by River Ramsey
With that, he walked to the other end of the line and clapped his hands together when the first pair proved too slow for his liking. “On with it.”
The blond-haired boy flinched, but he stepped forward and bowed to his partner. “Your Grace,” he said stiffly.
“Your Grace?” Mr. Bryant scoffed, leaning over as if to have a better look at the brown-haired girl in front of him. “I’m sorry, did Tally become royalty without my knowing?” he taunted, striding back over to the boy’s side. “‘Your Grace’ is reserved solely for the Empress and her King. When approaching a queen of higher birth and station, a tom may address her as ‘my lady’ or, equally acceptable, ‘madame.’ Try again.”
The boy gulped and bowed to Tally once more. “A pleasure to meet you, my lady.”
Tally and Mr. Bryant both waited expectantly until the boy jolted with the realization that he wasn’t finished. He reached for her hand and bowed to kiss it hastily.
Tally gave a well-practiced curtsey and replied, “The pleasure is mine, good sir.”
“Very good,” Mr. Bryant said approvingly, moving on to the next pair. “Now, this is a good example of a couple on equal footing. Go ahead.”
“Good evening, Miss Hale,” the second boy said, giving a half-bow to his female partner.
“Mr. Worth,” she said, responding with a less dramatic curtsey.
“Surprisingly adequate,” Mr. Bryant quipped, moving on to the next pair. “Dreadfully boring, but adequate.”
He continued on down the line and, despite a few fumbles that could more fairly have been attributed to nerves than a lack of training, the other students did well. By the time the teacher reached Ella, she had reached entirely new heights of dread.
He stood watching her for several seconds that felt like small eternities, each one encapsulated solely within the cerulean prism of his gaze.
Breathless as she was, Ella opened her mouth to speak and prayed that whatever came out wouldn’t be more humiliating than the poor first impression she’d made on him.
Before she could venture a guess as to the proper address to use with him, Mr. Bryant took her hand into his own with an unexpectedly gentle embrace and lowered himself to one knee with a fluid grace that felt like poetry.
Ella’s breath caught in her throat and she found herself unable to blink, so stunned by his gesture. Was he mocking her? The other students hadn’t taken the opportunity to laugh, but they were probably as confused as she was.
Not that she could tell. She could no more look away from him than a moth could resist the alluring warmth of a flame. She knew if she lingered too long in that icy gaze, it would burn her alive, but she lingered all the same.
“It is my greatest honor and pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said, his reverent words stroking the innermost sanctum of her soul. She shivered at the electric sensation of his skin against hers, and when he brought his lips to brush the back of her hand with care that bordered on worship, Ella felt every thread of herself come undone. He raised his head to meet her gaze once more, and in his eyes, she saw amusement mingling with something much more difficult to grasp, let alone believe. “Your Grace.”
Ella was left paralyzed and speechless as he rose with equally fluid ease and left her in a state of shock that seemed to be catching. The other students were dead silent, and even as Mr. Bryant ended the class period with instructions of what they were to endure tomorrow, they kept stealing glances her way.
For her part, Ella wasn’t aware of a word he said, even though she was trying desperately to pay attention. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, the memory of his kiss dancing across the sensitive flesh on the back of her hand.
No one had ever looked at her that way. Certainly not a man like him. All her life, Ella had been a ghost, no more a factor in the awareness of those around her than the surrounding air. For the first time, it felt like someone had actually looked and seen her, and it was the most terrifying, mesmerizing experience she had ever had.
The bell rang and Ella hastily grabbed her things, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. The other students gave her a wide berth on their way out of the classroom, but they didn’t go out of their way to shove into her as quite a few had done earlier in the halls, so she considered that progress.
She was the last to leave the room, and her beeline to reach the open hall on the other side of that door felt even more desperate than her attempt to breach the surface of the water in the temple room.
She was so close, but the moment that wickedly seductive voice hit her eardrums and called her name with the same intimacy with which he’d spoken her unlikely title, she knew it was out of reach.
Ella slowly turned to face him, intent on keeping her attention on the center of his forehead just above his eyes, since they were much too dangerous to risk looking into again. “Yes, Mr. Bryant?”
He walked over to her, his every movement fluid. “Is it true that you’ve only attended human school up until this point?”
She swallowed hard. If his display of reverence had been anything other than a cruel joke, he was most certainly going to lose all respect for her now. “Yes,” she finally answered, resisting the urge to step away from him. There were students more physically foreboding than him, but there was something undeniably potent about the energy and confidence he exuded.
“I see,” he said thoughtfully. “In that case, I would strongly recommend private tutoring sessions. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’re going to find this course entirely too difficult.”
She stared at him in disbelief, but the offer seemed genuine enough. “I didn’t know that was an option, but…”
“Yes?” he pressed.
Ella glanced away, too ashamed to meet his gaze. “I don’t think any of the other students would be very keen on tutoring me.”
“I wasn’t suggesting it. You’ll meet me in here every other morning, an hour before the first period,” he said, an unquestionable statement of fact rather than a proposition. “Starting tomorrow.”
