The Soulstoy Inheritance by Jane Washington Page A

it.”
    Harbringer sat up then, very suddenly, and both Cale and I turned to stare at him. His eyes were on Cale, and they seemed to be communicating silently. He nodded once, and then turned on his heel, striding toward the door and yanking it open.
    “I’ll be back,” he said, eyes considering me with some emotion that I couldn’t read, before he disappeared, slamming the door behind him.
    I stared at the door, dumbfounded, and then finally turned back to Cale. There was a distinctly guilty look upon his handsome face.
    “He’s not coming back, is he?”
    Cale sighed, slumping back into his seat and running a hand through his hair, making the ends stick up.
    “It was one of the terms to putting off your trial until we could gather more evidence. Harbringer had to go on trial immediately.”
    “ What? ” I shot out of my seat, and hurried toward the door, but Cale was faster, and he was in front of me in an instant, blocking my exit.
    “Harbringer can look after himself, Bea. It’s you we need to worry about.”
    “How can you say that!” It wasn’t a question, it was an accusation. “He has been implicated every bit as much as I have, if I went on trial right now I’d be ruined, wouldn’t I?”
    Cale nodded, glumly.
    “Well how does that make it any safer for Harbringer?”
    “Do you really not see it, little synfee? Joseph was highly favoured by Fenrel, he is the hero of the revolts, and he’s loved or idolised by almost everybody in the kingdom, he’ll be fine . You…”
    He didn’t have to say anymore, I got the picture. I slumped back to my seat and fell into it, a pounding beginning at the base of my skull.
    “I’m a monster. A flesh-eating, soul-sucking, walking-natural-disaster of a monster.”
    He frowned and moved to sit next to me, grabbing my hands.
    “You’re an unknown and they fear you. Hazen doesn’t have an overruling vote when his advisor council is unanimously against him, and even so, it wouldn’t be wise for him to go against them at such an early point in his initiation. He has to tread carefully, and this is the best way he can do it.”
    Something occurred to me then. “Do you think he’s watching now?”
    “They’re keeping him very busy, but I don’t doubt it.”
    “So what do I do until my trial?”
    “Master Savar has pulled some strings—he has an obscene amount of influence with the council—he wants you to attend the Academy again. He convinced them it’ll be just as beneficial for them to study you and the workings of your powers, as it will be for you to once again be surrounded by human society, as opposed to…”
    I nodded. “So I’m going back to the Academy? That doesn’t seem so bad.”
    “You’ll be given a Black Guard escort to and from the border, and they will most likely assign someone to follow you to and from classes.”
    “The Black Guard? Wouldn’t they have more important things to do?”
    “Right now, you are the biggest threat our kingdom is facing. You are a potential mastermind assassin, ingraining yourself into the lives of the royal family and then slipping through their defenses to murder the king. In such—albeit rare—situations, a larger plan is always at work. Your ties to the synfee kingdom suggest something akin to an invasion.”
    “Good news for the kingdom then. There is no larger plan, and I’m their greatest threat.”
    “Perhaps.”
    I narrowed my eyes at him. “What aren’t you telling me, Cale?”
    He released my hands, standing up and beginning to pace in front of me.
    “We think this was all planned, right down to you coming here and possibly even you being placed on the throne.”
    “You think Nareon is behind it?”
    “Nareon, Fenrel, and God knows who else. Or perhaps just one person, one architect, pulling each of their strings. I really don’t know. But it’s glaringly obvious that someone meant for us to direct our attention toward you, and maybe even the Synfee Empire.”
    “Should I call