Stung, I back against the door, gripping the handle to keep my still-trembling knees from going out. “That’s why you’re still seeing her? Just because she never says no to you?”
“I’m not seeing her,” he says. “I’m fucking her. And unless you’re going to let me fuck you instead, it’s really none of your business.”
“It kinda became my business when she used my magic to get you in the first place.”
Ryker’s glare softens, but it’s not kindness in his eyes. It’s cruelty. “You’re jealous,” he says.
“No, I’m not.”
He prowls closer, smirking down at me. “Then what do you want, Jade? You want to know if I was thinking about you while I fucked her? Yeah, I was. Does that make you feel good? To know I was picturing you while I came inside her?”
“No,” I snap. “It makes me sick.”
The truth is more complicated than that, though. Yeah, it makes me want to punch him in the face, but it also makes something sick inside me awaken. Some sick little part of me thrills at the thought, and more than that, it makes heat tingle between my thighs.
Ryker smirks like he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. He leans down, running his fingers along my throat and lifting my chin. “If I can’t have you, you can’t tell me who to fuck,” he purrs. “You can’t even tell me not to picture it’s your ass while I sink my cock into it.”
My heart thuds in my ears, and I can barely breathe. I shove his chest as hard as I can, but he doesn’t even budge. He gives me a final chuckle before slowly backing away and slipping his hands into his pockets.
“Maybe you can keep your magic under control for the rest of class now that you’ve had some release,” he says. “Feel free to stop by early any day if that’s what you need in order to focus.”
“Thanks, but I already have someone for that,” I say, tossing my hair as I spin around and yank the door open.
“He’s not doing a very good job,” Ryker calls behind me.
I march out into the class, ignoring the looks from the other students—curiosity glances, jealous glares, knowing smiles, and hidden grins.
Fucking hell. Every single person in the room looks like they know exactly what happened in that room. I take a deep breath. I’ll just pretend they’re wrong, that nothing happened, and hope they didn’t hear my body knocking against the door and my voice crying Ryker’s name.
I pull out Cleo and stand straight and tall, ready to fight.
“Alright,” Ryker says, from behind me. “Bella, spar with Jade.”
Well, that’s great. He picked the one person who hates me more than he does. I can hardly even look at her. I don’t want to fight, to get better and have my skills used by Silas, but if I don’t fight back, I’m as good as dead. One look at Bella’s face, and I know she truly wants to murder me. I grip Cleo with both hands and step up to Bella, focusing intently. It’s not like swordplay uses much magic, anyway.
“You do that on purpose, don’t you?” Black-Haired Bella asks, parrying.
“Do what?” I ask as we circle each other.
“Suck,” Bella says with a sneer.
“Better to suck intentionally than because you’re just a sucky human being,” I shoot back.
“He doesn’t like you, you know.”
Our blades clash together with a metallic clang.
“Who?” I ask.
“You know who,” she says, her eyes blazing with fury. “I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work.”
“Oh, and you know what works.”
“I got him, didn’t I?” she asks with a smug smile. “And you’re never getting him back.”
“Yeah, well, if what it takes is letting him put a bag over your head and fuck you in the ass while pretending you’re someone else, you can have him,” I say. “He’s all yours.”
“I do whatever it takes to get what I want,” she says through clenched teeth. “If you really wanted him, you’d do the same thing.”
“Then I guess I don’t really want him,” I say, swiping at her. This time, I touch her body with my blade, which gives me a point.
“Fine,” Bella snaps, breathing hard and blowing her hair out of her eyes. “If you don’t want him, then stop playing the helpless little victim who can’t do it, so he’ll have to give you extra tutoring like Professor Darius does.”
“I’m not,” I growl. “And there’s nothing going on with me and Professor Darius.”
“You know, it’s really sad,” Bella says. “All that amazing magic is just wasted on you. Even with all that magic inside you, you still can’t get a single guy to like you. You might get a pity fuck to get rid of your magic because the alternative is to stick your spork up your twat, but no one likes you. It must suck to be that repulsive.”
