Blooming Black: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 4)

by Juliann Whicker

  I rolled my eyes and stood. “Suit yourself. Would you mind telling your fellow commanders what madness I’m pursuing so that I don’t have to visit every one of them? I’m not sure if verbal reports would be safer than written ones. Thoughts?”

  “Personal notes should be adequate.”

  I nodded. “All right then. Now that we’ve gotten that all figured out, I’m off.”

  The next dozen or so meetings went a lot like that with varying levels of dismissiveness or respect. The first commander to agree was a Darksider. I’d been saving them for last because you know how Darksiders are, well I’d thought I knew. Viciously independent, greedy almost when it came to personal freedom and liberty.

  I’d walked into the dreary tent to find the Darksider commander at the table, drinking. When he saw me, he immediately poured me a drink. I dropped into the seat opposite him.

  “Master Huntsman. What are you going to do about the enemy?”

  I lifted my glass and swirled the contents, pink and slightly bubbling. “If my Commanders swear fealty, they’ll have my protection and immunity. If not…” I shrugged.

  “You’re here for my fealty?” He scowled, his ominous browbone low over his dark flinty eyes.

  I cleared my throat and sniffed at the pink stuff. It reminded me of Penny. “Isn’t that horrible?”

  He pulled out a knife, raised it, and then slashed his palm, held out the knife and stood there bleeding while I stared at him.

  “Do you want to finish this? I’m going to dry up soon,” he said in his thick Darksider accent. He spoke English very well, though. Also, was bleeding all over the place.

  I took the knife and cut across my palm. He grabbed it and we stood there bleeding together dramatically.

  “I swear fealty to you. You are my master. I give you my strength, my wisdom, my magic, and my will.”

  “Um, right. You’re my vassal who I will give my protection, immunity, and um, that’s pretty much it, over you and yours. Hallelujah.”

  He raised his eyebrows. It was church rubbing off on me. And Penny Lane. Our date had been going so nicely.

  “Done.” He dropped his hand and wiped it on his handkerchief, a surprisingly clean handkerchief. He must have kept it spelled to be so white and fresh. Well, before he wiped the blood off it had been white and fresh.

  Wait. I was supposed to channel the dragon, like with Jasper. I grabbed the man’s face with my still bloody hand and felt the darkness roar through me as the deeply paranoid and vicious dragon pour into him. After a few seconds of ebbing fury, I blinked the green out of my eyes to see the mage staring at me, looking rather shocked.

  I let go of his face, leaving a bloody handprint. That might work for a good intimidation strategy. He fell to one knee and bowed his head.

  “We’re actually finished now,” I told him.

  “You truly are the dragon mage.”

  “Well, I suppose that’s true. I charge you as my first minion to not tell anyone else about it.”

  “Any men who swear under me will know.”

  “And you will require them to not tell anyone else about it.”

  He glanced up at me, a slight smile on his mouth, a mouth not made for smiling. “The great dragons have returned. In the ancient days all men swore fealty for protection from the lines of great houses. I am the first in this age.” He nodded like that was a great honor. Maybe I did need to hang out with Darksiders more often. I clearly did not understand them.

  “Congratulations. Any ideas of how to take care of this more efficiently?”

  He frowned. “Daysider mages won’t understand. You may have to replace your current Commanders. I know you will see that as leverage to manipulate them into accepting your offer, but it’s necessary that you have personally loyal men as your commanders.”

  “Forget men actually adept at strategy and management.” I shook my head. This was going to be a disaster.

  He shrugged. “It doesn’t do you any good to have an efficient Commander who is fighting on the wrong side. I’m already beginning to be illuminated.”

  “Very well. If you have any questions, you can probably…” I stopped talking as he popped inside my head. As in, his awareness was there, like old dead dragon voices. I nodded. “Perfect. Pepper? I didn’t know you had a first name.” I gave him a flat smile and pushed his head out. I could do that very easily since I was his master. Otherwise I’d have to decapitate him or something.

