Drowning Studies (Artemis University Book 2)

by Erin R Flynn

  We did something different this time. He sat back on his feet and pulled me on his lap, entering me that way and holding me to him as he took me. I had a feeling he wanted fun but also for me not to have to do any work when I was tired and still give him what he needed. It was sweet and made me feel special, not a cold hookup scratching an itch only.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” he muttered when it was over. “I want you again and again.”

  “I’m sorry,” I panted, my eyelids feeling too heavy.

  “Never apologize for that,” he grumbled. “You’re a gift I treasure, not a toy I can be greedy with.”

  Okay, that was ridiculously sexy. “Though I do like when you play with me,” I teased as I turned and caught his lips. “I might play with you more too other than just wearing skirts and waving the red flag in front of you.”

  “Please do,” he growled, his dick twitching in me. “Lure me in even more, Tasmin. Drive me nuts because you can deal with me when I get demanding and pushy. Show me my place.”

  I shivered and he chuckled deeply, clearly getting I liked that. “I like when you push me too.”

  “I know, I like it. I like we switch.”

  Yeah, I did too.

  He pulled out of me and I got a bit light-headed or just exhausted and tried to clean up. I must not have made it since I woke redressed in his arms as he carried me back to my dorm.

  “Shit, sorry, Hudson,” I grumbled, burying my face against his neck as even I could get embarrassed about something like this. “It’s not you, I swear it’s not—”

  “Shhh, we’re too close to where people could hear you. I understand, my princess, I do. You’re at one of the hardest universities in the world and trying to get your high school degree as well. Plus this world is all new to you. We’re all exhausted for you; I promise you’re doing great.”

  Yeah, when he laid it all out like that, I wanted to pat myself on the back too. There was more to that list not everyone knew and trying to save a whole fucking world by bringing magic back to Faerie.

  I might really need to slow down or I wasn’t going to make it. Once a week draining reservoirs into Faerie seemed best going forward.

  I felt better when I had that settled and kissed him when we reached the dorm. I hurried to shoo him off, kinda liking our secret rendezvous, and even discussing having something more than fun so wasn’t on my mind.

  And he didn’t seem like he wanted to get serious either so there was that.

  I gave Izzy a wave as I walked in our room and locked up behind me. I stripped off my clothes and crawled right in bed.

  It was a good sleep with less stress after Hudson had worked his magic on me and the kind only an attentive man could perform. Not that I’d had that before, but now I could never accept anything less.

  It was like ice cream. Once you had the good stuff, the rest was just crap that wasn’t worth the calories.

  Or something like that.

  Izzy was still asleep when I got up so I packed my bag for the day and left her a note on our small message board we’d started using since I forgot to check my phone unlike everyone else my age.

  I almost walked out in what I was wearing—which were still only my undergarments—and remembered a shower and everything. Wow, my stomach really did rule me.

  Take two was better and I walked out freshly showered and ready for the day. I headed for the cafeteria and decided to go around to the employee entrance and receiving bay. I waved at all the hobgoblins as they beamed at me.

  “Hi, I’m sorry to bother you but I was hoping to speak to Irma?”

  “Oh course, child, let me get her,” one of the men said.

  A few moments later Irma came hurrying out with a few people on her heels. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

  “No, not at all—it’s not an emergency,” I rambled, wondering what the guy had told her.

  “Oh, he said you needed to speak with me. Silly man makes everything sound serious,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes before smiling at me. “What did you need, Tamsin?”

  I wasn’t sure how to start, but then I realized she was craning her neck so much it had to be uncomfortable for her. “Is it rude if I come down lower? I—does your neck hurt?”

  She beamed at me. “No, it’s not rude at all. If you look down at us in that way you know people can do, that’s what’s rude. The rest—do as you feel and your heart will tell you.”

  I shrugged. Easy enough. I ended up plopping down on the concrete, which seemed to amuse the others watching us. “So Dr. Craftsman said you guys had a leader? Is that like a clan leader?”

  “No, sort of like an Alpha of this group but they always answer to fairies or their mates.”

  “Wow, I so don’t know anything,” I grumbled, blowing a raspberry. “Can I talk to him too? Izzy said something I wanted to ask you guys about.”

  “I am he,” a man said as he moved closer. “I am Ryfon and it’s my honor to meet the last fairy born.”

  “I hope I’m not the last,” I argued, a cold chill rushing me. I tried to shake it off and focus on the topic at hand.

  Then I realized what he’d said with too many around.

  “He put up a privacy barrier,” Irma assured me. “We have magic too.”

  “Okay good.” I glanced between them and worried my lip. “Izzy said some of you guys got stuck working for asshole elites. Is that something they wanted?”

  “No, certainly not, but most had no other option.”

  “What if they could?” I hedged.

  “Speak your truth, child,” Ryfon guided.

  “I accepted the fairy estates of those confirmed dead,” I admitted, wondering how much to tell those I didn’t know. “Mr. Geiger’s handling it.”

  He nodded. “Everyone was aware of the light fairy trust, though not that someone has claimed it. Obviously.”

  Glad that was still an “obviously” situation but I didn’t know it was only light fairies. Good to know.

