by K L Rymer
“Um...” I start to say, my brain a little foggy still.
I’m too distracted by his dimpled lips, and I close my eyes, trying to wrack my brain.
Memories suddenly return, memories of me and Mattie twirling around the dance floor and of Angelina biting my neck.
I bolt upright, heavy breaths escaping my lungs.
Angelina... she... she tried to kill me...
My body shakes and I move my hand away from Matthew and caress my forehead. “Oh god...”
“Hey, it’s all right.” He places his warm hands on my shoulders.
“I... I almost...”
“Don’t worry. You’re safe now. Headmaster Myrddin is dealing with her. He’ll know what to do.”
I hiccough, peering back up into Mattie’s sincere eyes. They relax once again and I can’t believe that this is the same smug asshole who had once tried to kill me.
How fucked up.
But that’s pretty much my life now.
Yet I embrace his warm, comforting presence, and suddenly he vanishes behind a veil of tears. I splutter next and Mattie gawps in shock.
I guess it was the last thing he expected—the normally snarky, steadfast Bryn bawling like a toddler.
I’m crying in front of my enemy. Not very smart, but I don’t care anymore.
“I... I didn’t ask for any of this...”
He blinks. “I... I know you—”
“The academy. The dance. A-Angelina...”
He growls and seizes hold of my cheeks, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t you worry about her. She can’t harm you anymore. So long as I’m around.”
His eyes have a faint white glow and I can’t look away. I can sense his sheer power burning inside of him, blinding me into a stupor, and I was a fool to think I could ever take him on.
He’s leagues away.
I’m just a beginner.
My eyes fill again and now my throat burns. “I... I never wanted us to be enemies, Matthew.”
That pained, tortured look returns to his eyes, and the glow dissipates. He says nothing, only watches me.
“I... don’t want to hurt you...”
He gulps, moving his Adam’s apple.
My tears continue to drip, rolling down my cheeks and over his strong fingers. But I go on.
“And I... never wanted to fall in love you...”
I squeeze my eyes and ugly cry now. My sobs echo through the room, making me sound small and pathetic.
Mattie takes me by surprise next, wrapping his arms around my waist. He’s... hugging me.
Then he nestles his nose into my hair and absorbs my scent. Now he releases a long, drawn-out breath, blowing away loose strands, and whispers. “I... never wanted any of this too... but I don’t regret falling for you. Not one bit, Bryn.”
I widen my eyes, but I keep my nose against the crook of his neck, breathing in his masculine scent. Ah, he’s all man (despite the white, flamboyant suit). Strong, musky, and erotic, and the wetness returns in my panties again.
“Bryn...” he mutters. “I... love you too.”
I lift my head off his shoulder and look into his clouded gray eyes. That smug jerk has returned.
He’s smug because he got to be the first one to tell me he loves me. Well... in that case.
I press my mouth to his lips and slip my tongue inside, and Matthew’s eyes protrude. But I don’t stop, enjoying the taste of my victory.
Well, I get to be the first to initiate tongues.
He groans and throws me back onto the pillow, pinning me down with his rock hard chest, and now I’m completely at his mercy.
Mattie lifts his head back up, panting into my mouth. “N-not bad, human...”
I glower. “Shut the fuck up, Humphrey, and kiss me.”
I yank his bowtie and bring his lips back to mine, and we kiss like it’s the end of the world. Everything’s wet and slippery, and our teeth bash together several times. Then he runs a hand up my leg and along my inner thigh, and I shudder when he stops outside my wet entrance.
He doesn’t remove my panties though, but he rubs his thumb around the lips of my sex, and I moan, wafting away loose strands.
Well, my hair is totally ruined. Not that I care though.
I just want Mattie to finish the job. No messing around. I’ve seen the magic he can do with those hands after all.
As if reading my mind, he pulls his hand away and smirks, and I want to punch him in the face.
“You... asshole...” I whisper.
His smile stretches. “Another time... I promise...”
