“You must void yourself of sentimentality.”
Those words had been spoken to her long ago, when she was an apprentice at the Salaxastrum Academy of the Spirit-sciences. The school was governed under the strict auspices of the Matronati, women who had mastered the art of harnessing the energies that raged inside them.
From the age of ripening young women who showed promise would begin their instruction on the theory of drawing upon their salaxual energies. It wasn’t until the age of nineteen that Lexxia began to practice calling upon and controlling those energies. Some did not begin the Drawing until they were much older and some never advanced to that level, but Lexxia had been exceptional. And no one understood that better than the Matronatrix, the headmistress of the order. She constantly pushed Lexxia to reach within herself and beyond herself to realize that potential.
But that attention was not appreciated by Lexxia at the time. The Matronatrix did not offer her attentions lightly and her private lessons were often hard-learned.
At that moment Lexxia had proved a particular disappointment to her mentor. Bent over her instructor’s desk, Lexxia reluctantly pulled up her skirt to receive her reward for earning that disapproval.