Page 13

“Alright, class. Amazing job today. Go ahead and pack up and I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Thaddeus doesn’t have to say it twice. It’s almost a race to see who can grab their shit and get out of the room the quickest. Or they’re trying to get as far from my demon bodyguards as possible. Both are extremely likely. But I’m definitely betting on the latter.

I’m right there with them in wanting to get far away, but really? What’s the point when my next class is rune practice with this very professor. Moreover, he’s another layer of protection walking through the halls.

The brothers and I head toward the door, Thaddeus not far behind us. When we step out into the hall, Zane and Bane take their positions—one in front and one behind—while Thaddeus walks step-by-step beside me.

As soon as our little posse is spotted, the whispers start again, the pitch rising in fervor. Instead of moving toward their next class, everyone stops and stares, not even bothering to hide where their focus is.

“Look at the skank flaunting her relationship with Professor Winterton.”

“I give it a week before he tosses her to the curb.”

“How much you want to bet she’s fucking all three of them?”

My jaw clenches, and as much as I want to snap at every single one of them, I don’t. I keep moving forward, doing what I can to ignore them. If I lose my cool, they’ll try to turn shit around on me and force Councilman Cassian’s decree.

The man already stuck his neck out for it, so I don’t need to give him a reason to regret it.

It doesn’t matter how many times Zane and Bane snarl to shut them up, it just restarts a second later, each remark getting worse.

“The guys flocking around her make me wonder just how good curiomancer pussy is.”

“I say we wait until they’re not around and find out. It’s not like she knows how to use her magic to stop us.”

That last comment makes me stumble right into the leathery wings on Zane’s back, not realizing he stopped. His head snaps in the direction of the guys chatting and laughing like they didn’t just plan to rape me. Black smoke billows from his nostrils, and sparks ignite on the very tips of his red horns. All in all, the man is absolutely terrifying, but the dumbasses don’t seem to realize what they’ve unleashed.

Quick as lightning, Zane goes from standing in front of me to his hand wrapped around the kid’s throat, slamming him into the wall at his back. An audible crack and the whimper the guy emits shuts down all talk, their terrified stares now watching in fear as the demon puts the kid in his place.

“What was that?” Zane asks, his voice rumbling in a low, dangerous growl.

Instead of answering, the guy balls his fists and fights, doing anything he can to try and get Zane to release the hold on his neck. But it’s nothing but a futile effort. Zane’s tail whips out, wrapping around his prey’s wrists, locking him in place.

All of the kid’s bravado seems to drain away when he finally figures out just how fucked he is. The front of his jeans darkens, and the heavy smell of piss seems to permeate the hall, telling every single person here exactly what’s happened.

He’s peed himself in fear.

It’s laughable, and I have more than enough reason to laugh, but his insidious threat of rape still slithers through my ears.

“Come on, Bailey,” Bane murmurs, stepping in front of me and shielding me from the sight of whatever violence Zane might unleash. “Let me get you and Professor Winterton to the containment room, and then I’ll come back and deal with this.”

I look up at Bane’s words, wide-eyed, seeing my own trembling reflection in his dark orbs. His eyes soften, and he takes a page out of Zane’s playbook, holding out his hand for me.

Without second-guessing it, I lace our fingers together, putting my trust in him without asking. It’s now painfully clear why I need bodyguards. If they weren’t here, I’d hate to see just how much worse it’d be.

Thaddeus has been quiet throughout it all, but the way his jaw clenches and the frost slowly crawling up his arms, he’s not unaffected by what’s being said. But with him being a professor, he has to remain neutral if he wants to keep his job, and I can’t fault him for that.

I breathe a sigh of relief that moment the door to the containment room closes behind us, my mind so lost in turmoil, I didn’t even realize we were already here. The harsh wards slide over my skin with ease now, the previous resistance the first time I came in here gone.

