Everything happens so fast after mama and Nona Ellie follow them inside.

I’m still kind of high when my mama and Nona Ellie rush me out of the gym slash amphitheatre where we were supposed to be teaching me ballroom dancing. I did learn though it wasn’t the only thing I had gained that day.

I don’t even see all the students gathered outside, though I catch Aarya smirk and the fist she throws up, maybe in solidarity before Nona snatches her too herding us towards the black house.

I’m hustled into the room and the door slams shut as everyone tries hard to stare at anything but me. The tension breaks moments later when a knock sounds at my door.

Mama opens the door to usher in Mor with Blue in her arms, “anyone wants to tell me, why I got called back to the academy and Killian going off muttering about preventing a murder?”

I ignore her spreading my arms out for Blue who goes into my arms oblivious to the tension brewing in the rooms.

“We should …”

“Was it good?”

Mama and Nona Ellie say at the same time, making me choke whilst trying to give Blue raspberries.

“Selene!” Nona admonishes.

“What? we are all curious.”

“Ok, what the hell happened in the few hours we’ve been gone?” Mor asks moving to sit next to me on the bed.

Aarya on the other hand lounges back in the love seat looking like all she needed was popcorn for her day to be made.

“nothing happened, we were just dancing and then…”

“oh, you were dancing alright.” Aarya the traitor mutters from her spot.

“either way,” Nona Ellie my new favourite interrupts, “we cannot do this right now, one because the ceremony is tomorrow and we still haven’t gone through what happens there and two, the colourful boy over there.”

“ok, now I’m intrigued.”

“shut it Morrigan,” I mutter eyes still glued on Blue, if I couldn’t see them, they weren’t here, yeah, my brain cells were still fried.

“oh, don’t worry Lady Mor, just walk out of here and ask the first mage you meet and they’ll tell you what happened.”

“Aarya," Nona Ellie threatens, rubbing her forehead.

“sorry, sire.”

What Aarya told Mor, reverberates through my mind, shit! everyone knew what had happened in that room, including both sets of parents. What had possessed me to do that, in such an exposed space? What would happen now? I hope they don’t kill him though, papa looked positively murderous flying into that room.

Shit, shit!... and Andrei, will he be his usual assholish self afterwards? was it naïve of me to hope he wouldn’t? oh crap, I just got back from the worst drama and dived deep into another one.

“Baby,” mama asks making me look up, “are you okay, with you know, everything?”

“Yeah, I rasp the words not wanting to make it past my throat.

She gives me a sceptical look, obviously aware of the turmoil going through me.

“Ok, child how far did you go?”

I choke staring up at Nona Ellie in horror, Aarya has a twin expression on her face though hers is mostly amused.

“What?”

“I mean with the dancing though you are going to spill everything later.”

“I don’t know what came over me, it’s like someone else was in charge of me and they had a one-track mind.”

“ok so we’re doing this now,” mama mutters moving to sit next to me.

They all move closer all pretence about caring for the ceremony gone.

“One minute I wanted to murder him for implying I was fat, because of a lot of ice cream, and the next I’m holding him up in the air, I don’t know how that happened.”

“your powers must be surfacing,” Mor muses.

Nona Ellie motions for me to go on and I continue pulling Blue closer to me for comfort, or courage…take your pick.

“I was holding him up seething and then I was the one slammed against the wall, that was” … I hesitate glancing cautiously at mama, “it was something else, he moved to whisper in my ear and it’s like a switch had been flipped, for him too, and then everything happened and you guys came in, I finished off in a hurry.”

“And... how did everything feel,” Nona Ellie asks.

“At first, I was embarrassed, then cautious but he coerced that right out of me, afterwards the most joyful feeling engulfed me, when papa came in with dad, I wanted to harm them, something in me wanted to do everything I could to stop them from reaching my…Andrei, from reaching Andrei," I correct face aflame.

“oh, fates.”

“no way!”

“I did not see that coming.”

Nona Ellie, Mor, and Aarya say almost in succession while my mother stares at me in shock.

He’s your mate, I thought he was weirdly territorial before, even Nyx agrees with me.

Oh God kill me now, Rhys was here? And Nyx too, I was tired of those bastards taking advantage of their invisibility, we were going to have a chat when this is over.

Right on master there’s only one explanation for that behaviour you’ve also been displa…oomph.

Why did they go quiet?

Rhys? Nyx? I try thinking to them.

He’s gone.

Oh.

Gentle shakes jolt me from the conversation and I find everyone staring curiously at me.

“Say something child,” mama says cupping my face.

"I did hear someone chanting mine when he kissed me."

“you don’t mind, that he’s your mate? You two clash like nothing else, as a matter of fact, the most words I’ve had that man speak is to you or about you,” Aarya says, and Mor nods sagely in acceptance.

“so, what happens now?” I ask strangely elated, I had someone to call mine, even if he was a pain in the ass most times, but damn was he a gorgeous pain.

“wipe that whipped smile from your face, you shouldn’t make it easy for him, he skipped a lot of stages today, make him pay," Mama scolds.

“I liked the skipping.”

It takes me a moment to realise I said that out loud when Nona bursts into laughter, with my mama shaking her head next to her.

“The rest is for you to decide, you cannot do anything official until you ascend, and you’re definitely not doing anything until the declaration ceremony ends,” Nona Ellie says in between chuckles.

And with that the topic is closed, at least according to them, for the rest of the day and the better part of the night, I’m tugged, poked, prodded, filed to perfection in readiness for the ceremony.

By the time I collapse in bed at around five am, curling up behind Blue, who snuggles into my chest, I miss Angeline and all her shenanigans, I even miss my therapist, and that’s saying something.