Page 49 of A Curse So Cruel (Fated Mates of Shadowbone Academy #1)

Chapter Thirty-Three

~ Shade ~

“ C ome now, girl, where’s your sense of direction?

” Elgen scolds me as she leads me back the way I came and toward the dining hall.

The shadow has been acting like a disappointed mother since she and Tarlaz found me wandering the corridors, but honestly, I’m chuffed. I’d almost made it there on my own.

I’m still distracted and smiling when I walk into the dining hall.

“You know, if I hadn’t taken that one wrong turn, I would have made it here by myself,” I tell the shadows proudly as I stride past the closest table.

I’m vaguely aware of students staring at me, but they’re not Kenzie, so I don’t pay them much attention.

“Stop, girl,” Elgen hisses urgently in my head. “You’re causing a scene.”

It’s only then that I remember everyone thinks I’m missing. Oh righhhht. Well, that explains why the students look so surprised. Turning up, especially while wearing a silk gown is sure to draw attention, but it doesn’t explain why they look so terrified.

“Well, well, well, it looks like you haven’t leashed all your students,” a masculine voice jokes. Despite the humor, his voice isn’t exactly kind. If anything, it sounds more like a joke someone cracks when they’re trying too hard to be the funny one of the group.

I finally glimpse Kenzie who’s sitting at another table close by. There’s a worried look in her eyes, and she tips her head to the dais.

Following her gaze, I snap my attention to the other end of the room, and my stomach drops. Multiple figures stand there, including all the academy professors, and seven other individuals I don’t recognize.

In the middle of the group stands a woman with long white braids that are twisted together into a high bun, and a regal expression on her flawless bronze face.

She’s dressed in plates of silver armor that gleam in the flickering firelight, and every inch of her visible skin is inked with intricate black tattoos.

Shadows writhe and twist in the air around her, tendrils curling around the jagged edges of her blackened steel crown, and now that I’m paying attention, I can feel her power reaching out to me from across the room.

Oh crap. She watches me, her shrewd gaze laced with equal parts bemusement and curiosity.

“Don’t tell me,” I whisper in my mind to Elgen and Tarlaz. “That’s the shadow queen?”

“Queen Krosia in the flesh,” Tarlaz confirms.

“And the others around her?” I prompt.

“The six other originals,” Tarlaz explains.

“Yeah, I was afraid you might say that,” I mutter. The originals stand there like dark gods, all of them strapped with weapons like they’re the death squad of the shadow realm. Which, I guess, they are.

I slide my gaze to Raith and the others. They stand straight, their gazes glued to me, and all four of them look absolutely, positively furious to see me. I lift my chin a little higher, still angry at them and glad that I’ve ruined whatever horrible plan they had for me.

“Apologies,” Knox says formally, addressing the queen.

“I’ll take care of her.” As he finishes, his shadows shoot across the room, winding around my waist and roughly depositing me onto an empty seat at one of the back tables.

The air rushes from me at the sudden movement, and I squirm, glaring at him when I’m seated.

“Hey!” I protest before remembering who’s on the dais and snapping my mouth shut.

“Like I said,” Knox says to the queen. “Many of the students aren’t ready.”

Ready? Ready for what?

Queen Krosia continues to stare at me, and the smile that slowly crawls onto her face makes me sit still. “No apologies necessary,” she says calmly. “There is always chaos before order. How long has this student been here?”

When Knox doesn’t immediately answer, the queen turns her head, and her piercing stare bores into him.

“Not long, your highness,” Knox replies gruffly.

“You mean she’s one of the latest batch of recruits?

” questions one of the other originals, an abnormally tall woman with pale skin and a massive ax resting on her hips.

She reminds me of a sketch of a viking woman I’d seen in a history book once.

“I’m surprised you haven’t managed to break her in yet. ”

Again, there’s silence from Knox.

Queen Krosia narrows her eyes. “What aren’t you telling us?”

Galen gives the queen a dazzling smile. “She was a late arrival, your majesty,” he explains.

“How late?” the queen asks.

“She arrived days ago,” Knox says, no longer looking at the queen but at me.

“Days?” Surprise lifts the queen’s features.

I have no warning about what happens next. The queen’s shadows come at me blindingly fast, and then they’re on my body, sinking into my skin like worms digging into wet soil. I gasp at the strange sensation of tiny teeth chewing into my body.

My gaze goes to the guys, but Thane, Galen, Raith and Knox simply stand there looking disinterested.

Knox I expected, but the others…? Raith even has the audacity to chuckle under his breath like he finds the whole situation amusing, and my chest pangs.

What had I expected? I might be the one person destined to destroy them and make us lose the war.

If anything, they probably think the queen is doing them a favor.

From the beginning they’ve called me their ‘toy,’ and I’d simply been too hopeful that Thane and the others would change their minds after finding out we’re mates.

Like a true romantic at heart, I’d stupidly thought that somehow, we might all still get our happily ever after.

But now I see the truth. I’m nothing to them, and whatever their happily ever after is, it doesn’t include me.

I feel the queen’s shadow worms digging into me like they’re trying to access my mind, and it reminds me of what I’d seen Thane do to the runaway student, Alexander.

