Page 9 of The Cost of Blood and Bonds

Finn snorts. “Good thing you’ve got me and Grier keeping you two from getting lazy.” He grins at me, smug as fuck. “Awakened or not, you’re still training with me next year. Someone’s gotta beat you every day to keep that ego in check.”

Fucking Finn. He’s right, though; he’s the best swordsman I’ve ever seen, annoyingly so.

“You know you’re fucking unbearable, right?” I say, but I’m smiling.

“The best,” Finn says, like he’s correcting me. “Say it. The best.”

“Fuck off.” I can’t help but laugh.

“Debatable,” Hayes adds.

Grier’s voice cuts in from behind us. “It’s not.”

Finn barks out a laugh, shoving Grier’s shoulder. “See? Grier knows.”

“Best and most annoying,” Grier adds. “Both things can be true.”

That gets all of us.

Before I can respond, the ceremony master’s voice booms across the arena.

“Percival Thornwick! Heir to House Thornwick! The Woods have deemed you worthy!”

The crowd cheers.

“Now we shall witness the magic the Woods have bestowed!”

Percival steps forward, arms raised like he’s about to move mountains. His brow furrows in concentration. The crowd goes still with a collective breath held.

His face tightens. His jaw sets. His whole body seems to pour itself into it.

The ground responds. A few pebbles rise and hang suspended in the air. Dust starts to stir at his feet. Then, with a tremble in his arm, the pebbles drop to the ground, and the dust settles.

That’s it.

“Very impressive!” the master of ceremonies announces.

Finn snorts. “Was it?”

“Now let us witness what shifter form the Woods have granted!”

Percival closes his eyes again. His body tenses and the air shimmers, then bones crack, his body reshaping, shrinking down until⁠—

A housecat. A fucking housecat.

The crowd goes silent.

“A housecat!” Finn’s doubled over laughing. “Grier, you son of a bitch⁠—”

“How?” I can barely breathe through the laughter. “How did you know?”

Hayes has given up entirely, his face buried in his hands, shoulders shaking.

“I know a housecat when I see one,” Grier says, completely straight-faced.

That sets us off even more.

I barely hear the master of ceremonies droning on about welcoming the rest of this year’s awakened. I’m too busy trying not to choke.