InkSpelled (InkHaven Academy Book 1)

by Kenna Bardot

  Ronan cleared his throat. “Gale,” he murmured, dropping my other hand and stepping towards the Air Docent with an uncharacteristically gentle look on his face.

  Gaylord shook his head, forcing a tight smile to his face. He reached up to give the taller man’s arm a squeeze.

  “Good evening, Kaia, gentlemen. Nice to see you join us.”

  Alec Gaius strode up and wrapped an arm around Gaylord’s shoulder, much like a brother would. He gave it a squeeze before winking at me. “Gaylord. What tortures have you designed for our Kaia this evening?”

  Gale gave a shake of his head. “Alec Gaius, trust you. I only train Kaia almost to death, but it never quite involves torture. I have no taste for that. Have you told them what we discovered?” he asked me, and I shook my head. I was still a little perplexed about how Ronan and Alec Gaius were acting around Gaylord, like they were all talking to each other without words.

  For the first time, it seemed maybe a little possible that Gaylord felt the pull toward us the same way I felt it for him. Suddenly, even with the very recent addition of Emerson to my list of men, it didn’t seem complete. Gaylord had been one of us longer than I had, having been friends with most of the men for years - especially Alec Gaius.

  I turned to Emerson, who simply smiled at me brightly - he probably had as much idea as I did. I smiled back before dropping his hand. I walked over with a smile for Gale as I undid the buttons of my top. I’d worn a tank top underneath, for decency’s sake. Although, it was probably a joke since I was in a room with three men who’d seen me naked, and one I knew I wanted to see me naked.

  But the tank was a bit constricting since it covered any area that my whip could hit bare skin. The reality was that until Gale figured out a way to explain to everyone else exactly why I had two conduits, we needed my whip to be hidden. Where I might have looped it around the outside of my uniform if it was public knowledge, it had to remain underneath my clothing.

  But it was better under my uniform than putting it in my bag or in a pocket of a coat. It felt like losing a limb to do so, unnatural. I’d even go so far as to say I preferred having the skin contact with it, and the lack of barrier a tunic would cause was welcome.

  I could feel my guys staring at where the supple leather wrapped around my arm tightly, coiled from wrist to shoulder, the base wrapping around my wrist. I let out a playful laugh, slipping the handle from the band at my wrist that secured it.

  A dark red light glowed, and my three men goggled at me. I should have been insulted by it, but I giggled at them instead. They looked like ridiculous fish trying to breathe out of water.

  Sliding it into my palm, I gave my arm a light flick to the side, sending the whip away to crack against the floor.

  “Kaia Wren,” Alec whispered, closing the gap between us and taking my face in his hands. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

  In the background, Emerson clapped and bounced on his heels.

  “How is this possible?” Ronan turned to Gaylord. I knew he stared at the sword still strapped to my back. “It glowed. How does a simple non-conduit weapon glow?”

  “Suffice to say that it’s not just a simple non-conduit weapon. It can’t glow otherwise.”

  Alec Gaius interrupted, “So she has two conduits? Perhaps the sword isn’t a conduit?”

  Gaylord pinched the bridge of his nose. “It is. Trust me.”

  Ronan walked over to kiss the top of my head. “Not that I’m not proud of her, but do you know why? It seems unnatural.”

  “I have no idea whatsoever. However, we have to remember that Kaia’s entrance to this school is the farthest thing from normal so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Now, unorthodox or not, it is certainly fascinating, isn’t it?” Gaylord shrugged and then smiled at me with a nod. “And another, the whip is a difficult weapon to master, conduit or not, and she’s taken to it like I’ve never seen before. There’s no doubt it’s meant to be hers.”

  He grabbed a ball from his table and showed it to me. I pulled out of Alec’s grip and stepped away from Ronan as well, giving Gaylord a nod when I was a safe distance away. He threw it up into the air, and I flicked my whip up. In a perfect world, I’d have been able to catch the ball with the whip, but even taking to it quickly, I was no perfect whip wielder. I struck the ball with the tip of my whip, sending it arching over to where Emerson stood. He caught it, wincing at the force with which it struck his hand. Still, he gave me a thumbs up with his free hand, laughing as he did.

