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They blinked several times, and then they went back to what they were doing like nothing had ever happened.

That last part didn’t happen normally.

People remembered, and then they were pissed at me for a long time afterward.

Ariana caught my eye and winked.

She must have added something to the spell.

A very minor memory wipe.

My gut twisted.

She hated violating free will, but she’d just basically done that now—all for me. All because of me.

I saw Kai register what had happened.

But all I was seeing from him was pride at what she’d done.

That she’d both protected me and used her power like a boss. She was much more comfortable with it after she’d gotten control during that implosion outside Solumira. It had shifted so much for her.

As she came over to us, I brushed past Kai, intending to leave.

“It’s all okay now,” she told me, there so quickly and stepping into my path. Or maybe I was moving so slowly in some sort of daze after what had just happened. “It will hold all class, so you don’t need to worry. You can just focus on the lesson.”

“I… I can’t. Not after what you had to do for me. I know how much it pains you to—”

“Shh,” she said, stroking my arm. “You didn’t make me do it.

I made the choice on my own. And I’ll handle it.

It was a very slight mind-wipe with absolutely no damage caused, nor any alteration whatsoever to the choices any of them will make, no threat to their agency.

In fact, given the situation, what I did was actually resetting the balance. ”

“I… that’s…”

That did make sense.

“Still, I should just—” My words caught in my throat as I saw Vorzyr standing there in the doorway.

He was glaring out at me. Not angrily, but determinedly. He was in a powerhouse, no-nonsense stance.

I felt a push at my mind from him.

I allowed it and opened carefully.

But he didn’t speak into the mind-link he’d just initiated.

Instead, he fed me a memory.

“Because my head wasn’t clear today, I accidentally infected several students with my allure.”

“There are worse things they could be infected with.”

“It’s not the point.”

“You didn’t take advantage of them in the midst of that, did you?”

“No. Of course not. That would be a major violation of consent.”

“Then no harm, no foul.”

“That’s not exactly—”

“This is a college for supernatural beings learning how to control their abilities and perfect them to an extreme degree. I find it hard to believe that other being’s powers don’t leak out all over the place either. It’s par for the course, part of the learning experience.”

The meaning behind reminding me of our conversation that day wasn’t lost on me for a moment.

And then his voice in the immediate moment did sound in my head.

“Stay. You belong as much as any of the rest of them. We’ve been helping Ariana to stop allowing fear to lead the way. Practice what we preach, right?”

I sucked in a breath.

“Get back in there. See you right after class, Luscious.” He winked at me. “Or do you prefer babe? We’ve never really discussed that. I’ve reserved Luscious for your name in our texting interactions. But I can definitely bring it beyond that.”

Despite everything, his flirting had me chuckling.

It was just so inappropriate given the circumstances. Not Kai-type inappropriate filled with extreme dirtiness. No, it was unapologetic, balls-to-the-wall Vorzyr-esque.

“I’m down with it.”

“Excellent. Enjoy your class. Got something time-sensitive to attend to. Catch you later. Sooner than you think.”

He closed the mind-link, then winked at me, gave Kai a chin lift, then blew Ariana a kiss, before disappearing down the corridor and heading off.

Sooner than you think.

What was that about?

Kai wrapped his arm around me. “All right now?”

“Yeah,” I murmured.

Ariana stroked my cheek. “All is well. I promise.”

I sank into it for a few moments.

Into them.

And then I managed to pull from it with the help of Kai diverting the subject matter, as he asked Ariana, “So, how did it go with the big family get-together?”

She brightened as she told us, “It was good. Really good. My mom was working hard to keep things open and honest. We had a whole ridiculously extravagant feast.” She chuckled.

“Oh, they go big. So big. And then we talked. We talked a lot. Grandfather feels so guilty and he’s putting so much of the burden on himself.

I think I managed to talk him down, but it’s hard to tell with him, because he doesn’t put a lot on the surface.

Fortunately, Gramps is really good at dealing with that aspect of him.

” She let out a peaceful sigh. “All in all, it was leaps and bounds of progress. And it was really nice. Especially with all of them being there.”

“Yes, it was rather pleasant, wasn’t it?”

In the next moment, Gabriel materialized in a burst of amber teleportation smoke.

