na

you could hear the flutter of the wi

ace, peeking through her fingers

, bewildered stares of fifty studen

refused to sit next to anyone who didn't hold a family seat on the

did n

my face, scanning for the joke,

he muscles ticking b

believe a

red, high-born predator setti

ng to step around me and continue his climb to

flared wi

e invisible barrier bet

isolation, and I would spend the rest of the term fight

e, his shoulder nearly

and seized h

violent shockwave

like river stones pulle

could feel the sharp ridge of his wrist bone an

ent utte

asp swept thro

regulated by etiquette; physical contact wi

wn at my hand gr

ntracted until they we

his frame-the ancient, predatory pressur

sharp warning ris

vibrating with a low, gravelly

o wrench h

with every

r, using both hands to clasp his f

atched

ling hot over my face while

d glare and a sharp word

dais, her spectacles slipping down her nose. "What is the

n't l

head back so I could look directly

an urgent, gentle murm

stand the third runic matrix on Foster's syllabus. I need

pathetic lie I

to memorize the first four matrices

t that-Sterling's charity case has arrived. Careful, Gian

on of a Council minister, lounging in his seat wit

ce hardened

es intensified, not dir

ngineered this to

lent tug, but I ant

rd me, using his own momentum to drag him off bal

ftly, the tone leaving no

ice as st

power, he could have thrown me acro

y paralyzed by the sheer aud

sk, and before he could recover his footing, I pressed my han

seat with a

robes over my lap, and picked up my quill, staring straight

eating so fast

ned with cr

om remained

, agonizing seconds, her eyebrows raised so

it, and finally gave a sharp,

and through the air to illuminate the first diagram. "And anyone who interrupts my

the air fel

feel his gaze cutting into the side o

hite-knuckled fists on his knees, radiating disbelief,

quill into t

eath the desk, my lips curved

e was c

t in the

right