Page 119 of First Ritual

“You’re going the wrong way.” He jerked his head toward the smaller tunnels past him that led to Sage’s quarters.

I stared at the locked door I’d been trying to get through. Ugh. “You go ahead. I’m waiting for someone.”

“Who?”

“Someone.”

Corentin scowled.

I scowled right back. “I don’t want to walk with you. You don’t want to walk with me. So keep walking.”

“Whatever,” he muttered.

Waiting a few minutes after he left first, I entered Sage’s quarters behind a gaggle of late-teen magus.

Corentin’s frown deepened as he noticed me enter alone. Were his feelings hurt? Because we were such good friends and all.

“Bronte, Bronte, welcome!”

I faced Sage in time to glimpse an ample amount of robe-clad bosom before she encompassed me in a hug. My insides trembled at the touch, and I only realized how stricken I must appear when I caught Corentin’s thoughtful expression over her shoulder.

Forcing myself to relax under his perusal, I then returned her embrace. “Sage. Hello.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry for what happened with the test,” the councilwoman said. “I really wish we could’ve given you more time. I feel terrible.”

With Sage, usually my smiles just arrived. Her warmth felt foreign today. “It’s done now. I agreed to take the test. I’m a big girl.”

“That’s right. You are.” Sage beamed again. “Now, you find a seat and get cozy. This meeting takes a while. Don’t worry either. We’ll ease you in for a couple of weeks. You won’t be thrown in the deep end.”

Deep ends didn’t bother me unless they were in Wild’s eyes. I was happy to have a way to occupy my afternoon.

There was a spare seat beside Corentin. Two either side of him actually. He had that effect on people. Unlike Sven had, he didn’t wave me over, but I sought out the only other free chair in the quarters.

The power level in the rooms was palpable. Some of these magus were seriously strong. There were around fifty proven in the room.

“Afternoon.”

I looked at Bedwyr in the seat beside me. Shoot. I didn’t see him. “Hey. How are you?”

“Well, thank you.”

Yikes. Could I have chosen a more awkward place to sit? I’d forgotten Bedwyr was in Vero.

Sage clapped her hands. “Welcome, proven. So nice to see you!”

A smile broke out on nearly every face.

“She says that every week,” Bedwyr murmured.

I could imagine. Sage was a warm-fuzzies kind of gal.

“A very warm welcome to the new member in our ranks. To begin, here are the plans from our attack and defense teams,” she announced. Another clap and the map from our attack meeting appeared in the middle of the room like a hologram. A second map appeared that must’ve been prepared by the defense team. A third map joined the midst, though Sage didn’t explain its presence.

“Bronte,” she addressed me. “During this meeting each week, we form a plan of which proven and novices will attack to claim ground, and which will be held to defend what ground we hold. We look further at what our best strategy might be, which is then finalized tonight and tomorrow morning by the team leaders.”

I nodded.

“The attack and defense teams have agreed that the southeast territory should be one of our targets.” She snapped her fingers. “Here are the Fertim novices and proven in that area that we would need to defeat. A reminder that a territory is seized when one side holds 70-percent occupation.”