Chapter 1 #3
“I hereby banish you to the mortal plane until I am satisfied that you have been sufficiently punished. You will lose all of your powers and abilities and live as a human.”
Oh, she thought, relieved. That didn’t sound so terrible.
“Or—” the High Commissioner said, letting the word punctuate the silence of the chamber and hang there, suspending the attention of everyone gathered.
A cold chill of foreboding washed over her.
“Or, should I say, you will live mostly as a human.”
Nadja forced herself to look up. What did that mean? The High Commissioner fixed her with a razor-sharp glare and smirked.
Oh. Oh. Fuck.
“As part of your punishment, Nadja Stonebreaker, you will still be subject to the same hungers.”
“Your Grace!” Halphas protested loudly from the gallery.
“Silence!” the High Commissioner shouted. “You will experience the same hungers, but have none of the gifts that make them easier to sate.”
It was the worst punishment imaginable. She’d imagined spending a year in the tower or being placed on a cleaning crew for a century. Perhaps writing “I will not leave a soul behind” a million times on a blackboard. But not this. Anything but this.
She’d have to touch the humans to feed. She’d have to—oh, gods, she was going to be sick.
“Your Grace, I beg of you,” she began, struggling to stand. Her knees buckled in terror, and Halphas swooped down from the gallery, his huge wings spread wide, gripping her under her elbows, holding her upright.
Her ears rang and her vision was blurry from her tears.
Her breath came in stuttered gasps, never enough, and she thought she might suffocate.
She was dimly aware of Halphas yelling at the High Commissioner, of a loud din of shouting from the gallery on both sides of the hall, the Stonebreaker clan protesting loudest of all.
But then she felt the ground sliding beneath her feet, dissolving really, until it disappeared altogether and she found herself on the floor once more.
She looked around and saw that she was in the art studio again, lit by moonlight, soft beams spreading across the space in long lines through the windows.
The room was silent except for her ragged breathing.
Everything was exactly as it had been earlier.
The easels, the piles of sketchbooks. The smell of turpentine and charcoal.
Eugene’s canvas, red with purple splotches over it now. He was gone, his station tidied.
Everything was exactly the same as it had been, except for her.
She forced herself to stand, noting how much easier it was now than before.
But of course it was. She didn’t have wings.
As she gained her feet, she rolled her shoulders, feeling naked for the first time ever.
Her body was smaller, balanced differently, and she clung to the side of a worktable for support as she took her first shaky steps in her new, human form.
Her skin was covered in goosebumps from the chill of the room, another unfamiliar, unwelcome sensation.
She needed to find clothes. Humans didn’t run around naked. At least not all the time, anyway. And then she needed to find somewhere safe to plan her next move. Her knees went weak as a wave of hunger and exhaustion rolled over her. She clutched the end of the table. She needed to feed.
Nadja squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth, anger rising hot and bright in her body.
She was a Stonebreaker, for gods’ sake. She was a subject of Halphas, Earl of Stonewall and Commander of the Twenty-Six Legions.
More than that, she was his friend. And yet none of that had been enough to save her.
Outside the window, people talked loudly, their chatter punctuated by whoops and shouts.
She went to the window on trembling legs.
Outside, lit by the streetlight, she saw a group of students wearing togas making their way across campus.
She heard the word “party” multiple times.
It just so happened that one of the two times Halphas had taken her to Earth was during the time of the ancient Romans. She knew what happened at a bacchanal.
Food—her kind of food—would be plentiful, and she doubted she would have to work hard or long to eat.
Nadja looked around the room and saw a small dais with a chaise lounge atop it. A sheet was draped haphazardly over the back.
She stared at it and sighed, allowing herself to mourn for her small room at the Stonebreaker keep, with her trinkets and puzzles. Just for a moment, though, because she wasn’t there and she wouldn’t be again for a long time. She was here, wherever St. Ailbe University was.
With a sigh, she made her slow, shaky way to the dais and pulled the sheet of the chaise.
By the time she had it folded and draped around her body, her legs felt more solid, more acclimated to gravity, even if the hunger was cavernous within her.
The was bad, but she’d survived this long.
She was a Stonebreaker. She wouldn’t let this break her.
“Feeding first, planning second,” she said to the empty room.
Squaring her shoulders, Nadja took a deep breath and left the art room to find her second toga party.