My bag thumps to the floor as it slides off my arm, not caring where it falls. The tension and stress from the hallway slowly ebbs away, allowing me to take the first deep breath I’ve been dying for all day.

“Sunshine?”

I spin around and stumble back, wondering when Thaddeus got so close without me hearing him.

Hurt flashes in his eyes—there and gone with a single blink of his blue eyes. He raises his hands in a placating manner, taking a swift step back and putting much-needed distance between us.

I don’t know if it’s just my mood or the aftereffects from the confrontation in the hall, but gods, I really don’t want anyone near me for a moment. I open my mouth to tell him that, to apologize, to do something, but he seems to already know what’s going on in my head.

“It’s alright, Bailey.” Sincerity shines in those frosty orbs. “That was a lot just now. So let’s take your mind off it by running through some of your runes.” He flashes a disarming smile, but something about it feels fake. Forced even.

I don’t even know.

But he’s right. Working on my magic and going over some of my runes will take my mind off all the bullshit of the morning.

Tossing him a small, grateful smile, I tread to the middle of the containment room and close my eyes, connecting with my magic. Like always, it’s right there, ready and waiting. It wraps around my heart in a comforting gesture, warming me from the inside out.

“Fire,” Thaddeus murmurs, his voice a low whisper.

My hand raises in front of me as I nudge my magic, sending it to the flame rune on my shoulder. The brand on my skin heats, the pink glow hidden underneath my large hoodie. With a pop, a bubblegum pink flame bursts forth from my fingers, lighting up the room. It flickers back and forth, casting mine and Thaddeus’ shadows on the wall, but doesn’t spiral out of control like I expected it to with my shifting emotions.

“Good,” Thaddeus hums, leaning back against the wall. “Amp.”

My lips curl up when my flame dies, only for a pink glow to encase my neck as my magic zips from my shoulder to the amplifier rune around my neck. This is one rune my hoodie hasn’t been able to hide, not unless I want to start wearing turtlenecks. I may not be that into fashion and whatnot, but even I know that turtlenecks are social suicide.

Heat infuses itself into my vocal cords, but then something bubbles up my throat before I can stop it. A loud belch, amplified by my activated rune, rattles the walls, sounding more like a passing semi-truck than a simple burp. My cheeks burn and mortification infuses every molecule of my being the second the sound cuts out.

Ground, swallow me whole, please.

My eyes dart all over the room, looking for somewhere to hide for the rest of this class, but I’m not so lucky. There are only four walls and one door.

Thaddeus still hasn’t said a word, and it’s starting to worry me. But I knew I shouldn’t have worried. When I finally glance at him, the damn Smurf doubles over, clutching his stomach as he cackles heartily. Tears drip from his eyes, the salty water crystallizing before it can fall from his face.

“That…” he wheezes, “oh my gods.” He cackles again. “That was hilarious.”

Stupid blue Smurf needs to shut the hell up.

I point my finger, ready to tell him to zip it, but before I can, the side of my finger burns and a flash of pink shoots from the tip, heading straight for Thaddeus. But he’s too busy laughing to see it. It smacks him square in the leg, and with a yell, his whole body jolts before his knees go out, dropping him to the floor.

He looks up at me wide-eyed, shock coating his features, but all I can do is stare at my finger, wondering what the fuck that was. My magic takes a detour straight to my eyes, my vision sharpening, enhancing, making everything so much clearer than I think it’s ever been. My eyes don’t stray from the once tiny dot on my finger. Now that I can actually see it, I know it’s a small lightning bolt type rune etched into the side of the digit and not a beauty mark like others would perceive.

“Holy shit,” I breathe, unable to look away from the small mark. “Lightning.”

“Lightning?” Thaddeus mutters, climbing to his feet. “But—” He stops, and a full body shiver shakes his lithe frame, a roll of static sliding over his skin. “Shit, that’s unpleasant.” I stifle a laugh at the grimace on his face. “Like I was saying, you don’t have lightning. I’ve gone over the runes you possess many times, and lightning wasn’t one of them.”

