Page 68 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

He continued, but I whirled in my seat toward Freta, Penry, and Silas. The three of them were all pale. Penry breathed heavily, like she was about to break down sobbing. I didn’t blame her. Then, I turned toward where they were. The other three.

Jasper was blank-faced as always. Gareth smiled his amused smile, though there was a tick in his jaw I’d seen when Rusco trapped us. Seb was staring straight at me. When Flora nudged his arm, he blinked twice, smiled cruelly, and drew his finger across his throat. Then he whispered something in Flora’s ear that made her laugh.

“He has to make sure you know he hates you even now?” Freta hissed, sounding more furious than I’d ever heard her.

I quickly turned away and smiled reassuringly at my friend. “He doesn’t scare me.”

Not when we were in public like this, at least. If we were alone again, would I be strong enough to resist the pull I felt toward him? It had been so powerful that night, and the longing was still there.

Not just for him, either. Jasper, too. Even knowing it could end in terrible punishment, I wanted so badly to hold him. For pleasure and for comfort. It was a different draw than to Seb, less lustful, but no less powerful.

If I spent any time examining my feelings for Gareth, would I find something there, too? Even though I knew he was hunting me, the shape-thief, there was a part of me that wanted to be alone with him, just to see. I’d gone back for him when Rusco attacked us. Was that because of some misplaced sense of duty, or was it something deeper?

And to think I’d once been jealous of Silas and Freta’s relationship. Why couldn’t I feel this way about Silas instead of the golden boys?

Chairs started to scrape back, and my head lifted again. Everyone was standing. “Are we going right now?” I hissed.

Silas, his arm protectively around Penry, nodded.

We didn’t even have the chance to get our potion stash from the Alegro room. All of the first-year students were herded to one of the upper floors, where we were all seated on long benches. A tall curtain stood on the other side of the room. Judging by the faint whispers and movement that came through, we had an audience.

In front of the bench the students sat on was a small, raised stage. Quincy came to a stop near the stage, and a handful of finely-dressed people entered the area from beyond the curtain. Their faces were veiled and they wore long, unisex robes. At first, I thought they were all from Court Manilow, then I realized each of them had a crest stitched onto the front of their robes.

“These are your examiners,” Quincy announced, as though we should know what that meant. “They are members of various noble families, and are here to assess your bound form.”

On one side of me, Penry whimpered. On the other, Freta let out a shaky breath. When I squeezed both of their hands comfortingly, they clung to me. Silas sat on Penry’s other side, still comforting her. Our gazes met over her head, and I wished I had another pair of arms I could wrap around him. I wished I could impart my stolen forms to them. I wished I could protect them.

“You will all undergo the Assay,” Quincy continued. “You will step onto the stage and undergo a magical attack which will bring out your beast form. You must hold this form, motionless, while the examiners assess it. The longer you can hold your beast, the higher your marks will be. They will also judge your beast’s lineage, its purity, and its stability.”

Stability? I remembered how the wolf looked before I fully inhabited it during the first trials. It had been unsteady. Was that the normal way a weak-bound looked? Freta didn’t show us her badger very often, but she’d been just as solid as anyone else. Even Jasper, with his wrong beast, was solid at the edges.

If they looked close enough, would they see I was stealing the beast? But they also might believe shape-thieves were wiped out, and only think I was especially weak-bound. Or I could just pretend I couldn’t change—

“Those who are still unbound will undergo further stressors for the following week,” Quincy said, as though in response to my thoughts. “This will be a series of magical intervention and physical torture. A coin will be tossed each time you come close to death, to see whether you will be allowed to leave the torture or if you will be healed and returned to the stressors.”

My heart sank. I could probably handle it. But if all three of us were tortured and broken, it would be up to Freta on her own to take care of us afterward.

And that was assuming she wouldn’t also undergo some sort of torture for being weak-bound. No. As high as the risks were, I had to try to pass with high marks. It was the only way I could look out for my friends. I squeezed Freta and Penry’s hands a little tighter.

“Lady Flora of House Litherio, we will start with you,” Quincy said.

Flora confidently strode toward the stage. As she centered herself on it, a swift, electric charge seemed to go through the air. Flora stiffened. Her eyes widened and she cried out in pain, doubling over. Her fox form soon stood where she had been, panting. She started to twist, only to grow still once more. Spasms shook her legs every so often.

What sort of torture were they putting her through?

I carefully extracted myself from my friends, muttering about needing water. I wasn’t the only student standing, so I worked my way behind the crowd. Red and Savannah both watched Flora raptly. Red with worry, but I thought I saw some satisfaction on Savannah’s face.

Another static charge, and Flora retook her human form. She was pale and shaking as the examiners stepped to one side and conversed with each other.

I stepped up behind Seb and brushed my hand over his arm, renewing my hold on his skimmed form. Seb jumped. Beside him, Jasper glanced at me and looked away while Gareth stared intently, his normal casual attitude missing.

“What do you want?” Seb snapped at me.

“Just wishing you good luck.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Flora’s marks were announced as I made my way back to my seat, careful not to touch anyone else. We were marked out of ten, and she received top marks in everything.