Yenni stood and thrust her chin at him. “I am not your anything!” She put a hand on her hip and looked up her nose at him. “Honestly, Weh-sheh, what reason would I have to marry you, other than being your Given, as you say?”

“What other reason is there?” he exclaimed, utterly perplexed. “I—”

I love you, he went to say. But the words shriveled and turned to dust in his mouth. He stared at her in horror.

She angrily snatched up her back-satchel. “Presumptuous ass!” she hissed at him, and marched out of the library.

I love you, he tried to call after her.

But he couldn’t.

12

Yenni paused with her charcoal-and-wood stick over the paper, gazing off into the sunrise through the little window above her desk. To say it had been an eventful few weeks would be like describing the ocean as vast. What should she include in her latest letter home?

She refused to mention the dragon. He would only give her family cause for concern, and once she left Cresh she would never have to worry about him again. In the end she settled for writing about what she had learned so far, explaining the confusing Creshen magic as best she could, and soon it was time to get ready for her first class of the day.

Today she was off to the only magical class she actually enjoyed: Basics of Runelore. At her first lesson the week prior she’d been relieved to see concepts she understood, and the professor had been delighted with her, excited to have a student from the Moonrise Isles.

In fact, when she walked into the small classroom for her second lesson his face lit up at the sight of her.

“Yenni Ajani! A pleasure to see you again.”

He met her at the door and took her hands in his, his smile twinkling in his blue eyes. Yenni glanced around at the smattering of students seated at the wooden benches, wondering if they had received the same enthusiastic reception. Based on the interested looks she was getting, they hadn’t. She slid her hands from his.

“Thank you, Professor Devon. I enjoy your class.”

He cleared his throat and looked slightly embarrassed, perhaps realizing he was being a bit overzealous. But he had likely never met anyone Yirba before, and he was young as far as professors went—not more than a few years older than she was, surely, so she could forgive his zeal.

“Take a seat and we’ll get started in just a few minutes,” he said.

Yenni took stock of the small, windowless room. There were more Islanders than usual in her runelore class, but Creshens still made up the majority. She locked eyes with a friend she’d made in class last week, smiled, and sat beside her. She was a lighter-skinned Island girl with long, fat braids. She touched her palm to Yenni’s.

“Hello, Diedre,” said Yenni.