Chapter2

"What kind of apology do you want?"

Clara froze for a moment, clearly not expecting me to turn the question back on her. She recovered quickly and lifted her chin. "Kneel down. Sign a master-servant contract, and become Elaina's magical familiar."

I didn't answer her. My gaze slid past her and settled on Elaina instead.

Elaina kept her eyes lowered, wearing the look of someone who had been wronged yet was still holding herself back out of patience. A scheme this petty and cruel didn't seem like something Clara could have come up with on her own.

I looked at her and smiled. "This was your plan, wasn't it?"

Every eye in the hall turned toward Elaina.

She looked up sharply, her eyes rimmed with just the right amount of red. "Sister, what are you talking about? I only wanted someone to teach you our customs out of kindness. Why would you accuse me like this?"

"Kindness?" I repeated the word slowly. "But looking at you, I'd say you'd rather see me dead."

Her pupils contracted. Her lips moved, but no words came out right away.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

It was then that Clara stormed up to me, stopping less than half a step away. "Are you deaf? I told you to kneel and apologize. Didn't you hear me?"

I didn't even look at her. My eyes stayed fixed on Elaina's face.

In the corner of the hall, the enforcement tutor responsible for keeping order merely glanced over once, then looked away again. A little "scuffle" like this had never counted for anything here.

Being ignored sent Clara over the edge with fury. She threw her hand up, and a ball of orange flame flared to life at her fingertips.

"Who do you think you are?"

The fireball burst from her palm and grazed past my right cheek. The wave of heat curled a few loose strands of hair by my ear, singeing them black in the air.

I didn't move at all. I kept watching Elaina.

Clara stood there holding that ball of fire, her whole body stiffening for a second, as if she hadn't expected me to show no reaction whatsoever.

Elaina finally spoke up, gently tugging at Clara's arm. "Clara, don't do this... my sister has only just come home. It's only natural that she hasn't learned our noble customs yet."

She bit down on the words "just come home," saying them softly and lightly, as if reminding everyone present that I didn't truly belong here.

Only then did I turn my head and glance at Clara.

I plucked the singed strands of hair from beside my face, looked at them for a moment, and gently blew the ash away.

"Is that all you've got?"

Clara frowned. "What?"

"The fire," I said. "Just that much?"

Her expression changed.

I lowered my eyes, and beneath the hem of my skirt, my fingers moved slightly. A thread of grey magic slipped out silently, crawling along the floor, and coiled itself around Clara's ankle.

The grey mist rose for an instant in the air, then sank down into the folds of her skirt.

Just as Clara opened her mouth to say something else, a sudden cold numbness shot up her calf. She frowned, glancing down at her own leg.

"Clank—"

A sharp sound rang out from up ahead.

The crystal goblet slipped from Roderick's fingers and shattered against the floor tiles. Wine splashed across one leg of his trousers.

His face had gone pale. His eyes were fixed on my left hand—fixed on the exact spot where that wisp of grey mist had just vanished.

He recognized the shape of that mist.

Nobody who recognized it had ever slept soundly again.

I looked up and smiled at him.

He staggered back half a step and hit the pillar behind him.

Elaina sensed that something was wrong and turned to Roderick with a frown. "Prince Roderick... do you know my sister?"

Roderick didn't answer. His eyes were fixed instead on my bare right ear—the seal had loosened the moment the earring shattered, and that scent had already begun to seep out.

I said softly to him, "Your Highness."

Just two words.

His face went from white to ashen blue.