Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance)

by Jillian Keep

  Her brow arched. “Who do you hear these things from? Was there a lot of gossip about elvish academies where you’re from?”

  She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He moved with such purpose and grace, and everything he did just seemed so smooth. Meanwhile she felt awkward and even though she was goal-oriented, well… she certainly didn’t have the easy confidence he did.

  With a flick of his wrist he expertly flipped the meat cutlets over. “The fel plane from which I come is a solitary place,” he remarked as the flames licked up over the sides of the pan. “There is nobody to trust. You may make momentary alliances with someone, but it never lasts. You never expect it to,” he remarked, tossing in a dash of something she didn’t even see. He was so quick and fluid with his motions!

  “That doesn’t answer my question,” she sighed, but she knew she hadn’t answered his either. She was still cautious. Worried.

  Frightened.

  “What if I set you free and you turn on me?”

  “Why would I do that?” he asked with a furrowed brow. “I’ve nothing to gain from seeing you dead or injured,” he stated simply, serving up the cutlets and immediately beginning to fry up more, seeming intent on frying the whole slab of meat up. “No, beautiful Firia,” he said with a sigh, and a gentle smile, “I will not turn on you. On that I promise.”

  “I don’t know how much promises mean to demons, though,” she admitted meekly. “I don’t know much about you at all.”

  He smiled pleasantly at her, taking out the cutlery for her and him, handing her a fork and knife. “Would you like to find out more about me?” he asked in that wistfully charming way of his that lit up his striking face. “I have never had someone curious of who I really am before.”

  Her nose scrunched up again: “Really? Why not?” She was rather fascinated with him and only held back her questions out of… fear? Was that what it was? She wasn’t entirely certain, but she knew she didn’t feel wholly comfortable bombarding him with questions.

  After she took the cutlery from him, he began to slice up his own, eating the rather rare meat with a certain relish. “Mmm, where I come from,” he said, chewing while he spoke but managing to retain at least some dignity while he did so in his hunger, “one does not share such things with others. For it might betray a weakness to exploit.” He smiled. “This is quite delicious, is it not?”

  He was even managing to distract her from her father’s second gift, and she took the time to finally savour the first bite. It was exquisite and unlike anything she could ever recall tasting. She licked her lips as her eyes fluttered closed and she nodded.

  “You did really good,” she agreed as she cut off another bite. “And that makes sense. People do that here, too.”

  He nodded, devouring his at a faster rate, then taking time to flip and season the next cutlets on the pan. “And when one of us is summoned, the summoner does not care for who we are. Only for what we might do for them. So, you see? It is a curious thing for me,” he remarked, biting into the tender meat. “Exquisite. We have nothing like this back where I come from.”

  “So… why don’t you tell me about yourself, then.” She was beginning to devour hers as well, enjoying the taste and feel of it. Her demon dinner companion even managed to distract her from the fact that her father should have been there, appreciating the food with her.

  Varuj smiled pleasantly, serving himself up more, his appetite simply ravenous it seemed. “I am something of a sorcerer in my own right,” he said with no small amount of pride. “I live alone, as I said, but I have many minions. Similar to your familiar,” he remarked with a charming look. “They keep me company, guard my dwelling. They are very nearly pleasant to be around,” he said with a light chuckle that sounded almost musical.

  “Hopefully they’re very good guards, then. Since… I stole you away from it, I mean.” Why did she feel bad about that? He wanted to be here. He told her that.

  And why wouldn’t he? A hellish place would be… terrible. Worse than her world.

  She finished her cutlet and pushed her plate away. She’d been on such a lean diet for so long that she was already feeling full.

  Despite his own pleasantly fit physique, he had a far greater appetite, and continued to eat, tossing the last of the meat onto the pan. “It is hard to say,” he said with a shrug. “If anyone is aware of my absence, then minions or no, it is too late, and my dwelling is lost. With all I have accumulated.” He grimaced a bit. “So you see, stay or return, I start with nothing. At least here,” he looked around then pointedly to her, “I have some connection to this place.” He kept his ruby gaze locked upon her as he continued to chew.

