This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. This isn’t how anything was supposed to happen. Then again, when has my life gone according to plan this year? From the moment I first got to Katmere Academy, so much has been out of my control. Why should today, why should this moment, be any different? I finish pulling up my tights and straighten my skirt. Then I slide my feet into my favorite pair of black boots and grab my black uniform blazer from the closet. My hands are shaking a little—to be honest, my whole body is shaking a little—as I ease my arms into the sleeves. But I feel like that’s fair. This is the third funeral I’ve gone to in twelve months. And it hasn’t gotten any easier. Nothing has. It’s been five days since I beat the challenge. Five days since Cole broke the mating bond between Jaxon and me and almost destroyed us both. Five days since I nearly died…and five days since Xavier actually did. My stomach pitches and rolls and for a second, I feel like I’m going to throw up. I take several deep breaths—in through my nose, out through my mouth—to quell nausea and the panic rising inside me. It takes a minute or three, but eventually, both feelings subside enough that it’s no longer like I’ve got a fully-loaded 18-wheeler parked on my chest. It’s a small victory, but I’ll take it. I pull in one more deep breath as I fasten the brass buttons on the front of my blazer, then glance in the mirror to make sure I look presentable. I do…as long as you play fast and loose with the definition of “presentable.” My brown eyes are dull, my skin sallow. And my ridiculous curls are fighting the bun I’ve wrestled them into. Of course, grief has never been my best look. At least the bruises from the Ludares challenge have started to fade, turning from their original violent black and purple into that mottled yellow/lavender color that happens just before they disappear completely. And it helps slightly to know that Cole finally hit my uncle’s too-many-strikes-and-you’re-out limit and got expelled. Part of me wishes that he’ll meet an even bigger bully at that school for paranormal delinquents and misfits he was sent to in Texas…just to see how it feels for once.