“Then what’s this?” I point to the rune on my finger.

Thaddeus slowly steps closer, eyeing my hand in contempt. It’s almost enough to make me laugh, but I swallow it down.

“There’s nothing there.”

“Yes, there is. Do you have a magnifying glass in that special hidey-hole of yours?”

“Hidey-hole?” His white brows scrunch together. “Oh, my pocket dimension? Maybe.”

Thaddeus’ hand disappears into the void, his pink tongue peeking between his blue lips while he rummages around his little dimension. Warmth stirs low in my belly at the sight, but I quash it as quickly as I can. I should not be having any type of thoughts for the winter fae. Not after the whispers. Not after being the cause of his relationship ending.

It’s like adding fuel to the already burning dumpster fire.

“Ah ha!” Thaddeus exclaims, pulling his hand back with a flourish, a magnifying glass clutched between his long blue digits. “Let’s see it.” He holds his other hand out expectantly, wiggling his fingers.

The second my palm rests in his, he pulls me closer, the lens perched in front of one his eyes with the other tightly closed. He twists my hand this way and that, closing the distance between his face and my flesh. His frosty breath wafts over my skin, sending a chill down my spine that I do my damnedest to suppress. But his quick intake of breath alerts me that I didn’t hide it well enough.

Shit.

As soon as Thaddeus pulls the magnifying glass from his face, I scuttle back, putting distance between us once again. He huffs and shakes his head but otherwise doesn’t comment on my skittish behavior. He must have an idea why I’m acting like this, though. Right?

If not, then I’ll seriously need to question if he actually heard a word anyone said today in his class and the hall.

The glass disappears with a flash, leaving Thaddeus empty-handed. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and backs up toward the wall where he was before.

“You definitely have a lightning rune.” No shit, Smurf-lock . “The size of it makes me wonder if there are more I missed when you first arrived. We could go another round of taking pictures of your runes, more closely this ti?—”

“We don’t have to,” I cut him off, shaking my head. “I already have homework to write out what runes I have for Cassian. I can go over the pictures you took the first time and compare them to the book he’s supposed to send over.”

“Bailey.” My name leaves his lips with a sigh. “I’m going to be honest. Some of these runes, like that one,” he nods toward my hand, “you should keep them to yourself.”

“But—”

“It’s so microscopic that he won’t know, and neither will the other council members. It’s one thing for the bigger ones we can see, but those hidden ones? Keep those between you and me. There’s something about the council that doesn’t sit right with me, and the fact that Cassian wants a full list…” he trails off, leaving the rest of his sentence open to interpretation.

I tilt my head, thinking about his words. Cassian requesting a written-out list as part of his protection decree threw me for a loop too. Why in the world would he want that? It really shouldn’t matter what runes I have; it’s not like I even know how to use most of them. Is there a certain one he or the council is looking for? Maybe the ‘kill with one thought’ one?

Will that be the rune that kills the curiomancer? I grimace. Not the right time for inside jokes, Bailey.

“Okay. I’ll keep ones like tha—” My words are interrupted by the containment room door opening and the brothers stepping inside. Hearing them approach, Thaddeus quickly shakes his head, imploring me not to finish my thought. I want to ask why, but then it hits me.

The brothers were hired by the council, and it’s obvious Thaddeus doesn’t trust them.

But I do.

Kind of.

For now.

Until they do something to break this tentative trust between us.

“Ready to go, Bailey?” Zane murmurs, a bright smile stretching across his face the second I make eye contact with him.

I’m about to retort that class isn’t over yet, but the bell rings, signaling that this period is indeed over.

“Yeah.”

After grabbing my stuff, I toss a wave over my shoulder at Thaddeus and follow the brothers out, dragging my feet as slow as I can because I really, really don’t want to go to my next class.

Professor Asshole’s Transmutation class.

Yippee.

Not.