Becoming The Red Witch: A Why Choose Academy Romance (Major Arcana Academy Book 1)

by Ana Calin

  As for Rouen and Dacian, the men who will shield her, they are fae with the ability to cast glamour over people, creating illusions. The Headmaster doesn’t know what powers they wield because they went to the Academy before he took up office. Deep down, I’m relieved. The test at the Academy is treading on ice as thin as paper. It may cost Lucia an eternity in hell. I’m not even sure her human mind is prepared to fully understand the concept of an eternity spent in the pit.

  On the other hand, we never got to the bottom of Lucia’s power. We still don’t know exactly how the flames and demons of hell respond to her.

  “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” I ask the Lord Protector, turning abruptly from the window as we wait for her to arrive in his study.

  “What do you mean?”

  He’s deep in papers on his desk, a frown on his brow.

  “Well, truth is, there are so many open questions about Lucia Reid. What the Red Witch really is, the reason why dark witches bound and hid her power, who her real parents are. You know she could indeed be a Trojan Horse, and we’re putting her inside the Academy.”

  The Lord Protector directs his eyes to mine like bullets.

  “Do you suggest that we put her in hell instead? Because that’s the only other option.”

  “No, it’s not. You could keep her here, for example. I could mentor her for another year, until she’s fully prepared for the Academy, and until we have a full understanding of her powers. Why put both her and the Academy at risk.”

  The Lord Protector taps his chin with his finger like he’s actually weighing the possibility, but then he shakes his head and rises from his desk. He’s tall and elegant in his fitted suit, with his diamond cufflinks and the foxy reddish hair swept back. He looks like a prince, rich and beautiful, every girl’s dream. I wonder if Lucia ever looked at him that way.

  “Unfortunately that would only raise more problems,” he says. “The news of her presence here reached the Headmaster on her first day. He would find out that we’re training her here in no time. And how would that look, not only to him, but to the entire Academy staff, the students, even the Council of the Arcane? She would be the first student ever private-schooled by an Academy teacher, under the protective wing of the Grim Reaper. Not to mention she’s dating a demigod of warfare. It would draw too much attention, the worst kind.”

  “And the Headmaster would use it to his advantage,” I finish. “But even if she gets a place at the Academy, she’s not ready to shield herself. They’ll discover her hellish nature soon.”

  “Which is why you’ll be there to protect her. As her mentor. It’s imperative that they don’t discover her hellish powers, because they’ll throw her in the pit without the right to appeal.”

  “How barbaric,” I spit in anger. “Throwing a nineteen-year-old human into the fires of hell only because she was born with powers she never asked for. Questionable for supernaturals who think themselves the good guys.”

  “We fight for the greater good, but we’re not necessarily good guys,” the Lord Protector says, staring out the window.

  There has been a distance between him and I lately, and even though we don’t speak about it, I know it’s because of Lucia. The Lord Protector can barely still look at me without murder in his eyes. My seducing her had been his idea, but I can tell he now wishes he hadn’t asked me to do it. He can’t stomach the idea of her being with another man, no matter how hard he tries. I’m not sure what he intends to do about her relationship with Silas—who defied the Lord Protector and refused to let her go—but I know he’ll try to come between them again. He’ll probably try to seduce her himself this time.

  I watch him like a hawk as he moves around, talking about how this test with the Headmaster and the Academy Board was unavoidable. I know he’s right, so I don’t need to really listen, but I can’t stop assessing him as competition. There’s something both noble and sexy about him, and he’s always been every woman’s wet dream, supernaturals’ and mortals’ alike. But today he went the extra mile to look dashing. The powerful prick wants to impress Lucia.

  The idea that he might actually stand a good chance torments me. He’s a pretty boy, like Silas. Definitely her type. While I’m a rugged woodland warlock, bulky, dark and brooding, turning on her shadow side that she would never show the world.

