by Leigh Kelsey
The handful of spectators in the stands around Kati gasped. Guess Salazar had never been beaten before. Whoops?
Tattooed, ripped-as-hell bad boy Joshua Salazar, defeated by a low-cut top. Kati snorted.
“It’s still twenty-six to one,” he said, playfully shoving Lilac after she’d helped him up. The expression on her face could only be described as gloating. Lilac whooped and twirled her staff in an elaborate, showy arc and then jogged over to Kati. Before she could react, Lilac had grabbed her cheeks and kissed her full on the mouth, a loud, smacking kiss.
“I’ve been trying to get him on his arse for four months,” Lilac said, grinning from ear to ear as she stood back. “Your cleavage is my superhero.”
Kati grinned, leaning further back to flash some more chest and enjoying the way Salazar’s eyes darkened. “Thanks. Kati Wilson.” She gestured at herself, and braced instinctually for the revulsion and recoil.
But Lilac just nodded in greeting, her face still smug, and replied, “Aliona Lilac.”
“It’s still twenty-six to one,” Salazar repeated, his arms crossed over his chest. “And I’m starting to think you’re my unlucky charm, Shortcake.”
Kati shrugged, her mouth curled up. “Just your Kryptonite.”
Aliona cackled, slapping Salazar on the shoulder. “Oh, I love her.”
Kati laughed, but she couldn’t stop her cheeks going pink. She wasn’t used to strangers accepting her instantly, especially not when they knew her name. Maybe Aliona didn’t read the Skull and Cross Bones? Or maybe, like Rahmi, she just didn’t give a shit what the press said about Kati and her family.
Salazar shrugged, his biceps straining the black T-shirt he wore. “Yeah, she’s not all bad.”
Aliona glanced between them, smirking.
“Enough of that,” Kati muttered, raising an eyebrow.
Aliona laughed and twirled her staff, Kati assumed just for the hell of it. She kinda wanted a staff of her own. “I’m gonna go shower. Have fun, Salazar,” she purred, waggling her eyebrows.
“I don’t doubt I will,” he replied wryly, sinking onto the step beside Kati and letting out a groan. The spectators who’d gathered to watch the fight had filtered out when the sparring ended, leaving them alone in the sunken arena.
“Did you fall hard?” Kati asked innocently.
His emerald eyes narrowed in a glare, and Kati’s heart skipped. It was dangerous, how much she liked the glint of darkness in him. “You sabotaged me.”
Kati snorted, inhaling a full breath so her chest puffed out, her top slipping down a teeny tiny bit. He was transfixed, his green eyes dark as they flitted to her lips. “You sabotaged yourself,” she replied, pretending she wasn’t super turned on. “All I did was lean back a little.”
“You’re lethal, Shortcake.”
Kati smirked, loving the sound of that.
“And careful,” Salazar added, tugging out the hair band holding his black hair from his face and running his fingers through it. Holy shit, he was the lethal one. Heat gathered between Kati’s thighs, a sharp throb going through her clit. “I might be tempted to think you’re flirting.”
“Damn, you’re slow on the uptake,” Kati replied, gazing around the arena as she flushed deeper. Her body was going to overheat if he kept looking at her like that. “I’ve been doing that for ages.”
Salazar peered at her, his head cocked to the side and black hair spilling over his shoulder. “It’s harmless flirting, though.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“What about your ex?”
Kati‘s gaze snapped to his, narrowing dangerously. “What?”
“When you turned up that first day we trained, you seemed … upset. Pissed off, but upset too. I figured it was heartbreak.”
Kati glared, dragging her attention from him and towards the figures just visible through the archway to the gym, the machinery they used rattling with each rep. She nodded once, a jerky slash. The only answer he was getting.
“Am I your rebound?” Salazar asked, nudging her shoulder with his.
“Since we haven’t even kissed, let alone slept together, I’m gonna say no,” Kati drawled.
Salazar grinned; she could see it out of the corner of her eye. He slid a little closer on the bench seat. “I can rectify that.”