  She felt so uncomfortable under his stare, as if he could see right through her. And maybe he could.

  She chewed her lip as she pushed her bangs back awkwardly, fidgeting as he watched. She was strong. She summoned him here, didn’t she?

  So why did he make her feel so nervous?

  “I just don’t want to make anything bad happen.”

  He was quiet a while, eating more of the venison until it was all gone, and he wiped his lips with a certain foreign elegance.

  “You brought me here,” he said delicately. “You tore me from all I had and knew. And asked favours of me,” he took a deep breath and pushed the plate away. “I like you,” he confessed. “You are a far better summoner than I could have envisioned. But we all chafe beneath servitude, do we not, Firia?” He stepped around the counter and reached out, taking her hand with a gentle, warm touch.

  She felt steadier with it, and that simply made no sense to her. She should have felt something - anything - but comfort at his touch.

  “I’m not saying I’m not going to… honour… my promise. I’m saying that I’m scared you’re not what you seem. That… you’re a demon.”

  He gave a sweet, almost amused smile. “That is your word for us, not ours,” he remarked softly. With one hand in his, he used his other arm to put around her shoulders and guide her back towards her room. “There are no guarantees, sweet Firia. I cannot say or promise you anything that would change that fact.” He shrugged lightly as they went to her bed and he sat her down upon its edge before joining her, sitting beside her quite closely. “I wish it were otherwise, but it is not so.”

  Her hands rested in her lap, her shoulder pressed against his arm. She wanted to trust him, to be confident she hadn’t brought something terrible into the world.

  “What’s the first thing you’d do if I wasn’t… If you weren’t under my service?”

  Varuj moved a hand up to delicately cup her chin and tilt her gaze up towards him. “I would set out to woo a beautiful young lady and aspiring sorceress. To make her a partner and together make ourselves a place in this world worthy of remembering. Of celebrating.” He leaned in so close, his eyes partially lidded as he spoke those delicious words before wetting his lips. “I would propose to you. An arrangement that we might cooperate. As partners. And more.”

  She didn’t breathe. She felt like her heart would stop and her head went fuzzy.

  How could she even want that? How could his words make her feel so pleasantly warm and comforted?

  This was the same vile beast that she had summoned to her aid, who she had seen so nude in all his demonic glory.

  Yet all she could think of was how badly she wanted to feel his soft lips on hers once more.

  His head tilted, and he hovered so near to her lips without touching. “Say you will release me, and I shall hold you this night through. And tell you of things I can teach you. Of things we might do as partners. Sorcerers without compare.”

  He lifted one leg up and pulled her to his chest as she sat between his legs, his nose rubbing against her own pale peach skin as his succulent lips hovered near.

  It was like she was suffocating under the weight of her choice, and even as she began to nod her head she wondered if she was making the wrong decision. She should keep him to her, be a proper master. Force
him to serve.

  She already had all of his knowledge. She could force it out of him.

  Yet she wanted so much more than that.

  His beautiful, masculine lips lit up in a smile, and he nuzzled his nose to hers as he reclined back on her bed, keeping her body close to his with his strong arms. “That’s all I needed,” he said softly, holding her petite form against his nearly bare chest. “We will go far together, sweet Firia. Much farther than any master and demon ever went.” He kissed her so lightly, just a soft little prolonged peck on her forehead, “I promise.”

  “Please don’t make me regret this,” the small woman whimpered, already feeling so tense. Yet he’d been freed, hadn’t he? And still his sweetness, the warm feel of his lips remained. She found herself more and more thinking of him in this form, forgetting the terrifying visage that she first drew through the portal.