  I stepped throughside, came out in my bedroom, glanced at my bed on the off chance that Penny Lane was in it, then stepped back into Darkside at the next camp, this one led by a Darksider Commander. Things progressed smoothly from that point on, almost too smoothly. After I had twenty-five vassals, I had to take a break and do something about my headache. Also, letting that many people know that Great Dragons were back, that I was a master, I’d been avoiding it for a long time. I’d have to talk to Ian and Teddy.

  Ian was easy enough to find, but Teddy wouldn’t answer my texts. He was clearly in Darkside, probably playing assassin with the Ruby, the mage who would kill Penny if it looked like she’d join the sorcerer. I flung myself on my bed while I waited and promptly fell asleep.

  I woke up to my phone buzzing.

  The green mage deigns to summon me?

  Oh good, he was in a bad mood. Maybe he’d try to kill me and we could play. That would be so much more pleasant than going back into Darkside to deal with more Commanders. The ones that accepted were far worse than the ones who refused.

  Who else when I need the finest assassin?

  Teddy was in my room the next moment, staring down at me in his black silk outfit.

  “So fancy, Teddy, and so beautiful. Ian, don’t you think so?”

  Ian sat up where he’d been laying on my couch. “Unutterably fancy. What’s going on, Drake? It’s late, or early depending on how you look at it.”

  “Yes, Drake,” Teddy said crisply, his sneer on his beautiful mouth. “What troubles you? Do you need me to sponge your brow?”

  “How did you know?” I sighed and sat up. They had a hard time taking me seriously when I was lounging on my bed. “The thing is, this sorcerer is playing my father at Huntsman Manor. Jasper has given him access to our deepest trust. The only way around that was offering fealty to my commanders. I actually had a few mad enough to accept. They’re in my head, and since it’s my dragon’s immunity I’m giving them, they are now aware of the rise of the great dragons. They are sworn to secrecy, but I thought you should know.”

  Teddy looked thoughtful instead of murderous. “What numbers are we talking about?”

  “So far, twenty-five commanders, each one with twenty-five hundred men, that’s…”

  “Enough,” Ian growled, his scowl furious. He wasn’t as happy about this as Teddy. Interesting since I’d already mentioned it to him. “You don’t think you should have brought this up before you did it?”

  I stared at him. “Weren’t you here earlier? Maybe that was Sooth as well. I officially despise deception sorcerers. They are the worst. My head hasn’t stopped aching for weeks.”

  Ian’s scowl didn’t budge. “You had to tell them?”

  “They’re in here.” I tapped my head. “Also, they feel the immunity, the dragon. I think some might miss it, but Darksiders are attuned to things like viciousness. Nothing else feels like dragon.”

  “Did you mention us?”

  “I swore them to secrecy about me, but didn’t feel like you merited a mention. Does that hurt your feelings?”

  “Drake,” Teddy said, stepping between my line of sight and Ian. “You have the fealty of over sixty-two thousand experienced mages? I’m surprised you only have a headache. That’s a lot of mages.”

  I blinked at him. “I have twenty-five. I’m not sure how many of their soldiers accepted fealty. Are you saying my headache is going to get worse? Any other side-effects I should know about?”

  He shrugged. “You have the dragon to worry about alread
y. This shouldn’t be worse than that, unless it compounds it because you’re accessing the dragon so widely.” He nodded. “It will be interesting to observe you.”

  He made the madness seem so rational. “Will you be Penny’s contract mage?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Ah. Because you can’t trust Jasper or your money. It would be my pleasure.” He smiled his soft lips and his black eyes danced.

  I sighed. “She’s been contacted twice by the TMD.”

  His expression went from evil seducer to brilliant tactician. “Was assault involved?”

  “They interrupted our date. We didn’t get to climb trees.”

  “Excellent. We’ll send a suit to pay for damages. I’ll charge you for my services.”

  Ian laughed. “If he’s got a sorcerer in his house, you should send the bill to Penny. She can pay you out of whatever you get for her. That’ll motivate you. If you need another fund source, consider Stoneburrow. He’s got lovely coffers.”

  “You’re her mage. I could send the bill to you. Or Jackson. It would be nice to put some screws in that mage.”

  All of us nodded and smiled at each other. What was it about Jackson that made me dislike him so much? Probably the fact that he ignored that I was superior to him in absolutely every way.