Kati shot him a dark look, though she was surprised. He was always doing that, being unpredictable. And the offer he presented … fire rushed through her body at the picture it painted. He’d be dominant, she knew that without a doubt. To be pinned beneath him, filled with him as he fucked her hard and rough, one hundred percent in control, maybe even giving her a command or two … shit, Kati wanted it. Badly.
Her breathing sped, but luckily he didn’t seem to notice.
“You’re a firecracker, Shortcake.”
“Call me that one more time, Joshua—”
“And I like how fierce you are,” he went on, ignoring her, his chiseled, handsome face lit with amusement. But she watched desire swirl his irises into a darker green, his stare sharpening as he read the same want in her face. “I like a lot of things about you, actually.”
Kati forced herself not to glance away as she said, “Likewise. But I’m still—pretty in love with him.”
“I’m not looking for commitment,” Salazar replied, sliding a hand slowly—so slowly—from her knee up her thigh. Kati’s body broke out in cool shivers, somehow at the same time as she heated all over. She shivered hard, so tense that she was either going to jump his bones right here and now or do a runner. “If you want to take advantage of all this chemistry between us, I’m fine with that,” he said, his voice dropping low and his eyes fixed on her mouth as she bit her bottom lip. “No strings attached.”
Kati’s mouth filled with saliva. Souls, what he was offering was perfect. It was exactly what she needed to banish the painful ache in her chest as well as her worries about the wraiths, Theo, and Lady LaVoire. She didn’t think twice. She needed this, and she wanted him.
She’d barely nodded before his hand slid to her waist, goosebumps dancing across her skin as he lifted her easily until she straddled him. His mouth came down on hers and she locked her hands behind his neck, pressing close enough for her to feel the shape of his hard cock through his dark jeans.
The little shivers tripping down her spine turned to a full-body shudder as she groaned, kissing him hard and forcefully. Like in their sparring, he met everything she gave him with equal ferocity, matching her passion and need, his fingers pressing into her hips hard enough to make her gasp.
Kati lost control of her body, kissing him like a woman possessed as his fingers slid into her hair, holding on tightly as he took control of the kiss, sucking her tongue until she was dripping, her hips moving in desperate circles against his erection, little sparks jolting her with the friction on her swollen clit.
“Fuck, Kati,” Salazar groaned as they broke away, gasping, and Kati came out of the haze of need so suddenly that she flinched.
“We shouldn’t,” she said huskily, climbing off his lap and straightening her top, flattening her hair. “Not here.”
Not in an arena with people all around them, just above the sunken arena.
Salazar snorted—but then his expression changed, his gaze caught on something behind her shoulder. He tensed all over. “Your mystery man,” he said slowly, carefully, running a hand down his hair. “He wouldn’t happen to be a member of staff, would he?”
Kati’s stomach plummeted.
How would he know…? Oh souls, please no—
She felt sick as her head whipped around to see the opposite side of the arena, a shadowed figure vanishing up the staircase. “He saw us?” she breathed, her heart crashing. Any heat that had filled her turned to ice.
She and Iain weren’t together anymore, but … she didn’t want what they had to be over. And she knew he didn’t, either. She was just still hurt. And she didn’t want to fight the chemistry between her and Salazar
.
She scrambled to her feet, rushing up the coliseum steps before she paused, glancing back at Salazar. “Sorry,” she said, and swallowing her nerves, added, “Let’s do this again sometime.”
The grin he gave her was swift and fierce. “Yes, let’s.”
Kati turned and legged it up the stone steps and then sprinted across the mats spread out on the platform at the top, heading for the stairs to the ground floor.
The gloomy staircase swallowed her as Kati pushed herself faster than ever before, her breath tight in her lungs and a stitch pulling at her side.
When she spilled out at the top, she was relieved to see Iain’s retreating back, halfway down the hallway.
“Mr Worth,” she shouted, not using his first name since there were students milling around. She ignored their stares as she rushed after Iain. He stopped on the edge of the lobby, turning slowly. “I need to talk to you,” she said breathlessly, her lungs killing. “About a spell.”
