by Emma Dean
As Wicked As They Come
University of Morgana: Academy of Enchantments and Witchcraft
Emma Dean
AS WICKED AS THEY COME
UNIVERSITY OF MORGANA:
ACADEMY OF ENCHANTMENTS AND WITCHCRAFT
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Copyright © 2020 by Emma Dean
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, locations, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Author’s Note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
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About the Author
Author’s Note
All of my paranormal books exist in the same universe. The more you read the more you see familiar faces. You don’t need to read them in any particular order, or to know any others before starting any of my series or standalones.
This series heavily features Kenzie and her foxes from The Chaos of Foxes series, but there is nothing from that series that is needed to read this one. Everything has been explained.
Last but not least, this is a slow burn reverse harem series. Don’t forget to share and review and recommend your favorite books.
Join my group for the spoiler thread for each release in the series!
Emma’s Enclave
<3 Emma
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –
- Emily Dickinson
As Wicked As They Come
1
Mika walked through the portal to the University of Morgana alone, just like she had the first time. No one knew she was coming, and there was no one waiting for her, not even Ryan. Mika hadn’t told anyone she was leaving, not even the ravens watching over her.
Two days before Lucifer’s wards went down around her property, she left. Mika knew too many people were watching her, waiting to see what she would do.
She almost hadn’t come at all.
It had only been three weeks since she’d buried her sister’s ashes with the rest of her family, and still Mika didn’t quite feel like herself. She was detached and it felt like she watched everything happen from a distance, as if her life was nothing more than a tv show and she merely a spectator.
Dodging Corbin had been easier than it should have been. Mika had wrapped her magic around herself like a cloak and it had settled around her until no one could see or hear her.
At least she’d been able to work on her magic and the greenhouse while she was alone. Everything would be fine for a few days until Ms. Jenkinson, Chuck, and Callie could enter the main house.
Mika walked across the campus grounds, knowing that not even Ethan’s plants could see her with this blood magic spell. She was invisible to the universe and everything in it.
What had given her a twinge of worry wasn’t the time it took to learn new spells and practice them. No, Mika was shocked at how easy they’d been to learn – only her ancestors to keep her company while she went through as many of the lessons in the blood crystals as she could.
She dropped off her bags in her room, eyeing the space briefly. Audrey had been here recently, but she was still in training so her spare equipment was out.
Before anyone could ask for her time and attention, to demand answers from her, Mika needed to speak to the blackthorn. The second she removed the cloak hiding her from the universe, Corbin would be pissed, he would find her, and probably yell at her.
Mika smiled slightly at that thought as she entered the forest that murmured a sleepy hello to her. Corbin had been absolutely furious ever since the wards went up around her house.
It was difficult to explain why she needed this buffer, even from the people she loved the most.
August on Morgana Island still had hints of summer, but she could feel the heat waning. She could see the leaves turning to their golden orange tones, waiting to fall and blanket the forest floor as the months passed.
Wrapping her arms around her body, Mika felt chilled by the ocean breeze despite the warmth. Or maybe it was the inability to really feel anything lately that made her feel so cold.
The trees seemed to lean toward her as she walked through the forest, despite the spell keeping her from being sensed. Maybe it was something in her exhale as she passed, some kind of familiar void that brought their attention to her.
Mika stopped in front of the blackthorn and studied the gorgeous tree.
She was a monster.
A monster who had killed her own sister, who could control other people with their very blood – their life force. Mika had needed a buffer between her and everyone else to come to terms with what she was – what she was capable of.
She’d killed her sister. The last of her living blood relatives, and not long after they’d both lost their entire family in just a few months.
Mika had barely managed to come to terms with her mother’s death before her grandmother had followed, leaving the mystery box that had started all this.
But life didn’t stop, even when something happened that felt as though it should. Even though every day, Mika had woken up wondering why she was alive – why she was put on this earth.
What was her purpose?
She was the Morrigan’s daughter, but what did that mean?
Why didn’t she feel worse about killing her own sister?
None of these questions could be answered with people hovering over her, askin
g her how she was, if she was okay when she clearly was not, wanting to touch her and comfort her when it was really for their comfort.
If someone touched her, hugged her, kissed her…she would scream and scream. Mika didn’t know what she would do, what her magic would do if that happened.
She didn’t need more death on her hands, blood from those she loved dripping from her hands, staining her skin as it had when she’d picked up Claire and carried her home.
Kneeling before the blackthorn she studied the rusty blood mark that showed where she’d connected to the tree before, right before she’d been kidnapped by the Hellfire Society. Mika pulled out her witch knife and breathed deep.
Finding her purpose was no small task, and it would take more than three weeks. But those three weeks had given her the time to come to terms with what she’d done – accept it, if not like it. Mika just didn’t know how to pull off this layer of insulation now.
It was like she had to figure out how to be with those she cared about again, not just the world.
She wasn’t the same girl she had been when she’d first arrived at Morgana – broken and afraid of her own power. But she also wasn’t the same girl who’d challenged Claire.
Slicing her palm open, Mika placed it against the tree and closed her eyes. “Hello sister.”
It’s good to see you again, the tree murmured. Though I didn’t sense your arrival.
