Page 16

I was an expert at brewing homemade potions and crafting poisons, and I knewhewas my brand of poison. My addiction.

“What if we’re caught?” I countered, then gasped, eyes widening beneath heavy lids as he added another finger, thrusting in and out and hitting my G-spot over and over.

“Yes—oh, yes, right there.”My head fell back as pleasure coiled tight through me.“Someone could walk in and see us.”

“I sealed the door,” he said with satisfaction.“No one gets to watch how I play with you, or how prettily your body weeps for me.”

“Stop! Ah, stop with the crude words,” I moaned, even as I arched into his touch. “It’s not just impolite. It’sfilthy.”

He chuckled, low and wicked.“Oh, you haven’t even heard the dirtiest things yet, baby. Consider this your first lesson.”His voice roughened as he inhaled sharply.“Fuck, your arousal is so thick it’s choking me. I’ve never smelled anyone as desperate and ready as you.”

I opened my mouth to scold him—how dare he be so offensive? But the words shattered as he drove his fingers deep inside me. My knees buckled; I barely stayed upright, hands clawing at his shoulders, nails biting through his shirt. Every rational thought burned away.

Being tongue-licked had been eye-opening; being finger-fucked was another experience. I kept musing how it would feel to have his massive cock buried in my molten core, impaling my needy flesh over and over, for hours, like hard waves hammering the shore.

I needed more. I wanted his cock.

I burned for him, a reckless, forbidden heat searing me from within.

His fingers halted within me. I writhed to urge him on.

“Don’t you stop.”

“Tell me what you saw,”he demanded, his voice cutting through the haze.“What paralyzed you with fear earlier in the class?”

Ice flooded my veins, leaching the lust from my blood.

I had seen my deaths. Not one, but many—overlapping, tangled. I’d been inside other women’s skins, felt their final breaths as if they were mine. Their violent endings became mine, over and over.

I stared back at Nero Ravencrux. I knew his game. But no pleasure, no matter how intoxicating, would make me drop my guard.

Fear was intimate, and it was mine. Only fools gave trust away for free.

“Nothing,”I lied.“Just nerves. This school—it’s all new to me.”

His stern gaze bored into me, though the heat in his icy green eyes still simmered. He didn’t believe me, but for once, he didn’t push.

“Maybe I don’t belong here.”I swallowed, the memory of those deaths clinging like cobwebs, even as his burning touch threatened to drown them out.“Everyone has a mark of their magic, except me. The academy should just cut me loose.”

But that wasn’t entirely true. I’d felt the spark in my veins, had seen and heard the dead my first day here. Maybe my magicwasdark—tied to death itself. Was that why I dreamed of drowning? Maybe the deaths in my dreams weren’t physical deaths…but transformations?

“You’re exactly where you need to be,”he said, cold fury sharpening his words.“Where Iwantyou to be.”Moody asshole. Probably a universal flaw—hot enough to be sculpted by the gods, emotionally unstable enough to balance it out.

His grip on me tightened, shadows and death coiled around my skin—not as a threat, but a claim.“Whatever you saw, I won’t let it touch you.”His voice turned to a blade of ice.“I’ll shatter even the oldest curse in existence.”

I had no idea what he meant. Then again, with him, it could just be another one of his tempers.

The crisp scent of mint flooded my senses just before his lips captured mine. My breath hitched as I found myself pressed against him, fingers tangling in his hair before I could think to stop them.

His tongue traced the seam of my lips, and I opened for him with embarrassing eagerness. The slow, deliberate strokes against my tongue sent tremors through me, making my knees weak. I matched his rhythm in a fever pitch, his answering growl possessive and savage.

Lost in the madness of the kiss, I moaned helplessly. His scent, raw masculinity mingled with brimstone and burning wood, wrapped around me like home, different than the one I’d grown up in.

His fingers started to move again, masterful and deliberate, finding delicious places within me that made my vision blur.

The lecture hall faded around us as pleasure built like a gathering storm.

My breath came in broken gasps against his neck as he brought me to the edge of release.

Then his movements slowed to an excruciating halt again.

“Don’t stop,” I begged, breaking our kiss.

“You aren’t allowed to come until I let you,” he said cruelly. His dark eyes gleamed with calculation and dominance.

“I need it,” I whimpered.

“Such eagerness.”He chuckled as his fingers teased, drawing me to the edge, then pulling back just as ruthlessly.“Show me that frustration. What will you do with it?”

I arched against him, hips driving forward. If he wouldn’t give me what I needed, I’d take it. But then, nothing. An invisible barrier slammed down, cutting off my climax before it could crest.

My eyes flew wide.How the hell was that even possible?Dirty trick. Downright criminal.

“You’re learning now,” he crooned.

Howdarehe toy with me like this?

Frustration twisted into fury. I swung my fist toward his ear.

“You like that, asshole?”

Shadows lashed out, snaring both my wrists, yanking them above my head in a vise-like grip. He withdrew his fingers from my aching heat, that half-smile playing on his lips.

“Consider this your punishment,”he purred.“Assaulting a professor does have consequences.”

Fury burned through me and sharpened to pure energy. A coiled power stirred in me, thrashing against its cage, seeking release. Pain followed, searing through my core, radiating through every nerve until I could barely breathe. I wanted to collapse, to curl in on myself until it passed.

Then, a spark.

Faint, flickering, like something wild and ancient waking beneath my skin. This time, before it could slip away into the dark, Iseizedit. Cradled it like a precious baby.

And then?—

Agony became ecstasy.

Magic surged through me, sweet and electric as any climax he’d denied me. Light flared between my palms, shimmering, thenwhirledinto a gust that slammed into Ravencrux.

Shock and joy sang in my chest. For the first time, I feltalive—power thrumming under my skin, intoxicating, even if the wind barely ruffled his robes.

A slow, proud, and sensual smile curved his lips.“That’s my girl.”

I tensed. Had this all been a test?

“Your magic isn’t like anyone else’s,”he said, his voice rough.“It doesn’t just respond to coaxing—it needs to be forced out. And this?”He gestured to the fading shimmer in my palms.“This is a firefly compared to the dragon sleeping inside you.”

Then his body locked. His face contorted in pain, and for a heartbeat, I swore I saw something else—a shadowed reaper, scythe glinting—superimposed over him. My magic surged instinctively, tendrils of light curling into him, easing whatever agony gripped him.

When he straightened, his gaze burned into mine.

“You’ve found your Weaver magic, which is outside the five magical system, and this is only the beginning.

”His voice dropped, dark with promise.“You’ll need private lessons.

Your magic isn’t like any others. Sexual stimulation is the fastest way to awaken yours, until you reach your full potential.

”His eyes raked over me, possessive and full of heat.

“Now remember: you won’t come without my permission.

Not here, not in your room, not with your own hands.

You’ll ache, and you’ll always come back to me for more. Summons or not.”

I glared at him. Rage flared hot in my chest. I’d never been crude before I came to this school, and right now, I wanted to flip him off.

Ravencrux flicked his wrist. The heavy door groaned open.

“Now run along,”he taunted.