Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“I don’t like being told what to do and when to do it.” I yank the crystal out and fling it at the glass wall. It clatters uselessly against the runes etched into the stone. In a blink, it’s back inside the front of the book. I glare at the stupid Pathway Codex. “Maybe I’ll burn it.”
“You could try and even if you figure out how, I wouldn’t.” My eyes narrow on the girl and she pushes into a sitting position. “It’s the only way out of the dorm.”
I scan the space again. Of course. No doors.
Magical books. School uniforms. Rules. Bossy brothers.
The thought of them makes me think of him and my breath hitches. I roll my ankle to see if I can still feel that dead girl’s shirt I stuffed inside my boot before Creed tricked me into a chat. I can’t bring myself to toss it, but it’s not because it has his scent on it.
I just like it. End of fucking story.
Pursing my lips, I study the blouse and skirt again—gold and black for the Stygian bloodlines, I bet.
I tear both into strips, one for a makeshift bandolier to hold my knife. The other for a gag if some “professor” won’t shut up.
Elena sighs. “Or…you could look like a half normal gifted, put on the extra uniform in your wardrobe and try to make a friend.”
I pause. A friend?
She must be Argent-born. Gross.
Doesn’t she know friends can leave—and then what?
Daft gifted girl.
I stare at her as the last harbinger of compromise. She looks back, unflinching, but there is an unmistakable hint of uncertainty in her eyes. Like she knows I’ll bite if pushed.
Or if I get bored.
Maybe she’s smarter than I thought.
Fine.
Maybe a-not-friend but person whose name I know can help me get back home before all hell breaks loose. And it will, but it’s like the royals don’t care. Odd, considering the island is a place no one is allowed to leave, but whatever.
Throwing the doors open to reveal the extra uniform, I actually try it on. I roll the skirt around my hips once, twice—still disgusting, but at least it’s functional now and won’t restrict my legs if I have to crouch or spring.
The top is a no for me. But the black jacket hanging behind it isn’t so bad. I cut the bottom off just below my tits.
I smile at myself and turn to Elena.
She grimaces but nods. “I mean…better?”
I roll my shoulders, feeling the ghost of King Legend’s claim tug at my bones.
Almost.
“Ready?” she asks.
At my nod, she snaps her fingers, and the wall dissolves in a pulse of magic revealing two portals.
I look to Elena. “Now what?”
She frowns and steps up to the one across from her. “Did you pay attention to nothing back home?”
My grin stretches slow, and her expression grows wearier by the second. “Do you not realize where I’m from?”
Her frown deepens and a legit giggle bubbles up my throat. “Okay, if you didn’t pick up on it at that little announcement show, that’s your bad. You’re the one who has to sleep in the same room as me…” I cluck my tongue. “Maybe this is going to be a little more fun than I thought.”
“What does that mean?” she whispers.
My smile grows and I spin around, putting my arms out. “See you later, roomie.”
I fall into the portal, head-fucking-first.
Chapter Nine
Haide
The world spins sideways, then inside out. Magic tears at my skin like it doesn’t want me here either, which is fair—I wouldn’t let me in if I were them.
But then, that’s what makes it fun.
I crash to the ground like a meteor in heat.
Stone slams against my knees and palms, a shockwave of power whooshing through the lecture hall the second my body hits the floor. Gasps echo around the chamber—sweet, startled sounds—and it takes me a full second to realize I’ve landed right in the center of the room. Dead center. The eye of some shiny, sculpted hurricane of stunned silence.
Tables arc around me in clean concentric rings, tiered for maximum judgment, and every seat is filled with someone who looks like they’ve never seen a girl drop out of hell before.
Lucky them.
I pop up with a grin.
“Well, this looks like it’s going to be as boring as I assumed it would be.”
No one moves. Not the professor, not the students, not the glowing board behind me with floating notes mid-lecture. The only sound is a single rune quill that clatters to the ground near the front row.
I pick it up, and flick it back to the wide-eyed boy it belongs to.
“You dropped your stick.”
He doesn’t catch it. It bonks off his chest and rolls across his desk.
Someone snorts behind him.
A silver-haired girl narrows her eyes at me like she’s trying to determine if I’m diseased or just…uncivilized.