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“Dix? How ’bout you?” Bear asked.

“Yeah, my parents said I can come,” D.C. said. “It was easier to convince them since your dad’s a Warden”—This also happened to be one of the main reasons Alex’s parents were so accepting of her request to leave the safety of the academy— “but I think they’re a little nervous, especially with you-know-who running around out there.”

Alex snorted into her glass of water and her friends turned to look at her.

“Sorry, your words just surprised me,” she said.

“Well, I can’t exactly shout his name in the middle of the food court, can I?”

Even though she knew the question was rhetorical, Alex couldn’t help but chuckle and say, “Next you’ll be calling him He-Who-Must-Not-Be—”

“Good evening, students,” interrupted Zain’s deep voice as he approached their table. “Alex, do you have a moment?”

She nodded and stood to her feet. The other students had become more used to his intimidating presence, but he was still a sight to behold, especially when he did something as normal as walk through the food court. Plus he was decked out in full warrior gear as per usual, including his sword and various other weapons strapped to his belt, along with his bow and quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder.

Alex mentally shook her head as she followed him out the doors and away from the buildings. She had no idea what he’d been thinking with his intention to remain anonymous. But for whatever reason, no one had yet learned of his origins—as impossible as that was. Were they blind?

“What’s up, Zain?” Alex asked when he brought them to a halt near the edge of the forest.

He took in her curious expression and said, “You’re such an enthusiastic young mortal. I only wish your eagerness to find answers would overlap into your Combat training.”

“Don’t start that again, Zain,” Alex said in a frustrated voice. “Just hurry up and tell me what you want.”

The Meyarin had cornered her a number of times over the previous weeks to find out why she wouldn’t attempt to access the power of Aven’s blood in her veins. He couldn’t understand her aversion to the idea, even when she continued to remind him that her Combat class was made up of decidedlyhumanstudents who would notice if she began to kick their butts to kingdom-come. Their differences of opinion had led to the two of them arguing until they’d agreed to disagree. Or, that was Alex’s standpoint. Zain continued to believe she would change her mind if he bugged her enough.

“What’s your rush, little human?” he asked, leaning casually against a tree. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you didn’t want to be seen with me.”

She was unimpressed with his annoying, but not unexpected, big-brotherly attitude. Over the weeks their relationship had developed to the point where he’d begun to deliberately antagonise her, just like any sibling might do. His jovial and carefree attitude made it easier for her to not fear his daunting power, but at the same time, she’d never had a brother before, and now she knew first-hand just how irritating they could be.

“You might have all the time in the world, but I have to get to SAS in ten minutes,” she told him. “Start talking, or I’ll start walking.”

He laughed at her no-nonsense expression. “You’re so much fun to be around when you’re all snarky like this. King Astophe was right about your spunk.”

“Zain…” she warned.

“All right, all right,” he said, rolling his eyes before turning serious. “Roka wanted me to update you.”

This wasn’t the first time the prince had passed a message along to her via his guard. Alex appreciated the communication more than she could say, since she hardly felt worthy of the royal Meyarin’s attention, let alone his continued sharing of information.

“Okay, shoot.”

Zain smirked and, in the blink of an eye, he pulled his already strung bow from his back, notched an arrow, and let it fly. A bloodcurdling scream filled Alex’s ears and she whipped her head around to see Skyla facing them with her back pressed flush up against a tree—almost two hundred yards away. The girl was frozen in shock, and Alex realised why when she saw that Zain’s arrow was embedded into the tree’s trunk at the crease where Skyla’s neck met her shoulder.

“Zain!” Alex hissed incredulously. “You could have killed her!”

The Meyarin snorted. “Please, Alex. Give me some credit.”

Right. He was Meyarin.

But Skyla didn’t know that.

Alex hurried over to the terrified girl with Zain ambling slowly behind her.

“You’re all right, Skyla,” Alex assured her classmate, yanking the arrow from the tree and shoving it into Zain’s hands. “You’re not hurt or anything. You’re fine, see?”

Skyla’s frantic eyes jumped from Zain to Alex and back again. “You—You tried to kill me!”

“It was only a warning.” The Meyarin waved away her accusation. “I don’t tolerate eavesdroppers.”