  I take solace telling myself that I’m the one who knows her true desires, who appeals to the authentic part of her. The nineteen-year-old virgin Lucia has taken her first dive into her sexuality with me, and even though she’s barely scratched the surface, it’s clear she likes it dark and dirty. By the time she matures as a woman she’ll know herself well enough to want to fuck the dark warlock’s face again. Yes, she’ll be back for more, I’ll make sure she does.

  The doors open, and Gordon appears.

  “Miss Reid is ready, Your Excellency.”

  He moves to the side, Lucia walks into the study, and the room brightens. My jaw drops. She is a vision of femininity and power in her vaporous red dress, the corset showcasing her virgin breasts and the wasp-like waist, the lower veils rippling like waves down her legs. It’s a dress worthy of a princess, and so is her hair-do. Shiny red locks fall from her elaborate chignon, framing her sweet face. My eyes slip from her face to her round, white shoulders with the faint freckles. My cock reacts in my pants at her fiery beauty.

  I turn around, taking a deep breath and willing my raging cock to stand down. Fighting what I know is a delusion—the conviction that her virginity must belong to me. Fighting the urge to steal her away and make her mine, only mine.

  “Lucia,” the Lord Protector says. I can hear Gordon shift in surprise at the tone of fascination in the big man’s voice. “You look—”

  Heartbreaking, that’s how she looks. When you know that she’s not yours, and never will be, unless you steal her for yourself.

  I manage to get a grip and turn around in time to see the Lord Protector placing his hands gently on her shoulders, his hazel eyes sparkling at her. She’s too innocent to know what she reads in them, and the Lord Protector is far too conceited to accept it himself, but both Gordon and I understand. He wants the girl.

  “Do you feel prepared?” he inquires.

  “Yes.”

  “You shouldn’t. Don’t let your guard down, no matter what. Bury your magic deep.”

  “Try not to feel anything,” I chime in, even managing to sound casual. “Keeping your feelings in check is keeping your magic down.”

  “Yes, you trained me well in that sense,” she tells me dismissively.

  The Lord Protector motions to the open doors. “Let us go. Silas awaits by the portal.”

  As I follow behind the Lord Protector, I realize—the Lord Protector doesn’t like my interacting with Lucia any more than Silas does. I wonder if he tosses and turns at night, regretting what he put me up to.

  We descend into the bowels of the mansion, into the dark basement. Lucia shivers as we walk by chilly, wet stone walls, bracing herself, and she freezes in place when we reach the portal. She stares at it with the innocent fascination that only a mortal who’s never seen something like this can feel. It’s a well of liquid glass that emits a silvery light that Lucia can’t look away from.

  I crave to watch her step in and cross to the other side, watch the look on her face as the magic glass wraps itself around her, sucking her into the Flipside. But the Lord Protector has planned this differently.

  “Maverick, you go first,” he invites. “Lucia needs to see what happens before she uses the portal herself for the first time.”

  I watch her eyes as I step onto the liquid glass, keeping my moves slow so that Lucia can observe exactly how it’s done. She gasps, hand on her chest as I slowly sink into the fluid portal, the liquid rising like tentacles coiling around me until they’ve covered my eyes, and I’m pulled into a vortex.

  I reform out of the liquid on the other side, my eyes falling on Silas. My jaw tightens. An urge rises in me,
the urge to slam my fist in his face, but his fae friends flank him on each side, and my behavior would raise questions.

  I step to his side and wait for Lucia and the Lord Protector to emerge.

  CHAPTER VIII

  Lucy

  I can feel my body reform cell by cell on the Flipside. During this past week of intense training with Maverick I learned to control my emotions well enough to keep my anxiety in check, but it wasn’t easy not to scream as the liquid covered my irises and crawled behind my eyeballs, and into my nostrils.

  But now the worst part is over. The first thing I feel as my body fully reforms is the Lord Protector holding my hand as we step out of the portal. I look around, and my mouth pops open. This place hums with magic, a world of fantasy, exactly how I used to picture it as a child.

