Cruel Magic (Royals of Villain Academy #1)(26)

Shelby ducked her head, but with a smile. “Yeah. The five of us seniors in the music program, I think we’re putting on a short concert at the end of term. What about you guys? What are you studying?”

Oh. Er.

“Biology,” Imogen rolled off her tongue, answer at the ready. “Mostly human.”

“Like, medical stuff?”

“I haven’t been able to specialize that much yet, but yeah, heading that way.”

A fearmancer healer? That was interesting. Shelby turned to me, and I grasped onto the one subject I knew I could talk about with university-level depth. “Environmental design. Which is basically like architecture, except you’re focusing on how places are going to look on the inside. Or the design of outdoor areas like gardens or whatever.”

That’s what area I’d thought I was going to get into before all of this craziness had happened, anyway. The breeze picked up, and I hugged myself against the chill.

“That’s cool,” Shelby said.

We lapsed into silence again. A twig snapped under my foot, and a shiver of energy pierced my chest. I stopped with a jerk.

“What?” Imogen asked.

“I just…” I didn’t know what I’d felt. I peered into the darkness between the trees. Some small creature rustled in the brush. Then everything was quiet again. “I guess I’m just jumping at shadows,” I said sheepishly.

It wasn’t that I’d been scared, though. The sensation had felt almost like… like that moment on the landing when Malcolm had realized I wasn’t going to back down easily. The brief tremor of fear that had turned into power at the base of my throat.

Was it coming from the other girls, anxious about wandering along here in the night? But everything I’d learned said any power I gained had to be fear that I’d provoked directly.

I paid close attention to my internal reactions as we walked on. After a minute, a softer tremble reached me, one I might have missed if I hadn’t been waiting for it. My toe hit a particularly large chunk of gravel, and as it rattled across the shoulder, a volley of tiny quivers pricked at my sternum. Something scurried away deeper into the forest.

The realization clicked into place with such a rush of relief I almost laughed out loud. I was provoking fear—in whatever forest animals were close enough to hear us passing by. It was a subtle effect. They weren’t terrified of us, but we definitely made them nervous. Imogen must be feeling it too, or maybe she was so used to larger whiffs of fear that these little tidbits barely registered.

“Actually, hold on a second,” I said. As the other girls paused, I left the road.

I only ventured a few steps between the trees, but that was enough to set off another round of fearful glints. I drank them in, my heart thumping a little faster with the faint buzz of energy collecting behind my collarbone.

I had power. Maybe not a lot, and maybe not enough to defend against everything this school wanted to throw at me, but more than I’d had before.

“Rory?” Imogen said.

“Just checking something,” I said quickly, and hurried back. Before either of them could think too much of my weird behavior, I jumped into a new line of conversation. “So, what’s the best place to get a drink in town anyway?”

“There are a few places that are pretty decent,” Imogen started, and we spent the rest of the walk discussing the features of the various town eateries and our personal favorite drinks. I was abruptly grateful for the handful of parties I’d gone to with my former classmates to have some idea what my options were.

The trees thinned, and the town came into view up ahead, the streetlamps beaming brightly. We wandered past a couple of residential streets and then onto the main strip. Imogen glanced into a bar with a glossy black sign and made a face.

“Well, we’re skipping that one tonight. The scions always stake it out when they head down here. It’s run by a Blood U alumnus.”

In the amber light on the other side of the window, I made out a whole lot of familiar faces lounging in a few of the booths. That explained why our dorm’s common room had been so empty tonight.

Malcolm had Victory perched next to him, stroking his forearm as he said something to Jude, who laughed and slung his arm around the shoulders of a girl who’d been in at least one of my classes. Cressida and a couple other girls from our dorm were squeezed in with Connar and another guy, throwing back shots.

My gaze caught on a sweep of black hair. Declan was tucked into the back of Malcolm’s booth. He raised his lowball glass to his friends with a small smile.

A pang echoed through me as I jerked my eyes away. It might be stupid to have counted on anything from a guy who’d been part of the attack on my parents’ house, but part of me felt abandoned by him.

“Where to, then?” I said, picking up my pace to leave Declan and the others behind.

Imogen pointed out a more modest-looking pub a few blocks down the street. We’d just reached the door when a jolt of panic hit me.

“I’ve never actually gone out to a bar before,” I admitted. “Are they going to check my ID?”

“You don’t have a fake one?” Shelby said, patting her wallet pocket.

“No problem.” Imogen gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “I’ll take care of it if they ask. I’m very good at distracting bartenders.” She winked at me.