He searches my face for a moment; then his lips curl back in disgust. “You truly have no idea what you are, and Nicholas, ever the hero, offered to help you find out by bringing you into an ancient secret society for which you had no background knowledge or training?”

I shift under his gaze. “Well, no, I sort of… pushed him to sponsor me. It was more my idea than his.”

He looks completely appalled. “You’re both fools, then.” He grimaces. “And so am I for believing you could be anything other than a silly little Unanedig girl.” He whirls away and stalks down the dirt corridor, muttering under his breath.

My jaw drops. “I thought you just said I defy ‘every law of aether’!”

“I did”—he sneers over his shoulder—“but I’ve been watching you closely all week, and apparently you can defy our laws while still being a silly little Unanedig girl. Congratulations.”

It’s our first meeting at the Quarry cliffside all over again—as soon as he’d found the isel, he’d dismissed me wholesale, because if you’re not Sel’s prey, you’re not worth his time. “Aren’t you supposed to… to… investigate anomalies?” I say, hurrying behind him, half-indignant and half-relieved.

“I investigate threats. Whatever aether ability you have, you can’t control it. You can barely kill a hellboar construct without the assistance of the planet’s gravity.” He huffs a low laugh, like he’s been laughing at me about that trial ever since it happened.

I’m so confused by Sel’s comments—and by how much he’s actually talking to me—that I stop walking right then and there. Had I misjudged him? Had Nick? Or is Sel operating just as he always has—treating any and everyone as a threat until his own eyes and facts prove otherwise? Up until an hour ago I qualified, but now… I don’t? I don’t expect to be so insulted, but after all this time and all those menacing glares suggesting bodily harm, I absolutely am. I’m insulted and annoyed. How dare he—

“Are you going to stand there gawking in the dark?” Sel snaps his left fingers to produce a new mage flame, and rotates his other wrist to extinguish the first so he can use that hand to steady himself against a low support beam. I follow his gaze ahead where there’s a rise of dirt that we’ll need to climb over to pass. “Or is there something else you’d like to add?”

“But—but what about all that talk of enthralling Nick?” I sputter. “And me making a fool of him? And… and… how I don’t belong? Were you just saying all of that to be an ass?”