“A-alright,” Ella stammered, too shocked to tell if she’d just lucked out or merely agreed to the hastening of her demise. “Thank you.”
“Don’t be late,” he called, giving her a scolding look over his dark frames that was absolutely devastating for all the wrong reasons.
“Yes, sir,” she breathed, turning to flee the classroom while she could still think straight.
Chapter 10
Ella
After surviving to the end of her first day at the Academy, Ella understood why drinking was such a celebrated college pastime. Even if there were spots that catered to the underage coeds, she very much doubted she’d get in.
Instead, she decided to take a walk around the campus building before heading back to her dorm room. She was almost afraid to find out if she had a roommate or not, and the fresh air was more than welcome.
She’d say one thing for the Academy. It was even more breathtaking from within its great iron gates than it was outside of them. If it hadn’t been for the sharp claws and sharper tongues of her fellow classmates, she thought she might have found it relaxing.
It had been a long time since she’d shifted, and the sanctuary of the woods made her inner feline long for release even more. Outside of the Hill family and their immediate associates, she doubted anyone knew what her shifted form was and intended to keep it that way for as long as possible. If there was anyone more unsuitable for the title of Empress than a stray, it was a stray housecat.
After glancing around to make sure she was really alone, Ella unfastened the red silk tie around her neck and unbuttoned her neatly pressed uniform shirt. She stowed it in the hollow of a nearby tree along with her skirt, undergarments and shoes before padding out across the cool evening grass in her bare feet.
There had been a time when shifting came as naturally to her as breathing. In fact, back then it had been a challenge to maintain her human form for longer than a few hours.
Mrs. Hill had addressed that problem with the same cold practicality as any other, punishing Ella each time she took her feline form.
“You’re feral enough as it is,” the Matriarch had spat at her on more than one occasion.
Maybe she was right. Her lackluster performance at today’s etiquette class seemed evidence enough of it. As much as she had dreamed of one day fitting in with the world around her, it seemed more out of reach now than ever. She was all but convinced the moon goddess had chosen her either as a cruel joke, a punishment on the colony, or both.
When Ella took her feline form, dainty paws gliding effortlessly across the earth, the stress began to melt away. She allowed herself to give in to instinct, exploring every enticing sound and flicker of movement in the vast forest. The sky was already darkening with the promise of night, and while she’d planned on going back much earlier, the hours so easily passed themselves off for minutes.
By the time Ella’s human mind came to the forefront enough to realize just how far from the Academy she had ventured, the moon was high above the treetops, shimmering white with the promise of being soon full.
She turned to head back, fighting against the animal impulse to curl up under a tree and refuse to go back. The outdoors, for all its mystery and openness, felt like more of a shelter than those great stone walls.
Once she’d found the path she was reasonably sure led back the right way, her relief was overcome by the unmistakable impulse to run.
The small cat froze, cloaking herself in the shadow of a nearby tree stump to listen. She couldn’t hear a thing, but the night air was alive with the energy of another and the heady scent of a male tom was unmistakable.
This was no run-of-the-mill housecat, either. There was something about the musky scent, as unfamiliar as it was, that had her every fur on edge.
Before she could decide which route to take, and whether running or pretending she didn’t know she was being watched was the best choice, a pair of piercing golden eyes cut through the darkness up ahead.
Ella’s heart seemed to turn to stone in her chest and she slowly crept back as the beast took form from the shadows. With a proud, boxy face and a body covered in smooth, spotted fur wrapped over a frame both sleek and powerful, there was no doubt that she was face to face with a jaguar.
There was no doubting the predatory intent of his gaze, either.
Run it was.
Ella shot off toward the Academy at a frantic hare’s pace, her lungs expanding to accommodate each ragged breath as she fled. She was fast and agile, but the jaguar’s long gait meant he was outstripping her with every second that elapsed.
A shadow loomed over her and she crouched instinctively once impact was inevitable. When the greater beast landed with four paws framing her small body, without making contact, her heart felt like it was close to beating out of her chest.
Wait, the jaguar pleaded in a strangely familiar voice, pinning her gently with a paw that spanned most of her body. I’m not trying to hurt you.
Ella was shivering so violently she could hardly stand. Once the adrenaline left her head clear enough, she turned to face her captor and saw something in those eyes she recognized, as different as they were.
Bishop?
His gaze softened in apology, and he shifted back into his human form. Ella was still trembling too badly to remember how to get back into hers, which was just as well, considering that the sight of his naked body probably would have been the final straw for her overworked heart.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he said, kneeling down in the grass. He held his hand out for her to sniff, as if approaching any other feral creature. “I was trying to figure out how to approach you without scaring you off, and when you ran, I guess instinct kind of took over.”
The gesture would probably register as humiliating as soon as she was human, but she inched forward instinctively and her nostrils flared as she breathed in his scent, far more convincing proof to her animal brain than sight or sound.
“You’re cute,” he said with a soft chuckle, stroking the smooth black fur on top of her head.