I can feel Cleo tingling in my hand, and I will her to stay in sword form and not go rogue on me now.
“Yeah,” I say, refusing to let Bella get to me. “It really sucks not being a fucking date rapist.”
“You whore,” Bella snarls.
“I thought I couldn’t get a guy,” I say. “Which is it, Bella? Am I a whore or a pathetic loser? Surely I can’t be both.”
Bella lunges at me. In a burst of white magic, Cleo transforms instantly into a pistol. Fuck. What can I do with that but kill?
With a triumphant gleam in her eyes, Bella lunges again, this time with her sword aiming straight for my heart.
In a flash, I’m flying through the air and landing flat on my back. The air whooshes out of my lungs. I hear cries and shrieks and exclamations as if from far away. It takes me a second to draw a breath and roll over. I drag myself to my feet and see that everyone in class has crowded around someone. Someone right where I was standing.
Fuck. Did I shoot Bella?
I look down at Cleo, who has turned into an innocent daisy in my hand. Fat lot of good she’s going to be in helping me get out of this one. I push my way through the students to see what I did.
But it’s not Bella. She stands frozen, her mouth open in an “O” of shock, her face chalk white and her hands pressed to her heart. On the floor where I stood seconds ago, Ryker kneels, his head bowed, the blade of a sword protruding from his back.
This one is no illusion. Blood streaks the point of the blade as it protrudes. Blood trickles from his abdomen, down the length of the sword, dripping from the hilt.
I look down at Cleo, momentarily too stunned to realize what’s going on. Cleo is still a daisy in my hand, not a smoking gun. I didn’t fire Cleo. And she’s not a sword. I didn’t stab Ryker. Bella did.
“Ryker!” I fall to my knees beside him. He doesn’t move, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. A painful pressure builds behind my eyes, and I take his hand gently. “We’re going to get you some help,” I say softly. “Just hold on. You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
“We should pull the sword out,” someone says, stepping forward.
“No,” I bark, holding up a hand as if to ward him off. “Don’t touch him.”
“Okay, jeez,” the guy says, shaking his head and stepping back.
“What do you need?” I ask Ryker, sinking onto my heels. “Do you want me to help you lie down?”
“Your magic,” he whispers, barely loud enough for me to hear. He’s fading fast.
Without hesitation, I call on the magic I spend so much time repressing. I feel a sharp tug from outside me, and instinctively, my magic curls in on itself, closing like a morning glory in the sun. Swallowing hard, I press past the protective instinct, pushing my magic toward Ryker’s fading, reaching essence.
I feel the moment our magic connects, a firm grip as if someone has reached a hand inside me and wrenched at my heart. A gasp escapes my lips, and I nearly fall sideways onto Ryker. I’m filled with the overwhelming urge to wrap myself around him, and heat builds between my thighs. I squeeze my eyes closed, pushing past that, too. This isn’t time for sexual thoughts. Ryker is dying. I hold my body steady and press my magic fur
ther, allowing it to flow into him.
And then it’s like I’m somehow inside him, and I realize he’s not gripping my magic, pulling it into himself. I’m the one doing it. My magic is gripping his, trying to pull it back toward us. Toward him. And something else is pulling on his, like a vortex sucking it further and further inside him, down into some unknown reaches. I hold on, letting my magic be pulled into him, letting it fill him, refusing to let go. Some part of me knows that if I let go, his magic will disappear into that black hole and never return.
I know, because I’ve seen that vortex before. It’s an opening to the spirit world. To Lilith.
Not today, bitch, I think, renewing my hold on Ryker. She can have him some other time, when he’s good and ready, when he’s a grumpy old man with as many grandbabies as a man can ask for, with a whole lifetime of love and adventure behind him. Today, she’s not getting my man.
