Authors: Abigail Boyd
I grit my teeth together and throw back my shoulders, rising up taller to get closer to his height. “Maybe you should watch me more. Oh wait, that isn’t possible.”
He yanks his hand through his hair. “You make me absolutely insane.”
“You do that to yourself.”
“I never had a problem before you. You don’t follow any rules, you have no respect for the craft, and the magic is just a game to you,” he rants, his voice choked with passion.
“It’s not a game to me,” I argue, “But I also don’t think it’s cause for being stuck up and arrogant. Not special, remember?”
“You won’t stop,” he says through gritted teeth. “It’s like you’re everywhere, all the time.”
“Why do you even care?” I challenge.
He grabs me by my upper arms and presses me back against the bookshelf. I glare up at him as he stares down with equal intensity. I can see his chest heaving angrily. Something invisible but tangible shifts in the air, and my anger turn into lust.
Luke lunges forward, grasping the sides of my face with his hands, and his mouth collides with mine. My heart shatters into a million fragments inside my chest. He pushes me back against the bookcase as his lips move with mine, his tongue sliding into my mouth. I thread my greedy fingers through his hair, and he groans seductively, his tongue vibrating. His hand slides down to the top of my stocking below my skirt, and he lifts up my leg, wrapping my leg around his waist, pushing his clothed hips against mine. Our lips break contact and he stares into my eyes.
He lets go and takes a step back. My mouth is dropped open in shock, my lips swollen as I press my fingers against them. His pupils are dilated, his hair messy from my touch, and for once, he looks lost.
The magnetic attraction stirs between us. He moves in to kiss me again, but I hear the librarian calling for me. I gently push him away and slide out of his reach, then hurriedly rush for the front counter. My face is hot and flushed, and I attempt to smooth my hair down. The librarian doesn’t seem to notice that I’m flustered as she gives me another pile of books. When I return to the aisle with my cart, Luke is gone.
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I can’t stop thinking about Luke and the kiss—the amazing feel of his lips against mine, and how
right
it felt even though I know it’s wrong. It’s true that Luke is gorgeous and undeniably sexy. I’ve never met someone so captivating and in control. Sometimes I even find his bossiness sexy—like yesterday. It’s a good thing we were in a public place, or we would have ripped each other’s clothes off.
I expect everyone to know that Luke and I kissed—perhaps all the other witches have telepathy like Paige, and just failed to inform me. But everyone is caught up in their own business as I go about the rest of my Saturday.
I skip dinner and lie in my bed, staring up at the bottom of the canopy, trying to keep the chill of the house at bay beneath the thick blanket.
I never would have imagined getting involved with someone so arrogant or demanding. Kissing me had seemed like as big of a surprise to him as it had been to me. I try to shut him out as I go into the bathroom and splash cc cold water on my face. I strip down and change into a pair of pajamas, then slide under the covers. I pull one of the pillows down and curl up with it, squeezing it tightly.
The look—
that look—
he gave me a split second before his lips crashed into mine keeps invading my head.
In that moment, he appeared desperate to possess me.
CHAPTER 11
In the morning, I wake early, just after the sun comes up. Intricate frost laces the window glass, but I’m alert and ready to start practicing. I get dressed and slide on my usual jewelry, lamenting the black bracelet. It seems to be getting heavier the more I wear it.
The others are enjoying their day off in the sitting room and around the Hall. When Melody spots me, she hurries over. She huddles next to me and keeps her voice low.
“Did you rat us out?” she hisses, glancing back over her shoulder.
“You mean when you left me to take the fall with Luke?”
She grimaces. I’m enjoying the brief moment of her anxiety as she tugs at her frizzy red braid, her face flushed around her freckles. Her immaturity is obvious. I could freak her out, but I choose not to. “No, I didn’t rat you out.”
Her face regains its color as she lets out a sigh of relief.
“But Paige already figured you were involved somehow,” I continue, making her guarded eyes widen. “She warned me that you guys put new people through the ringer.”
She shrugs, apparently not intimidated. “What of it? Any sorority or frat would do the same thing. You’re in the most exclusive college in the country, we have to make sure you’re up to our standards.”
I smile at her tightly. “I not interested in anything other than improving my technique. You can leave me out of your future invitations if you’re going to throw me to the lions.”
“Suit yourself.”
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I step outside in the chill a few minutes later, bundled up in my cloak. It’s not snowing, but the ground is covered and the air is frigid. The bitter cold freezes my nose and my cheeks as I follow the pathway, exploring the outdoors. The neatly planted garden beds are dormant. I find myself a deserted area among a grove of trees with ice decorating their branches.
I have to get better at this. I appreciated the Headmistress’s reassurances, but what if my powers really are disappearing? Already I’ve left my old life in Arizona, and I can’t imagine going back there now.
I push my hood back and focus, trying to recall the words of my teachers. I shut my eyes and relax my shoulders, trying to call up the powers. The numbing kiss of cold air against my cheeks helps me focus and feel grounded.
I feel the prickling sensation spinning into my hands and take advantage of it. First, I start with what I did in Paige’s office. I try to levitate a small broken branch. The branch hovers a few inches above the ground before dropping. I attempt to lift another, larger branch. It twitches back and forth, making swish marks in the snow.
The enchanted power seems to drain down my legs and into the icy ground, and with it, my body’s strength. I try to prevent my knees from collapsing, to no avail. I drop down hard as shocks ripple up my thighs. It was so easy the other night…what’s wrong now?