  “Quickly. We don’t have time to lose,” Silas says as soon as Gordon has emerged as well. “Lucy.” He steps to me, taking my hand from the Lord Protector, who allows it only reluctantly. I can feel his vigilant eyes on the back of my head.

  “You’ll recognize the surroundings, and yet they’ll be like nothing you’ve seen before,” Silas tells me. “You’ll have a lot of questions, and there will be a time for the answers. But we need to get through this first before we focus on anything else. The meeting with the Headmaster is a dangerous game that will require every ounce of our attention and inner strength.”

  I nod, mustering all of my courage. He kisses my hand, his lips loving on my knuckles. I can feel both Maverick’s and Ramses’ uncomfortable shuffle before Silas turns and leads the way out of the mansion’s basement, which is indeed so much like and yet so different from the Upside of it.

  In this realm it seems a ghost castle, and a strange breeze blows through it. I can feel the drag and echoes of ghosts, my head jerking in their direction, but the fae flank me and smile reassuringly.

  “Things may look and feel creepy, but none of these creatures are going to attack you, we promise you that,” Dacian, the silver-haired fae says.

  “You’re surrounded by the strongest warriors of the realms,” the other one adds. “It would be suicide for anyone to try anything on you.”

  “Everything will be alright.”

  “Just keep a firm grip over your emotions. That’s vital for the test.”

  We walk out the cracked stone steps of the mansion. More like another side of reality, I feel like I’ve traveled to a strange future in which the mansion has been abandoned, and the world has regressed to dreary times. There’s no means of transportation waiting for us, but when the men form a circle around me, Silas and Maverick on each side of the Lord Protector that presides over this like a king, I understand we’re going to teleport.

  Their deep manly voices rise in an entanglement of spells, and magic swirls around us, flying through my dress. Sparkling dust spirals around me, and the moment I open my eyes and the dizziness clears along with the last faint trails of magic dust, shock hits—we’re inside the University of Silverdale. A version of it that feels laden with dark magic.

  Like the mansion, it’s an impressive gothic building, yet much bigger and more impressive with its high-arched galleries and dark hallways. Whispers seem to fill the walls, but I can’t see anyone.

  “Where are the students?” I look around as the men lead me up the grand stairs.

  “It’s Saturday,” Silas says with a smile. “Like in the mortal world, week-ends are for other activities.”

  “But the voices—”

  “This is the Flipside,” Maverick says darkly from behind me. “Get used to ghosts, spirits and other ethereal entities as your next-door neighbors.”

  A tall, willowy lady dressed in black waits in front of a coiling flight of stairs that remind me of Hogwarts. Well, pretty much everything in here does.

  “Lord Protector.” She bows to Ramses like to a king, not even looking at the rest of us.

  “Miss Morgan,” he greets back.

  “The Headmaster and the Board await.”

  “Vanessa.” Ramses grabs her wrist before she can turn around. His tone is lower, more seductive. It takes her breath away, I can tell. Her eyelashes flutter. “What does the Headmaster suspect? Why did he insist on a live test, with the entire Board present no less.”

  Silas steps to my side, his arm running around my shoulders. He squeezes me to him, the warmth of his body reassuring.

  “There have been rumors about her,” Vanessa says. She’s a proud woman, I can tell, with a long nose and high eyebrows, full red lips and a full black bun. She’s got a nice body under that black dress, too. My lips tighten—I don’t like the way she looks at Ramses.

  “What rumors?” Ramses presses.

  She glances at me only briefly, as if I’m too lowly a creature to be worthy of more of her attention.

  “That she has the blood of the Red Queen. Even though I wouldn’t say that from the look of her.”

  A shadow falls over Ramses’ face, and something changes in the way Silas holds me, too. He’s more protective, as though someone could grab me anytime and throw me in a dungeon. Maverick takes a step forward as well.

  “Who spread those rumors?” Ramses demands evenly.

  “It wasn’t just one person, Lord Protector. It was many woodland creatures that saw her, some of your own staff, even the Academy’s most promising young prophet had a vision related to her.”

