Chapter 29

29

Icouldn’t breathe. The air caught in my throat and I clawed at it. Oh, God.

Bile rose to burn my insides. It wasn’t possible.

Mike’s best friend…had been killing people? Roman was my friend too. He’d been there since day one, laughing with us, studying with us, eating every meal across the table from me with a smile on his face.

How had I not known he was a shifter?

He caught the look of shock and horror on my face and chuckled.

“Oh, come on, Tavi, you have to understand,” he began, taking a step forward. “Being here is a big deal for me. I need to protect my interests. There are certain things you don’t know about me and the life I’ve lived. You think you’re the only one who has to take a potion to hide their true nature? Like you’re something special?”

Roman was much larger than me. He had eight inches of height and more than one hundred pounds of muscle on me on a good day, when I was in fighting shape. Now I’d lost weight with my inability to eat anything other than salad and fruit.

I’d felt the snap of his teeth break my skin. Oh boy. Memories slammed into me about the pain from those bites. What would he do if he got his hands on me this time?

“You’re not special,” he stated. “I know a dozen half-shifters who have tried to escape using the Fae Academy. Dozens more who tried to fight their way into Faerie.”

Me? Special? Nope, not at all.

“If you’re a shifter, then how did you and Mike even meet each other?” I asked to stall him.

Roman shook his head and took a step closer. “Ah, now that is a question you should have asked earlier on. It might have given you an edge for tonight. I knew there was something about you I’d need to watch for. Knew it the second Mike told me he’d helped a girl with her broken-down car.”

“I must be special enough to leave a lasting impression on the prince.” I summoned a smug smile I knew would irk Roman, no matter how Mike and I weren’t on speaking terms.

“Sometimes, when you are powerless, you fall for things that are bad for you just to feel like you have a little bit of control,” Roman taunted. “It’s a classic move. You have a pretty face and a decent disposition. You aren’t one of those simpering tarts falling all over themselves to win his favor. Of course he’d be drawn to you. Like a drug addict.”

“I thought we were friends, Roman.” I knew I had to keep him talking. To keep him distracted while I worked to find a way to break the glamour keeping Wilson and the others trapped and immobilized.

“Keep your enemies closer and all.” To him, it was simple. “I had you in a spot where I could watch you. You didn’t become a threat until you somehow managed to make it into the top ten. Then I knew I had to act.”

Roman was cocooned in magic. I sensed it the closer he got to me. Some sort of protection spell he’d set up before our interaction. Keeping him safe…from me? Keeping him safe from anything.

Sweat drenched my face despite the chill in the air, a product of stress and adrenaline. I shifted my balance and spread my legs to stand my ground. I was the damn top first-year for a reason. I had to believe in myself.

I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Why are you doing this?” I demanded.

“It’s not even about me, not really. I mean, of course I had to make sure I kept my place. But no one deserves a spot at this academy more than Mike,” Roman insisted, conviction evident in his gaze. He took another step forward, closing the distance between us. “I’m doing what I have to do to make sure he stays.”

“Wait, what?” Confused, I said, “Mike is the crown prince. He doesn’t even need to be in the academy. He’s full-blooded Fae and heir to the throne. Why would he have to be here?”

“Oh, but he does need it. It’s imperative. You just don’t get it. Mike is too damn honorable to fight dirty, to scrabble and claw to stay at the top. It’s up to me to make sure he stays. He has to earn his place and makes it through to next year. And I’m sorry, Tavi, but your sob story and mysterious background isn’t enough for me to think you deserve it more than he does. So, you need to die. It’s the simple truth. You’ve jeopardized his position enough already. He’s lost focus because of you.”

Roman clucked his tongue as his words skittered down my spine like a spider. Then his fingers flexed at his sides and the tension between us went nuclear.

I wasn’t talking to my friend anymore, if he’d ever been one to me. I was talking to an enemy. And only one of us would walk away from this.

I didn’t wait for him to continue his speech. All was not well at the Halflings Academy, and now I was more confused than ever. Magic sang through my bones as I called a spell to levitate Roman away from me without doing any physical harm.

The spell snapped like a striking snake. I sent him flying with a blast of power, all the way backwards into the side of the castle hard enough to knock loose bricks and rubble down to the ground.

Strange, it took him less than a second to get to his feet and charge me on a howl.

Yeah, not good.

My heart pounded and my ribs ached with every inhalation. Gradually my brain churned, slowly at first, trying to come up with a battle plan.

I was on my own, but I didn’t need to act like it. Roman had severely underestimated me this entire semester. Now it was time to show him why.

Roman’s spell rocked against me like a shotgun blast before I could dodge it. The rest of the air left my lungs in a startled cry and my heart squeezed itself into a tiny ball as his magic rushed over me. I bent over, cradling my chest, the pain holding me captive. My eyes rolled back into my head.

