Page 226 of The Blairville Legacies

I hadn’t had any control over my gifts since my strange power outburst next to the aquarium, which must have been due to the crystal on my neck being shattered from the inside.

This fact had had me searching Moenia’s library and teaching floor for any information on thecontrol stonesa good five minutes ago, but time had simply been too short to find anything helpful.

“Amanda drove me,” Vivienna snorted, earning a reproving look from Gloria.

“All the bad manners in this family come from your grandfather!”

Then Gloria looked at me as if she was referring to me, even though I had nothing to do with this family.

Whenever she looked at me like that, I had to be careful not to suffer a tremor. Because every time she was down here, it felt much colder than when I was here alone, even though this woman definitely had no influence on the temperature.

Telekinesis worked independently of the temperature and also did not affect it.

“Next time, I’ll let you know differently that you’re late. You have duties to fulfill.Both of you!”

Again, she looked from Vivienna to me and I looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

She seemed to be in a good mood today, because no objects had flown toward us, at least not yet, and Vivienna hadn’t been disciplined yet. But that was probably coming soon.

“I hope that at least you’ve cemented the knowledge you’ve learned in the last few hours, even if one of you does like to cut herself off from her duties.”

She walked past us both, toward the altar, where she took the gray robes and tossed them to us. She herself was already wearing her floor-length white robe with silver embroidery, which made her look almost elven. Only she was the complete opposite of an elf.

“I had appointments,” Vivienna hissed and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

I remembered the last lesson with Gloria. We had beenalone. It had felt like torture.

My hands suddenly began to shake...

Come on Julie... Come on. Just control yourself.

“I’m sorry if I can’t be likeMiss Perfectover here.”

Vivienna squinted at me, her gaze disparaging.

I didn’t envy her living under the same roof as Gloria Westcode, but Ididenvy that she wasn’t currently any better with her magic than I was.

But I was far from perfect, especially now, with my broken crystal.

To be clear, Vivienna was miles ahead of me in combat, and even though I had used my powers for the first time when I was six, when I hadn’t been supposed to have any powers, they had only returned later and Vivienna had been miles ahead of me by then.

The only thing that got me Gloria’s attention was my ability to control myself and everything around me with my air powers.I always hit the exact speeds and made the maneuvers on the first try, which made me excellent at Tempesta. But none of the Quatura understood that this meantnothing. Vivienna would forever believe that I had it better than her, but she didn’t know the price I was paying for it.

Gloria ignored Vivienna’s last words.

“I don’t care if you have appointments, girl, as long as you’re here when I want you to be, and you have your magic under control.”

“I have...”

Gloria wheeled around to face her granddaughter with anger. “You don’t!”

Vivienna fell silent.

“We both know that your emotions control your powers, not the other way around. And emotions are poison for your elemental powers.”

Vivienna now also looked down.

Whenever I had lessons with her, I always felt sorry for her. It washer own grandmotherwho treated her like that. And if she was perhaps treated the same way at home, then that explained a lot.