I continue for another ten minutes, but by then I have to sit down on a nearby bench because I’m so dizzy. I finally steady myself and walk back up toward the Hall. I feel eyes on me, and when I glance up at one of the tower windows, Luke is there, staring down at me. I hurry inside, away from his
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When I have levitation again, with the teacher who was so proud of me the first week, I’m aware of the others watching me as I step forward. A stone awaits on a wooden box in front of me, and I’m supposed to levitate it up to each in a series of boxes like a staircase next to it.
I struggle to get the stone to lift, but finally it wobbles up and floats. I maneuver the stone onto the next box as sweat rolls down the back of my neck. It’s so much heavier than it should be. I flex my fingers again and squeeze my brows in concentration as I attempt to lift the stone again. It drags across the surface of the box, then shoots up into the air and careens into the wall where it chips the stone.
The Professor looks at me with pinched lips and disapproving eyes as she crosses my name off her clipboard. “Seems your beginner’s luck has run out. You’ll need to practice judiciously to improve yourself.”
I don’t bother to mention that I practice every spare chance I get. “Yes, ma’am. I will.”
She calls the next student and I shrink to the back of the class, feeling my face grow hot.
The next day, I don’t immediately go out of my room when the morning bell chimes. I sit by my window and stare out at the bleak landscape. I never should have assumed it would be so easy. I wish I could pick up the phone and text someone in the outside world. Astrid was right—this place, for all its luxury, sometimes feels like a gilded prison.
I glide into my uniform and stockings and buckle up my boots, and join the procession for another day.
“Do you think you’ll be ready for the elemental exam?” Melody asks me during our class of the same subject. We’re both attempting to fill a series of glasses with water. So far, I’ve managed only a few drops while her glasses are full.
“What elemental exam?” It’s the first I’ve heard of it. I stop concentrating and glance over at her.
She raises her eyebrow at me. “It’s coming up in a week and a half. Every few months there are exams of different types of magic to gauge your progress. This is one of the most important to pass, since elemental magic is so basic. Hell, kids can sometimes start little fires or cause a sprinkle long before their Awakenings. You’ve been here for nearly a month, I’m sure they’ll make you participate.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, but you’re not really helping,” I say, and she shrugs.
The instructor glides over to our table, nodding in approval at Melody’s glasses and then scowling at mine before passing by.
“The Headmistress said that it was okay, that I’d come into my magic in time,” I whisper to her, trying to concentrate again on the empty glass closest to me and imagine it filling with water. I picture rivers, waterfalls, ponds. Summer rainstorms like I remember from childhood, before I lived in the desert. Another trickle dribbles down the side of one, then water sprays around the glasses like an out of control hose. I sigh and pick up a towel from beside the table to wipe it off.
“Okay, but if you perform like this during your test she’ll have no choice but to kick you back to level one.”
She seems to take satisfaction in this as she struts away to join the others who are done with their tests. I feel like my back is against the wall, and I have no way to escape.
CHAPTER 12
Luke hasn’t spoken to me all week, and except for that day outside when I caught him being a peeping tom from his perch, he hasn’t even glanced in my direction. It hasn’t stopped the tension between us—I can feel it from across the room when I enter the greenhouse on Friday for Necromancy. When our eyes meet, my stomach drops, but I tear my gaze away and join the others, standing at the back of the crowd.
Luke is dressed in his usual spotless uniform, not a hair out of place. But he seems to be distracted. The class goes by as usual, but I stay silent, not knowing how to confront him. Bits of memory from the kiss keep playing through my head—his pulling my leg up against his hip, the minty taste of his mouth, the erotic sensation of our tongues sliding together. I blink and try to concentrate on the other people performing their spells. They are attempting to revive dead seeds, and luckily there isn’t time enough for everyone.
At the end of class, I gather my things and am ready to head out the door, but he stops me.
“Wait, Iris. I need to have a word with you,” he says softly. The others are distracted as they file into the hall, and he shuts the door with just the two of us in the dusty old greenhouse.
This is the moment I’ve been waiting for—and dreading. He finally attaches his gaze to me and I hold my breath, forgetting all the words I’ve been prepared to say.
A moment of tense silence passes. “Are you going to report me to the Headmistress?” I ask finally.
It’s not what he was expecting to hear. I can tell by his confused frown as his eyebrows bunch up.
“What are you talking about?”
I glance at the door to make sure it’s still tightly shut. “For breaking the rules. I know that relations between students and wardens are forbidden, and it would be easier for you to blame the whole thing on me.”
“No, of course not,” he says, his frown deepening. “Why would I do that? I don’t have a grudge against you, Iris, I just don’t like it when you deliberately do things that are out of bounds. What happened the other day was because of both of us. It was building since you got here, you must have sensed that.” I nod, biting my lower lip. “Nobody else has to know about it but us, and nobody will.”
“You, ignoring the rules?” I raise my eyebrow. “I find that hard to believe.”
I turn around to leave, but he catches me by the wrist and urges me back. His voice drops to a low, sexy register. “Are you saying you want to ignore what happened the other day?”
I swallow hard and run my tongue across my suddenly dry lips. “I thought that’s what we were doing. Especially if we’re keeping it a dirty little secret.”
He smiles mildly. “I’m not saying it doesn’t make me…conflicted. But I think in this case breaking the rules might be worth it.” He lets go of my wrist and lifts his hand up, gently running his fingers down a strand of my hair. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t get you out of my head, no matter what I do.”
“So what are you suggesting?” It’s hard to stay composed with him so close.
“I want you, Iris. I think about you, often. I can’t stop imagining what it would be like to fuck you. You intrigue me in a way I’ve never felt before.”