Chapter 33
All the titles and lands of Clan Hermit, I muse the next day as I ready my classroom.
King Naethor must really want me captured if he’s offering such a prize.
I run my hand across my desk, the chalkboard behind me.
I pause, gripping the back of the chair and looking out over the seventeen empty desks.
There would’ve been eighteen, had I remained a student.
Every head professor has professors underneath them who rotate teaching the second and third years. This year I’ve been assigned to the second years for three days out of the week. Which will give me plenty of time to begin scouring the academy for information on inking the vessel…
As the bells chime, I shut my eyes and draw a bracing breath.
I look up right as the door opens and straighten away from the chair as the first of my new students enter.
I recognize each of them, but it takes all my willpower not to react as Luren and Dristin enter, deep in conversation, Sorza not far behind.
Alor is one of the last. As they settle into their desks, Luren’s eyes are drawn to me.
She gives a warm smile and a nod, one I have to force myself to casually respond to in kind.
Her attention immediately returns to Dristin, who’s meticulously cleaning his glasses.
Did she recognize me? There is no possible way if Gregor, Twino, and Ren all didn’t.
None of them says or does anything out of the ordinary as I pass between the desks to shut the door.
I intentionally move a bit differently, with a little more sway to my hips and a flourish to my hand movements partially inspired by the ever-flighty Professor Rothou.
When I speak, I keep my voice a little higher and forward, up in my nasal passages only slightly.
It’s a bit more girlish and bubbly than I ever sounded as Clara.
“Welcome, second years!” I clap my hands twice, overeager. “This is going to be a thrilling year as we work on your wielding together. Since I know this is your first class of the year, it falls to me to explain a bit about what you can expect in the months to come.”
Vaduin was kind enough to tell me everything I needed to know this morning over breakfast. Luckily, since he’s my supervisor, us having such a public conversation isn’t suspicious in the slightest. So far, my plan to become a professor is working out perfectly.
“Last year, you fought to earn your place here in the academy. This year, you will strive to impress the clans of Oricalis. As many of you know, but for those who don’t”—I make it a point to glance at the non-noble students—“each clan possesses a certain number of Arcanists as designated by the crown.”
The word “possess” is ash on my tongue. But I carry on anyway.
“These Arcanists assist the clan with various tasks given by the clan leaders.
By the end of this year, you all will have your placements within clans.
It is up to the clans and the crown to decide your placement.
At any point, you might be claimed by a clan, so long as the clan has not reached its allotment of Arcanists and there is no protest or objection from the other clan leaders or from the crown.
“Just before All Coins Day will be the Selection Soiree. During this soiree, you’ll have the opportunity to make first impressions on the clan leaders. So I recommend thinking about which clans you might want to join in advance.”
It’s well known that some clans treat their Arcanists far better than others.
Clans Lovers and Magician are considered to be ideal locations for Arcanists, whereas Tower and Strength Arcanists face harsher conditions due to the duties and culture of the clan, as well as the location of the clan headquarters.
I can almost see many of the students reaching the same conclusion. Being a weapon of war and living with Clan Tower in Cellawyd, located in the heart of the Blood Forests where monsters roam, is less than ideal.
“Then, during All Coins Day, you’ll be carefully observed and assessed by the clans.
You’ll receive invitations before winter break from prospective clans—that you can accept or deny—to go and stay with the clan over the break.
Your Three of Swords Trials results will be given to the High Lords and Ladies of the clans for review.
If not before, you’ll receive your final invitations at the Feast of Cups at the end of the year. Are there any questions?”
No one moves.
“Excellent!” I clap my hands again. “My role in all of this is to ensure that you have the best clan placement possible. Consider me your sister in arms in your mission to end up where you want to be. My door is always open during afternoons on the days I teach.”
The teaching is actually the easiest part.
Vaduin taught me well last year, and I know exactly what he looks for in his wielding, so I can mirror and expand on his approach to tarot.
But I also don’t hesitate to throw in just a little bit of my own flair.
A tiny amount. Not enough to get me caught.
I’ve already had to consider how I’ll ink my cards a tiny bit differently to avoid suspicion.
How quickly it sneaks up on me that by the end of our morning classes, I already care about my students’ outcomes.
Vaduin mentioned over breakfast that I might find I like teaching.
Damn it, he was right. It fits a role I filled with Arina nicely and scratches the itch I’ve always had to help other Arcanists.
I tidy the cards on my desk into a deck and begin to erase the chalkboard, all the while musing over how, if things were different—if the world itself were shaped differently—maybe I would be a teacher and impart the art of magic as I’d learned it. A world less rigid and far more free.
Is that what I want after all this is over? I don’t have a good answer. The idea of “over” is strange and feels impossible. I let out a soft sigh, turn—and then nearly jump out of my skin.
