Page 7 of Storm of Shadows

He’s going to do what the fuck he wants to me. But I won’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

“Fine,” he says. “I’m going to find out anyway. Your name and the name of the piece of shit that did this to you.”

I blink. Confused by his words. Still waiting for the first blow.

Or worse …

But then he’s rolling off me and stumbling up to his feet.

His pale eyes glimmer in the darkness, flickering over my form, lingering on my face.

“Don’t hang about, sweetheart. There are monsters out here,” he whispers, and then he turns away and disappears into the swirling mist.

Chapter Three

Beaufort

I leave the girl lying on the cold hard ground and stride away.

My heart slams against my ribs and a million thoughts hurtle through my mind, but I walk away, the magic sparking in my fingertips.

Five minutes ago, adrenaline and excitement hurtled through my body, my magic hardly containable. Tonight is our night. Our opportunity to prove to the scum from the rest of the realm exactly what they truly are.

Pathetic.

Our opportunity to show them just how powerful, just how mighty, just how fucking awesome the shadow weavers are.

Just how grateful they should be.

I’ve dreamed about this moment for as long as I can remember. For as long as I’ve known about the ritual of the first night at the Firestone Academy, when rules don’t apply and actions have no consequences. A chance to establish the order of hierarchy for the next twelve months. To lay down our laws.

I should have rubbed that girl’s face in the dirt. Forced her to eat the stinking mud. Made her lick it from my boots.

I should have given her a taste of my magic, made her writhe in agony, beg me for mercy.

This scum needs to understand how powerful we are. They need to understand why we are the ones who rule this realm. Why we are the only ones who can protect them.

And she is scum. Like the others.

Isn’t she?

I shake my head. Trying to dislodge her from my head.

A thick soup of mist hovers above the ground. It dampens my hair and my skin and smothers the sound. But I know where I am. I can feel the academy waiting for me on the horizon. I can sense the others lost in the swirling mist. Shadow weavers and common scum among them. I can sense magic rocketing and shooting through the air. I can smell the fear.

It’s not too late. The night has only just begun. There’s still time – plenty of time.

Except I’ve lost my appetite for it now.

I have no desire for it at all.

Instead, I trudge over the land, under the trees, towards my new home.

And all the time, it continues in my head. Over and over again.

That vision. That flash of something.

Something when I looked into her eyes.