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I couldn’t tell you why I did it. I hated most people, but I didn’t hate people I didn’t know. Usually, five minutes with them was enough to decide they were boring, unintelligent, and impertinent. I listened to some of these people ask questions and it was enough to know I already hated them.

I couldn’t believe my parents let me get kidnapped. They knew how I felt about touching. I didn’t even like them touching me. I wasn’t a hugger. Some people thought it was rude that I refused to hug them when they wanted, but boundaries and my own comfort were important.

While my stupid brothers were off learning about the art of warfare, I was actually living in the current era. Yeah, you could send people to die for you, but there was no guarantee you’d win. Unless you were smart and figured out everything was online now. And if you used that to your advantage, you could get into anything.

Which is why I whipped my phone out when the gorgeous redhead mentioned her insulin. I shouldn’t have given a shit. I could end up talking to her and she could be irritating. She might be one of those people that chewed too loudly.

I shouldn’t have even given a shit, but I set a program on my phone to search for the Bluetooth connection on hers. I didn’t peep on her texts and photos because I wasn’t a pervert. If she wanted to take selfies in her underwear, that was her business. I wouldn’t judge anyone for doing that. Not everyone was born rich and people paid a lot of money for that.

No, I figured out which app was connected to the continuous glucose monitor I could see peeping out at the bottom of her sleeve. It was a weird feeling. I didn’t know her. I shouldn’t even care. She seemed to have a handle on her diabetes and was pretty vocal about her needs.

She didn’t need me creeping on that, but I just felt better if I could see there was nothing wrong. I didn’t even know why that was so important to me, but I felt better once I could check in on her.

Right, back to this absolute cluster fuck. If my parents just let them take me, they might disown me if I left and tried to go back. And I would just not be disowned before any of my dumber brothers. If you asked me, Phillip should have been kicked out of the family ages ago.

A very serious-looking man who hadn’t really asked any stupid questions so far and had mentioned he was supposed to be at Oxford right now shot his hand up. I might actually tolerate this one. He was polite and didn’t seem like a moron.

“I’m sorry, but what exactly are these trials? Are we meant to be in fist fights with witches and vampires?”

That sounded horrifically mundane. You couldn’t tell someone’s intelligence level and whether they deserved a place at university by their ability to throw punches. Florin was an excellent boxer, but a complete moron.

“Yes, I was getting there. That’s not what the trials are. The land around the castle will be divided into four quadrants. You’ll be given a map. Crystals are very important for magical work. There is one hidden in each quadrant. You’ll have to find all four crystals to complete the trials.

“The students on the supernatural side will be putting obstacles in your way. And we say this every year and there’s always one team who ignores it. This isn’t a competition with other teams. You’re competing against the students trying to trip you up. There’s always at least one team who tries to sabotage everyone because they think it will make them look better.

“You have to find the four crystals before the timer runs out, not be the first team to find them all. There’s no need to start anything with the other teams. In fact, it’s generally frowned upon to do so.”

I despised cheaters. It was why I stopped playing games with my brothers as a child.

I had a feeling I was going to hate everyone here except the pretty redhead and the guy who was supposed to be at Oxford.