Crown of Serpents (Book 1 of the Serpent Bloodline Trilogy)

Chapter 5

I shuffle in my bed, waking to the morning sunlight shining through my window. and Az's sudden burst of happiness that surges through me. I know the emotions aren't my own, mostly because I wake with the loudest groan I have ever heard. Slowly, I rise from my bed onto my elbows, tangled hair falling around my shoulders in a mess. Everything aches, I'm tempted to miss training entirely. But alas, I have no choice. Never did. Blowing out a breath, I get out of bed, gasping when my shoulder twists at an odd angle. Grabbing it to steady it, I slowly get out of bed. Landing on my feet, I don't care to call for Eve, instead just grabbing a simple white dress, with gold embroidery, quickly brushing through my hair, and braiding it—which was incredibly complicated, given the stab wound — sighing, I slip on some shoes and open the doors. Starting down the hall to Professor Hall's room. I still have the necklace clutched in my hand, contemplating weather to put it on or not. Shaking my head, I keep walking as I wrap it around my neck, connecting it at the back. It hands low at my chest, right above my breasts.

Knocking at Professor Hall's door, I can already feel the pain waiting for me. He opens it, a small smile brought to his lips, but he falters when he spots the large slash on my face. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up." He steps aside to let me inside, his eyes never straying from my cheek. Sitting down in front of his desk, I wonder why we're doing lessons in here. I mean, I know I'm not very good at magic, and that I could barely destroy that book yesterday, but still, my magic is "uncontrolled" I don't know what it can do. He walks over, sitting down in front of me. "Now, I know that you must be very tired from yesterdays, uh, fiasco. So, we're going to slow down today. Just repeating what you did last time, which should be easier since your magic has gotten some feel for it, so it has a higher instinct to, well, destroy."

Placing a metal object in front of me, he gestures to it, sitting back. "Now, this one will be a little harder than the old book, but you have to try. I'm guessing your magic will just take over." I clench my teeth, raising my un—injured arm, closing my eyes and channeling the same feeling like last time. Imagining the object exploding into bits and pieces like yesterday. I can feel my magic twisting around inside it, trying to escape. Until, I feel another pull, a stronger one, from my core. What if I pull from there instead?

Channeling that power, I can feel—the object explodes, and stardust goes everywhere, the glass from the windows shatters, falling all over the floor. A headache begins in my head, becoming a ringing in my mind. Looking over the room, I stare at the books that fell down, and the shattered glass on the floor. Stardust still glitters on the floor, and my hands—are absolutely covered in midnight blue.—I grimace at the disaster. Well, I won't be pulling from that anymore. Ignoring the ringing in my head, I glance at Professor Hall, well, his feet. He seems, almost...Limp. Standing up, I look over the desk, to see him resting on his neck, eyes closed, tongue hanging loosely out of his mouth.

Gods, I hope I didn't kill him.

"Uhm, Professor Hall?" I whisper, leaning over and pushing his cheek with my finger. He mumbles something I can't quite hear, and I slap him, with a force that probably gave him a cut in his cheek. I almost wince. "Are you—"

He jolts, upright, his forehead colliding with mine. I curse, stumbling back into my chair, and rubbing the now swollen area.

"Princess! Oh, Gods, I'm so sorry—"

"Professor," I interrupt, a bit offended, "I've faced much worse. And what you really should be worrying about is what I did to your study." He blinks, eyes warily going around the room, and he grimaces when he spots his books—and the windows— turning back to me, his lips are pursed.

"Well. That was...unexpected."

"It was indeed." I agree, slowly rising from my chair. "Well, I think we both agree that this lesson should be over, no?"