InkSpelled (InkHaven Academy Book 1)

by Kenna Bardot

  I wanted to crush her to me and never let go.

  Bind her to me in a way that no one would ever be able to separate us.

  “I’ll see you, Little Bird,” I said, climbing down the tree and leaving her even though it killed me to walk away to the sound of her mournful sob.

  Zeevar, how I wished that I wasn’t lying.

  ✽✽✽

  Vali

  When they’d taken me, I’d shouted. I’d fought and apologized for lying to her, wishing I could see her one last time. But I hadn’t actually been lying that day. I had seen her again, even if it had taken fourteen years for it to happen. But, growing older, never in a million years did I think I’d see her in the Order.

  Had I known, I’d have waited.

  Because Kaia was the girl worth waiting for.

  Eight

  Kaia

  The halls emptied as I ran down the hard stone floors. Most of the students enjoyed their after-class free-time or as was more likely, their own training and study sessions.

  “I know, I know. I’m late.” I burst into the room, surprised to find only Alec Gaius staring back at me as he leaned on Docent Porter’s desk.

  He winged an eyebrow up at me. “Are you in an alternate dimension, Kaia Wren? You aren’t late at all. In fact, you’re quite early.”

  I shrugged as I unslung my mat and my sword from around my shoulders. “Just a knee-jerk reaction, I suppose. Where’s Docent Porter?”

  “Gaylord’s on rebirth shadow duty. He’s out with a student,” he explained. “I expected you to be late, truth be told. You seemed like you needed time to yourself what with the fact you practically ran from class earlier.”

  “Well, that’s uncharacteristically considerate of you, Alec Gaius.” I frowned at the mat with two cushions on it. “I’m taking my exam tomorrow. Zeevar, I’m scared, and I’m not ready. I need Docent Porter!”

  “Oh no, Kaia Wren, don’t. No need to thank me. It’s my pleasure to help,” he said it so dryly, face bland that I chuckled. Although what I really wanted to do was run up to him and give him a tight hug. Only the fear of how he’d react stopped me.

  “Okay, let’s get started.” He pointed at the floor. I rolled my eyes and laid my mat out, taking the cushion he held out and knelt on it, assuming the position like so many times before. There was no need to tell me what to do, but my head was not in the right frame of mind to focus. After the way he’d kissed me the night before, he was even more of a distraction than usual. It didn’t help that my conversation with Vali was also still playing in the forefront of my mind.

  But Alec Gaius, from the moment he’d called me insubstantial, had always made me hyper-aware of myself - he was so vain and arrogant that I never stopped wondering how his opinion of me compared to his opinion of himself. I could only thank Zeevar that Lottie had done my makeup again before classes. Most of it had faded, but it still felt like an armor. For the first time, I understood women like Pia who wielded their beauty like weapons. As I knelt across from Alec Gaius and took a peek at him out of half-open eyes, I appreciated looking marginally pretty for a different reason - it made me feel like I was worthy of being next to him.

  “Tell me why we need to do this again?” I muttered under my breath and felt him glare at me.

  “You need to be ready for tomorrow.”

  “This doesn’t even have anything to do with tomorrow. What I need to do is study, not kneel around doing nothing.” I sounded like a whiny baby and that fact gave me an ugly sort of thrill.

  “You need to relax. Your connection to your Air is likely to be part of your exam so it’s important to reconnect and understand it.”

  I took a deep breath and felt nothing.

  “Come on. Focus. Find your center, feel that connection where it pulses inside you!” His voice barely raised but that didn’t really mean much since Alec Gaius was far too refined for shouting. There was no denying that he was irritated, the concerned and considerate man of earlier was gone.

  “I can’t. I just can’t. I’ll never be able to.” I hissed out a breath through gritted teeth.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t tell me you don’t know. I was certain it was the hot topic of InkHaven.” I let out a mirthless laugh. “Oh, who the fuck am I kidding? I’m nothing. Alec Gaius, I was never tested with the Zeevar jar. I stood in front of it, hands trembling but before anything could happen, Headmaster Stewart stopped me. He just threw me here, and now I know it’s because they’re all hoping I die. The truth is, I don’t even know if I’m an Air Mage or any sort of Mage at all. So all of you pushing and pushing? All you’re doing is pushing the impossible, because it’s probable it’s not even there.”