  “So I know elites can be assholes and I doubt every hobgoblin is as nice as you guys are but… Do they need to work for jerks if they have a safe place? I couldn’t hire them all and a mass exodus would raise eyebrows but what about some house sitters? The properties are all protected with fairy magic and we could figure out food for house-sitting I’m sure but, well, that’s where I’m at.”

  “You have such a generous and good heart you remind me of our queen,” he praised, others around him giving surprised looks which made me think that it was the highest compliment. “And no, every hobgoblin is not pleasant nor trustworthy with the secret of who you are. There also might be a happy medium as we do have magic and abilities when we’re not reduced to servants.”

  “Forgive me for being ignorant on this, but I have no idea what that means,” I admitted.

  “We spin some of the finest material imaginable,” Irma explained. “We make goods and grow fruit only found in Faerie.”

  “Why did no one think to help you guys do that?” I asked.

  “Because the people who offered weren’t those we would trust,” Ryfon said easily. “We have a symbiotic relationship with fairies as they never take advantage of us. You have seen how money and power corrupt too many elites, so giving them valued and unattainable access to what we have would be worse for us.”

  “We lied mostly,” Irma admitted, looking embarrassed at that. “When pushed, we told them we could only do it in Faerie, but if we were protected or another fib was told that it took a magical item or certain soil that one person found, there are people that could be sold to as brokers.”

  “Katrina Calloway?”

  “Oh yes, Ms. Calloway would vehemently protect such a chance and no one could get the information from her,” Ryfon promised. “Have you met?”

  “Yes, I like her and she’s been helping me learn about fairies under the guise I’m a bit too much of a Disney fan.”

  “You are clever,” he praised again. “We all know those we cou
ld trust and it would be best to get out of their current situations. As Irma said, maybe fib they got jobs here but then not. What are you thinking?”

  I shrugged. “I was talking with my friends that I was going to handle one of the Townsend houses in North Dakota over winter break. Maybe that could be a place for the ones we trust.”

  “Who is aware you are a fairy? Dr. Craftsman was lying when he said no one.”

  “Not no one but probably too many,” I sighed. “The school board, as I was an unknown found and brought in. Dr. Craftsman and the guards that night—but not all of them, though I think some know I’m different. Dr. Salzman and I think that’s it besides Geiger and Claudia. My best friend, Melody, who got a job here.”

  “So not your roommate, tutor, or the men interested in you,” Irma muttered like that last part wouldn’t raise my eyebrow. Then again, we had enough on our plates. That could wait. “We will think on this.”

  “With your permission I would ask to speak to Mr. Geiger with this idea,” Ryfon suggested. “That man is fiercely loyal and had many, many friends that went back for the war. One was a lover, I believe.”

  My heart ached for him. “That’s why he was so excited I’m working on bringing magic back to Faerie.”

  “Do you know what happened?” Ryfon asked hopefully.

  I shook my head. “All I’ve seen is darkness, caustic darkness as Geiger said. I’m working on it but it takes my magic being syphoned to clear a small patch of the darkness and the idea that darkness touches me is terrifying. Something is wrong with that section of Faerie but that’s all I know. I won’t give up, I promise.”

  “We know. We’ll help however we can,” Irma said gently, reaching over and patting my cheek. “You’re a good child who has been through too much pain but still has a good heart. Hold onto that and remember many need you alive, so be safe.”

  “Geiger said about the same thing.” I nodded to Ryfon. “Yeah, see what he thinks. It just hurt my heart to hear Izzy saying that you guys were treated well here but most hobgoblins aren’t and that cannot be something we accept. We have to do something. I just don’t know what.”

  Unfortunately, that was too much of life in general but maybe this we could work out.

  8

  The next morning was the first time I was working with Craftsman as my power assessor. I had Physical Training III on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so I cut my morning run by a mile.

  We agreed that was a good time to do a bit of work if I was willing to get up a little earlier. I could handle that as power training wasn’t something to do for hours on end.

  Not if you were actually able to use the magic. If you couldn’t, yeah, I could see working hours to make it happen.

  I just had the problem of things happening I didn’t mean to or not controlled.

  “Okay, show me this new power clap,” he instructed, pointing to a large tree in the witch/warlock section where practicing was allowed. Not new freshmen but well, that was why he was supervising. “What did you learn?”

  “That if I smack my hands against my thighs I dissipate some of the energy and it’s not as big, less chaotic and focused.”

  “Okay, so do that.”

  “I can’t. I’m not angry.”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “I’m sure you can think of lots to get angry about and we’re only using strong emotions for now. Once you get more in tune with your magic, comfortable with using it, it will be easy to call on. You’re still growing as the vaccine effects just wore off.”

  I nodded. I could handle that. I thought to yesterday where Katy was blabbing that I must have stooped so low as to suck tiny hobgoblin cock for them to be so nice to me and suddenly my magic was roaring up, ready for the fight.

  I let out a slow breath and slapped my hands against my thighs before clapping them, the magic shooting out in a concentrated and focused—but strong—pulse.

  I winced as it sliced through the tree and two behind it, several others taking damage.