His expression was guarded, but he sighed. Quietly, not meeting her eyes, he said, “You don’t owe me an explanation or apology.”
“Good,” Kati replied, jerking her chin so he followed her towards the library, “because I’m not going to give you one.”
They were broken up; she hadn’t betrayed his trust by kissing Salazar. But still. She wanted to make sure he was okay, and she hated the idea of hurting him. Even if he had hurt her first.
She smiled at Veesa who was busy reshelving a stack of books and led Iain to their table, enclosed in a little nook and shielded from view by the stacks. Kati sat down and waited expectantly for Iain to do the same.
He did so with a sigh, his face still shuttered as he put his bag on the table between them like a shield.
“How are you sleeping?” she asked, because she was a total coward and bringing up her kiss with Salazar made her stomach knot.
“Fine,” he replied, giving her a look that asked what she was doing here, why she’d demanded that he follow. She didn’t know, not fully. Just … the idea of losing him made her feel sick.
“No more dreams?” she pressed.
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Iain,” she breathed, close to pleading, but he shook his head, gazing at the bookshelves.
“It’s not my business who you kiss. We’re over, aren’t we?”
Kati’s shoulders curled inward. “Yeah,” she admitted, but she didn’t want that. She’d … she’d had enough time to come to terms with his secret, she realised. She’d had enough time to forgive him.
“Then we’re done with this conversation,” he said, standing.
“Iain, please let me talk.” She caught his ink-smudged sleeve, but he tore it from her grip.
“It’s probably for the best if we stay professional.”
No. Nonono. This wasn’t how they were supposed to end. “But … but you were my friend first. Before anything romantic. You’re my friend.” She hated how small her voice came out. “We can’t just be nothing.”
“We’re not nothing,” he replied softly. “I’m your teacher; you’re my student.”
He wouldn’t meet her eyes; he collected his bag and made to leave.
“I love you,” Kati said pathetically.
Iain’s shoulders slumped but he didn’t turn to face her. “You really shouldn’t.”
A sob caught the back of her throat as he walked away. So that was it? They were over for good? She’d thought … she’d thought they’d have some time apart but they’d get back together. They worked. They fit together. And even though she was drawn to Salazar—and if she was being honest, Alexandra too—she thought they’d figure things out.
That dream went up in flames.
Kati covered her face with her hands and cried for a long while.
A solid thunk on the table made her look up, and she groaned at Veesa when she saw what the librarian had put in front of her. A big bar of Cadbury’s chocolate and a book entitled HOW TO MEND A BROKEN HEART.
“Does everyone know?” she asked miserably.
Veesa just gave her a one-armed hug, her floral perfume reminding Kati achingly of her mum, and said, “The library told me you needed these.”
“Thanks,” Kati rasped, and wasn’t sure if she meant the words for Veesa or the creepy sentient library.
Under Pressure
Again, Kati could have sworn she heard a dragging sound follow her back to her dorm, but she scanned the corridor, her wand high, and didn’t see anyone. No students playing pranks. No wraiths.
Kati shook her head at herself. She wasn’t that surprised she was jumpy, after everything that had happened last term. And hell, after this term.
“I’m not doing it,” a sniffling voice said, and Kati slowed her pace at that sound of distress. “I can’t. I’m sorry, I thought I could, but I just … I can’t. They’re my friends.”
Kati frowned. Does that sound like Marigold to you? She asked Dolly.
Yep, Dolly confirmed. And she doesn’t sound happy.
Kati threw her shoulders back, getting out her wand and preparing to hex whoever had made her friend cry, but she stumbled back and hid behind a suit of armour when she saw that Marigold was arguing with Mr Prise.
Oh, Kati thought, relaxing. He was just probably trying to get her to join the SBA levby team—they were one player short of a full team. And Marigold wasn’t exactly known for her love of sport.
Kati crept past the end of the corridor and took the long way back to her dorm, making a mental note to check in on Marigold tomorrow evening at breakfast.
Um, Dolly said. Kati?