  Alec Gaius’ brow furrowed as he stared at me. “But that’s-”

  “Cruel? Sure. Evil? You got it. Practical? Probably. But, hey, Kaia Wren Shaw isn’t supposed to be here anyway, right? She was meant to die, yeah? So, I’m going to die. After everything, all of this will be for nothing because I’m going to be dead in the end.” My voice broke on a sob as I stood and swept my arms out to encompass the room.

  I gasped in surprise when he stood as well and closed the gap between us in a flash of movement, sweeping my legs out from under me so I fell to the mat with a thud that knocked the wind out of me.

  “Wha-” I started to ask, stopping as I trembled when the hard length of his body covered me. His long fingers caressed the side of my hip where I was still slightly bruised from being attacked during the Tumult. The action sent a dangerous tingle of pain and pleasure through me with that one stroke. He moved down the side of my leg before gently prying my thighs apart. I yielded with a shudder as he inserted his hips between them.

  “You’re not going to die, Kaia Wren.” He glared down at me, but his voice was soft and low, “I won’t allow it.”

  “What do you care? You’re just here to protect your pride.” I glared right back, squirming underneath him until I felt the hard ridge of him against my thigh. The feel of it made heat pool low in my belly - tension building there. I bit my lip, desire a sharp, throbbing ache in my core. It had been too long since I’d come from a man’s attentions, and I had a feeling Alec Gaius was not one to disappoint.

  “Not only that, Kai Wren, but fuck if I know why else.” His voice was a disbelieving whisper, breaking off when he crashed his lips to mine. He kissed me, ravishing my lips as his hands caressed the side of my ribs, grazing the side of my breasts. This kiss was nothing like the kiss from the night before. Pinned as I was under him, he was all hard against my soft - straight edges against my slight curves. I felt ready to explode and yearned to feel his skin on my mine - flesh against flesh.

  When he broke away a moment later and levered himself off, I realized his hard length had left my pussy all alone - it throbbed without it, already desperate for more contact. I groaned in needy desperation and reached up to pull him back down. He smirked at me, tugging his shirt off and over his head.

  Momentarily distracted by the sight of beauty before me, my hands explored the smooth ripples of his lean muscles. They felt like hard marble. I tweaked his nipples with a little grin, watching as they pebbled. He groaned, grabbing my hands and bringing them to his mouth. He licked my fingers, his skill with his tongue so sensual and pleasure-inducing, I squirmed beneath him with visions of that magical tongue working between my thighs instead.

  He reached down and found the fastening on my tunic and with a smooth tug, opened it. The cool air of the room hit my skin, and I felt my own nipples harden within my sports bra. His eyes latched onto them, pulling down the front of my bra so I spilled out the top, bared to him.

  “You’re beautiful, Kaia Wren. I knew you would be but you exceed even my imagination,” he all but purred as his mouth bent down and drew my nipple into his mouth, his teeth biting lightly and making my vision blur. I buried my hands in his hair and pulled, hard, as he bit and sucked with such thorough dedication that I did not doubt people c
laiming he was the best student in his class.

  “Zeevar. Alec Gaius, wait,” I hated myself for saying it, but I knew that I would hate myself more if I didn’t get the clarity I needed.

  He ignored me, so I said it louder, “Alec Gaius. I need you to tell me. Are you doing this, me, just because you want to fuck with Vali?”

  He stopped, and he looked back up at me with hardened eyes. I shuddered but not from desire.

  “What did you just say?”

  “I just wanted to know if you’re with me right now because you hate Vali.” If he ended it right then and there, it would be my fault.

  He reached up and used his thumbs to play with my nipples - pull, pinch, rub. It was deliciously distracting.

  “Vali Madden has nothing to do with what’s between us. And I never want you to think about him while I have you half-naked under me again.”

  “Yes, but he said earlier...”

  Shut up, Kaia.

