Chapter 81
*Jiselle*
The circle beneath my feet pulsed with old magic.
Runes carved into the stone flickered like veins under my boots, threading out in every direction. I could hear the low murmur of students and council members from above, the echoing ring of weapons clashing in distant trials, and the faint but unmistakable hum of something ancient unraveling beneath my skin.
The moment I stepped into the circle, I felt it.
The pull.
The call.
Like the mountain itself recognized me.
And it wanted more.
Instructor Sira’s voice echoed across the trial pit, crisp and clear. “Next combatant: Jiselle Johal.”
I didn’t flinch. But inside, everything tightened. She hadn’t done that with everyone, which was… weird. Did she know what I was?
Of course she did. It was foolish of me not to think she didn’t just because I have never seen her. She is the instructor for gifts. The Council must have given her at least a heads–up.
Across the ring, a girl stepped in–tall, muscular, one of the second–year transfers from a southern pack. Second year?
I wasn’t supposed to be challenging a second year?
They knew. They most definitely knew.
I saw the rage on Ethan’s face when I saw him. But Nate was nowhere to be found.
She rolled her shoulders with easy arrogance, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth.
They weren’t pairing us by rank. They were pairing us by politics.
She was fast. Experienced. Probably handpicked to draw my power out.
The moment the trial bell rang, she lunged.
I barely had time to duck. Her claws sliced through the air above me, catching a strand of my hair. I twisted, rolled, brought my dagger up–but she anticipated and blocked it, then struck again. The crack of metal against stone rang in my ears as ! dropped low and swept her legs. She jumped, then landed hard and kicked me in the ribs.
The crowd reacted.
They always did when blood hit the floor.
I coughed, staggered back, and steadied myself. My vision pulsed at the edges. She was strong. But more than that–she was relentless. Testing me. Drawing me out.
I knew what they wanted.
They wanted to see if the rumors were true. If the mark on my chest meant what they feared it did.
The power stirred again–hot, silver, dangerous. It flooded my chest, my hands, and for a moment, my vision whited out. No. Not yet. I gritted my teeth and shoved it down.
The girl lunged again, faster this time, and I barely blocked her strike. The blade of her dagger grazed my thigh, slicing clean through the fabric. Pain bloomed. The crowd gasped.
I gripped my own dagger tighter. My hand was slick with blood.
“Fight back,” she hissed under her breath, loud enough only for me. “Show them.”
My heart thundered. I could feel Sira watching me. I could feel the council watching me.
And higher up–behind the arc of runic shields–I could feel him.
Nate.
His gaze burned across the chamber, a tether between us even in the noise and chaos. ‘You’re not alone,‘ he said in our mindlink.
ik:– simlo–don’t forget the plan. The real plan starts after this.’
Chapter 81
The runes beneath us exploded with silver light.
The girl froze.
The air shifted.
The audience fell silent.
And then-
A deep, resonant hum echoed through the mountain as the symbols around me–around only me–lit in concentric rings. The light spilled upward, crawling along the stone walls like vines, casting everything in a silver glow.
My dagger glowed in my hand.
My eyes burned.
My power–the power I’d been holding back–rose.
Not in a flare.
Not in a scream.
But in a pulse.
The girl stumbled back. She didn’t speak. She didn’t move. She just looked at me with wide eyes full of something close to
fear.
Instructor Sira’s voice came next, quieter this time. Controlled. Almost reverent.
“Ethereal.”
And just like that–everyone knew.
There was no hiding now.
A murmur swept the crowd like a wave. Even the Council members leaned forward, their masks of indifference slipping, if only slightly. Some of them looked intrigued. Others… afraid.
Councilor Veran, the same woman who had watched me like prey, stood and walked to the edge of the chamber. Her hands curled at her sides, eyes locked on me like I had become her personal apocalypse.
Nate was already moving–heading down the arena steps toward me, his jacket sweeping behind him. He reached me just as the glow faded.
“You okay?” he murmured, eyes scanning me.
“I’m fine,” I said, though my voice cracked. “But they know.”
He nodded once. “Let them.”
Before I could say more, Sira approached, eyes fixed on me with an unreadable expression. Her tone was calm. Too calm.
“The council would like to proceed with the Blood Oath,” she said. “You’re to be escorted to the north corridor.”
Nate stiffened beside me. “Now?”
“Immediately.”
My heart plummeted.
We weren’t ready. Trial were still going on. The blood oaths were supposed to be done after the trials.
But I knew this wasn’t a damn blood oath for me only. It meant the council came to an agreement regarding my fate.
I was too dangerous. I was too much of a threat. I would be executed.
Students parted the way as I walked with Nate. We had someone just become the most revered and feared pair in the academy, and even the instructors knew based on how they too dropped eye contact as we walked.
Instructor Hadelyn, who has been quite since Nate threatened him, glared at us both, in pure raw hatred and… envy?
A rare, powerful Alpha and a one in a thousand–year Luna. The world would definitely see us as a threat. “You will need to get away,” Nate whispered, gripping my hand.
Not yet.
