“Fourteen.” Fourteen scared kids who had no idea they’d been magically enhanced. Fourteen now ex-students escorted off the field by Council members. Some went willingly. Others, not so much.
That wasn’t the worst part. It was how they’d been discovered. The Council members were brutal in their attacks, pushing the young elementals into calling an element they didn’t mean—or didn’t know how—to call with more power than elementally possible at their age. Even Rob battled without mercy, ruthlessly drawing fire and returning it with so much force, I’d had to save one of the kids he’d battled.
“I don’t like the way they’re going about this.” I played with the buttons on his shirt. “Keeping everyone on the field, forcing them to watch as they wait for their own tribunal. By the time the third round of students took the field, they were already so freaked out, half called the wrong element by mistake.”
“How do you know?”
Oh, crap. I never told anyone about my ability to sense an elemental’s primary. Could I trust Leo to keep my secret? I knew the answer before my brain finished forming the question. Of course, I could. I trusted all my guys. With my life. With my heart. And now, with my latest secret.
“When Clay and I were watching the tribunals at the beginning of the year, I sort of sensed the elemental’s primary before Professor Layden announced it.”
He stiffened, pushing away to look me in the eye. “How’d you touch them?”
“I didn’t.” I held his gaze as I bit my lower lip.
“You just…sensed it?”
“I just sensed it. There’s something else…” I drew in a breath and did a quick head swivel to make sure we were alone in Aquae’s common room. “Professor Layden declared the wrong primary on one of the kids.”
“Oh shit.” He stiffened. “That’s not good. The academy relies on her to declare an elemental’s primary. She gets that wrong…” He blew out a breath.
“He’s one of the fourteen the Council found today. She declared him air when I know he’s fire. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now I know it’s because the dark magic enhancing his powers forced air into him. The element wanted back out, so it pushed its way to the surface. That’s what the professor felt. It wasn’t the kid’s primary. It was the element trying to escape.”
“I hate how much sense that makes.” He nodded in agreement. “I wonder how many of them are here.”
“I guess we’ll find out. The tribunals are over for today, but there’s another round of them tomorrow. More first years. There’re too many of them to get through in one day, even with the number of Council members testing the students. And, lucky me, I get to be there for every one of them.”
Leo played with my hair, pulling up a few ginger locks and slowly releasing them. “Speaking of tribunals, they rejected my request to complete my final tribunal until I’ve been tested. So that’s awesome.”
“What?” I pushed off his chest and scooted to the edge of the chair. Although it thrilled me to know he’d be around for a little while longer, the disappointment clouding his usually vibrant gaze weighed on me. “Can they do that?”
“Apparently, they can.” He thrust his fingers through his hair, sending his wild blond curls off in every direction. “At least they’re letting me test first tomorrow to get it out of the way.”
“But you’ve been here, like, five years. The enhanced elementals didn’t start showing up until this year.”
“That we know of.”
We let that hang between us. He was right. We’d only just learned of the dark elementals using magic to enhance young elementals. What if they’d been doing it for years? What if half the adult elementals out there were magically enhanced? Spells ran out, so by the time they’d gone through their final tribunal and graduated from the academy, they would have had to cast the spell again.
I leaned against him, settling in closer to have him cool me down. Since water was his primary, his body temp usually stayed pretty low, just like his demeanor, so when I had to move away before I broke into a sweat from the amount of heat he generated, I questioned it. “Why are you so hot?”
He grinned. “Baby, I’m always hot.”
I elbowed him in the ribs. “You know what I mean. You’re usually cool to the touch.”
“Maybe I feel a little warm, but it’s the end of summer and hot outside. So there’s that.”
“You sure? Syd mentioned you had a slight fever. Is there anything you want to tell me?”
“Babe, I’m fine. I’ve just been running a little hotter than usual. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
That look in his eyes gave him away. He didn’t believe it was nothing. Whatever it was had him worried. And now it had me worried too. “Tell me the truth.”
He sighed, long and audibly, before offering a curt nod. “I’ve been running a fever.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe a couple of months.”
My heart hit the roof of my mouth as panic jolted me. “A couple of months? Leo, you’re a water elemental. A fever is bad.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll go see Syd tomorrow after tribunals.”
“You’d better.” I settled back in and endured the sweaty heat radiating off him. “How long do you think the enhancement spell lasts?”
“Well, judging by the one you cast to force water to obey your call, no more than six months.”
“That’s good.”
“That’s only because the person who cast it wasn’t a strong witch and didn’t know what she was doing. Imagine if you did. Someone with a lot of power, like a sorcerer, could probably get it to last a year or more.”
“That’s not good.” Which meant even third years