  I didn’t. “He said I was just a charity case to you. And, really, have you seen you?”

  He chuckled at me, dark and dangerous. “I have. Trust me, Kaia Wren, when I fuck you it will be the farthest thing from charitable.” He took my hand, pressing it against the erection straining against his pants. I gasped, trembling.

  “Tell me you want me,” he demanded.

  I nodded, unable to find words.

  “I’ll make sure you forget his name.” He gave my breasts one last squeeze and knelt in between my legs. He grabbed the back of my knees and pulled me towards him - casual strength that left me breathless.

  “Don’t ever fucking think that again. Don’t ask me to explain but he’s wrong. Let me show you instead,” he groaned out, moving his hands to my pants and yanking them down my legs unceremoniously - taking my panties along with them. He came back down on me and kissed me as he pressed a finger inside me. He devoured my mouth like it would help him breathe. I was wet, on the verge of an orgasm as he worked me. All my frustration melted away as he worked his hand between my legs. My hips thrust upward as I came like a vice around his fingers.

  He reached up to lick his fingers and there was such a naughtly gleam in his eyes I shuddered again, this time with welcomed desire, I was so ready - so desperate - to feel him inside me.

  “Alec,” my voice was a plea, and I reached out to unbutton his pants and rub him - hard and straining against the material. He levered off me a bit to shove them down his hips just enough for him to spring free. He brushed my hand aside as I reached out to grab him.

  He held my hips, piercing blue gaze on mine before, in one sharp thrust, he was buried to the hilt inside me. I gasped out - he was bigger than I’d ever had before. My head fell back and his mouth sucked my exposed neck, working its way down until he found my breast again. He sucked, he licked, and he bit. I moaned, I gasped, and I trembled.

  In delirium, I wrapped my legs around his torso to give him better access to me, taking him deeper into me.

  His lips came back to mine, and we kissed even as he kept up his steady thrusting. He pulled away to look down at me and planted his arms next to my head as he pulled himself up and fucked me hard. My hands felt the muscles of his shoulders bunch as I grabbed his arms, my nails raking against his skin.

  “Don’t stop, Alec. Don’t stop. Please, I’m so close.” My heart thundered in my chest as I rose to meet him, my hips circling as he thrust into me with violent, almost erratic movements.

  “So tight, Kaia Wren. So fucking good and tight.” When his finger hit my clit, my body arched into his. It only took a few circles before I came beneath him.

  “Gods,” I moaned, feeling him slump over me as he followed right behind and came inside me. His weight pressed into me, a comforting blanket of protection as I slowly came to my senses.

  “Get off,” I mumbled. I could feel my panic rising. What in Zeevarna had I been thinking, letting Alec Gaius jump me? Just jump me without a thought in my head.

  I pulled away from him, feeling liquid drip down the insides of my thighs.

  “Kaia Wren.” He took my hand in his. “You don’t need to worry. We can’t procreate.”

  I plopped back down onto the mat and stared up at him, my eyes widening as I did so - Lottie had told me that before. “Oh. Right.”

  “Yes. All Order members come from the outside so we can’t make children. The Fire Mages make sure of that when we first come to the Order.”

  I nodded slowly, digesting his words. “Okay, okay. That makes sense. I knew that.” I ran a finger over the mat, sticky with our combined orgasms. I was gonna have to wash it down when I got back to my room.

  When I got back to my room.

  I sprang up and looked around, confronted by my own stupidity. I was naked in a classroom just after being fucked by a man I barely knew.

  “We’re in the middle of a classroom. An unlocked classroom!”

  “Relax, baby,” he soothed and ran a gentle hand down my disheveled hair. He reached down and helped fasten my tunic after he’d given my shoulder a sweet, quick kiss. I pulled my pants on while he tucked himself away and pulled on his shirt, albeit keeping it unbuttoned. “We’re two consenting adults. Sex isn’t actually forbidden in InkHaven Academy, you know.”

  “I know that!” I said in a hissing whisper. “But what if someone had come in and seen us? The door isn’t even locked.”