  “When did you start working with the whip?” Alec Gaius asked, and I knew he was wondering why he’d never seen it when I changed from my uniform.

  “This will be her second session working with it,” Gaylord answered for me, crossing his arms over his chest, that smile never leaving his face. I knew he was proud of my progress, and I couldn’t have been happier. Having him proud of me felt like a light shining where I’d been in the dark all my life.

  I was no longer a constant disappointment. Kaia Wren had potential, unbelievable as that was.

  “Zeevar, that’s fucking amazing,” Ronan grunted, and Gale grinned at him.

  “Finesse has never been your strong suit,” Gale taunted Ronan with a flirty grin that seemed completely out of character. My heart stuttered in reaction and I knew he was, without a doubt, attracted to Ronan. I looked at Ronan that way, felt about Ronan that way so I knew how he felt.

  I should have been jealous that someone outside our group was so intensely attracted to one of the men I loved, but instead I just wanted him to let go of whatever was holding him back.

  I wanted him to be one of us.

  “Ronan never did get very skilled with a whip,” he explained to me. “Kaia is never going to be about brute force in the way you are, Ronan. The whip is reflexive and fluid, which suits her quite well when you think about it.”

  “Now shut up, caveman, so I can train,” I teased and brought the whip up to crack near his face. As I brought it down, I gave his arm a slight slap. “Payback, Ronan. For beating me up in Gale’s class a couple months ago.”

  His grey eyes darkened momentarily, but he gave me a nod and walked over to lean back on Gaylord’s desk with those tree-like legs sprawled out in front of him. His left eyebrow winged up, and I felt a tremor run down my spine.

  Was it totally sick that I was excited for him to punish me?

  Alec tugged Emerson’s hand and the two of them made their way to the bench across the room with a flourish. “Impress me, Kaia Wren.”

  Emerson nodded at me enthusiastically. “Yay, Precious Kai!”

  I grinned, giving Gale a nod. He tossed another ball, and I struck it. We repeated the exercise over and over and for the first time in a training session, I was tireless. Strike for strike, until he ran out of balls to toss, I felt my spirits lift. I missed some, but most of them I hit, even despite his attempts to mess me up by being unpredictable.

  When we were done, I shook my arm out with a wince. Energy was a given, but my arm hated me.

  “Sore?” Gaylord asked as he stepped over to his desk.

  I nodded in agreement, looping my whip and setting it down onto the table. As soon as it left my palm, the skin tingled like it was asleep.

  Gale held out a tub of some kind of ointment. He used his free hand to gather some up and massaged it into my shoulder muscles and bicep. I groaned.

  Magic hands, the man had magic hands. Suddenly, I wanted those hands on other parts of me. The forbidden parts.

  The serious way his voice sounded was really no help to calm me down. “This will keep your muscles from tensing up. You need to be nice and loose to work with the whip again.”

  I turned my eyes to him, stared as he made his way down to the sensitive skin at my elbow, over my forearm, and to my wrist. Back up, his touch returned to my shoulder, ducking around my back to work it into my shoulder blade. Our eyes met and held, his face close to mine. I shuddered out a breath when he hit a particularly sore spot, and his gaze dropped to my
lips. I bit my lip unintentionally, and he snapped his head to the side with a shake.

  His eyes went to where Alec Gaius sat next to Emerson, and he smiled tightly but stepped back from me, even as disappointment flooded through me.

  “Same time tomorrow?” I asked, grabbing my whip back up and starting the process of wrapping it around my arm.

  “I have somewhere to be,” he said with a grimace. “But you’re welcome to use the room. Alec Gaius is fairly skilled with a whip so he should be able to assist you.” He was already moving back behind his desk, and Ronan turned his body to look down at him as he sat.

  I frowned but shook it off with a nod, turning to the door and my men followed, except for Ronan.

  “I’ll catch up,” he said, his eyes catching Alec’s meaningfully. I gave him a smile even I knew was sad, and let Alec Gaius and Emerson flank me as we left the room.

