***

  Tritetia did her best to sit still, waiting with the rest of the students for the Entrance Ceremony to begin. The hall was filled with students, new and old, and Tritetia could almost feel Amalia’s eyes on her. This was the only year they would attend Roxarry together, but now knowing that her dreams were memories, not visions, made Tritetia struggle to stay in her seat. She wanted to run, to flee from the idea that Amalia had already killed her once.

  And was likely plotting to do it again.

  The summer for Tritetia has been a blur of anxiety and quiet desperation. She’d taken Cyran’s advice to heart, writing down everything she could remember from her dreams, despite how much it terrified her to put those memories into words. Even if they were only fragments, each one felt like glass in her chest, and more times than not, she cried over the pages as she tried to catalog them. Using those memories, she had managed to place sixth in the exam, but compared to Cyran’s place in first, she felt inadequate.

  Tritetia kept her gaze low, folded her hands tightly in her lap, and tried not to stare at the front row of the fighting course where Cyran and Zivi sat. Watching their fight had reminded Tritetia how different they were, and how far she was from them. Tritetia took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on the flickering lanterns lining the walls instead. The soft, multicolored glow they cast over the assembled students gave the room a hushed reverence, but even the calming light couldn’t stop the nervous churn in her stomach.

  The Head Teacher soon moved to stand in front of the students and Tritetia sat up, not wanting anyone to see her nervousness. The Ceremony would be brief, and only the students who placed in the top three of their exams would be called up to the Head Teacher. Roxarry worked on a ranking system for each semester, and the students who placed in the top three of the entrance exams would be placed in the top fifteen of their respective courses. Everyone else would be sorted according to their score and Tritetia closed her eyes, thankful she had not placed last. In the previous life, she had placed dead last in the exam, which had put her among the unranked in the magic course. It was the starting point of her bullying, and at least this time, she had managed to place in the top half of the exam.

  The Head Teacher’s words were noise in Tritetia’s ears, since she couldn’t convince herself to pay attention to what they were saying. After all, the ceremony was always the same, and she had heard it five times before, so she did bother much with what the teacher was saying until the students next to her began to rise from their seats. Triteia blinked, surprised by what she saw; in her previous life, a girl named Madeki had placed first in the Magic course. She was from Aehorus but was human, and had used that as a way to make Tritetia seem incompetent by comparison.

  But Madeki was in second place, glaring holes into the head of the girl in first.

  The new girl had golden, curly hair, almost looking like grains of sand against her pale skin as she walked to stand in front of the head teacher. Tritetia recognized immediately that she had to be from Pyraxia based on her clothing; the flowing robes and ethereal way she walked told of a life spent in the desert. Tritetia found herself staring, confused as to who she was and why she hadn’t been in the previous timeline. The top six students all bowed as the Head Teacher finished their speech, and it was when the girl turned that Tritetia saw it.

  A calm night, a new queen and High Priestess crowned…

  An ambush, screaming and blood…

  A similar face, sun-kissed and laughing in cold humor…

  The sound of a blade slicing through air…

  Tritetia gasped as she fell forward, almost falling out of her chair as she was assaulted by the vision. It was by far the most vivid she had ever seen beside Cyran’s and she struggled to recover her breath. She would hear as the student’s around her whispered and worried, but Tritetia took a deep breath forcing herself to look up.

  The girl was still staring, her aquamarine eyes looked on Tritetia’s as if they could see into her future as well. Her gaze was intense, and unrelenting, causing Tritetia’s panic to build all over again. What if the girl knew Tritetia had seen her future? What if she demanded Tritetia help her change it? Tritetia forced herself to look at Cyran, who was also staring at her with his hard green eyes. There was no concern there, but he looked ready to step forward to catch her if she started to fall from her seat and that was enough to make Tritetia sit up. She couldn’t afford to make a scene. Not here. Not now.

  The Head Teacher continued talking as the six retook their seats, and as soon as they dismissed the Ceremony, Tritetia stood, eager to escape sight. Between knowing Amalia and Madeki were ready to torment her and the vision she had seen from the Pyraxian girl, she wanted nothing more than to run away to her room. She already knew what her schedule would be.

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  “Princess Tritetia Halileh,” Hearing her full name made Triteita pause, and she dug her hands into her skirt.

  Please don’t be her, please don’t be her, please don’t–

  But as soon as Tritetia turned, she found herself staring into aquamarine jewels.