  “Happens all the time.” He shrugged. “I generally prefer to make it to a bed as it’s much more comfortable, so I must admit it was unusual for me to engage in such activities in a public location. Not everyone is so private though and it’s not a shock to run into a similar scene.” He stroked his hand over his hair, and I could imagine his fear that he might be even slightly rumpled.

  “Not me. I don’t want to be public at all.” I felt stronger admitting it, like acknowledging my boundaries was a way of taking back a little of the power I felt like I’d lost after letting Alec Gaius have his way with me so recklessly, so easily.

  “So come back to my room with me.” He grabbed my hand, but I stood my ground, not allowing him to take me.

  I wrinkled my nose at him. “I don’t particularly enjoy going where you take all your other girls.” Another admission that bolstered me.

  “Ronan and I have an agreement. No hookups in the room so I’ve never had a girl in my bed.” Alec said it so casually, without even bothering to look at me, he probably didn’t know how much he’d shocked me with his confession.

  “Then you can’t be bringing me there. I don’t want to piss Ronan off by breaking your agreement. Have you seen him? He’s intimidating. Besides, Docent Porter promised that he’d help me with the rest of my coursework. Perhaps you’ve forgotten, but I haven’t! My first exam is tomorrow.”

  “You aren’t just a hookup, Kaia Wren. Besides, I can help you with your coursework. I’ve been through what you need to know.” Alec Gaius looked confused as he pursed his lips for a moment. He let go of my arm. “Sleep with me tonight, Kaia Wren. Just sleep if that’s what you want but I’m going to try and convince you to do more. Speaking of which, we should grab some things from your room.”

  “Why would I need things?” I felt myself falling down a hole I had no idea I’d been standing on the edge of. Simultaneously, it was like I was flying and soaring over the world.

  “I assume you’ll want a shower and change of clothes for tomorrow. Can’t go to class with sex-rumpled clothes.”

  “I-well. I’m not sleeping in my own bed, huh?” He turned to me, that arrogant smirk on his face like I was oh-so-very amusing.

  “No, Kaia Wren, you’ll be sleeping in mine.”

  Oh. My. Zeevar.

  ✽✽✽

  We did go to my room, and I was so thankful Lottie wasn’t there when we arrived. I could so clearly imagine her reaction when she saw Alec Gaius hovering over me as I packed a bag.

  Afterwards, I insisted we go back to Docent Porter’s classroom since I didn’t want to be distracted by having a bed nea
rby. Perhaps he was just happy having gotten laid, because Alec Gaius happily tutored me for two more hours even though Docent Porter never came back. Eventually, after basically falling asleep over my books, he told me that it was time we moved to his room. I didn’t mind joining him in his room, not really, but I was a little wary of Ronan’s reaction.

  After a quick romp on his bed, quick or slow, the man was certainly good with his hands, I got my second wind and sat on his bed reading a book about the Order history. Docent Ho was a fountain of information during our Annals class so I’d learned quickly, but Docent Porter was right. I needed to learn more if I had any hopes of passing my exams or surviving my classes once I did pass them.

  I spoke up as I played with the shirt Alec Gaius had given me to wear, sniffing it as I did, “Alec?”

  “Alec Gaius,” came the automatic correction, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. He hadn’t corrected me while he’d been inside me. “Yes?”

  “Okay. Alec Gaius, can you tell me more about why we protect the temple? I know why we worship in it, my mother was a Matron so she made sure my education in that aspect wasn’t lacking. I also vaguely know there was an incident that led to the temple being one of the most heavily guarded places in the City, but it’s not elaborated on in several of these texts Docent Porter gave me to read.”

  “Ah! Probably because a lot of it is oral history. Passed down amongst Order members, told to children the moment they finish testing with the Zeevar jar. But, anyway, around 150 years ago, a large group of the residents of Crimson City decided that they’d had enough of dying. Or rather, dying when they were told to die.” Alec closed the book he’d been reading, drumming long elegant fingers on the cover.

  “And?” I was curious. As a child, I’d asked my mother why the temple needed to be protected, and she’d only told me that was how Zeevar wanted it and that had been that.