  “Do you think they’re ready?” Ian asked, breaking our moment of companionable dislike.

  “The dragons?” I shrugged. “If the sorcerers are stirring, the dragons won’t be far behind. In this case, I don’t seem to have much choice. Either I go medieval, or I’ll spend the rest of my life running around in circles while this sorcerer wags my tail.”

  “You said he’s in Dayside? Is he interfering with business?”

  I stared at him. “Business? As in Huntsman inc.? Why would a sorcerer do that?”

  He shrugged elegantly. “I have heard that battles get expensive. Huntsman could be a nice little piggy bank for a Darksider with a head for it, or a mage like Jasper who worked for him.”

  My blood went a bit chilly. Not ice cold, not with dragon blood running through my veins. I should eat him. The sorcerer. No. I didn’t eat sorcerers. Jello should eat him. I rubbed my forehead as I went to grab my laptop. “That would be extremely unfortunate with my upcoming wedding if we couldn’t pay for cake.”

  “Cake? You’re getting married?” Teddy smiled slightly. “I can’t wait to kiss the bride.”

  I punched slow and easy so he had time to duck. “And that would ruin my honeymoon. I’d spend the entire time ripping apart mages. The honeymoon. I haven’t had time to work on it.”

  “You didn’t put it in the contract?” Teddy asked, itching to see the papers. I had asked him to be her contract mage. I already felt deep regret.

  “And you have to give her a wedding present worthy of her engagement gift to you.” Ian grinned. “It’s going to be difficult to top.”

  “What did she give you?” Teddy asked. “He’s Huntsman, what could be worth more than money? Ah…” he said with a lecherous sneer.

  Ian rolled his eyes and grabbed the lapel of my precious coat. “She made this. It’s soaked into him like a second skin. Tell me you wouldn’t marry a witch for a coat like that.”

  Teddy and Ian started running their hands all over the jacket making appropriate oohing and ahhing sounds until I pushed them off me.

  “Enough. I’m working on it, somehow in between dealing with misguided armies. Once the two of you get handsy, the meeting is officially adjourned. Until next time, gentle mages.”

  Ian smiled and Teddy sneered before they both stepped throughside to whatever destination they chose to bring in the new day. I had business to take care of. And wedding presents.

  Chapter 22

  Witch

  “What are you going to wear?” Viney asked, arms crossed as she leaned against the hideous lilac floral couch.

  I looked down at my usual school uniform, skirt a teeny bit shorter than your standard and more creamsicle than blah khaki. “You think my skirt should be shorter?”

  “You’re getting married on Valentine’s day. Are you going to wear a red and pink heart shaped dress, or what?”

  I blinked at her. “Oh. I can’t decide.”

  She chewed on her thumbnail until she rolled her eyes, grabbed my wrist and dragged me into her sacred sanctum, the all black hole she called her bedroom. “I saw this and thought of you. It’s a totally free gift, you know, you don’t have to pay me in hurters or anything if you happen to like it.” She gave me a tiny smile that was pretty much a nightmare come real.

  “Ding dongs and ho-ho’s, I don’t know who you think you’re fooling,” I muttered as I followed her then stopped and stared at the pale pink peony that bloomed against the black of her wall. I gasped and clasped my hands as the prettiness of the delicate thing sang to me. It was a flower, also silk, organza, chiffon, with an underlayer of dupioni to hold up all the fluttering ruffles. It was nothing more than the most perfect and beautiful gown in the entire world. It would take me hundreds of hours to sew on all of those pieces of fabric that cascaded onto the floor.

  I petted it, the silk sliding over my fingers a bit like Drake’s super soft skin inside his elbows. I blushed and beamed at Viney. I threw my arms around her while she tensed up.

  “I take it you like it. You don’t have to pay for it in hurters if you don’t want to.”

  I pulled back and shook my head at my spiky-haired friend. “You are so obvious, it’s kind of cute. Three hurters, but don’t think you can buy me any time I need a wedding dress. Also, I’m running low on a few things you’ll have to secure for me.”