Just as I think it, I can feel the completeness of my magic filling Ryker. There’s none of him left inside his body. It’s just me. He’s all the way gone. His body sways and begins to topple forward, but I catch him. “No,” I scream, yanking Bella’s sword from his chest and hurling it away. I tumble to the floor with Ryker’s heavy, unwieldy body. Scrambling up, I leap onto him and place my hands on his chest. Blue light shimmers from my palms, pouring into him like phosphorescent water as tears course down my cheeks. “You don’t get to fucking die,” I cry, pushing more and more magic into him.
I don’t care if I give him every bit of magic I own, if I never get it back. He has to live. I haven’t had nearly enough time to get to know him, to find out if he feels the same crazy, complicated way for me that I do for him. I haven’t even told him that I feel something other than fury when I’m with him.
Suddenly I feel a flicker of magic licking back against mine. I snatch at it, dragging him toward me even though I’m so exhausted I think I’ll collapse on top of him. I feel like someone just dragged my soul from my body, drained my veins of all my blood and left me empty and depleted. But I won’t stop fighting. Pain ripples through me, but I force myself to stay upright, keep my hands over the wound in his chest and sink into him. I’m so tired and empty that I can’t tell if my soul is inside his body or mine. I only know that I’ve got a hold on him, and I’m not letting go.
Finally, strong hands grab me from behind and draw me away, and I’m too weak to resist. I fall backwards, and everything goes black.
Chapter Eight
I wake up in a room that’s unfamiliar but unmistakable—a hospital room. I try to sit up, but my body feels too heavy to possibly move.
“It’s okay, Jade,” says a familiar, comforting voice. “Just rest.”
I open my eyes again to find Darius leaning over the bed, his eyes filled with concern and relief. “Where am I?” I ask, because somehow it seems the logical, familiar thing to say.
“You’re in the Academy’s clinic,” he says. “You overdid it by a long shot.” He smooths my hair away from my face, then glances at the curtain beside the bed before leaning over and pressing his lips to my forehead.
“Shit,” I mutter. “Is Ryker okay?”
“He’s alive,” Darius concedes, his gaze warming with love and… And pride. “You saved his life, Jade. But using that much magic to do it knocked you out cold.”
“How long have I been here?” I ask.
“Three days,” he says. “Ryker’s on the other side of the curtain if you’d like to see him. I’m sure he has some things to say to you.”
“He’s awake?”
Darius peeks around the curtain and then shakes his head. “Not just now.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Yes. He’s lucky that someone with the magic of life just happened to be nearby.” He gives me a small, impressed smile. “You did a brave thing, saving him like that. We would have lost him if not for you.”
“How long will we have to be in here?”
“Your magic will take a while to recover, but you can probably leave in a day or so now that you’re awake.”
“And Ryker?”
“Our healers are working to make sure he makes a full recovery, but even magic has its limits. It’ll take him a bit longer than you. His heart was badly damaged in the accident.”
Accident, my ass. If it weren’t for Ryker, Bella would have put that sword through me.
And no one would have been around to save me, either. Ryker would have tried, but I don’t know how much healing magic he has. Not enough to bring me back from death itself, I’m guessing.
“What about Bella?” I ask.
Darius’s lips tighten. “Unfortunately, Bella Lu had to be suspended pending an investigation,” he says. “Small injuries are not unusual in our training classes, which is why we have an infirmary. But students in the class said she deliberately struck while not using the correct forms.”
“Finally, the Academy got something right,” I say. “I mean, she was pissed, and I don’t know if she actually wants me dead, but that was no accident.”
“You’re lucky Ryker threw himself in front of you,” Darius says, stroking my cheek. “We’re all lucky.”
Our gazes lock, holding onto each other for a long moment. I lift my hand to cover his, so he won’t withdraw his touch. “Are we?” I ask, searching his eyes.
“Jade,” he says, glancing behind the curtain before sinking onto the edge of my bed. He pulls his knee up next to me and faces me. “When I think about how close I was to losing you…”
“Don’t think about it,” I say, reaching for his hand again.