I narrow my eyes and he chuckles, lying down beside me. Now he pulls me to his chest, and I place my head against his heart.
Even though he doesn’t show it, he’s as nervous as I am. I hear it in his pulse.
We stay that way for a while, and I get to thinking about our two dragons.
Just... what made them enemies in the first place?
“Mattie?”
“Yes.”
“Back at orientation... When you saw the White Dragon... what did you think about? What made you cry?”
Maybe I can get a little glimpse into his soul. See what makes him tick.
He sighs, blowing my hair. “My mother.”
I peer up at him. “Your mother?”
“Yes. She’s sick. Has been for a while.”
My heart deflates, and I see why he was such a jerk to me now. Bullies never bully for the sake of it; there is always an underlying reason.
“I’m... sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault, Bryn.”
I smile sadly, and he returns the gesture. Slowly, I lay my head back to his chest, soaking up his warmth again.
“So, I guess we’re dating now?”
“Guess we are.”
I snort. “Mortal enemies coming together for the common good?”
“Seems that way.”
I snuggle closer, wondering when I became the kind of girl who likes to keep her man close.
I don’t cuddle... unless it’s with my Pikachu plush.
Yet I sit up and rub my nose against his and say, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Chapter 28.
Life at the academy has become a breeze. For the first time, I truly feel that I belong.
No longer am I bullied or tripped up in the hallway now that I’m dating the most popular guy at school.
Everyone adores me now, and I have no idea how to take it.
It seems Mattie and I wowed everyone with our dance. According to Nora, it looked as if we were flying, and for a moment we actually resembled the red and white dragons on our school’s emblem.
Ironic.
Maybe Myrddin had dressed us in white and red for a reason, the sly old fool. He’s been trying to hook us up from the very start, and it worked.
Despite all the newfound love and attention from the rest of the student body, I still haven’t forgotten myself. I know who my real friends are, and that’s my Mendacious family. I still sit with them at lunch and at the back of classes. I’m not about to change myself for anyone, and Mattie understands perfectly well.
Though I wish I could say the same for some of my Mendacious roommates. Nora and her merman hooked up after the ball. As well as Thomas and his cat, and Jack and his succubus.
Or in other words, they totally ditched us.
Traitors.
I shouldn’t be too harsh. They still talk to us, but now they sit with their dates all the time during lunch and class.
Only Zahara, Felicity, and Damien keep up the tradition. But most of the time it’s as if Damien and Fel forget that we’re even still at the table.
They’ve been in a world of their own ever since they hooked up at the V-day ball. To be fair, even I would have been smitten if a guy had come and saved me from bullies as Damien had done for Fel. I am dating the very guy who rescued me from his crazy ex-girlfriend after all.
But still. They need to tone it down a no
tch.
They’re even louder at night, and Felicity’s room is right next to mine. Curse that Damien for making her scream. Forget what I said, he’s back on my “asses to kick” list.
Poor Zahara... She’s the only one of us who isn’t dating, but the Unseelie couldn’t care less. Her date with her Seelie had been an epic disaster. The poor guy had been too scared to even breathe the same oxygen as her.
If she keeps it up, no one will ever want to marry her.
There is one less at our table who I’ve forgotten to mention, but it’s not like she was ever really one of us to begin with.
Angelina...
Turns out, she should have been in Mendacious all along. The vampire Barbie was half-human after all. Though she managed to trick the font into making it think she was a thorough-bred vampire.
I often wondered what she cried about on long, sleepless nights, but it all makes sense now. Pedigree vampires can’t cry, but they can secrete venom from their eyes all the same. Their venom does become their very life and soul after they’ve turned, but Angie found a way to secrete her venom with her tears, and thus tricked the font into thinking she was Ingenious.
Well, not that that wasn’t pretty ingenious, but still.
I do think it’s still bullshit that the half-human students get dumped into the evil faction, but it couldn’t be any truer for Angie. She’s rotten to the core, and we have the bloody anti-Christ in our house for goodness sake.