  I have an urge to ask what vision, but manage to keep back.

  “I am the Lord Protector, and I’ve had this woman in my power long enough to know that’s all not true. It’s only rumors, and my word should be enough for the Headmaster to act as prompted.”

  “He prefers hard evidence, and there’s only one way to get it in this case, isn’t there? If she can summon creatures of hell, then she carries the blood of the Red Queen.”

  “She’s here for a test of her talent and skills with potions.”

  “She will be showing her true colors in the process, the Headmaster will make sure of that.”

  Something activates in Ramses’ deeply mysterious hazel eyes that messes with the woman’s head. I bite my lip, struggling not feel jealous.

  “In what way will he make sure?”

  “There are conditions under which she won’t be able to control her powers. The Headmaster and the Board will create those conditions.” She stops abruptly, realizing she said too much.

  The air is thick between her and Ramses, and we can all feel it. The woman smiles to ease the tension, exposing perfectly aligned teeth white as snow. The more I look at her, the more her elegant but cold beauty unfolds itself to me. Does Ramses perceive her as beautiful, too?

  “Let us not keep the Headmaster and the Board waiting.” She invites with an elegant move of her hand, and we all follow the Lord Protector inside.

  The Headmaster’s office turns out to be a whole freaking arena surrounded by dark archways that seem to lead into mysterious corridors. A whole maze of archways, with plants coiling up their pillars. But what sucks my entire attention is the people sitting across from us at a round stone table. They’re impressive, and power seems to shine out of them, especially from the one in the middle.

  I don’t need introductions to know that’s Headmaster Samuel Black. He’s wearing a black cape with a spiked collar, his white face making a strong contrast to it. He’s the tallest of them all, I can tell even though they’re all sitting down. Wait a minute, is he a vampire?

  “Ah, finally. Meeting the Lord Protector’s new recruit in person,” he says, staring at me with dead eyes that don’t need to blink. I barely suppress a shudder.

  The woman Vanessa steps by his side, but remains standing.

  “Please, my dear,” he motions for me to take the seat across from him. Silas holds my chair so I can sit down, my dress flaring around me, while Maverick takes a seat at my left.

  “Lord Protector,” the Headmaster addresses Ramses. “An honor to have you among us, in person. You join us otherwise only on special occa
sions.”

  “Miss Reid’s test is a special occasion,” Ramses says through his teeth, not trying to hide his animosity.

  “Really? I don’t remember your presence here on the day of enrollment of any other student.”

  “But this isn’t an enrollment, Samuel. It’s a test. One that I think might involve a secret agenda.”

  “I see. Lord Protector, as you may have found out, rumors have reached my ears, and not from one source alone.” His disturbing eyes with the deep rings under them pan over all the faces on our side of the table. It lets us know it could be anyone, but they rest long enough on Gordon for me to realize that it was the envious butler who fed him the most information. “So, as you can surely understand, I have reason to doubt the truth of your words.”

  “Are you implying—”

  “I would never imply that you wished to introduce a hellish Trojan Horse into this Academy. But I am implying that Miss Reid could nevertheless be that.”

  Ramses squares his shoulders, his shadow growing big and crushing behind us. The Headmaster keeps his position, but his white lips press together. The rest of the Board, witches, fae and entities made of mist, shrink in their seats.

  “Disturbing to see your Grim Reaper rise for such a petty reason as a simple vampire’s doubts,” the Headmaster hisses. My head snaps to Ramses, and my eyes pop out. His foxy brown hair floats as if he were walking through water, his face that of a ruthless prince, his shadow rising like a dark tsunami behind him.

  “Gentlemen,” Maverick steps in. “I suggest that we stick to the established agenda. Miss Reid is to produce a concoction of the ingredients you present to her. The potion will then be tested and, if it works, she will be enrolled in the Academy.”

  All eyes settle on me, and blood floods my face. Having a dozen supernaturals fix their undeterred focus on you is quite an experience. I’m afraid my brain’s gonna explode from the pressure.