Arcana Academy (Arcana Academy, #1)

by Elise Kova

Graysword: the name given to all orphaned and unwanted children in Eclipse City.

This is the bleakest prison in the entirety of the Oricalis Kingdom, the place where the worst of the worst go. Murderers, rapists, abusers of innocents, and those like me…who would dare to use the arcana without being under the crown’s control.

Stellis, they’re called. An elite organization of the best of the best fighters in the kingdom, sworn to protect the crown and uphold its laws.

Prince Kaelis, second of three sons of the Kingdom of Oricalis, reverse wielder, and headmaster of Arcana Academy. The prince who reduced an entire noble clan to rubble. A man whose name is synonymous in Oricalis with despair. Who I have every reason to believe killed my mother…And the man who put me in Halazar Prison.

Each Minor Arcana is governed by an element. Wands are fire, Swords air, Coins earth, and Cups water. The cards Two all the way through King of each suit have their own unique properties…but the Ace? That’s the beginning. The primordial essence of the suit.

But no matter how dark the night, I refuse to give up hope of the dawn.

Twenty-first tarot card? There are fifty-six cards in the Minor Arcana, fourteen of each suit, and twenty in the Major Arcana, not counting the illustrious Fool—the start of it all and so numbered at zero…Unless…

“The twenty-first tarot is nothing more than a myth.” Mother would tell us legends of the twenty-first tarot, the World. The stories say it gives the wielder the power to change anything—everything. It’s like the Nine of Cups but infinitely more powerful. One card so mighty it can bend reality and change the world itself. But a card like that is a dream…

“What do you want with me?” I return to my earlier question. “I wanted to know if you were the real deal, Clara.” He scrutinizes me through his long lashes. “I wanted to see if you had not only the skill, but the grit to survive what comes next. To give me the World.”

When I was captured, the last name I went by was Graysword. Before that, Mother told Arina and me to say our name was Daygar. Redwin is completely new.

“Which means, as a noble and future High Lady of a clan, she is more than eligible not only to join the academy late, but also to be my future bride.”

While he was founding the academy with all its power and opulence, I was living in squalor just across the bridge.

“Not about you. Never you. Luck is on your side, after all.”

When they call your name, you’ll go before the Arcanum Chalice and they’ll give you a simple three-card spread, with each card representing a different aspect of your future. Then, you’ll pick what part of your future to give up.” “Give up?” Skirts echoes, leaning back. Her brow furrows. “What…what do you mean?” She has a soft voice and kind eyes. Neither is going to help her much here. I lock eyes with her. “This is Arcana Academy. Your future is your tuition.”

“Welcome, Clara Redwin of Clan Hermit.” Murmurs ripple through the crowd at that proclamation, nearly drowning out what Kaelis says next. “My betrothed, future princess of Oricalis.”

The moment our eyes meet, an undeniable spark of tension rips through the air. My chest tightens, squeezing the breath from my lungs. A shadow passes across his face right before he stands to speak. But it’s gone by the time he opens his mouth.

To truly become one of us, you must sacrifice all you once were.” His eyes flick to me like a challenge, or a command.

Especially since she came into the academy using the Daygar alias Mother told us to go by instead of our true name, Chevalyer.

Some kind of rune has been engraved upon its hammer—what I think looks like a V with a P? E?

“What would you and your withered, cruel heart know about love?” “A withered and cruel heart can’t be broken, Clara. I’ve nothing to lose, and you’d do well to remember that.” “Or what?” “Or I’ll show you why you should reconsider being so eager for a good fuck that you’d open your legs for nothing more than an illusion before the whole academy.”

“I. Don’t. Abandon. People.” I barely get the words out through gritted teeth. A glint in his eyes makes me step back and relax, my walls quickly coming up. Exhaustion made me hasty. Clumsy. But it’s too late. He’s too clever not to realize the root of my anger—my hurt. “But they abandon you.”

“I have you.” It’s almost reassuring, even from him.

“This is my future wife, the woman who will become your princess. Choose your next words carefully. I assure you that having your throat cut out is not a pleasant experience.”

“I only mean to serve the crown.” Kaelis leans forward ever so slightly and whispers, “I am the crown.”

“I am the only one who can defend you.”

I hope it is all to your liking. Now show me what my bride can do.

“Your academy…” I say under my breath. “Yes. Mine. Everything within these walls is entirely, wholly, and exclusively mine.”

“Eza is a magical descendant of the original Hanged Man—the one who first captured the essence of that Major Arcana.” “Magical descendant?” I’ve never heard that phrasing before. “It’s an honor passed along not by bloodlines or titles, but by destiny itself. Random chances of fate. The magic of each figure of the Major Arcana is always alive, transferring from one individual to someone new upon their death.”

“And you, too, Clara, are one of the Twenty.”

Why do I matter so much to you?

What could he possibly need me for that badly?

“I do hope she clings to me,” Kaelis says, eyes still on them even though he takes a step closer to me. His attention drops to my face with a look that threatens to devour me whole. “After all, she is my bride.”

“Know your place before I put you there.” Eza tilts his head back, looking down his nose at me. “I know mine.” I flash him a coy little smile. “But if you want, I’ll gladly show you yours.”

Every Major also possesses the ability to use other Major Arcana cards—which regular Arcanists cannot use.”

Had she known my hidden identity, then? She’d always turned down any discussion of the Majors outside of passing mentions in fables. Perhaps, though, with a bit too much conviction…She’d had to have suspected something was different about me when I discovered that I could ink any Minor with any ink. Did you know?

Sometimes, it’s the things we can’t see in ourselves that have the most power.

Instead, I’m met with the warm and sturdy side of this man. His arm locks with mine and half hoists me upright. I meet his eyes, about to thank him, but instead I blurt a question. “Do I know you?” “I have that kind of face.” He glances away.

“I’m no one you need to concern yourself with.

Better off forgotten. Think of this as nothing mo...

“The World is precisely what we’re all fighting for.”

But I’ve begun to wonder what you’re like in bed. Do you bring that same tenacity to your endeavors as a lover? Are you one to break? Or do you enjoy an opportunity to submit when you strive so hard to control everything around you?”

“I had no choice. I had to find you.” “Me?” I blink. “Yes, you, and all the other nineteen Majors.” It sounds a bit like he’s backtracking. Find you was said with such purpose. As if I’m different, somehow.

“Come, and I’ll take you to the place where everything you know met its beginning, and will soon meet its end.”

The prince leans in, tilting his face toward me, as if he were about to kiss me on the cheek. I inhale slowly, about to tell him off yet again, but he whispers, “A crown suits you, you know.”

“The journey of the Fool. Each encounter exposed the true, magic nature of the world. All must be accounted for before the World might be summoned once more and used.”

“What do you want with the World?” “What anyone would.” He drags his eyes to me, and with them a chill runs down my spine. “To change everything.”

The way he looks at me is as something to be claimed. Possessed. Owned.

Maybe, something in me whispers, he was right about you. Maybe, for once in your life, it’d feel good to submit.

“You are the Wheel of Fortune, the least understood Major because your power is luck itself—changing fate. That luck has given you the ability to craft any Minor Arcana with any ink.”

He levels his eyes with mine once more. Even though he’s not touching me, I feel him along my entire body. An errant desire to touch him flits through me, and I quickly banish it.