  She nodded and kept nodding like a bobble head or something. I ruffled her hair and she snarled but didn’t bite me.

  She tried to smile again. “I don’t even care if they’re pink. I’d prefer something a little more on the Pitch end of your spectrum, you know, you do make hurters like hers, but whatever you want.”

  I shuddered. “Stop that right now. Gushing gets no hurters.”

  She pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded.

  I rolled my eyes and went back to stroking the dress. “Where did you get this?”

  “France. I had it shipped as soon as I saw it online. Do you want to see the shoes that came with it?”

  I shivered and swallowed. The shoes were beautiful, suede pumps with cut out toes and a dainty ankle strap. They were almost softer than the dress. “Viney, you’re diabolical. These are perfect. You should be a professional shopper.”

  “I should. Unfortunately my mother would hire an assassin if I did.”

  Zach cleared his throat loudly from the doorway, and I stopped petting the shoes while Viney tried to look innocent.

  “Speaking of assassins, is there a reason Teddy Prince gave you his card?” He held up a little business card and managed to look messy, cranky, and adorable at the same time.

  “What does that Blackheart want with Penny?” Viney snarled.

  I put a hand on her shoulder before she could grab the card and shred it into confetti. “Drake suggested him. Something about suing the TMD for ruining my date?”

  Viney stared at me. “What do the TMD want with you? Never mind.” She glared at Zach. “Can’t you fix this?”

  He shrugged and pulled the card out of my reach. “Penny won’t sign my contract. Doesn’t want Stoneburrow to own her or something crazy like that. She has no idea what an honor it is. Stoneburrow doesn’t own just anybody.”

  Viney scowled. “If Prince is being paid, he shouldn’t mess around, right?”

  “Right.” I lunged and grabbed the card. Zach wouldn’t let go so we struggled for a few seconds until he tickled me. I was rolling on Viney’s bed while my body convulsed and shook. “Not… fair…” I gasped while tears ran down my cheeks and Zach’s fingers probed the most ticklish part of my ribs. He didn’t touch my missing ribs, which he couldn’t have done since they were long gone. Anyway, it was very sweet of him.

  He stopped ti
ckling me and I gasped while he leaned over me, his eyes bright and alive like his smile. That was a real smile, a Zach smile. I touched his mouth and he flinched back like I’d punched him. “Take it,” he snarled, throwing the card at my face. I caught it out of the air, between my fingers carefully so it didn’t give me a paper cut.

  I sat up slowly while he stalked out of the room, giving my dress a sneer on his way out.

  “Poor Zach. You should sign the contract,” Viney said. “Stoneburrow will protect you.”

  “Poor Zach? Why poor Zach?”

  Viney flopped onto her bed beside me. “Are you kidding? You aren’t. So, Zach has trouble relating to people. He spends tons of energy and time on someone fictional, and you’re not only his link to that, bringing the dream into the realms of actual real life, you’re his friend. Zach doesn’t have friends. Other than Drake who makes friends easier than any other mage I know. Are you going to call Teddy? If you have a meeting, I want to be in on it. For purely protective reasons, nothing to do with watching him sit there looking dangerously beautiful.”

  I frowned at her. “Hey, you have Oscar to drool over. He’s super gorgeous.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I like Oscar. I wouldn’t ever like Teddy Prince. He’s worse than heartless. What about you? Do you like him?”

  I laughed. “How would it be possible for me to like anyone other than Drake? No, Teddy is pretty, but I like redheads best.”

  Her smile tightened. She still had a lingering thing for Drake. She couldn’t seem to help it. “Good. So, take the dress out of here, okay? It’s making my room look like a candy shop.”

  I picked it up in my arms and spun around as gracefully as possible, twirling like a ballerina into the Commons room only to stop suddenly when I saw Ian of all people.

  “We need to schedule our training. Same time as last fall? What about Zach? Do you need a chaperone again?”

  I glanced at Zach’s closed door. Why did he really want me to sign his contract? Was he really afraid he’d lose me? He owned me. I owned him. Twice. What kind of losing could possibly happen? “We should be okay. Zach and I are still weird. You know that I belong to Drake.”