  My two men teased one another about my whip’s potential for use in bed, but I paid them no mind because my mind was occupied by something else I knew was ridiculous, impossible. Gaylord Porter was our teacher, so of course he couldn’t be involved with us. But it didn’t stop me from feeling stung by the rejection, even if it hadn’t been outright.

  Emerson caught my eye, giving me a huge grin, and I tried to lose myself in those sea green eyes as we walked. Here was someone new who had not only wanted to be with me and become a part of our group, but one who aggressively did his best to get into it.

  But I was distracted by my thoughts. I could not forget the need I saw so much in Gale’s unique green-rimmed brown eyes. I wanted to see it while he was between Ronan and I. Preferably naked and sweaty.

  “Think we can tie her up with that whip?” Alec Gaius turned mischievous eyes down to me, the goal of distraction written all over his playful face.

  “No one is using my whip as a toy, boys. Get your own,” I growled half-heartedly at my men. I plastered a fake smile to my face even as I did things on autopilot. Everything felt muddled now, incomplete somehow.

  I wanted Gale.

  And just like Vali, I could never have him.

  ✽✽✽

  I went through the motions. I knew the guys and even Lottie sensed something off with me, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t seem to pull the haze off my vision. I sat in class, spacing out and incapable of focusing on Docent Frost’s lecture.

  Lottie kicked me beneath the table, and I winced. “Oof! Dammit, Lottie.”

  “What is wrong with you?” she hissed under her breath, as I rubbed my ankle.

  “Something you’d like to share with the class, Miss Shaw?” Docent Frost asked me, and I didn’t bother to conceal my grimace.

  “No, Air Docent.” My head lowered, hoping that would be the end of it. No such luck. But no surprise, really. Docent Frost enjoyed humiliating me as frequently as possible.

  “Perhaps you can tell us about the dangers an unpredictable connection to Zeevar’s light can cause?” He tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him. I read a lot, sure, but the sheer amount I had to learn in the past months meant I still needed more time to get to the more complex concepts. And variance Mage powers was a more advanced subject I’d only barely begun to read about.

  “I can’t, Air Docent,” I admitted. Using what knowledge I knew, I could have made a fairly educated guess, but he would find a flaw with it. Even if I knew and gave the perfect answer, it’d still be wrong in his eyes.

  “Right. Miss Shaw, I would imagine that you of all people would pay close attention to this lesson. Can someone educate her, please?” he drawled in that bored voice he’d perfected so well. It really was a shame he was quite handsome, as the way Pia stared up at him in adoration proved, because his personality was shit.

  Pia spoke up in an insolent voice. To add insult to injury, she turned in her seat and smirked at me. “For an Air Mage who is too weak to have a strong connection to the great Zeevar,” she paused, laughed, “like you, magic becomes unpredictable. An Air Mage that cannot be relied on is no Air Mage at all. And when one is not an Air Mage and is not Inked, what is she but another meaningless sacrifice in the end?” She sneered at me, and I made sure to return her stare with a bored expression.

  “Fascinating,” I replied sarcastically, my fingers toying with the handle of my whip beneath my sleeve. It was there. I’d seen and felt the connection for the first time; we just needed to find a way to draw it out.

  “It certainly is. A weak connection is rare, which only makes it all the more disappointing when it does occur,” Frost groused, standing from his seat. He raised his hand over the bucket of balls sitting on his desk, sending one to each pair of students with a blast of controlled air.

  “As a pair, pass the balls back and forth. We will spend the last ten minutes of class exercising our control.”

  We all stood and the desks were pushed to the sides of the room. I paired off with Lottie, of course, and we stood far enough apart as the other pairings did so. She sent her ball towards my outstretched hand effortlessly, and I didn’t even need to reach out for it in anyway. The girl definitely had perfect control.

  She gave me a sympathetic smile, and I held the ball in the palm of my hand. I drew all my focus inwards, searching for that place that hummed whenever I touched my whip. To my astonishment, the ball shook a couple times, and I almost smiled before it fell still once more.

  “Hmm,” Docent Frost hummed from his place where he’d been staring at me. “Perhaps not so rare after all.”

  “I don’t feel too well, Docent Frost. May I be excused please?” I asked, refusing to look at him. I might be feeling like shit, but crying in front of the entire class was no option at all.