Jeez.

It had me jolting and inadvertently pulling back from Kai and Ariana in my surprise.

His thick, white spiky hair was a shocking contrast to his all-black ensemble.

His three-quarter-length coat with leather lapels and cuffs was embellished with silver buttons.

Beneath was a turtleneck and tailored black pants.

He was barely over five-foot-ten, all compact muscle.

In human years, he was in his forties, but really he had centuries under his belt.

“Gentlemen,” he greeted, looking at me and Kai in turn. “Granddaughter,” he said, shifting his attention to Ariana.

She chuckled and he winked at her, a moment of familial intimacy passing between them, before he then stiffened and became all business, telling us, “Now, to focus on this challenging session before us.” He eyed Kai. “Yes, it will even pose a challenge for you, Kai.”

We all gathered in a semi-circle before Gabriel, this class consisting of a dozen students only, including Kai, Ariana, and me.

Magic-wielders, including those of Dark Fae and Light Fae gathered with us.

I was the only hybrid.

Par for the course with Maven Academy.

Not for much longer. Thanks to Crossborn.

“Welcome to Apex Magic Theory and Practical Application,” Gabriel spoke, his voice booming through the room, not with force, but with a deep-rooted confidence.

“This first class is The Nature of Mastery.” He linked his hands behind his back and glided up and down in front of us, making eye contact with each of us in turn, holding our attention almost effortlessly.

“Mastery is not merely the means to wield great power. For wielding power without understanding is a fool’s approach.

It invites both weakness and corruption.

” The corner of his mouth turned up as he caught Kai’s eye.

“Power without knowledge is a very dangerous thing.” That had me smiling, too, because I knew it was Gabriel who’d taught Kai that, something he lived by really well.

He’d had to come to Maven Coven in the past to assist when Kai had proven a tad arrogant with his abilities as a kid.

Gabriel had managed to help calm him and he’d taught him to see things in a safer way.

Gabriel continued on, “Throughout this course, you will grow your knowledge base. However, today, we will focus on something perhaps even more vital—restraint. Understanding when to employ it, how to employ it in a range of scenarios, as well as how much.”

In the next moment, Gabriel called his amber magic, then brought his hands together, uttering an incantation that definitely had roots in ancient languages and magic.

Very carefully and slowly, he pulled his hands apart, bit by bit, creating a shimmering amber prism that grew and grew, until he thrust it forward just feet from us and it hovered before all of us, spanning over thirty feet.

“This is a Harmonic Attunement exercise,” he informed us, as we all gazed out at it.

“You will each channel your magic into this prism, however, you must do so without disrupting the balance of each other’s individual power in the process.

This will measure your restraint, discipline, control, and also precision. ”

He stepped back and dropped his hands, then gestured at the first person to his right of the semi-circle. It was Nexi, a member of the Dark Fae clique, standing next to their leader, Kelsana, with the third, Zephyra, on her other side.

“Begin,” Gabriel instructed her. “The goal is to infuse your magic within the prism, to fill it up, but not to alter the outer walls, nor change the size or the shape.”

She fiddled with her pastel blue pigtails that were a shocking contrast to her deep red glittering romper. Although, with what I’d seen of her, shock value in the appearance department was kind of her thing. Good for her.

In the next moment, her magic, the color of her hair, slowly gravitated toward the prism, like whispers of glowing smoke seeping through the air in a controlled linear path. She went for the top right corner of the prism, filling a small part of it up with her magic, then holding steady.

“Next,” Gabriel spoke.

Kelsana took a different approach, making a performance out of it as she spun, then twirled her hands, the right one emanating indigo magic and spiraling in dance-like movements toward the prism.

She headed straight for the middle—of course she wanted to be front and center, it was her whole personality.

I’d be down with the confidence of that if it hadn’t been marred by her really believing only she deserved that honor in everything.

Cliques… not the best thing for anyone clearly.

As her magic filled up the prism, it started sparking, and she cursed.

I saw Kai shaking his head at her theatrics.

“You are favoring form over function,” Gabriel told her. “Focus on the root of this exercise.”

Her cheeks reddened a little, obviously not liking that she was being called out and that her performance had failed her.

She did manage to stabilize her magic, though, with taking Gabriel’s advice.