“When I think about it, I think how silly it is to lose you intentionally every day,” he says.
I gulp, staring up at him, waiting. “You’re not losing me,” I whisper at last.
“I don’t want to,” he says, leaning down slowly. He slides his hand behind my head and gently presses his lips to mine.
And even though my magic is entirely absent, the swirling, tingling, dizzying feeling of his kiss is no different. My heart flips over in my chest, and the world falls away around us.
Professor Darius pulls away too soon. “I can wait three years for you to finish school,” he says. “I won’t see anyone else, Jade.”
“What if I can’t wait?” I ask, curling my fingers around his tie to keep him from pulling away.
Darius rests on his elbow, smiling down at me. “I don’t want you to wait. I want you to experience everything your peers do. You should have boyfriends, ones you can be seen with. As long as you come back to me at the end, I’ll be the happiest man on earth.”
My face reddens at the realization that he thinks I’m talking about sex. “No,” I say. “What if I can’t wait that long for you?”
“Then I’ll quit my job if I have to,” he says. “To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait that long, either.” He skims his lips over mine and whispers, “I want to touch you again, Jade. I think about you all the time. I want to taste you, and make you moan, and feel you cum against my lips.”
I picture Ryker waking up on the other side of the curtain, hearing the raw desire in the professor’s voice, the dirty words sliding from his lips, and my clit throbs. A shudder of pure lust runs through me, and my knees clench together—no magic required.
“Maybe we can have it,” I whisper. “No one has to know.”
“There are people at this school who can read minds,” Darius says. “And people who might as well be human lie detectors. We’d be caught.”
I know he’s right, but I want it so badly I almost don’t care that he’d get fired. Almost.
“You’re right,” I say with a sigh. “Ugh, this sucks.”
“Three years isn’t so long,” Darius says. “You’ll have time to figure out what you want, to explore your sexuality with different partners.”
“To get good enough that I’m a proper match for you,” I say, peeking up at him from under my lashes.
Darius swallows. “Did
I just say three years wasn’t a long time?”
I grin and loop and arm around his neck, pulling him down for one last, long, lingering kiss. When he pulls back, his eyes are as clouded by lust as they were when I was dripping magic down his fingers as they fucked me.
“I’d better go before Nurse Dunlavy gets suspicious,” he says, drawing away at last. “I’ve been hanging around more than is excusable.”
He untangles my arms from around his neck and stands from the edge of the bed where he’s perched.
“Thanks for visiting,” I say, snagging his hand and squeezing. “I’ll be thinking about you when you’re gone. And looking forward to graduation.”
He grins and ducks behind the curtain, disappearing from view. I smile as I listen to his footsteps in the hall. Damn. Three years is a long-ass time to wait, but it’s nothing compared to what I would wait if I had to. It’ll be worth it—more than worth it. Professor Darius is the best man I know, not to mention sexy as fuck.
On top of that, he’s completely understanding of my need to explore and be young, to do what I’m sure he did at my age. He wants me to experience the world and all it has to offer, to date and hook up and be a normal girl. He even gave me his blessing. The best part is knowing he’ll be waiting for me when I’m done. Knowing that after I’m done having fun and sowing my wild oats and all that, he’ll be there for me just as he has been all along. He’s not going anywhere—and I’m not going anywhere but back to him.
I already know my destination. The only question is, where will I explore before that? Where will I go and who will I love on my journey back to him?
*
“You saved my life.”
I stare back at Ryker as the nurse bustles around taking his vitals and fussing over the hot sorcerer in his care.
“So?” I ask after a long minute.
“Why’d you do that?” Ryker asks, his blue eyes searching mine.
“Really?” I say. “Now you’re pissed that I didn’t let you die? You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m not pissed,” Ryker says slowly. “I’m wondering why you did that.”
Academy of Sorcery: Term 2: Fallen Master Page 6