Is the queen trying to access my memories?

My panic rises. What if she discovers I’m fated to Thane and the others, and she kills me on the spot?

What if she learns about my relationship with Blake and that causes other issues?

Or what if, her only intent is to erase my memories and send me back to the human realm for being a disappointment?

The questions barrage my mind, but there’s one thought that overrides all else.

Gosh, and why do they have to feel like worms!

Even as a crow, I’ve never liked them. If anything, that probably should have been an indicator that I wasn’t a real crow.

I mean, it’s not like I hate the creatures for what they are.

They’re great for the soil and all that, but I can’t stand them on me, slithering and wiggling around, and I definitely never enjoyed eating them.

I tried one once and couldn’t even choke the poor thing down.

The shadows aren’t quite the same thing, but instinctively, I want the worms off me.

Power flows from my academy ring, zapping through my system like it’s searching for all the worms, and a single word crackles through me, “No!” The magic is chaotic and wild, and pain makes me bend over, bracing my hands on the table in front of me, but the shadow worms stop digging.

They all freeze at once like they’re following my silent command.

I brace myself for the queen’s next assault, but it doesn’t come. Instead, her shadows slowly detract, sliding from my body and returning to her.

Thane frowns at me before averting his gaze.

I expect the queen to be furious, but when I peer at her, she’s smiling broadly with her pearly white teeth on display. “They may not be ready, but they are promising,” she muses, and the way she says it makes it seem like the comment is more to herself than anyone else.

I lean back in my chair, my chest heaving as I continue to grip the table in front of me. Her shadows might be gone, but the sensation of them inside me lingers, and I can’t shake the horrible feeling.

The queen beams at Knox. “This settles it, the hunt begins at sunrise, and all must participate.” Her gaze goes to me again. “Especially that one. I think we’ve found our Token.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I send to Elgen and Tarlaz. “Did she just say ‘hunt’?”

“She did, girl,” Tarlaz replies.

“As in, some sexy man is going to hunt me down in the forest and ravage me like in all the good books, or a hunt as in, ahhh run for your life or you’re going to die?” I ask them.

“The latter,” Elgen replies dryly. “A hunt as in you’re the Token, otherwise known as the sacrificial lamb and prize of the game.”

“Sacrifice?” I groan inwardly. My gaze flicks to Galen and the others but none of them are looking at me.

“Yes, and we won’t even get to see the entertainment,” Elgen adds.

Before I can ask why not, Tarlaz says, “We can’t exit the academy building and you’re right about one thing, girl, the hunt will be in the forest.”

“There’s usually a hunt when we get close to another graduation.

It’s a game of sorts, to weed out the weak before the graduation games begin.

Typically, only the strongest students are forced to enter.

The student who slays the Token gains favor with the professors, showcasing their strength, and they are guaranteed a place in the graduation games.

However, it is strange for the queen to suggest the hunt take place now.

Graduation is normally still months away,” Elgen says.

“As you wish,” Thane tells the queen, dipping his head. He doesn’t look happy about the hunt, but he doesn’t protest at the idea that I’m going to be sacrificed. In fact, none of them do.

“Oh yes!” the original who cracked the joke earlier jeers. Piercings run along the length of his head, and he’s easily as buff as Raith, though not quite as handsome. “This will be fun,” he adds with a psychotic smile.

I try to remind myself the queen and the originals are the good guys. That they’ve literally spent centuries protecting the realms, but all I can think about is how many students might die in the hunt tomorrow.

…And that the death toll will include me.

I feel numb. I’ve gone from thinking my mates might actually accept me, to the harsh reality that I never meant anything to them.

“This is it then, child,” Elgen rasps. “Unless your pitiful combat skills have magically improved, you’re done for.”

“Gee thanks,” I mutter sarcastically. “Wait, what do you mean? I thought you said I would be sacrificed? Do you mean, there’s still a chance I could survive the hunt?”

Neither Elgen or Tarlaz respond right away.

Eventually, it’s Elgen who speaks. “For every hunt there’s one Token.

It’s usually the weakest student in the academy.

They’re given a fifteen-minute head start, and then everyone else gets to begin.

Theoretically, if the Token can find the relic before anyone ends their life, they win their immunity and the game is over. ”

I groan, thinking of how slow I was in Thane’s physical training class. “A relic? And how many times has a Token found the relic in the past?”

There’s another stretch of silence. “None, child,” Elgen replies grimly.

“None?” I squeak.

“You forget the part where the Token is the weakest member,” Tarlaz points out. “And aside from that, finding the relic is a near-impossible task.”

My stomach drops. “Oh.” Then another thought occurs to me. “But I could leave the academy, right? I could say the words to end my enrollment. Sure, I’d lose my memory, but it’s still a way out, isn’t it?”

Elgen is the one to break the bad news to me. “Not now, child. The queen has personally selected you as the Token. There’s no way out of this for you. Not unless you find the relic.”

On the dias, there’s more laughter and jeering from the originals, but I tune it all out.

“Best of luck, Miss Shade,” Tarlaz rasps in my head.