The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 3 by Bella Forrest (i can read book club txt) 📕

confirmation I needed, of how powerful you were. You would never have revealed your secret willingly, and so I had to… How shall I put it? Encourage you to show me. I had to see your strength with my own eyes.”

Alex felt anger twist in his stomach. She had set him up. She had clearly longed to see the impressive extent of his power, and she had set a trap, to try to get Alex to show his hand. And he had, just as she’d hoped he would. He wasn’t sure whether he was more annoyed with her for doing it, or himself for performing exactly the way she had wanted him to.

For the life of him, he couldn’t understand the woman’s motivations in arranging such an extreme ploy. Surely, there would have been an easier way to test whether he was a Spellbreaker? She could have fired a tiny morsel of magic at him, and she would have seen the truth. It seemed to Alex that Alypia was something of a dramatist, relishing the spectacle of things—it would explain why she had chosen to present the extraction of life essence in such a theatrical manner, making it a bold, exciting event instead of conducting it beneath the cover of secrecy. That flair for the theatrical, combined with her clear taste for sadism, created a worrying picture as to what lay behind her beautiful exterior. She had wanted him to suffer.

“How could you?” he hissed.

“Oh, quite easily. You see, I know a little of your kind already.” She smirked.

“The Head?”

“So you did notice his little peculiarity?” she teased. “Quite sweet really, that you should find each other in this strange world of ours. Now, of course, he’s not quite like you—he’s what we call an abomination, whereas you are simply a surprise,” she quipped, speaking coldly of her brother with apparent ease.

“I won’t let you use me,” Alex growled.

She smiled icily. “Who said anything about using you? I presume you’ve heard this nonsense from my dear brother,” she sighed. “I don’t wish to use you, Alex—I wish to improve you, nurture you, assist you in becoming a very powerful Spellbreaker.”

The word sounded strange, coming from the lips of such a fearsome mage. “Why would you want to help me?” He glared.

She tutted with irritation, toying with a pen on the marble top of her desk. “This is what we do here. We create the world’s finest mages. Why would we not want to do the same for you? It would be the highest honor to have the world’s greatest Spellbreaker in our midst—admittedly the only one, as far as I know, but that doesn’t mean you have to wallow in mediocrity. With me, here, you could be wonderful,” she encouraged, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “If you were willing to stick to the terms we have already laid out, I would be willing to overlook your little transgression. I mean, you were only trying to protect one of your own, and I am not a monster: I see the nobility in that. It shows the strong bond you all share, and I could certainly forgive that, if you were to stay,” she taunted. Alex realized she could very well use that “strong bond” against him, and no doubt would, given the opportunity. After all, she already had done so, to make him reveal what he was.

Silence gathered between them. She was waiting for an answer, and Alex knew she wasn’t a patient woman.

“I have one condition,” he said finally.

Her eyes narrowed. “I am not usually one for negotiations, Alex—but I will hear you out.”

“I will remain a student here, and abide by your terms, if you permit Jari to stay. I realize he turned down your offer, but that is my condition. He stays, or I refuse,” he demanded, knowing he had nothing to lose, but his friends had everything to lose if he couldn’t get her to agree. Even though she hadn’t come for Jari, and it was implied that he was allowed to stay, Alex wanted to hear the words directly from Alypia’s mouth. As untrustworthy as she was, she seemed to put a lot of importance on the value of agreements.

Alypia tilted her head at him. “This is highly unorthodox, you realize?”

“I do.”

She frowned, tapping her manicured fingers against her chin in thought. “Well, I suppose this way, we both get what we want,” she sighed. “I will agree to this new term, if you will agree to remain within the walls of Stillwater until such a time as you are ready for Ascension.”

He cleared his throat. “I agree.”

She smirked. “Oh, I do wonder how that will play out. Perhaps it won’t be fair to whomever you are pitted against, but it will certainly be a spectacle,” she chuckled coldly, no doubt delighting in the fantasy of such a dramatic conclusion. “Well, then, it seems we have a deal, and I must say it is a most satisfactory one.”

“Will I be studying with my friends?” he asked.

“Oh, goodness no, we couldn’t have that—think of the distraction! No, I will teach you alongside another teacher who has some knowledge of the Spellbreaker histories, with more grasp than most mages of the theory behind anti-magic,” she clarified.

“How do you plan to teach me?” he asked, intrigued despite himself.

“I’ve been thinking about that. I was going to enlist my brother’s help, but you seem to have kept him very busy of late, and I doubt relations would be particularly warm between the two of you.” She smiled thinly, a touch of threat in her voice. “I’ll figure something out, don’t you worry. We’ll see to it that you have an excellent education here.”

“Is that everything?” Alex sighed, putting his hands on the armrests of the chair, as if to stand.

She raised a hand, demanding he sit back down. “We aren’t finished, Alex. Now, I am a fair woman, but I have certain provisos also. As long as you and your