Fateful Magic (The Star-Crossed Series Book 8) by Rachel Higginson Page A

Even
though, I was too afraid to actually make any friends to be considered
mingling. If anyone found out, I would be dragged away to a Romanian prison and
never heard from again. That fact alone guaranteed me loner status.
    I wanted rights and freedom as much as anyone else,
but I was only sixteen. I had a really long life ahead of me. And I’d heard
terrible things about those prisons.
    For instance, rats. I did not
want to be forced to make friends with rats.
    Most days I kept to myself and blended into the
background. While the other kids at Kingsley did their best to ignore my entire
existence, I floated through classes and kept my head down.
    When I waded through my fear and
imprisonment-resistance, I really did believe what my parents believed. My
convictions mirrored their convictions.
    I wanted Shape-Shifters to be completely free from
persecution and have equal rights over everything in the Kingdom. I wanted to
walk the streets confidently and not be afraid of some cover team of Titan
Guard swooping down with a weighted net and swords that would drain me of all
my Magic. I wanted to be able to go to whatever school I chose, and walk among
the other students with my head held high and my Magic in full bloom.
    But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
    Lucan was as opposed to my existence as every other
King before him had been to my entire race. And after seeing his son for the
first time in person this morning, I had no hopes for the future of the
Immortals.
    We were doomed.
    Kiran Kendrick couldn’t be
more spoiled or conceited. He’d been at school for only a couple hours today
and the entire atmosphere of Kingsley had shifted.
    The students catered to his every whim. The teachers
sniveled at his feet. He would turn out just like his father and persecute my
kind for the next thousand years. Only to raise another son that would carry on
the Kendrick legacy.
    I had no doubt that if Prince Kiran knew my secret, he would not hesitate for even a
second before he had me hauled away. Like father, like son.
    And if it wasn’t bad enough that I had to hide my
secret from the freaking Crown Prince ,
he’d brought his Guard with him.
    His Titan Guard.
    Who hadn’t stopped looking at me all morning.
    I had never been more paranoid in my entire life.
    I swore the very Magic in my
veins trembled with fear.
    However, as bad as this morning had been, good things
had come out of it. I had almost made a friend. At least this girl seemed to
want to be friends.
    She also seemed completely clueless. I didn’t know
anybody in the Kingdom that didn’t know who Kiran Kendrick was. Even Shape-Shifters that were forced to hide in the most remote places
knew every member of the Royal family. And she wasn’t a Shape-Shifter. She
hadn’t been forced to live her entire life in hiding. She should know better.
    I wondered why she didn’t. I kind of loved the way she
talked to Prince Kiran . She didn’t seem to care for
him at all. I wanted to know why she wasn’t afraid to make waves. I wanted to
know where she’d grown up that kept her so sheltered. I wanted to know who her
parents were and why they’d kept her in the dark for so long.
    But it wasn’t like I could start asking her questions.
What if she started asking me questions? That would be unacceptable. I couldn’t give her any answers that
wouldn’t end in me getting arrested and stripped of all Magic and what little rights I still maintained.
    I caught him staring at me again.
    I felt my cheeks heat even more than usual and
followed the urge to look at anything but him.
    Eden had been talking to me, so I should probably talk
back.
    “Do you know where your next class is?” I asked her
with the strongest voice I could muster. I didn’t want him to see how nervous
he made me. He was trained in warfare and all things bodyguard-related or
whatever. I felt like he could smell my fear.
    And maybe that’s what he was trying to do… sniff out
my sins.
    Eden looked