Speaking of said anti-Christ... he currently has his sinister tongue down my pretty pixie friend’s throat.
His hands clasp fistfuls of her white hair, and Felicity responds with a soft moan, straddling his lap. She fits perfectly being so petite and all, and I stick my tongue out.
Zahara growls and tosses her apple at the two. They stop and respond with a hiss.
I raise a brow. It’s hard to forget that Felicity is a little devil in her own right at times. It’s faeries that are the sweet imps after all, helping the flowers grow and whatnot, but pixies are malevolent, tripping you up and stealing your shoes when you least expect.
Zahara continues. “I said not at lunch! Don’t make me set the hose on you now!”
Damien’s eyes flash and now he gives a devilish smirk, setting his doll aside. He chuckles and wipes Felicity’s glittery pink lipstick off his mouth.
“You jealous, Zahara?”
She cackles, attracting the attention of a few snooty Ingenious girls. “Of what? Childish foreplay and sloppy kissing? No thanks.”
It’s Felicity’s turn to smirk now, and she peers back up at Damien. “Trust me, Zee... We’ve done a little more than foreplay now. I mean, I am dating the Devil’s son after all...”
My chin pops loose, and I resist the urge to cry. That demon has tainted her.
Damien’s eyes burn as his top lip quivers. Felicity, meanwhile, brushes her finger up his neck and all the way to his lips.
The demon gives us a cursory glance. “If you’ll excuse us...”
With haste, he scoops her up under his coat, and they vanish upstairs to do the unholy...
I shiver, glaring at Zahara. She was the one who prompted them after all. “Did you have to?”
She shrugs. “I was getting sick of their bullshit. Besides, it’s not like you and Humphrey haven’t done stuff, right?”
Before I have time to snap at her, a tall, willowy girl passes our table, and I keep my mouth shut.
Zahara scowls at the girl, and she’s not the only one.
Now that I’m popular and loved by all, everyone shuns the half-vampire who tried to kill me.
It’s not that she hasn’t tried to kill me before... but she overstepped a line during the V-day ball. Even the full-blooded vampires are giving her hisses. She tainted their very name by attacking a human student on campus.
They have strict times when they can feed, given to them by the supernatural council, and all vamps must respect them.
Due to her actions, the council has given them stricter times, tighter curfews, and they all blame her.
Plus, she totally lied about being a full-blood vamp. Not cool. It’s one thing to be part human, but to lie about it too?
Let’s just say that Angie’s popularity meter has gone way down since V-day.
Not even Swamp Boy wants to be caught with her now. In fact, I heard he got lucky and banged a muse after the ball.
I have to say though... black suits her very well. People haul insults her way, but the half-vamp keeps her eyes forward.
It could be worse. She could have been expelled, but ever the merciless headmaster, Myrddin gave her another chance. Hence, she had to undergo another sorting to find which house she rightfully belonged to, and that was how he sniffed her out.
I always had an inkling he knew she was lying from the very start, but he let her keep up the charade until her day of reckoning finally came.
We watch as she takes her place at the back of the dining hall by the trashcan. Angie’s face conveys no emotion. She’s hard and resolute, and it’s at that moment that I truly see how beautiful she is.
She’s like a sculpture. Prominent cheekbones, full lips, and arched eyebrows, and I see they’re not drawn on either. They are naturally shaped that way, always giving her that wicked, sinful expression.
Her gaze falls on me. Whereas I expected to see that typical, blue glow, she gives me nothing. Her eyes remain the same. Her face stays an emotionless, beautiful mask.
Finally, she busies herself with her food and bites into her rare steak. No forks or knives.
I heard the council took it upon themselves to punish her, and she has been forbidden to feed for six months.
Now she has to get her blood through other means.
Zahara scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Forget that murderous bitch. Besides, haven’t you got a lesson with the headmaster?”
