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Ronan was conferring with one of his students onstage She’d just finished a love song that quite frankly hadn’t done a thing for e that would prevent spellsongs frothened or lowered as needed They could have turned theirl Maybe it was just , the sex of the singer and the listener shouldn’t et that you even had a sexual preference Ronan’s student was a regally beautiful goblin who cae Two aruards stood nearby, their eyes alert to her and everyone else in the rooht of fashion, and wore ht one piece was particularly tasteless A irl’s neck A ures A hu back the girl’s waist-length blue-black hair One of the clips pulled the goblin’s hair and the girl spun and hissed so just short of the human’s face

"Countess Sanura Mal’Salin," Piaras told

It did

Apparently Ronan invited his best students--or the oblin royal fae, until about ten years ago when goblin aristocrats started filtering into the college classrooe coffers I wondered if Mal’Salin gold was paying for Ronan’s recital hall renovation

Six students lounged at a cluster of tables at the base of the stage: three elves, two hues I chuckled It looked like Piaras had a small platoon in his wake The platoon was forback a few feet to give Piaras and me the semblance of privacy The others deployed theoblin leaning casually against one of the siren-covered colu the countess with aoblin next to the column one of Ronan’s students?" I asked Piaras

Piaras nodded "Talon Tandu He also works here"

"Do you know if he’s any good?" I asked

"I heard hiht he was very good" Piaras was silent for a moment "Paladin Eiliesor didn’t want you to come here"

"He didn’t want me to leave the citadel," I corrected

Piaras’s lips turned up in a brief smile "No, I distinctly heard the words ‘Tam’ and ‘Sirens’ I also heard ue about giving soot elf ears, Raine You’ve got a pair yourself They’re not just there to look good

"Sounds like we should have left the roo is rude"

"I’ht be so I needed to know" He hesitated "And when Paladin Eiliesor said it wasn’t safe for you to leave the citadel, he looked like he ood job of worrying about you unless I knohat I’ you need to be worried about is singing And you don’t need to worry about that You’ll be splendid as usual"

"You’re avoiding "

"How else a on? Whenever I walk by, everyone stops talking I walk down the halls at the citadel, and the Guardians stare I think some of them are afraid of me They don’t need to be" He looked down "I don’t want theain

Piaras wanted to be a Guardian e wasn’t only to sabotaged shields Nothing sto ostracized from day one by the men you most admired

"Now everyone knohat I did to those Guardians" A muscle twitched in his jaw "All this is just thethe freak"

I looked directly into those liquid brown eyes "You are not a freak Just because you didn’t e what you accomplished And yes, I said ‘acco at the eneet you called a hero, not a freak You have a rare and powerful gift, and that can intiift and not the person behind it You are not a freak--and don’t you dare let anyone tell you otherwise"

I saw a flicker of what may have been belief in his dark eyes "Thank you"

"You’re welco the truth No thanks needed for that"

"You’re not a freak, either," Piaras said solemnly

"The jury’s still out on that one"

"I know you’re not a freak"

I exhaled slowly "Thank you, sweetie You can’t kno much I needed to hear that today"

One of the other spellsingers--a pretty, dark-haired huave him a lopsided s, blushed, and quickly looked away

"Katelyn," he said so softly I barely heard hirin I bit my lip to make myself stop "Katelyn who?"

"Valerian," he whispered

"That Valerian?"