Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6), Lan Chan [free ebook reader for android TXT] 📗

“No,” Jacqueline spat, her temper flaring for the first time. “First you exile her for a crime and then you suggest she repeat it at your leisure. She will not be killing anybody for their essence!”

Agatha leaned forward, her nails like talons as her fingers threaded together. “Sometimes, we have to do things we find unpleasant for the greater good.”

She should probably have air quoted the phrase “greater good.” I had a nasty feeling her definition of good and mine were vastly different.

“As soon as we give in to sinister magic, we lose everything we’ve worked so hard to maintain,” Jacqueline argued.

In other words, they would go back to the days after the dimension wars when the earth was a mess of supernaturals preying on each other and on humans alike.

“What if we opened up the possibility of Sophie learning sinister magic?” Megan suggested. “Perhaps something there will help her.”

“There’s a reason why it’s banned,” Jacqueline reminded the room.

Agatha rapped her nails on the table. “That reason was fear and stupidity.”

“It’s not stupid to protect ourselves against magic that has no limits or constraints,” Orin said.

“In other words,” Agatha scoffed, “Fae aren’t able to access sinister magic and therefore it shouldn’t exist.”

“We can’t access it for a reason!” Orin shouted. “Death is not a thing to be manipulated at will.”

Something had to be seriously wrong if I was agreeing with Orin Harcourt. Something was definitely wrong, because the elite guards made a unilateral decision in favour of Megan’s suggestion.

“If she’s to be trained,” Jacqueline kept hedging, “then she can’t do it in the fens.”

“Why not?” Agatha said.

“Agreed,” Angus confirmed, without responding to Agatha’s question. He gave Jacqueline a long look. She frowned in contemplation.

“If we accept Sophie back at Bloodline Academy, there will have to be safeguards,” she said. My heart beat erratically in my chest. How had this gotten so out of hand?

“Make whatever arrangements you need to,” Angus told her.

“You’re not seriously suggesting she be allowed to return to supernatural society unchecked,” Orin huffed.

“No,” Angus said. “But if she can successfully do what she claims, then we have to prepare for the possibility. That doesn’t mean she’ll be allowed total freedom.”

“What about my parents?” I piped up.

“What about them?” Ivan asked.

“I want to see them.”

The long sideways glances they gave each other had the panic in me rising again. “Where are they?”

Megan’s confused expression made something crack in my chest. “They disappeared before they could be wiped,” she said at last. “We assumed Basil had taken them.”

“I...no. They’re not with him!”

My head swivelled, fear clutching at my gut as I tried to determine whether somebody was lying. All this time I’d assumed they were at least safe. When Andrei couldn’t find them in the human world, we’d thought they had been placed back in the compound. My panic had just about reached boiling point when Max’s voice cut through my frantic thoughts.

“They’re fine,” he said. For the first time, I allowed myself to look him full in the face. The thing that stared back at me was lethally intent. “You’ll be reunited with them during our mating ceremony.”

Well, this was a beautiful disaster just waiting to happen.

7

What got me the most was that nobody in the room reacted to his announcement except the Blonde Shifter. Her eyes went feral gold before she could tame her reaction.

“If she’s to stay in the Reserve then you’ll have to arrange guards for her at all times,” Angus suggested.

“She’s staying in the Reserve,” Max said, his tone immovable.

“Hold on a second!” I shouted above the low hum of conversation. They were already making small preparations for my reintegration. Nobody paid me any heed. “Hey!”

It was the blood blade I threw at Max’s head that did it. The blade sailed through the air, missing his ear by half an inch before embedding in the wall behind him. My blood boiled as a slow grin appeared on his face.

“I’m not staying anywhere near the Reserve!”

“You’re not staying in Morgana, that’s for sure,” Orin informed me.

Victoria shook her head. “She’ll be killed on sight in Cardinal City. The vampires will not accept a blood-magic user.” Of course not. They were cool with drinking blood from an innocent human, but heaven forbid someone might use the blood they drank as a weapon against them. They’d all seen what Lex had done to Andrei in the Unity Games.

Megan held up her palms in surrender. “Seraphina is also out of the question. As is Rivia, given its proximity to the Dominion prison.”

Griff was the only one with the decency to seem apologetic. “The atmospheric conditions in New Alacanthea would be very hostile for you, Sophie. Otherwise you would be welcome at any time.”

“We’ll take her to the fens,” Agatha said.

“No,” Max refused.

“Mind your own business,” I snapped at him. “Why can’t I board at Bloodline?” I begged Jacqueline.

The way her face softened made my breath hitch. “Nobody boards at Bloodline anymore, Sophie. Without Professor Mortimer and Professor McKenna, the wards are no longer as safe.”

The revelation hit hard, making it difficult to breathe. I couldn’t think of a world in which Bloodline Academy wasn’t safe. Wherever she was, Lex would probably agree. And then I realised, Bloodline without her wouldn’t feel like home. Nothing did.

“Those are the choices then,” Angus offered me like it was some kind of prize. “The Reserve, or the fens.”

“What about Ravenhall?” I asked.

“You will not be associating with those degenerates,” Agatha hissed. It was an odd distinction to make. They were technically part of the same society, but while Ravenhall was full of opportunistic high-magic users who flouted the law at times, most of them were only marginally dangerous. They just wanted to have fun and didn’t care for some of the constraints of supernatural society. The domain of the Trinity was another matter. The veil was thick around the fens where they lived, and more than once these last six months, I’d seen a clash between the high-magic