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She was relentlessly cheerful, and to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Despite having just learned each other’s names, we’d been going to class together for nearly a week, and from what I’d observed of her personality, my usual snarky humor and dry retorts would go right over her head.
Fortunately, I was saved from having to come up with some lame response when Professor Howes quieted down the class and cleared away all the shards from broken carafes in preparation for our next assignment. Relief and anticipation made me grin, and I cracked my knuckles, ready for some sparring.
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“I’ll be pairing you all up,” Howes said, striding across the length of the room with her hands clasped behind her back. She was a tall woman with a serious face and eyes that seemed too big for her head. “When I call your names, you and your partner will find each other and spar. Remember, this is just to test your skills and get a baseline reading. It’s a friendly match, so don’t go incapacitating your partner.”
I really hoped I didn’t get paired with Eden. She looked like the kind of girl who would stub a toe and go down like a sack of bricks. Of course, I probably shouldn’t underestimate anybody, having spent most of my life having people do that exact thing to me.
“Aria, Lachlan, pair up,” Howes called, and my stomach sank.
Merrick hadn’t been the only person I had recognized when I’d gotten to the school. On the first day of classes, I had found my gaze drawn like a magnet to a shaggy red-brown head of hair, and my eyes had almost popped out of my head when I recognized the guy I’d seen in the audience during my last fight at the underground ring. I hadn’t even realized he was a magic user at the time. I’d been too busy ogling him while trying not to get the shit kicked out of me by Rotham to notice his faint aura.
As it turned out, his name was Lachlan O’Shae. He had a ruddy complexion, gorgeous green eyes, and really broad shoulders. He looked strong as fuck, and I quickly realized he wasn’t just physically strong, but strong-willed and forceful as well.
He was a second-year student at Magic Blessed Academy and one of Merrick’s best friends.
And he was a total dick.
While I was rolling my eyes, he was chuckling and snickering to his friends. We met on the mats, and he smiled at me, leaning forward to speak in his heavy Irish accent.
“I’ll go easy on ye, don’t worry.”
Ugh. No one this annoying should sound this sexy.
I just nodded at him and got ready. He was pretty quick for a big guy, but then again size really didn’t matter when it came to magic.
We took turns sparring back and forth and blocking, the intensity getting stronger by the minute. I sent out a stream of magic, and he dodged it—but before I could block, he whipped his hand around and his burst of bright green energy knocked me right off my feet. I hit the floor hard, knocking the air out of my lungs.
Anger flooded me as I watched him laugh and chuckle with his buddies.
He and Merrick were good friends with that Trace guy too, and despite Trace’s obvious interest in me that first day, all three of them seemed to have decided they hated me, probably because of some bullshit half-truths Merrick had told them about our time together.
What a fucking cock. All three of them actually.
Three walking, talking dicks.
Still lying on the floor, I flung out my hand, and a stream of twisting magic gathered around my forearm before shooting from my fingertips straight toward Lachlan.
To my chagrin, he glanced up just in time. Swiping his hand across his chest, he repelled my magic, and it came spiraling right back at me. I tucked and rolled, letting the blaze of magic slam into the floor where I had just been.
Holy fuck. My eyes flew wide with shock.
If that’d hit me, it would’ve done worse than knock me off my feet.
Professor Howes called time, and as soon as all the sparring partners broke apart, Eden darted over and offered me her hand. I took it, and she helped me stand.
“So much for taking it easy on our sparring partners,” she whispered breathlessly, glancing over at Lachlan.
“Yeah,” I muttered, my lips pressing into a line as I took in his smug expression.
I’d been drawn to the guy the first time I’d seen him, but now that I knew what he was like, I couldn’t stand him. All I wanted to do was knock him down a peg. He was powerful, but he underestimated me, and one day, I was going to get the upper hand. If we were fighting without magic, I would’ve already put him on his back.
When the class ended, Lachlan shoved past me, hitting me in the shoulder.
He turned around, walking backward out of the large stone-walled classroom so he could look me in the eyes as he taunted me, raising his voice to draw the attention of everyone around us.
“I’ve told them time and time again, women shouldn’t be allowed to spar. Don’t ye have better things to do? Maybe go use your magic to whip me up somethin’ in the kitchen?”