  And unfortunately the trees were falling towards us because of the way my hit landed. Craftsman grabbed me and held up his hand, a barrier forming around us as the trees landed. We didn’t have so much as a scratch when he lowered his hand.

  “Well, those with wood-burning fireplaces in their rooms have fuel for winter.”

  “Yeah, but the planet needs more trees.”

  He smiled at me. “Of course you worry about that. We also have lots of growing magic you will learn next year in botany. I will suggest to the professor that maybe some of her students could replace these trees for extra credit.”

  “You are so cool.” I shook my head when he gave me a confused look. “You tease me but of course you would think of that.”

  “Fair enough.” He moved away and brought his hands in front of him. “This time I don’t want you to full clap, do more of a clap slide. The goal is to focus the energy into a sliver coming out of that one hand. He showed me the movement and I nodded. He pointed which tree was next and I got into position.

  It worked, and instead of horizontal energy that cut the tree down, this was like a wire-thin blade that vertically sliced the tree and only that tree. “Shit, that’s one way to fuck someone up.”

  “Yes, indeed, as there is a reason those like you are considered fierce warriors and very deadly no matter someone’s power. It’s also why some hunt them and they were always sent to take out the worst of any species.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, I caught that as a recurring theme in History of Witches.”

  “Yes, unfortunately that is the case. Let’s try again.”

  “How’s Edelman going to feel about me ruining the forest around his school?”

  “Thrilled to have lots of wood for the school well before winter,” he said easily, shrugging before waving for me to get to it.

  Okay then. We did it a few more times and then he changed the clap where I didn’t fully pull my hands apart but more made them into a V when I clapped in front of me.

  “Holy fuck me,” I whispered when two of those thin slices went out from my fingers this time. “Got it, so if someone on my side is surrounded, I can help from a distance.”

  “A few more times practicing and Bob’s your uncle, love,” he said… As praise? He laughed when I just blinked at him. “You think my British is sexy but only when you get it, huh?”

  “No, I can figure it out but I think it’s more the family thing is sensitive,” I admitted, shrugging when he frowned. I didn’t mean to make it a thing but it was sort of a thing.

  “Holy crap, you are going to rock power training when you get to senior year,” Natalie praised from behind us. I jumped and turned around to see her and her friends. “We were trying to get some practice in this morning too and had to come check out what was taking out the forest.”

  “He said it was okay,” I defended.

  “Yeah, of course, as long as you’re not just doing damage for damage, but it’s loud and we were curious.”

  Craftsman nodded but looked not happy to have others around. “We’re wrapping up as it’s her first time, so have at it.”

  “First time?” one of Natalie’s friends checked, whistling when I nodded. “And how are your runes going?”

  “Yes, I’m curious as well as I am your professor,” Craftsman drawled.

  “You’ll just have to wait until the presentation Thursday.”

  “I’m going to make you go first if you’re a brat.”

  “Fine by me.” I winked at Natalie and the others as I passed him, hoping they got my answer. “I’m starved. See you guys around.” I jogged towards the cafeteria and he easily caught up to me. “Why were you frowning?”

  “I was hoping for more time alone so I could reward you for doing well,” he grumbled, sounding so miffed I couldn’t even tease him or push to ask if he was used to rewarding students that way.

  I knew it was my worry as colleges were clichés of professors preying on younger women, but I really di
dn’t think he was like that and I was something special.

  But after a lifetime of not being special it was sort of hard to buy that.

  “Maybe if you’re good I’ll reward you later,” I purred under my breath.

  “Bloody fuck, love,” he growled, chasing after me.

  I reached the cafeteria first and swiped in, ready for food and a shower. Izzy was there looking ready to fall right back to sleep—or maybe still asleep—and I broke off towards her while he went to do his own thing and probably sit by other faculty.

  There was a difference between walking in together after people saw him working with me and acting like friends who ate together.

  Which seemed really stupid when Mel was my best friend and older than him. But people knew that and appearances were important to a doctor, professor, and Craftsman.

  I got it but I’d lived in a world where surviving was what mattered, not if someone whispered he might be a bit too close to his student.

  “Good practice?” Izzy asked when we met at a table, Mel sliding to sit with us not long after.

  “Craftsman seemed happy but he’s mostly pouting I’m not giving him a sneak peek on how runes are going.”

  “You’re not giving any of us a peek,” Mel muttered. “If you got them in practice, you’ve got them, I promise. It’s part of who you are, not a speech you might freeze out on or stumbling through a debate.”

  “Which is one of my worries for debate, so thanks.”

  “You are great at arguing so you’ll be fine. My point is magic is always helpful to us so it will rise to the occasion as long as you practice and take it seriously.”

  Well, that was good to know. Really good to know.

  I almost spilled my conversation with Irma and Ryfon to Mel but Izzy hearing that would be bad plus too many ears in the cafeteria. I’d have to tell her later.

  I almost tripped over my feet when I saw the basket of nummies out in front of our room. The box next to it I’d been expecting as a delivery from one of the contacts I’d made through Calloway, but I thought I’d have to get it from the guard station.