Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

room that it should be good,’ Nava said. ‘If it becomes an issue, I’ll consult Chess about a soundproofing spell.’

‘You’re going to talk to Chess, the man voted most likely to faint at the sight of boobs, about a spell to mask sex noises.’

‘Only if required. It should be hilarious.’

‘You’re evil, Nava Greyling.’

‘I have my moments.’

Grinning, Courtney turned to Mitsuko. ‘So, first day of a new year tomorrow. Do you have your speech written?’

‘Written and memorised,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘Mel can attest. Nava managed to escape me rehearsing it, but Mel has had to sit through a couple of performances.’

‘I think it’s pretty good,’ Melissa said. ‘It’s encouraging, inspiring, and it sets down the president’s opinion on how the students should behave toward each other.’

‘You’re giving them your speech on equality then?’ Courtney asked.

‘Not exactly,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘I’m simply pointing out a few facts about last year which may challenge some preconceptions.’

236/1/12.

‘Hello, class two-one-three, my name is Taryn Borchardt Firmin.’

There was a new girl in Mitsuko’s class. A transfer student. A fairly unusual transfer student. The Firmin clan had their own sorcery school and more or less every magician in the clan attended it. To transfer to SAS2 in the second year, Taryn Borchardt had to be some kind of special.

Physically, she was impressive. She was probably slightly taller than Mitsuko, but the difference was marginal and masked by Taryn’s more voluminous hair. Taryn was significantly more muscular than Mitsuko, however; this was clearly a powerful woman, but also a very shapely one. Taryn was attractive, a real beauty, with lightly tanned skin, a mass of auburn curls falling past her shoulders, and blue-grey eyes. Quite full lips came with a beauty spot above the left corner. She had strong features, almost masculine but not enough to detract from distinctly feminine good looks. Her bust was a match for Melissa’s, so she filled out her uniform very well. Beyond all that, she carried herself with the easy confidence one might expect from a clan that specialised in professional mercenaries and a family at the top of the clan.

‘I transferred here from Bosquet,’ Taryn went on, ‘and I’d imagine some of you are wondering why. Basically, I needed a bigger challenge than the school there can provide, so a transfer to the best school in the Alliance was arranged. I promise I won’t bring the class’s average grades down.’ That got a laugh from some of the other students. ‘My main hobby is MagiTag. From what I’ve heard, SAS-squared has a pretty good team, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve got.’

As Taryn sat down at her desk, Mitsuko caught the teacher’s eye, got a nod, and got to her feet. ‘Welcome, Taryn Borchardt. I am Mitsuko Trenton Sonkei, the student president. I’m sure you’ll get to know the others here very quickly, but if there’s anything you need help with, please ask. It’s rare for us to see a Firmin here, so I think we’re all looking forward to seeing what you can do.’

‘Thanks,’ Taryn replied. ‘I promise I won’t let you down.’

~~~

Nava shifted in her seat and scanned around the theatre. Nothing seemed out of place, but something was making her feel a little uncomfortable for the second time in the last hour. Maybe she was nervous for Mitsuko, who was at the podium right now, giving her speech. It did not seem likely, but maybe that was it.

‘Last year was an interesting one for this school and its students,’ Mitsuko said. She was getting to the political bit. Up to now, it had all been boilerplate, welcoming the new year’s students and welcoming back the returning ones, and commenting on the excellent results of the last graduating year – standard stuff that came out in one form or another every year at the matriculation ceremony. Now she was moving on to the less standard bit. ‘We were faced with various threats, both internal and external. We faced two serial killers, a ghost, and an extortionist threatening us with a hurricane. A group of us, myself included, were involved in the terrorist attack in Alliance City last summer. On the other hand, we kicked butt in both the MagiTag and flight competitions last summer, not to mention several other events throughout the year. We put on two very entertaining dances and one of the best-received plays of this decade. There was bad last year, but there were also good things which we can hope to repeat this year.’

She paused, looking around at the gathered multitude. There were about eight thousand students in the theatre. Many of them knew their president’s views, but at least fourteen hundred did not. They were about to find out. ‘I’m sure you’re wondering what my point is, so here it comes. We got through all of this, the good and the bad, because we worked together. All of us. When we’re faced with a challenge, the students of the Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery do not back down. No matter which stream of study we’ve elected to take, we get the job done. I have personally witnessed support students with no interest in seeing battle stand up and acquit themselves with great honour in the most difficult of circumstances.’ Mitsuko gave a small smile. ‘And I’ve seen combat students knuckle down and do the boring stuff that’s needed to make a school event run well. This year, I hope to see all of that and more. Our school is considered one of the best in the Alliance. Together, we can make it even better.’

~~~

‘Good speech,’ Taryn said. ‘Very good for school spirit and all that.’

‘Thank you,’ Mitsuko said. She had invited her new classmate to lunch out of a sense of duty more than anything else, but it did give her the chance to see where Taryn sat on the ‘combat stream is superior’ scale, among other things.

‘Do you really think people who don’t want to get into fights are capable of handling them