Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6) - Lan Chan (libby ebook reader txt) 📗

some time ago, because I couldn’t feel any residual emotions from it. What I felt was a biting sense of apprehension as all around me, everyone unscrewed the top of the blood vials and began to use them to write the Angelical words.

My heart ached. Once, this kind of thing would have been considered highly unethical. And now they were all scrambling to master a field in a semester that usually took high mages decades to perfect.

Sitting rigid, I tried not to shudder as the first of the Angelical words were completed by those around me. Sasha slapped his hand down on the word in front of him and it glowed to life in a pale red that reflected off his face. And then, one by one, all around me, others did the same until the room was a throb of red dots. A field of protection wrought by fear.

“What’s wrong?” Anastasia’s voice cut through my contemplation. “A little too close to home?”

While I’d been focusing on watching the others, I hadn’t realised that the instructors were roaming about the room, checking work and giving assistance.

“I’m not ready for this,” I said plainly.

She gave a humourless laugh. “What’s a harmless little word compared to everything else you’ve already done? Don’t pretend to be all meek now.”

Who gave her permission to step into my space anyway? Isla craned her neck around. There was a smudge of red on her cheek. Her fingers were stained too. She raised a brow at me.

“Thanks,” I told Anastasia, “I’ll keep it in mind.”

I wasn’t naive enough to think that she might lose interest and move on. Crouching in front of me, she placed a hand down on the cement floor. As I watched, soft hairs appeared as they made the fluid transition between hand and paw. Her claws pricked out and dug into the cement, breaking its surface with barely any pressure. All of the hairs on my body stood up. Inside my head, a centuries-old instinct screamed at me to make myself small so she wouldn’t think I was worth it. At the same time, something within the pool of my alchemy snapped its jaws, wanting to lash out and wipe the smug from her face.

Ice. I was an iceberg. I might melt at the sides a little, but my core was frozen solid.

“There’s no point being here if you’re not going to try,” she said with her mouth. Her eyes said that the moment I proved myself to be a threat, those claws would sink into my neck and I would be gone.

The high road was long and treacherous. I’d taken it so often that I knew every pebble that rolled in front of me. That still didn’t mean that I had to like it.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll try harder.”

The slow grin that dragged the corners of her mouth up did nothing to light up her too-blue eyes. Against the navy long-sleeved T-shirt she wore, they were mesmerising. As bitter as it was to admit, she was freaking stunning.

“You can keep pretending to be harmless,” she said. “I don’t buy it for a second. And when you finally slip, I’ll be there.” Her hatred of me refused to allow her to see the paradox in her assessment of me. I was both weak and evil, depending on how she wanted to rationalise it.

“You might have to get in line behind Noah.” Her gaze flicked over my head and her jaw clamped like she’d forgotten he was there. I only allowed myself to breathe when she was halfway across the room.

Behind me, Dev let out a breath. “Man, she’s really got it in for you.”

I snorted. “Really? What gave you that impression?”

“Have you thought about knocking her on her ass instead of burrowing into your shell?”

“Has she thought about not being a bitch and hating me for something that isn’t my fault?”

“Touché.”

I spent the rest of the class just staring at the Angelical still hanging suspended in the air above me, trying not to allow my heart to fill with hatred that these words that were meant to save us now had taken away my best friend in the first place.

With only one class for the day, I decided to stop by Jacqueline’s office to see if I could somehow convince her that I could help out in the infirmary. Noah had regressed to following behind me again.

“Just out of curiosity,” I asked, my voice raised, “if Anastasia were to attack me, what’s the protocol for you?”

He was quiet for a while. Probably contemplating it. And then, “There is no conflict. During this kind of mating ritual, there’s always some blood spilled between candidates.”

In other words, if I got my face ripped off, he wouldn’t do a thing about it. Nice.

Thankfully, we reached the building where Jacqueline’s office stood. Alex wasn’t at his desk today, either. If I hadn’t seen him the day before, I would have started to get concerned. Raised voices filtered out from Jacqueline’s office. What made me pause was that it wasn’t a feminine voice. It was the low baritone of a male shifter.

“What’s Charles doing in there?” I asked. I had wondered where he’d gone. He was supposed to have been in my last class. And then I heard the whine of another voice that had me stepping up to the door.

“I don’t want her to see me!” Cassie snapped.

“I don’t know if you shoul–” Noah started to say. Of course. His heightened hearing would have allowed him to make out what they were saying and not just the general timbre of their voice. Shoving the door open, I took a single step and paused.

Charles and Luther were huddled around Cassie on the guest chairs in front of Jacqueline’s desk. The headmistress herself was leaning on the table, an unreadable expression on her face.

They turned towards me in unison. I met Cassie’s bleak eyes, and she must have seen something besides the delight in mine, because suddenly, she burst