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Ready to protect.

By the time Lord and I had covered the entire city of Midgrave, my feet ached in my boots. The blood on my skin had dried, my palms bruised from gripping my weapon.

At least I had something to remember this place by.

Once the attack was over, once we were sure no vampyres survived, we burned the corpses, sending the ashes into the air. I spent the few hours until morning washing the vampyre gore from my clothes, preparing for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, everything would change. Tomorrow, I would have much greater enemies than the vampyres.

Chapter

Five

“Welcome to Moira Seminary. I hope you’re all prepared to die.”

Okay, not the best start to the academy.

I spent all day and night on a train with absolutely no clue where I was headed. I kept to myself, though it wasn’t hard. I was one of the few people on the damn thing. Most fae would come from other places in Vaehatis, not Midgrave. They would take trains from the north, from the kingdoms that actually produced elite-worthy fae.

Midgrave didn’t exactly have an overwhelming number of fae fighting to get into The Golden City. Most fae from back home had lost hope a long, long time ago.

I only saw one other fae board my train—a younger male I had never seen before. He had red hair that reminded me of the sunset, and he looked much too fragile to be involved in something like this.

Perhaps he was trying to escape the dull life that existed in Midgrave. Maybe he thought Moira Seminary was his way out.

Moira Seminary, however, lived up to its expectations. Stunning, ancient architecture with towering arcs of stone and terrifying black gates grabbed my attention as soon as the train escaped the thick cover of the deep green forest. White and gray walls ascended into dozens of massive peaks, creating an intimidating and religious experience as I walked through the front doors with my bag slung over my shoulder.

I had never seen anything so beautiful. Every stone, every detail, was assembled with care. Nothing was left unattended to, even the thick green vines that twisted and sprawled across the arching ceilings.

The place feltalive.

I wandered forward, following the dozen others who had traveled in on other trains from neighboring kingdoms and appeared just as clueless as myself.

But all of that beauty and awe vanished when a woman walked through the massive arched doors at the end of the hall. Her dark skin and piercing green eyes drew me toward her like a drug. She commanded power, demanded respect. There was no doubt in my mind that she was the one in charge here.

“Hello, recruits. I take it your journeys here were comfortable enough?”

I glanced around the room. Nobody answered.

“Quiet.” She clasped her hands before her. “Good. The last loudmouth that came through these doors died the first day.”

The first day? She was just saying that to scare us, right?

“My name is Headmistress Katherine. You can call me that, or Headmistress, but not Katherine. You’ll address the rest of the mentors here with respect, as they can end your time at this academy with zero reasoning at any time at all.”

Again, the room was silent.

Headmistress Katherine smirked. “Follow me.”

We obeyed, silently trailing after her. My back ached with the lingering pain of Lord’s whip, only amplified by last night’s fighting and the long train ride.

I didn’t see the angel again, though I spent half of the night looking for him. Not for any reason, of course, other than the fact that angels were incredibly rare.

And a fallen angel in Midgrave? It wasn’t normal.

I thought about telling Lord, but what was I going to say? That I let a fallen angel save my life? That I needed help out there against the vampyres?

No, I didn’t need to give Lord any reason to pull me from this mission.