyone was still lashing out at each other, screaming and cursing. “The crystal shows that this boy has godly essence.”

“But the gods are dead or left.” Mistress Ethel regarded me, cruel and disdainful calculation fogging her icy eyes. “It can’t be him, can it? He’s but a wild, stupid servant boy.”

My heart sank further. There were rumors about Ruin, my father, but no mortal or immortal had learned about him and lived to tell the tale. Had something changed while I was here?

“They say one of the original gods remains,” the druid whispered back. “The boy is more than meets the eye. He wears a glamour unlike anything I’ve seen. If he’s the demigod we’ve been looking for…”

Greed shone in Mistress Ethel’s eyes, which snagged on me like a serpents. Now she and the druid wanted me for a different reason, which had nothing to do with the murder case. They’d want to lock me up and experiment on me until they got every drop of the godly power they thought I harbored out of me.

Mist of Cinder was no longer safe for me.

“I’m taking Little Bob into the custody of Shades Academy,” Mistress Ethel shouted over the clamor. “This is a serious matter that I won’t take lightly. The Veil weakened after he came through it to Mist of Cinder, and that provided a window for the abominations to get into our realm. Outside the Veil, five hundred acres of land were scorched and blackened, the magic drained. The timing also aligns with the servant boy’s unlawful entry. If the blight reaches Mist of Cinder, there’ll be no realm left for us. We believe, somehow, that Little Bob triggered the blight and brought danger to our realm.”

The manipulative fae headmistress pinned all this on me without knowing it was actually true. But I was a bigger liar than her.

“Oh yeah?” I snorted. “You think a low servant boy like me is that mighty, My Lady Headmistress? Am I also responsible for the fading of magic centuries before I was born? Should I be blamed for the rise of human technology that also caused the weakening of magic in all the cities as well?”

Lots of threatening growls came my way, but I shrugged them off.

“I’m not the threat,” I said, looking around then focusing on the princes. “But if you’re the shit as you try to show everyone, you should prepare for the real threat, because it’ll be coming for your realm. Those abominations that tried to get through the Veil? They’re nothing, but it’s a sign that you should all pay attention to.”

I shouldn’t have revealed even that, but it might never be the right time to tell them that Ruin, the ancient evil god, would find this realm and come for them. It was a matter of time. If he got his evil hands on this land, he’d drain the magic here, and supernaturals would go extinct.

There would be nothing left.

I might be a great enemy to the realm, but I was also their best defense. The wild magic knew it, so it was trying to form a kinship with me.

These arrogant supernaturals had no fucking idea that their world was going to burn with all the worlds while they were busy competing to display their powers.

Never, ever be arrogant, I told Sy.

Save your breath, Sy said. I’m not the one you should lecture.

“What threat are you talking about, Little Bob?” Rowan asked, narrowing his eyes. He seemed to take me more seriously than the others, even though I was still a servant boy in everyone’s eyes.

“This insolent servant hides a dangerous secret,” the druid said, “so dark even my crystal can’t pierce through it. He has the darkest aura around him.”

“Oh, shut up,” I said. I grew tired of their interrogation, and I wanted to move on to the next stage, my escape plan in place. “Whatever you came to do, just get it over with. I have somewhere else to go.”

“Take him!” Mistress Ethel barked.

26

A flash of starlight accompanied by blistering, icy wind slammed into the sentinels and tossed them away. They tumbled over each other and rolled on the ice, but they threw out their magic in time to prevent them from falling over the edge of the floating ice rink.

Everyone stepped back as swirling darkness formed around me, encircling me like moving walls and imprisoning me. Not even the other princes could snatch me.

Killian stood between me and Mistress Ethel and her team.