In spite of herself, the fur along Ella’s spine went rigid and she pushed her head deeper into his hand in response to the glorious touch. Beatrice was the only one who ever pet her, and that was quite a different sensation.
Once she’d calmed down enough to remember how to take human form, she still wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Sure, he and the rest of the colony had already seen her naked, but that didn’t mean she was eager for a replay.
“What’s wrong? You’re not stuck, are you?” Bishop asked in growing concern. His eyes widened in realization as it sank in. “Oh. Right,” he chuckled, getting back to his feet.
Ella turned away, not wanting to give her imagination anything more to torture her with. A few moments later, Bishop returned wearing a pair of jeans that still left his muscular torso on full display. He dropped a shirt in the grass next to her and turned his back. “I’ll be a gentleman, I promise,” he said in a wry tone.
Ella was so mortified that her cheeks warmed immediately upon shifting back, and she pulled the half-buttoned shirt over her head as quickly as possible. It still smelled of him, the same alluring musk from before, just of a different note.
The shirt was more than long enough to be a dress on her, even if it only skimmed the middle of her thighs. She folded her arms in front of her chest since the thin white fabric was doing nothing to hide her braless state.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
Bishop finally turned around, his gaze sweeping over her so quickly it seemed involuntary. She couldn’t fathom why his eyes darkened the way they did, or why it made heat burn deep inside her core when all that had been there moments earlier was terror.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked gently.
She nodded. “Just a little shaken. I’m not used to getting pounced on by jaguars.”
“No, I guess not,” he said with a laugh that was entirely too pleasant to the ear. As smooth and euphoric as his touch. “Guess the rumors are true.”
“What rumor?” she asked warily.
“That our future Empress is a housecat,” he answered with a lopsided grin.
Ella’s blush grew worse and she looked away. “You don’t have to rub it in.”
“I’m not,” he said, standing in front of her before she could process his movement. A breath died out in her throat as his fingers swept up along the curve of her neck, tilting her chin toward him. “I meant what I said before. You’re as adorable in that form as you are in this one.”
She stared at him, struggling to sort out whether he was being sincere or if his sarcasm was just pitch perfect.
“What’s the matter?” he teased, slipping an arm around her waist to pull her body up against his. “Cat got your tongue?”
Ella swallowed hard, struggling to form a fitting retort when his lips claimed hers and she found his words far more literal in meaning than she’d assumed.
The most troubling part was the immediacy with which her lips parted to receive his tongue, lashing forcefully against hers. A moan escaped her throat only to be swallowed down by his intensifying kiss and before she knew it, her back was pressed up against the nearest tree.
Her hands found his shoulders and while she thought she was finally giving in to reason to push him away, she realized her greedy fingers had a mind of their own, biting into his bare flesh and returning the kiss with equal fervor.
“Damn,” he breathed, his forehead pressed down on hers as he finally broke the kiss. If he had done it a moment later, Ella was sure she would have passed out from a lack of oxygen, but she’d lacked the strength to end it all the same. “I’ve wanted to do what for a long time.”
“What?” she asked, her voice strained with confusion.
“Kiss you,” he answered, as if he didn’t know perfectly well what she meant. When he stroked a wavy lock of white behind her ear, plucking a stray twig that
had gotten lodged in the strands, she shivered once again. His touch was even more maddening in this form.
“Why?” It sounded pathetic once she’d choked the word out, but it was the only one that would come.
Bishop tilted his head, studying her features with greater care. “I can’t imagine I’m the first tom who’s tried.”
Her silence seemed to trigger the revelation she was too ashamed to say out loud. “Oh, shit,” he breathed, running a hand through his dark, glossy hair. “That was your first kiss? I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said, her ears still ringing from the chase. “It was nice.”
His smile returned, faint and alluring. “In that case, I’m not sorry,” he said, digging his fingers back into her hair to cup the side of her face. “But I should probably get you back to the dorms before curfew. They’re real sticklers about that kind of thing.”
“Guess I haven’t gotten to that part in the handbook yet,” she murmured, following him back toward the trail. She stopped to take the detour leading back to the tree where she’d left her clothes and found him waiting patiently along the path.
“I should probably give you your shirt back,” she said, realizing he wasn’t going to turn around on his own.
He actually looked a bit flustered as he muttered an apology and turned away. Ella kept watch as she took off his borrowed shirt and changed back into her clothes, but he didn’t attempt to steal a peek. Maybe he really was a gentleman, after all.
“Thanks,” she said, resuming the walk back.
Bishop raised an eyebrow. “Not really something you need to thank me for. In fact, if any guy doesn’t do the same, let me know so I can kick his ass.”
She pursed her lips, at a loss for how to respond to the offer. “I’m not sure most toms share your sense of chivalry.”
“Well, they should,” he scoffed. “Especially when it comes to the Empress.”
“I’m not the Empress yet,” she protested. She was still convinced that Tessa would show up any day to announce it had all been a terrible mistake. In a way, she would be relieved. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel like she was living a lie.