“Come on, Tavi. Tell me you didn’t learn that spell?” Roman taunted. “Aren’t you the top student? Do you know how hard it was to pretend I needed your help with levitation?”

I used the pain, drawing it into my veins, into the vessels and the capillaries until my whole body tingled with it. With unreleased magic. I threw it back to Roman with a yell and exhilaration lifted me up. Like I had suddenly grown wings.

Yes, I had magic too, asshole. And I was going to use it to crush him.

The blast hit him square in the chest but this time Roman stood his own ground with his arms out to the side. He rushed me again, one leg sweeping out to knock me off my feet. He grappled with me, using his momentum to slam a hand into my supposedly broken arm. Despite the healed bone and the added protection of the sling, it still hurt like hell.

I screamed. The sound pleased him. But he was close enough for me to grab his sweatshirt and smash my forehead into his face.

Blood burst from his nose. “You little bitch!” But he didn’t fall.

Roman roared again. He lunged forward and struck with claw-tipped hands, like the blow of a sledgehammer to the sides of my head, whatever potion he’d used to hide his nature allowing him to shift.

Then the jerk tripped me. He knocked me back, his muscles sinuous and strong, pushing me across the grass and onto my back. Seconds later he dropped directly on top of me, his knees pressing into my sternum.

Then the world decided to crawl sideways.

“What’s the matter? Having trouble breathing? Can’t get up?” Roman continued with the taunts, his thighs tightening.

I raised my legs and hit him in the back with my knees. It gave me just enough room to wiggle out from underneath him. He jerked his head, trying to shake off the sudden pain in his kidneys from the strike, then reared back and prepared to slice me open.

I rose to my knees, slammed my fist into his throat while hooking his thigh with my ankle. Roman toppled. Before he hit the ground, I scrambled back, spinning in an attempt to get away and clawing at the dirt to gain ground.

Roman stared at me, his mouth open, then slid forward and grabbed me around the hips to pull me back. I yelled as my fingers dug into the ground.

“Do you really think you can win?” His voice was low and growling. “I mean, honestly, Tavi. Do you think you have the upper hand here?”

Winning definitely wasn’t on my mind. Surviving, however…

A tingle of awareness shot through me and I knew we’d gotten closer to his glamour skill during the struggle. The undercurrent of his magic ran deep. It would take time to find a back door to it. To break through his spellcasting so I could find a way to release Wilson and the others under his magical thrall. It was time I didn’t possess.

“Let me go, you asshole,” I managed to get out. When I turned around to give him my most intimidating glare, his eyes glowed amber in the darkness.

Asshole wolf slimeball. The same type as Kendrick, the type who thought they could do what they wanted without a care for who they hurt along the way. Maybe Roman believed he did this for Mike but there were other ways to help your friends succeed. Ways that didn’t involve murder.

Roman muttered a spell under his breath, sending me twisting into the air and landing hard on my back for the second time. I skidded a few feet before a tree broke my path.

I saw stars. It was a different kind of pain than the one in my arm, and different too from when he’d pushed me from the balcony.

The stars didn’t want to go away. I still saw them when I turned over on my side, coughing. They were scattered across the lawn and glowing sharply. A contrast to the dark dampness of the grass.

But the one closest to me wasn’t a star.

It cost me precious seconds to understand; the glimmer I saw was a piece of quartz from the exploded crystal ball. I was wearing the same clothes from last night, so shards must have fallen out of my clothing, stuck there even hours after the explosion.

Instinctively I reached for it, reaching for anything I could potentially use as a weapon. After my fingers closed around the chunk of quartz, I realized might not have been such a good idea at all. Would it break Nurse Julie’s potion spell? On second thought, breaking the spell would release my own inner wolf and put me on a more level field against Roman. Because until I could discover a way to break the glamour enchantment, I was on my own.

A heartbeat, then another, and then…the familiar icy coldness. But it was taking too long. Would I have time for the full effect to take hold before I had to fight off Roman again? And if not…what was I going to do with a piece of rock?

Roman leaped into the air, his eyes glowing and a growl cutting across the night. He landed on me and pinned me to the ground. Leaving me no room for escape. The ax was about to fall.

I clutched the crystal and jammed it as hard as I could into the exposed skin of his neck just as Roman tightened his grip, his hulking shape on top of me and holding me down.

The crystal fragment still had fire inside it. The same fire that had caused it to rupture in the first place. I could feel it pulsing in my hand. My only hope of surviving was that somehow the quartz crystal would have an effect on Roman, at the very least weaken him enough for me to get away.

Then his teeth ripped into my throat and the world exploded.