Chapter 32

Khai's eyes flew open and his hand reflexively moved to silence the phone alarm that was buzzing through the pocket of his trousers. Momentarily disoriented, he raised his hand to knead his sleepy eyes.

When he opened them, his heart warmed at the little figure sleeping soundly in his arms. Ana's shoulders rose and fell ever so slightly as she buried her face in his neck. Her soft slow breaths splashed his nape causing his groin to stiffen. Swallowing to soothe his parched throat, he struggled to summon the willpower to get up.

He groaned internally as he fought the urge to drown Vinther in the lake by the training field. He wanted to caste aside all his Wahren duties and just wake up with Ana, basking in the tranquil beauty of sunrise. Banishing all excuses, he gently moved her so he could lay her head on the pillow.

Ana stirred delicately as he attempted to pry his arm from under her. Despite his caution, he seemed to have woken her up. She slowly rubbed the sleep from her eyes before squinting to look up at him in the dim moonlight.

"Khai, come…back." Her weak grip on his wrist brought him to a halt like shackles made of iron.

"Sshhh, it's still early. Go back to sleep." he hushed, placing his large hand over her eyes and gently patting her as if he were soothing a child.

Ana mumbled incoherently before slowly slipping back to sleep.

He stroked her hair and brushed his lips on her forehead. "I'll see you tonight." He whispered to himself before reluctantly making his way out of the room. He carefully closed the door behind him and frowned as he made his way to the mens dormitories to get changed for training.

*****

Ana lightly drummed her fingers on the table as she listened to Margarett intently.

"Each type of energy has its own unique properties and can be used in different ways. Fire is the energy of passion and destruction, earth is the energy of stability and growth, water is the energy of emotion and flow, air is the energy of freedom and communication, and spirit is the energy of life and magic itself."

While it was common knowledge that healers drew energy from the first four elements, spirit magic was something that didn't exist anymore. It was said that spirit healers lost their mana affinity thousands of years ago, during the first war against the corrupted souls.

Harriett, who was seated on the same table across Ana raised her hand to speak up. "How does a healer know which elemental energy they hold an affinity to?"

Margarett paused to think before she answered her. "A healer typically discovers their affinity for a particular type of mana through self-discovery and experimentation. They may find that they are naturally drawn to certain types of magic, or they may have a talent for manipulating a particular type of energy. In some cases, a healer may have a strong connection to a specific elemental energy due to their personal experiences or beliefs. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to determine their own affinity and to develop their skills in that area. Some healers may have an affinity for multiple types of mana, and they may choose to specialize in one or several of them."

Ana stared at her hands in awe, wondering which source she drew energy from when the light glowed in her room the previous night. She suddenly remembered the missing pages from the tome and turned to Meghan, who was seated next to her.

Pulling her copy of the same book, she flipped the pages to find that Meghan's tome had the same pages ripped out as well.

"Harriet! Hand me your tome please." She whispered. Shooting her an annoyed look, Harriet pushed her copy toward Ana, where she noticed the same pattern.

Confused, Ana wondered what the Academy was hiding that every copy had the same pages missing. When class ended, students scurried to collect their bags and made their way out to the next class.

Ana approached Margarett and placed the tome on her desk, successfully drawing her attention.

Margarett looked up at her over the rim of his round glasses, her expression one of mild curiosity. "Anaya, what brings you here?" she asked.

"I noticed some pages are missing from the tome," Ana explained, pointing to the empty spaces in the book. "The index is also blacked out. I was hoping you had a better copy."

She could tell that this question came to her often. "That's intentional. Arcane has deemed the topics covered in those pages unfit for students to explore. Don't worry, you're not missing anything significant. The text is about forbidden magic that no longer exists."

Despite the clarity of her response, there was a finality in her tone that made Ana sense she wouldn't get any further information from him. She stood up from his desk, her movements brisk, and made her way towards the cluttered shelf filled with books and scrolls at the back of the room.

Ana watched her go, her thoughts turning over her words. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to those missing chapters. She knew that it was treason for healers to perform forbidden magic, but they were always allowed to learn about it. In fact, it was encouraged so they were aware of what type of spells they should stay away from.

Suppressing her curiosity she perfunctorily thanked Margarett before catching up with Meghan. After listening to Adele rave about curcuma for ninety minutes, the girls rushed out of class and made their way to the dining hall. Lindsay and two girls that they made friends with in Herbology, Tammy and Fiona, joined the group for lunch.

Filling up her plate, Ana and Meghan sat at their usual table by the window chatting with their new friends and enjoying their meal when they saw Natalie approach them.

"Anaya, just the person I was looking for." She smiled at her like they were old friends.

Anaya shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. "Hey Natalie, how are you?"

"Oh! I'm great. Did you have fun at the club last Saturday?"

Anaya bit her lip, wondering what Natalie was getting at. She saw how the girl treated her and she knew it was because Natalie was attracted to Khai. Not wanting to invite trouble by gloating in front of her, she briefly nodded. "Mhmm. Did you?"

"Khai set me up with Philip. I had the best time!" Natalie exclaimed. "I want to apologize for being cold to you Anaya. It wasn't until I met Philip that I realized how shallow my feelings for Khai were. I acted out of jealousy."

Anaya smiled waving her hands at Natalie's apology. "Not at all. I didn't take it to heart. I'm glad your happy with Philip."

"You're so sweet! I'm glad we could put all that animosity behind us. Anyway, I came by to personally invite you to my party next Friday. It's my birthday and I'm throwing a costume party at the Le Grande Hotel. Meghan, you're invited as well, as is George. Everyone on this table should come! I'm inviting our whole class, so I expect to see you all there!"

"A costume party? Natalie you throw the best parties!" Meghan clapped her hands in excitement.

Ana nodded smiling at Natalie, glad that she wasn't turning out as scary as she had initially appeared. "We'll be there for sure! Would you like to eat with us Natalie? Why don't you join us?"

"Unfortunately, I have to rush. I'll see you around." She glanced at Anaya's plate and then moved her eyes around the table with a smirk before quickly smiling again. With that she stood up and left the table.

"You know Natalie Vilmot?" Fiona questioned her with a hint of wonder.

"Yeah, we all went clubbing last weekend." Meghan shrugged.

"And you speak to her so freely too! We only got invited because of you two. All the girls secretly dread Natalie. She never talks to the likes of us and only hangs out with the elite crowd from Orestes." Fiona played with her brown hair as she went on about Natalie, telling the girls that she was known to have a mean streak.

While Ana did think Natalie was cold initially, she did nothing particularly mean to her. She brushed off Fiona's words with a smile. "Well she's clearly nicer than the rumors portray her to be."

"I'm already know what I'm going to wear to the costume party! I'm going to be Maleficent!" Tammy's almond eyes grew bigger in enthusiasm.

"I was going to be that!" Lindsay cried with a frown.

Ana tuned out the chatter, feeling relieved that Natalie wasn't turning out to be as scary as she had initially thought.

Time flew quickly as the girls worked tirelessly to keep up with their demanding coursework. Despite her efforts to focus, Ana's thoughts were often interrupted by thoughts of Khai. As the sky darkened, she felt a flutter of excitement in her chest. She knew that soon she would be able to see him and lose herself in his strong embrace.

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