  “I suppose. You’ll only hold back Miss Montgomery if you remain.” Frost waved his hand at me, and I hurried to gather my things and flee into the hallway.

  I rounded the corner and into a hallway with empty classrooms. I slipped into one and leaned back on the door with a deep sigh. I threw my bag onto a chair, my sword joining it not long after. I dropped down into a chair and buried my face in my hands. Zeevar, had I really just run out of class, because I was embarrassed about performing poorly? What a weakling I was.

  The door to the classroom slammed closed, and I started, standing up as I did so.Vali stood just inside the door, staring at me intently.

  “Vali! What on earth are you doing here?”

  He shrugged and smiled. I stared at his face, hating how rough and rugged his looks were even with a fading black eye surrounding those eyes I’d loved. Although to be honest, the black eye probably added to the raw, sexy quality of it.

  He stepped forward and I held up a hand. “Answer the question, Vali Madden.” I might have forgiven Ronan, but that didn’t mean I’d forgiven him.

  “Okay, okay. I was walking towards your class to talk to you and saw you run out of it and come in here.”

  Oh great, I had a stalker who I fucked in Ronan and another I wanted to fuck in Vali. What had I done to be so lucky? I huffed out a breath. “You’re the last person I want to see today, Vali. I’ll go.” I grabbed my things and shoved past him to leave, but he stopped me.

  “Little Bird, wait,” he protested, capturing my wrist in a gentle grip.

  “What do you want?” I hissed. “Haven’t you done enough?”

  “What’s wrong? I haven’t seen you so sad in a long time.” His fingers stroked the skin at my wrist. He felt the handle of my whip with his brow pinched.

  I drew back, violated at him touching my conduit even if it had obviously been an accident, tearing from his grip and crossing my arms over my chest. “You got in a fight with my boyfriend because you said you owned me.”

  “That’s not what I said,” he corrected as he held a finger up. “I actually said that you were mine first, which isn’t a lie. We both know you were, even if we were too young to feel and do adult things and be in an adult relationship.” I heard people walking by, the last class of the day ending in a slow t
rickle. It was only a matter of time before Ronan would come to grab me from class, finding me gone. Knowing Ronan, he’d go into a tizzy when Lottie told him I’d practically ran from the room claiming not to feel well.

  Zeevar, did this guy ever have class? “I can’t do this right now,” I argued, shifting my weight to walk away. “I have more important things to worry about, and you need to stop stalking me." I jabbed a finger in his direction accusingly.

  “Like Emerson Hawkins?”

  “None of your business, Vali,” I reminded him sternly.

  “Look, Kaia, you might not know it because you’re so stuck in your little group but everyone is talking about you lately. You’re a zombie. Something’s obviously wrong, and I’m not going to leave you alone until you tell me what it is.” He moved to step into my space.

  I shoved him back. “It’s nothing. Just guy trouble.”

  “You’re zoning out in class over those guys?” he growled and threw his hands up in obvious frustration.

  “If you must know, I’m zoning out in class over a guy I want, and my guys want, but we can’t have!” I snarled.

  “Great. Just great, another guy that isn’t me. That’s fabulous, Kaia. You’re turning into quite the free-flying Little Bird, aren’t you?” He glared at me, eyes that were normally so soft when he looked at me glittering like stone. I could practically feel his contempt, and my hackles rose painfully. I hated knowing that my life had taken such a turn that Vali disliked the person I was becoming.

  “Fuck you, Vali.” I couldn’t hide my shock, the tears I’d been fighting filling my eyes as I looked back at the man I’d loved who was now a stranger to me.

  “You’re so busy worrying about your collection of dicks that you’re going to get yourself killed. Sort out your fucking priorities, Kaia. Or I’ll sort them out for you.” I widened my eyes at him, watching as he turned around to open the classroom door.

  “What in Zeevar does that mean?” He stopped in his tracks at my question.

  “You better hope you don’t find out. I won’t let you self-destruct because you’re spending all your time with your legs spread, Little Bird. I will not lose you again,” he tossed over his shoulder before stalking out into the hallway and down the hall, leaving me sputtering in his wake.