  It was hard to remember that first impression with how his beautiful male physique now held her so tenderly. Even with her control broken – she assumed? – he was delicate. Caring. Holding her against him, letting her rest herself to his chest, laying between his legs as he stroked her dark hair and kissed her peached skin.

  “What is there to regret?” he said softly. “You are on your way to being recognized by your peers, and together… together you and I shall do great things, sweet Firi. Great things indeed.” His warm lips skirted hers, but came so tantalizingly close. “You performed brilliantly today. Worthy of the woman who summoned me from across the void.”

  “Firi,” she whispered. That’s what her dad called her. It was filled with such familiarity and warmth, and she wanted that more than anything. She needed his comfort.

  “Varuj… Where will you stay?”

  “Beside you when I can,” he said to her softly against her ear. Then his one hand went to her chest, resting softly above her breast, over her beating heart. “Here when the situation calls for it.” It was so strange, that touch, so casual, yet intimate. So near to her breast, yet warm and comforting over her beating heart.

  It wasn’t necessarily sexual, and yet it made her skin prickle with excitement and she had to look away from him. Her pulse quickened beneath his touch and she prayed he wouldn’t notice.

  “Will you always exist like this?”

  “Will you always exist as you are?” he replied in his usual enigmatic way. Though he relented without her pursuing it further and murmured softly, “More or less. I won’t change significantly again without a great deal of effort.” He nuzzled against her ear. “Would that please you best?”

  It had been so nice to have him always there, comforting her. Rooting for her.

  She was surprised to realize just how much it had meant to her, though, as she nodded. She liked him like this.

  She liked him a lot.

  Varuj kissed the corner of her lips and smiled. “Then so it shall be,” he stated firmly. “You brought me into this world, beautiful Firi, and I shall respect your wishes, and cherish you for it.” The soothing stroke of his fingers through her dark hair was supremely comforting. “There is a long road ahead for you. Even I cannot make magic simple and easy for you, but I will stand by you, beside you… inside you, wherever I may, as you make your journey.”

  Chapter 14

  Firia awoke the next day to the sound of someone pounding on her door. The demon Varuj still held her, nestled to his chest as she lifted her head and looked about. “Morning,” he murmured to her softly. “You should probably get that. Sounds urgent.”

  It was startling to wake up in someone’s arms, but she found herself disappointed to be torn away. She lingered for a moment, feeling her small body press into his before she pulled away, red-faced and embarrassed. Pulling on her dressing gown over her clothes, she ran to the door.

  When she opened up the door she was greeted with the sight of a very official-looking elf, donning a tunic bearing the sigil of Gaul’di-mere Academy in bright gold. He didn’t appear to be all too pleased with where he was, at the footstep of a human peasant’s home, but he spoke crisp and formally: “Madam Tunst?” he asked.

  “Yes, that’s me,” she said as she stepped aside, allowing him in if he chose. “What can I do for you?”

  He didn’t take the offering, though he extended a scroll to her. “This is for you. You’re not to open it until the time arrives,” he said vaguely. “You’re to be at the Commons Trade and Tax Office at sundown tonight.”

  The request didn’t make sense to her, for everyone in the village knew the sole government office in their small village shut down before sunset.

  “But it’ll be closed.” She accepted the scroll anyways, blinking her eyes free of sleep. Perhaps she had simply misheard.

  He tipped his wide-brimmed hat to her and cracked a wry smile, “Be there, madam. You’re allowed to bring one servant. That’s all I can say!” He turned with a bit of a flourish then headed off away from her home at a brisk pace, rounding the gates and then… his walking speed became something of a blur as he took off down the road, as if defying time itself.

  “A servant,” she scoffed as she shut the door. Was this some type of hazing? She put the scroll down and let out a groan as she went to fix her hair. It seemed like her pigtails were in a mess, and she brushed her bangs aside.

  As she looked at herself in the humble mirror the visage of her demonic companion slipped behind her, his strong, reassuring hands resting on her shoulders, his charming smile evident as he leaned in, inhaling her scent near her hair. “Beautiful. You slept well?” he asked, and she was reminded of the night’s dreams.

