Page 19 of Alchemy of Souls

“There’s a campus navigation spell for your convenience, and your class schedules are on your desks,” Akari continues in a perfunctory tone. “Curfew is at eleven for freshmen. One a.m. on the weekends. No exceptions.”

“And what’s the punishment if you break curfew?” Grayson asks, using a charming tone that makes me roll my eyes.

“This isn’t the Academy, Stone,” Akari replies. “I highly suggest you stick to the rules so you don’t have to find out.”

With that she turns on her heel, leaving me and Grayson alone.

I open my mouth to ask Grayson how in the hell we got her as our greeter, but he answers my question before I can ask it.

“Akari wanted to assess us,” he says, pushing back his dark wavy hair and studying our door like he’s trying to measure it. “The Guardians assess all the new students. This place isthecenter of power for Mages. Protecting it has always been a priority.”

Protecting it fromme? I want to ask but don’t. Instead, I narrow my eyes at him. “How did you know I was wondering about Akari?”

Grayson shrugs. “Everything you think shows up on your face.” He glances at me, pauses and adds, “Yup, everything.”

For the five hundredth time, my cheeks heat, but this time because I’m annoyed. “That’s… ridiculous.”

“No argument there,” he says, and I scowl.

I reach out for the door handle to get away from him, but Grayson steps in front of me.

“Hang on,” he says and places his palms on either side of the wood, muttering an incantation under his breath.

“What are you doing?” I demand. “Because it looks an awful lot like you’re placing a spell on a door that also belongs to me.”

“I’m creating a shield,” he says, stepping back to survey his work. “One that’ll only admit you and me from now on.”

My annoyance is immediate. “You’re doingwhat?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I think you heard me.”

“I couldn’t have,” I reply. “Because you didn’t ask.”

“I don’t need your permission.”

My hands ball, instinctually readying for a fight. “Remove it.”

“Remove it yourself if you can,” he says smoothly, like we’re flirting instead of arguing. “But I’ll only put it back stronger.”

Then he swings open the door, gesturing for me to go in. When I don’t, he shrugs and walks in himself, leaving me fuming in the hallway.

It’s not the shield that pisses me off, it’s the way he went about it. These doors don’t have mechanical locks. Locks are useless against magic. A shield is really the only way to maintain privacy. But he knows full well that his spellwork is much stronger than mine. And if it prohibits everyone except us, then that includes Maggie, which isnotokay.

I take a deep breath and walk into the suite, feeling a tiny pop in the air as I cross the shield. And without hesitating I craft my own spell—an entirely petty one and attach it to the doorframe.

CHAPTER 13Grayson

I’ll admit, I could have gone about that differently. Less bulldozing maybe. But there’s too much on the line. And in truth, I’m annoyed with her on a basic level. She did something, whether she meant to or not, and now here I am in the goddamn Alchemy Wing instead of settling in with the Gifted students in my uncle’s private tower learning his secrets.

I kick off my boots on the area rug and pull my shirt over my head.

The suite is exactly as I expected. Wood. So much wood. It’s not that it’s unattractive—the grain patterns on the irregular walls and ceiling look like constellations and everything is cozy as hell, including the four-poster bed I throw my uniform on. But I’m always on edge in this town, the place where Liam died. It feels like a giant beautiful trap.

I’m pulling on my white linen pants—the impractical color relegated to first years—when I feel the door shield pop. I shove my feet into my brown boots, not bothering to tie the laces, and swipe my white linen shirt off my bed.

It takes me all of two seconds to confirm she’s left and yank open the suite door. As I do a chime goes off, like bells hung on shop doors, only this one sings “Ass-hooooole” at me in a melodic voice.

Despite the hellish twenty-four hours I’ve had, there is part of me that finds it amusing she got me back this way. But I don’t have time to react because Eloise is at the end of the hall disappearing around a bend to god knows where.