Arianna froze completely, standing there as if her feet had been nailed to the ground. Her red eyes watched me with a mixture of disbelief and something deeper, something she herself probably could not understand.
Inside her heart there must have been a storm of emotion. She should have been angry, she should have exploded and attacked me with her flames, but strangely she could not move. Her body refused to obey the rage she believed she felt. Instead, an unfamiliar tremor spread from the spot where I touched her and slowly traveled through her entire body.
While watching her remain frozen like a beautiful statue shocked into silence, my thoughts drifted toward a larger plan.
Ophelia Blazinger—Arianna's mother, the Blazewalker, the head of Nine Stars Academy. If I could conquer her, then this entire academy would fall neatly into my grasp. My revenge against everyone who ever humiliated me would become far easier. No one would be able to stand in my way.