Kati paused, not liking the tone of her familiar’s voice at all. She sounded scared. What is it?
There’s a snake looking at me like I’m dinner.
What?
Kati spun and picked Dolly up, cradling her familiar to her chest. Shit, she was right, there was a giant snake slithering along the floor towards them, still a few feet away but close enough to be dangerous. A low scraping sound followed it.
“Stay back,” Kati warned the snake.
Stay back yourself, a male voice drawled in Kati’s head, and she blinked.
Huh.
You’re the one who warned me about the wraiths, she said, momentarily dumbstruck.
I’m delighted you remember me.
Who are you?
Kit-Kat, Dolly said before the boa constrictor could reply. I can hear him. There’s only one reason I’d be able to hear him.
I’m your familiar, the snake said dryly. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I have been trying to communicate, but you’ve been shutting me out and ignoring me.
The dragging sound that had stalked her … it had been him. Her familiar.
Well, then.
“Okay, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to give me two familiars,” she asked out loud, overcome with shock. “I’m not all-powerful, why would I need two?”
But she thought of how easily she cast spells, how naturally magic came to her and how her spells were so much stronger than her peers’.
Exactly, the snake drawled. He did a lot of drawling, Kati noticed. And it’s not two, it’s three.
Beg pardon, Kati replied, a laugh bubbling in the back of her throat. Was this hysteria? Maybe she’d been right and hearing his voice had been a sign of madness.
You don’t have two familiars, you have three. And if you’re going to be strong enough to stand up and fight that puppet-wielding maniac, you’re going to need all of us.
Kati shook her head, the shock clearing. I’m not standing up to Lady LaVoire. Are you mad?
Quite possibly, he replied. He sounded a lot like a Victorian gent. He was just missing the pocket watch and waistcoat. Oh, and the human body.
Do you need a name? Kati asked.
If you’d be gracious enough to bestow one upon me, the snake replied.
Insufferable toff, Dolly muttered.
Kati flicked her nose. Alright, she said to the boa co
nstrictor, this little shit’s called Dolly, so sticking with the theme of musicians, I’m gonna call you … Freddie.
Freddie hissed, but Kati couldn’t tell if he was offended or pleased until he said, you honour me.
You’re welcome. It was a toss up between Freddie and Bowie.
Both, Freddie replied instantly, I would like to be Freddie Bowie.
Freddie Bowie it is, then. Kati grinned. She kind of liked him, even if he was a bit stuffy. Sorry for ignoring you all this time, I didn’t mean to, she said as she resumed walking towards her dorm, wondering if any of the girls had a snake phobia.
That question was answered when she closed the dorm door behind herself and Gull leapt onto the sofa with a high scream. The others didn’t react with the same pitch or volume.
“Don’t worry,” Kati said reassuringly, even as she smirked at him casting a shield spell, “he won’t bite. He’s my familiar. Everyone, meet Freddie.”
Gull climbed up onto the sofa back and refused to come down.
Tragic
Rahmi didn’t love snakes but she didn’t have a phobia; Naia was indifferent; and Harley just made kissy faces and cooing noises at Freddie, so all in all, it worked out okay. Gull might be spending less time in their dorm, but that was no bad thing; maybe they’d be able to keep a pint of milk in their mini fridge for longer than two hours now. That man consumed everything and anything within a half mile radius.
Kati smirked as she climbed into bed a few hours later, although it was quickly devoured by a yawn.
I am tragically in love with a woman I cannot have, Freddie Bowie lamented, slithering over to the floor lamp and curling around its base.
Kati snorted. You’ll get over it.
Like you’re getting over Iain Worth? Freddie drawled.
Kati tried to glare but she couldn’t hold onto the anger, pain piercing her chest and cutting right through it. Fuck, the shut-down look on Iain’s face earlier, those things he’d said and the flat tone of his voice, as if he felt nothing for Kati anymore…
It’s probably for the best if we stay professional…
I’m sorry, Freddie said regretfully, peering at her from where he’d curled around the lamp base, that was unfair of me. If it makes you feel better, I could eat him.