Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2)(36)

“No,” I said, turning to face him. “You should be angry, too. What is the point of putting your Oracle in danger to prove that your Paladin knows her stuff?”

At that, Alexander sighed, straightening one of his cuffs. “Mr. Stark was never in danger,” he told me. “The situation was closely monitored, I assure you. Had you failed in your task, the Oracle would not have come to harm.”

I didn’t even know where to start with that, so I latched on to something else he had said. “Monitored by whom? And I smelled gasoline, so what’s up with that? Can’t you just, like, magic up some fire?”

Alexander flicked a strand of hair from his forehead, and I got the feeling he was rolling his eyes at me, like, in his soul. “The details of how we conduct these tests is not your concern.”

I moved closer, my shoes tapping on the hardwood. “You keep saying ‘we,’ but I gotta be honest, I’m only seeing you. If you’re going to do stuff like set a building full of kids on fire, I’d kind of like to talk to your supervisor.”

“Harper,” David said again, but Alexander held my gaze.

“As far as you are concerned, I am the alpha and omega of the Ephors, Miss Price. You do not dictate the boundaries of our tests, and there is no one you can talk to above me, I assure you.”

I shook my head and said, “School should be off-limits. Period.”

“Hmm,” Alexander said, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head. “I see. So when you protect the Oracle from people who may want to hurt him, there will be places in this world that are off-limits? When some despotic ruler learns there’s an Oracle in the world, ripe for the taking, if he approaches you at, say, your family’s home, you’ll simply inform him that this is not one of the agreed locations where an Oracle may be in danger?”

Faltering, I shook my head. “No, it’s . . . it’s not like that, but if it’s only for a test—”

“The tests are meant to assess your readiness for real-world situations, Miss Price,” he said sharply, all trace of that lazy elegance gone from his voice. “If you cannot be ready, then you cannot be a Paladin. This is not a hobby or an extracurricular activity.”

I wanted to argue that, but nothing I could think of seemed to work. He was right, and, ugh, I hated that so much. Still, I could at least try to get him to fix some of this mess.

“Fine,” I said. “You’ve made your point. Now if you could please”—I waved in his direction—“rustle up some magic or whatever so that my principal forgets that I hit him and my parents don’t freak out, I’d appreciate that. Ryan’s Mage skills are apparently on the fritz.”

But Alexander gave a tiny, elegant shrug. “They’re not ‘on the fritz.’ They’re gone for the time being.”

“What?” David asked, coming up to stand beside me, his sneakers squeaking on the hardwood.

“Gone,” Alexander repeated. “A simple ward I myself was able to create to keep Mr. Bradshaw from using his magic to assist you. It isn’t as though that particular use of magic benefited the Oracle.”

I swore I could feel my heart skip a few beats. Next to me, David scoffed, throwing up one hand.

“It benefits me plenty. Him helping Harper would help me. So let him do his mind-wipe thing, and let’s—”

“No,” Alexander said, his voice icy. He began to walk down the stairs, footsteps silent on the thick carpet. “Miss Price needs to learn that you cannot magic your way out of every obstacle. You hit your principal to save the Oracle. That’s what you should have done, but now there must be consequences. Being a Paladin means accepting the consequences that come as a result of doing your duty.”

Seriously afraid I was going to throw up, I clenched my hands. “So you chose to set one of the trials at my school, and now I’m probably going to be expelled, and there’s nothing I can do about it?”

Alexander sniffed, coming to the bottom of the stairs. “You’re a clever girl, Miss Price. I’m sure you’ll think of something. The Mage’s powers do not exist in order to make things more convenient for you.”

Please, I thought, but wouldn’t let myself say. Please don’t tell him.

Alexander’s eyes remained on mine, and while I didn’t think he could read my mind, I had a pretty good idea that he knew what I was thinking.

But that didn’t stop him from saying, “We removed his powers because he was using them to stifle the Oracle’s visions. An instruction you gave him, I believe.”

The hall was so quiet I could hear my own heart racing, could hear David suck in a surprised gasp. “You were doing what?” he asked quietly, and I turned to face him.

My clothes still smelled like smoke, which was probably why my eyes were stinging as I said, “We were trying to help you.”

But David was shaking his head, backing away from me. “You used Ryan to keep me from having visions?”

“No,” I said, walking toward him. The sun coming in the big front windows had turned his hair lighter, lining him in gold. “No, you still had visions, but not ones that were big enough to hurt you.”

I could see David’s throat working, and I hated the way he was looking at me.

From behind me, Alexander gave a sigh. “Well,” he said, “it would appear you two have some things to discuss.”