Cruel Magic (Royals of Villain Academy #1)(17)

“Rory,” he said, no stumbling over my preferred name this time. “You’re looking well.”

I don’t feel it, I thought, but I just gave him a smile.

“Are you settling in all right?” he asked as we set off along the path to the Stormhurst Building.

“I think so.” Other than the fact that I’d managed to piss off the school royalty in less than twenty-four hours. A minor detail.

The athletic building smelled like floor wax and a lingering whiff of sweat that apparently not even magical cleaning practices could quite remove. We found Ms. Grimsworth and four other people who I took to be professors, two men and two women, waiting in a huge gymnasium. It looked bizarrely normal with the starkly colored lines crisscrossing the pale wooden floor and the basketball hoops perched partway up the walls. I’d gone to watch a couple of the volleyball games one of my classmates was competing in at my old college, and the gym there had been pretty similar.

“Good morning, Miss Bloodstone,” the headmistress said, her voice echoing off the high ceiling. “Are you ready for your assessment?”

“I guess,” I said. “What do I have to do?”

Her lips quirked into a wry smile. “Not a great deal. The process tests your innate proficiencies. The types of magic we do are divided into four major domains: Physicality, Illusion, Persuasion, and Insight. Knowing where your strengths lie will help us guide your studies. Most students here have one or two strengths. Your fellow scions each revealed three. I wouldn’t be surprised if you show the same.”

So Malcolm and his friends really were the most powerful mages around here. And I’d made enemies out of them in two seconds flat. Nice work, Rory!

“Okay,” I said. “That sounds simple enough.”

“Stand in the circle there,” Ms. Grimsworth said, pointing to a blue shape marked halfway across the room. As I walked over to it, I realized the four professors formed a square around it, each an equal distance from me. I was right in the middle.

I came to a stop in the circle and let my arms hang at my sides, trying to stay relaxed.

“Just take it in and let your body react the way it will,” the headmistress said.

I nodded, and the professors raised their hands.

Each of them spoke simultaneously, their voices blending together as they reached my ears. An erratic quivering of energy raced over my skin from all sides and delved into my flesh.

My body tensed instinctively. Something shuddered inside me, down in the place behind my ribs where I’d reacted to Malcolm’s brief flash of fear yesterday. It whipped up like a whirlwind. For several seconds I couldn’t breathe, the energy burst so forcefully against my lungs. Then it fell away as quickly as it had risen.

I’d closed my eyes without realizing it. When I opened them, the professors I could see were frowning. They walked over to consult with Ms. Grimsworth.

A faint draft raised goosebumps on my arms, and I rubbed them as I waited. Had they seen something about my magical capacity that bothered them? Maybe after having my abilities suppressed for years, I wasn’t on the same level as the other scions. Oh, well. I’d work with what I had. I only needed enough to get the hell out of here.

The headmistress beckoned me over. “Miss Bloodstone,” she said, “it appears we have a rather unusual result. The assessment revealed no effect at all.”

I hadn’t expected that. “No effect?” I repeated, wondering if the words meant something different than they should. I’d definitely felt plenty affected.

“It’s the sort of response we’d expect to see from someone who has no magical ability at all,” she said.

I blinked at her. “But—I could feel something reacting inside me.”

“That might have been simply the magic of the test.”

I didn’t think it was, and besides— “I’ve already used my magic. Yesterday. I… had a disagreement with one of the other students about how he was treating a younger mage. I conjured ice on the floor, enough to freeze his feet to the ground for a few seconds.”

Ms. Grimsworth raised her eyebrows. “Well, then. Do you happen to know which student this was? Perhaps we can get a testimonial.”

Did I want a testimonial? It occurred to me, too late, that maybe I should want her to think I didn’t have any magic. The fearmancers wouldn’t have any use for me then, so I wouldn’t have to stay here, right? But I’d already barreled on ahead. Too late to backtrack now.

“Ah, it was Malcolm Nightwood,” I said, restraining a wince in anticipation of her reaction. “His friends—Jude and Connar—they were there too.” I didn’t know if Declan or my other escorts had been close enough to see what I’d done.

The headmistress only looked vaguely amused. “Ambitious, aren’t we?” she murmured with a little shake of her head. “Well, you are a Bloodstone.” She gestured to Professor Banefield. “Get Mr. Nightwood, Mr. Killbrook, and Mr. Stormhurst down here, will you? I don’t imagine they should be too difficult to track down at this hour.”

I sat on a bench by the wall while we waited for the guys to arrive, and Ms. Grimsworth fell back into conversation with the other professors.

How could I have shown no magic? It didn’t make sense—not to me, and not to them either, obviously. Deborah was proof that even my parents had expected me to develop a power.