All the students have left save for one: Sorza. The door is closed behind her, and she leans against a desk, arms folded. The woman looks straight through me with a dull expression.
“Can I help you?” I say through a smile in the same cheerful voice.
Sorza strums the desk with the pads of her fingers, tilting her head left, then right. A sly little smile creeps across her lips. “Do you remember last year when Myrion, Thal, and Elorin were explaining the Majors to us for the first time?”
“Excuse me?” I try to give an incredulous laugh, but Sorza speaks over it with confidence.
“They told us every Major had an innate ability. There was the unique power of their card. But also a power they had simply for being a Major, one that needed no card.” She lifts her index finger, pointing at me like a sword directed straight at my pounding heart.
“You could ink any Minor with any ink, so long as you mixed a little bit of your blood. But I never told you what I could do with my innate power. It was less obvious than yours, though. So it took me a while to figure it out.”
I say nothing. Denial would be comical when she’s made it so obvious that she knows. For now I’ll keep a level head and see where she’s going with all this damning information.
“Lies, deception, falsehood…true Justice sees through it all. And I am Justice.” Sorza gives a little bow as her knowing smirk widens to a broad grin.
Out of everyone who could possibly see through my disguise, I never imagined it would be her.
“Though I admit, without my power, I wouldn’t have recognized you, Clara.
” She pauses briefly, and I run through a thousand options for what to say next.
Before I can decide on one, Sorza bursts into raucous laughter that’s almost so loud I’d tell her to hush if she didn’t stop on her own.
“Don’t look so panicked, I’m not going to tell anyone. ”
“You won’t?” I round the desk.
“Why would I?” Sorza’s expression turns as serious as the grave.
“I’ve already been told where I’m going to end up.
Didn’t have a chance to tell you before you decided to go and become Oricalis’s most wanted again.
But that was my Feast of Cups selection celebration…
I’m headed for Fate Hearth to be one of the king’s creepy robed shadows, and Elorin told me all about what I can expect in that role.
” Her tone goes flat at the end in a chilling way.
“It’s not good.” And I’ve seen only a tiny glimpse of how the king treats his Arcanists.
She shakes her head. “She said King Naethor uses his court Arcanists for all his dirty work, and none more so than the Majors he keeps at hand. And now that I know for sure that you’re not actually some long-lost, stuck-up noble—and that my gut is more than a good sense but it’s magically right… you’re my ally. Not them.”
All right, out of everyone to recognize me…this I can work with. Her motivation to be my ally is the same as the other Majors who work for Naethor: how badly he must treat them for them all to hate him.
Sorza folds her arms and locks eyes with mine. “I want in on it.”
“In on what, exactly?”
“You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t working on something big.
I saw what you did to Halazar—what you’re capable of when you’re not pretending to be a student.
You could’ve gone anywhere with that kind of power, but you’re back here.
” She studies me like one would a new deck.
“I want to work with you and, in exchange for my invaluable assistance, you’re going to figure out a way to get me out of going to Fate Hearth. ”
Sighing, I lean against my desk as well, bracing myself on it and thinking. I’m barely keeping my own schemes in order. But she knows who I am. And she’s right, she could prove useful. “I can’t make any promises…and whatever I come up with won’t be easy.”
“I can imagine, since you’re someone who’d rearrange their whole face to escape the law.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “I’ll do my best.”
“Good.” Sorza nods. There’s no arguing or pressing the matter. She takes me at my word because she knows it’s not a lie. That is true power right there.
“Since we’re working together, I need something from you,” I say.
“Already?” She whistles. “You do move quick.”
“I’ve a lot going on.”
“What is it, then?”
“I need Thal. They’re in their third year, and I’m a new professor.
I’ve no reason to call them that wouldn’t seem odd, and sticking out is the last thing I need.
But you can still access the Majors’ retreat with ease.
Can you get them to agree to come here without it seeming weird to any of the other students or professors? ”
“I’m happy to.” Sorza doesn’t ask why, she just pushes off the desk with a definitive nod. “Give me time to work it out. Thal and I weren’t exactly close, so it’d seem off if I moved too quickly.”
“Thanks. Time is of the essence.”
She nods and starts for the door, pausing before she opens it. “It is good to see you again. I really am glad they didn’t get you.”
I nod, agreeing on so many levels.
With one more smile, Sorza leaves, and I turn back to my desk. I take the deck I was using to teach and place it into one of the drawers, clearing off the rest of the paper and pens with it. Just as I lock the drawer, the door opens.
“Did you forget—” I’m silenced the moment I lift my eyes. They meet a familiar pair, but not Sorza’s.
Kaelis.