Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 108376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
I knew all systems were flawed, especially when it came to criminal justice. But I could no longer devote my life to a system like that. It wasn’t who I was anymore.
Then there were those blasted visions of my future in Oreylia, my future with a man who wasn’t the one currently gazing at me lovingly. The visions constantly poked at me, making me question everything about my life and what I should do.
My gaze landed on the stack of spell books spread out on the floor, the handwritten notes and diagrams that Peter had painstakingly spent hours working on. This was the spell to remove Vas’ mark, and I suddenly felt more hesitant than ever. Try as I might to ignore the instinct, I didn’t want to tear this intangible, strange, alive thing out of me. But I also didn’t want to hurt Peter by refusing to let him try his spell. If I did then he’d know I held some kind of affection for Vas and that would hurt him. Even if he put on a brave face like he had yesterday when I revealed I drank Vas’ blood, I knew deep down he’d be devastated.
I lowered myself to sit on the plush rug and picked up one of the pieces of paper to peruse the spell. It was incredibly detailed. Peter had put his all into this and that made me even more reticent to decline his offer.
“Wow, this looks…wow. Those tutoring sessions with Rita are paying off.”
He ran a hand over his stubbled jaw. It looked like at least two days’ growth. “I feel like I learn more in a half an hour with her than I do in a week at St. Bastian’s.”
“Well, you’ll be graduating in a couple of weeks. Then you can spend all your free time on mastering sorcery.”
“I hadn’t really thought about that,” he said, lowering himself to sit beside me and pushing some of my hair over my shoulder. “There’s been so much going on lately I’ve barely given a thought to graduation.”
“It seems unimportant in the grand scheme of things,” I agreed, my eyes going to the line of his jaw, the masculine shape of his lips. I adored everything about this boy. This man. How could it be that our paths diverged? That I already felt myself being torn away?
“Darya?” he asked, a frown forming as he studied me.
I rubbed my suddenly sweaty palms on the fabric of my leggings. “I need to tell you something,” I began, my mouth dry. I tried to wet my lips but it was no use. My nerves had gotten the better of me,
Peter’s expression grew serious. “What is it?”
I drew a deep breath. “Okay, so, while I was in the prison there was another inmate, an elf who could see the future. He offered to show me mine.”
“Oh.” His eyebrows rose. “Did you accept the offer?”
“Yes, and I wish every day that I hadn’t.”
At this Peter gripped both my hands in his, pulling me closer to him. “Why? Did you…does something terrible happen because I can—”
“It’s not that,” I cut him off. “I didn’t see how I die or anything quite so traumatising, but I did see where I go and who I’m with and…” I trailed off, unable to finish. Why was it so hard to tell him this? I’d rattled off the entire thing to Ren today during lunch but trying to get the words out in front of Peter was proving difficult. Maybe I just didn’t want to see his face when I told him.
His hands fell away from mine, a wary look crossing the features I knew so well. “Who you’re with?”
I swallowed what felt like a tonne of sawdust. “You weren’t there,” I whispered and the silence that ensued was unbearable.
When I lifted my eyes I expected to see some form of emotion but his face was wiped clean, his demeanour stoic. “I see.”
Did he? “Do you?”
I watched his throat bob, his jaw flicker. “You’re with him, aren’t you?”
I couldn’t answer the question. It was too painful. “The future isn’t set in stone. I can choose a different path if I set my mind to it.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Peter…”
He lifted one of the pages where he’d written the spell to remove the mark. “Do you want me to cast this, Darya?”
“Yes, of course. I—"
He shook his head. “You’re lying.”
I didn’t deny it because that would be another lie. I rubbed my sternum, feeling all mixed up. “I wish someone could tell me the right thing to do because I’m completely lost.”
He moved closer, pressing his palm flat to my chest. “I can sense it, you know,” he said and I froze, remembering how it seemed as though he could see right inside me. “My magic has been able to hear it vibrating away ever since you got back from the prison. It wasn’t like that before. Before it was quiet but now it buzzes constantly. Darya, what happened in there? Did you…with him…”