I flinch. “Yes, I do. Thank you, Zee. I almost forgot.”
She grumbles. “Don’t call me that!”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” I don’t bother to rush out of the room. Now that the school is less suspicious of me and has welcomed me, I’m now free to teleport up to Myrddin’s office with my pin.
They have seemed to make peace with my private lessons with the famous wizard. Since I was raised by humans my whole life, it would do me good to learn from the best.
Peoples’ attitude toward me really has changed.
Before I teleport, I catch Mattie’s gaze from across the room and melt. He’s as handsome as ever, mouthing the words, “See you later” with those sweet lips.
I blush.
Later indeed.
Mattie has been sneaking up to my room every night, and to answer Zahara’s question: yes... we have done stuff.
Wicked stuff.
...
Myrddin leads me through a forest.
We are in the human realm this time—Cheshire, North West of England.
Once or twice we bump into a curious dog walker, and the look the owner (and dog included) gives us is almost cartoonish.
Myrddin does look a little extra today in his cosmic cape. He has not taken it off since the ball. Then there’s me, too, in my strange black blazer with the glowing red dragon.
Plus, Myrddin walks with a staff of immeasurable power, and if the forest in question wasn’t legendary for a famous wizard sighting, then I’m sure the dog walker would have thought nothing of it.
We give a middle-aged woman and her golden retriever a moment to process what they see (or sniff in the dog’s case). I suspect Myrddin will erase their memories at some point.
It’s obvious to see she doesn’t notice Gelert on my right-hand side; her eyes only fall on Myrddin and me. Her retriever does though, and the much younger dog (by seven centuries) edges away as the spirit tries to sniff her butt.
“Why, hello madam. A lovely day for a woodland stroll, don’t you agree?” Myrddin chirps in his perky voice.
He wouldn’t be wrong. It is spring now, the sun shin
ing and the birds twittering high in the branches.
I hear a thrush, a blackbird, and the call of a great tit. (Yes, it’s a type of bird.)
The woman blinks. “Erm... yes... I suppose it is.”
She can’t stop looking at the swirling galaxies on Myrddin’s cape, and soon her eyes turn dizzy.
Myrddin sighs and takes a hold of her shoulders. “It’s all right. You did not see anything peculiar here today. You just took Holly for a walk, nothing more.”
I wonder how he knows the dog’s name, but when I look down at the retriever, she wags her tail.
Yep. That’s her name.
Gelert keeps trying to sniff her butt, and I hold him back. He gives a pitiful wine.
Poor guy. It’s been centuries since he got any action.
The woman blanks out and I imagine that was the expression Megan, Sophie, and Jonathan pulled when Myrddin took their memories too.
Finally, she comes back to herself and shakes her head. “Yes... Nothing peculiar... Let’s go, Holly.”
The dog perks up at the mention of her name, and now she trots alongside her owner again.
Smiling, Myrddin extends an arm. “Well, shall we?”
I nod and we continue along. Luckily, we don’t run into any more dog walkers.
“Now, do you remember the story I’ve told you so far?”
I think back to the legend of Alderly Edge that Myrddin told me about before we left. What I know so far is that a farmer once passed through these woods in the hopes of selling his milk-white mare at a nearby market. During his journey, he met an old man who offered to buy his horse.
The farmer declined, knowing he would get a better offer at the market, and carried on with his journey. And that’s as much as I know so far.
I do know that the old man was Myrddin. As he told me so himself.
That’s odd. Myrddin looks no older than forty-seven, yet in the story, he sounds wizened and ancient. Pretty much like in all his other depictions.
He’s been a boy, and he’s been an old man. He’s also been somewhat of a ladies’ man too, but that’s another tale.
“Yes,” I reply, stepping over a mossy branch.
“Excellent. Well, when the farmer got to market, he received many praises for his white mare, but no offers. Disappointed, the farmer set off home once again, but when he passed through Alderly Edge, there was the old man waiting for him.