  The jarring awakening had shaken it from her with the urgency of the moment, but she’d dreamt all the night through. Peacefully, somehow, but she remembered many long, obsessive fantasies acted out in her dreamscape of her and… and Varuj. Walking the forest paths she knew. Sharing stolen moments at her old school house. Her guiding him through the village. Even…

  It made her blush to think of it. Of him in his original form, holding her.

  She wanted to avert blame for her fantasies onto him, but he had spent the whole night outside of her. Even if he had wanted to… it wouldn’t have been possible for him to influence her dreams like that. Would it?

  “Yes,” she managed to whisper, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Not with that on her mind.

  Clearing her throat, she moved away from him, shrugging off the gown and placing it over the back of the chair. “I’m to go to the government office today after sunset.”

  “So you’ve received your summons to the Academy already?” He said with a raised brow, moving casually out into the main room, his two hands upon his exotic robe’s belt. “They’re prompt at least. I thought they might keep you waiting for a while,” he mused as he looked about, his long, sleek black hair shifting with the smooth motions of his head.

  It was odd to see him wandering about her home, odder still to see him doing it in the bright of morning. “How about I make you some breakfast?” he said with a cheeky smile, his ruby eyes turning back towards her.

  “Sure, though I doubt there’s anything good.” She slipped into the chair, looking at the scroll but not opening it. “I don’t know that it’s the summons. It feels like I’m being set up.” But maybe it was just paranoia at work.

  He held out his hand for the scroll. “Give it to me,” he said simply, though she could read the concern on his face as he eyed the thing.

  “I’m not supposed to open it yet. Hell, this thing might be a trap too,” she said even as the corner of her lip pulled up into a half smile.

  “Just give it to me, please,” he reasserted, holding out his hand and giving her a pointed look. “I won’t open it,” he insisted.

  He took the scroll and held it delicately in both hands, lifting it up to his face and inhaling along its length with his eyes shut. He went through some series of odd tests, holding it before the morning light that filtered through the window. Then holding it in the shadow of his robe – wh
ich also gave her a generous peek at his leanly muscled abs – to give it another look over.

  “It’s ensorcelled,” he stated firmly, offering it back to her. “And there is some faint trace of mischievous intent associated with it. Though not by its original creator. Most likely by whoever handed it to you,” he stated. “It is, however, a very minor mischievousness I detected.”

  “How can you tell?” she asked, staring at it curiously. “I guess he wanted me to open it at the precise point they all come out and douse me in water or something, is that it? Something to make me look like a fool?” She felt her pulse quicken, and her face flushed.

  “Perhaps,” he said with a light shrug as he turned and went to the kitchen and began to prepare a meal for her once more. “And I told you, I’m a sorcerer in my own right. A very capable one, I might add,” he said with an impish grin over his shoulder as he rooted through her pantry. “You weren’t kidding when you said there wasn’t much.”

  “Congratulations, now you know what it’s like to be poor. Glamorous, isn’t it?”

  She couldn’t understand why she was being so bitter, but being dragged away from him, from her pleasant dreams… She shouldn’t lash out at him, but somehow she felt it was his fault. That he could have protected her from the rude wakeup call.

  Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. He could not show himself. Even if he weren’t a demon he couldn’t do it. The talk that would erupt about her if a strange young man was seen answering her door in the morning!

  He took it fine, however, and continued his focus upon the food. He finally found something to his liking. “Aha. I thought I smelled some meat,” he said, pulling out some older, salted pork and bringing it to the stove. “The scroll itself is magical, as I said,” he explained to her as he went about his intricate preparations. He cooked capably, though in a different manner than she was used to. “Opening it activates its powers in part. So doing so before you need to use it could deplete it’s power. So… in that regard the timing issue may not be a trick at all.”