AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Taring myself from the photo, I pondered over her profile, pulling it out of the binder before placing the book back on the table. I would let Felix and Drew cover the pretense of having any interest in other students - I frankly didn’t need to know about any of them. As far as the Academy was convinced, I was here strictly as protection for my ambassador. Abbess Atiana may have banned fighting on the premises, but that didn’t mean it didn’t sometimes happen.
I looked over the page's details, finding the one line I had previously ignored printed in small lettering just below her picture. Status: Compliant.
As much as my demon relished the thought that no other man had ever consumed her how he wanted to, I found this invasion of her privacy entirely beyond reason.
“Why do they care about virginity so much?” I found myself asking.
Drew rolled his eyes. “They only care about it for the females. The males are encouraged to do what they want.”
“But they’re kept cooped up in this place for the most part for twenty-one years,” Felix interjected, always quick to point out inconsistencies.
“And that’s the problem, isn’t it? They expect the guys to try to take what they want. It’s all a tactic to try to ‘weed out the weakest females’. If they give in to temptation, they’re no longer compliant and no longer worth nearly as much. They’re viewed as pushovers and weak-minded, which is an excuse to keep them trapped in bullshit assignments as servants, assistants, and breeders. If a woman gives in to ‘carnal temptations,’ she isn’t considered very humble.”
“And a humble caster is a good caster, yes, yes, we know.” Felix waved his hand in disgust.
My demon slashed at the confines of his cage, choking me from the inside.
How the hell was I going to keep him calm for the next four days?
I stepped out of the balcony doors that split the four guest suites in half, drawing in the clean scent of maples and pines. I had always found peace from my rage in remote areas like this, reminding me of memories deeply woven in my adolescence back in Sanctuary.
I wasn’t sure how long I remained out there, leaning upon the balcony rail as the late afternoon sun slipped beneath the cloak of dusk’s eternal shadow. I took in the bright oranges that bled into the vibrant magentas and purples of the setting horizon over the distant turquoise waters of Lake Moraine, and not for the first time in my life, and I wondered if this was what Heaven might look like bathed in its perpetual glow from the sun.
As the sun dipped lower in the sky, leaving streaks of magenta to tangle with the twilight hues of blue and purple, I looked to the other end of the keep directly towards the eastern towers diagonal from us. Immediately, I was drawn to one specific window, like a hopeless moth to a flame. I knew she was there, and as she opened her window to stare at the same sky that I was, I felt the first stirrings of something in my chest, causing the outer edge of my scarred lip to curl upwards.
Remarkably, my demon was completely silent.
Chapter Five - First Dates and Dinner Plates
Aeryn
As soon as I hit the corridor from the grand hall, I let my poised veneer slip, skirting away from the questions of my fellow graduates. The last thing I was in the mood for was a conversation with nosy bitches who hadn’t shown much in the way of interest in me at any time during the last twenty-four years of my life.
It had taken every ounce of my willpower to leave the hall, the presence inside me wanting to leap on the source of the inhuman red aura. I could pretend it was to protect all those present from the danger lurking there, but I’m not so vain as to believe myself humble enough. No - I had wanted a second round, to slash at him with tooth and nail for the embarrassment my unwilling submission had caused me.
I darted past the only two remaining doors in the hallway, both of which housed the remaining graduates, including Ness, who was amongst the combat candidates. I then made my way through the back curving hallways, their darkened stone walls and flickering gas-lit wall sconces a stark contrast to the brightly engraved sandstone formal hallways that welcomed the guests. Finding the back stairwell into the dormitories, I took the stairs two at a time until I reached my old floor, exiting into the tiled foyer that led to four different curving corridors. It may have been three years since I’d taken this daily trek, but my feet followed the path like I was pulled by an invisible string.
I had to count my blessings as I entered our room, nibbling on my pinky as I walked unceremoniously to my old desk, throwing myself in the ragged swiveling chair, nicked from beside a dumpster in Zane’s pack town. I wanted to see him right now, sit on his workshop's porch, share a beer, and discuss who, or what, my stalker was. He would want to know - especially as demons and shifters didn’t mix.
But alas, my night was already predestined to include dinner with that same group of salivating men who had no doubt been attempting to peak up every skirt they had come across. Randy bastards.
And as for Mr. Coppertone, he was here representing Sarnas based on the color of the slip he had lifted. Logic dictated that he had to be a caster then, even though every instinct I had told me he was anything but human. His command of Wrath was too damn strong, too much a part of him, his whole body melding into the fiery fury as he had played with me.
And there was no other way to describe it, and he hadplayedwith me.
I retrieved a bottle of water from the drawer beside me and cracked it open, chugging it down in a few quick gulps. Crushing the bottle and throwing it in the tiny recycling bin under my desk, I pulled out another while I tried to focus on anything besides the great hulking package of Coppertone sunscreen downstairs.
I should feel pretty proud of myself at that moment. Despite the snafu that nearly displayed the phenomenal shaving job on my lady bits, I had somehow attracted every guild to me, which meant I was a shoe in for the healer support trials.
Somehow, though, the excitement just wasn’t there. Instead, I felt a sense of foreboding resoluteness. With how much attention I was already garnering, my chances of slipping away and escaping during selections was becoming less and less likely by the moment. Setting aside that it was extremely rare for six guilds to be drawn to the same candidate, no one would ignore the disappearance of the girl who had drawn the notice of Sarnas, who rarely, if ever, bothered to make an appearance, let alone issue an interest slip.
I had worked so hard to craft the image of being just another student. Healers just weren’t that rare. There was no reason I should have gotten interest slips from every guild.
I closed my eyes, tipping back in my chair so it rested against the desk. I put my head back and took another sip of my water while I pulled out the phone I had found shoved in the pocket of my fatigues when I awoke in the courtyard.
Popping it open, I saw I had a couple of missed texts: three from Sabina, Zane’s younger sister and pack oracle in training, and one from Zane letting me know he was coming to get his truck but he’d leave my bike back in the shed he’d built for it. I pondered what to say to Sabina, knowing she would continue to text me mercilessly. I decided on a simple, succinct reply consisting of three emojis: two thumbs up, a smiley face, a phone, and a clock, hoping I had adequately gotten my message that all was well and I’d call her later.
But knowing her, she’d probably find some highly inappropriate meaning behind my text, just as she had when I sent eggplant and peach to Zane to indicate we needed fruits and vegetables for the meal I was planning. Awkward.