  ***

  As soon as the ceremony finished, Etia and the other sea-folk boy ran up to Zivi, congratulating him on already being ranked in the top fifteen. Apparently the Dririan boy had outranked Etia and been given third, resulting in the three of us ranking eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth respectively. The Head Teacher had told us all to study and train in order to raise our ranks and show our worth, but I had little interest in the ranking system. Unless a higher rank gave me privileges that I couldn’t currently achieve, I saw no reason to achieve more.

  “Cyran,” Zivi’s voice made me glance at him, and he gave me a respectful nod as we stood. “I plan to take your rank from you.”

  “You can try.” I scoffed, turning to try and find Tritetia in the now moving sea of students. When the top six had been called in front of the Head Teacher, I noted how she had seemed unsteady in her seat, and it was obvious that she had seen a vision that disturbed her. She had managed to hold herself together though, and it took me a moment to notice her hair as she started to walk out of the hall. I started after her, but I was stopped by another voice.

  “Well, I didn’t know you were attending Roxarry, cousin,” Amalia’s voice made me growl softly, and I turned to see her standing with a group of girls, either friends or lackeys. She had a bright smile on her face, but it didn’t take much to see that she was angry. “I haven’t seen you since you and that wretch visited Seymour’s estate.”

  “Given that that you left Princess Tritetia alone and she fell into the lake, I thought it best to avoid an issue and have her taken back to the Imperial palaces,” I faked politeness as I spoke, but I also heard as Zivi and the other two grew quiet behind me. “A good thing too, considering the magical creature that escaped Lord Seymour’s lab. I assume he must have recovered from his injuries if you are here, cousin.”

  Amalia’s smile faded, but mine grew as she balled her hands into fists. By bringing up Seymour and reminding Amalia that Tritetia was a princess where she wasn’t, I had reminded her of her place and what she could never have. Amalia’s eyes narrowed, the smile stretching back across her face but turning tight and brittle at the edges.

  “Of course,” she said, her voice like honey around broken glass. “I suppose you two must be very close, for you to take such care of her.”

  “Tritetia is a guest in our empire. It is my duty as a member of the Imperial family to ensure her comfort when she stays with us,” I answered, noting as Tritetia disappeared. I bowed slightly, done playing games with Amalia. “Now if you will excuse me cousin, I would like to see my schedule, considering I am a new student.”

  I turned away without giving Amalia a chance to answer, quickly walking toward the exit Tritetia had disappeared out of. I did want to see my schedule, but there was no point in doing so without her; since we were in different courses, we needed to make sure there was a time when we would both be free so that we could meet in secret. She hadn’t mentioned how much she remembered over the summer, just that she’d written it down, and her answers the evening before had been to vague for my liking.

  But once I stepped outside, I noticed Tritetia wasn’t alone.

  Standing beside her, impossibly composed, was the girl who had placed first in the magic course. She was dressed in flowing robes that shimmered faintly in the torchlight, made of a cloth I had never seen before in my life. She was speaking to Tritetia, who kept her eyes low and shoulders drawn tight, her fingers twisting together the hem of her sleeve. I stepped closer, noticing as Tritetia looked up to see me before she started to shake her head. Before I could ask her why, the other girl turned and noticed me as well.

  “Hmm. I see,” she said curtly, glancing at me up and down before returning her attention to Tritetia. “I assume you know him already?”

  “I…”

  “What do you need with Tritetia?” I quickly stepped in between the girls, forcing the pale girl to look at me. Her aquamarine eyes remained unimpressed and she simply scoffed as she met my gaze.

  “I need to speak to her and you, so I’m assuming you two already have a private area for such conversation,” she answered and I started to speak when I felt Tritetia grab my sleeve. I glanced back as she shook her head, refusing to meet my gaze.

  “She knows what you are, Cyran.” Tritetia’s soft voice made me frown and I turned to look at the girl in front of me. She stood frustratingly still, as if waiting for the answer she knew I had to give. “We… have to at least hear her out.”

  “This way,” I pulled my arm free and started toward the central courtyard, heading for the grate Tritetia had shown me the night before. I hadn’t had a chance to explore the grounds for a better spot, considering it was too dangerous to use my eyes when most of the teachers and students would be resistant to my magic. I didn’t look back as I heard the girls following me, glad to notice the central courtyard was still mostly empty. It allowed us to slip into the hallway leading down to the grate unnoticed, and I allowed the girls to go first as I made sure no one noticed us.

  The walk down was quick and as soon as we stood next to the flowing river, the blond girl turned to face me and Tritetia.

  “I’ll be frank,” she said, her eyes almost as sharp and calculating as Illythia’s had been. It made me uncomfortable, but it was her next words that made my blood run cold.

  “That dragon reset time.”