A slight pause and some kind of understanding went through the blackthorn. Ah, a cloaking spell – and an impressive one if you can hide from even nature itself.
Mika smiled slightly, feeling a small prick of pride at the compliment. “I need to ask you for a sacrifice.”
The blackthorn’s concern for her eased into something close to fear. What kind of sacrifice?
“Lucifer gave me the spell to release the Morrigan from her prison,” Mika explained. “I need blood from all of her children. Blood from a raven, a blackthorn, a morrigan, a banshee, and a necromancer.”
Aside from learning what she was deep in those blood crystals, Mika had been studying the spell Lucifer had given her. She wasn’t sure what releasing the Morrigan would do, but she needed her free – her last living family member if separated by a few thousand years.
Those are not all her children, the blackthorn told her.
“No. the demi-god Aine, born of the Morrigan’s physical body and the lover Dagda. But I don’t know where she is and thought I should collect what I could.”
I consent, the blackthorn told her. But only if you take off the cloaking. There is something off about you, and I could only see so much through my cutting.
Mika hesitated for only a second. It was a small request, but one that would bring Corbin down on her like a ton of bricks.
She dropped the cloak and opened her eyes as the trees grew louder for a split second, muttering in surprise.
The blackthorn seemed to chuckle in her mind. We can only hide for so long, sister, before we either become nothing, or choose to rejoin the living.
Mika didn’t disagree, but she didn’t respond either. Before she could think too much about it, she sliced deep into the blackthorn tree until sap oozed from the cut.
You did not lose your only sister, the blackthorn reminded her. There are many daughters of the Morrigan, but I do wish, for your sake, that Claire had been the sister you needed.
Tears welled in her eyes and Mika ignored them as she collected the sap in a vial. “Thank you for your sacrifice, sister.”
And you for yours, the blackthorn murmured.
Because of Mika, the world would change. She wasn’t sure how yet, but she knew she couldn’t live in this land of limbo forever, knew she couldn’t hide who she was and what she could do from the Council anymore.
The goal now wasn’t to stay undetected, but to reach her full potential before the largest powers in her world tried to take advantage of her or smite her out of existence.
Mika tucked the vial in her pocket and looked up at the small bits of sky she could see through the trees. “How long?”
He’ll be here in less than a minute. The blackthorn waited a moment and then decided to ask her anyway. What do you plan on doing? What can I help you with?
“I’m going to do what I can here, but I’m not stupid enough to think Cassandra isn’t up to something. The Head Witch was grooming Claire and I want to find out what for.”
Good, the blackthorn told her. She deserves to suffer for what she did to our sisters.
“Then I’ll release the Morrigan from her cage,” Mika murmured, knowing the blackthorn could hear her. “And they will all pay for what they did to us.”
The chatter of the animals died, and she smiled. “Hello, pretty bird.”
“You’re going to pay for that, dove.”
Mika stood and turned to face Corbin. She tilted her head slightly as she studied him, wondering why the ache in her chest felt so dull. “Don’t be angry I bested you.”
“It’s a conflicting mix of rage and pride,” he admitted, studying her with narrowed eyes.
Before he could ask her anything more, Mika thanked the blackthorn again and then headed toward the Morrigan’s temple.
She needed to find her other sisters, most of them hidden from the rest of the paranormal world thanks to their various associations with death and how much everyone hated to be reminded of their mortality.
“I haven’t heard from you in almost three weeks and you have nothing to say?” Corbin demanded.
By the sound of his voice, he was right behind her.
Still, Mika ignored him.
This was why she’d avoided him on her way back to Morgana. All of them were going to have these kinds of questions, this level of emotional backlash, and she just couldn’t bring herself to care.
The energy required to make them all feel better about what had happened, about her absence from the world, just wasn’t there. But she could let him yell at her. She didn’t have to really say anything then.
The forest ended and she took a moment at the edge of the cliff to study the wrathful ocean below, slamming into the wall of earth like it was an affront to everything the sea was.
“How did you get Lucifer to put up wards?” Corbin asked, changing tactics. “He’s been very vocal about you not being one of his charges.”
What was under the ocean?
What secrets did the island hide?
Where was Morgana’s grave marker?
If she dove into the ocean from this height, would she drown? Or would her body break on the rocks?
Maybe she wouldn’t die. Maybe she’d finally know what was hidden beneath the surface of the water. Where the castle the Morrigan used to live in was buried – the castle Morgana supposedly lived in as well when she was Witch Queen.
“Mika!” Corbin gripped her arm tight enough to bruise and hauled her back from the edge. “What were you thinking?” he demanded, shaking her slightly. “Were you actually going to jump?”
Pushing him off of her, Mika headed toward the temple without a word. She would have survived no doubt, this being her ancestor’s island and all that.
She needed to free the Morrigan as quickly as possible so she could end this charade.
Corbin’s growl of frustration was the only warning she had before he had her on her back, pinned to the ground with all his strength. “Talk to me,” he demanded, eyes glowing red, desperation there for a flash before he hid it.
Mika got in his face and bared her teeth at him. “Make me.”
2
Corbin grinned at the challenge, but it was feral and furious. “Don’t tempt me, dove.”
“I dare you,” she taunted, shifting under him to see just how strong his grip was.
“If this is what it takes to get you to talk to me,” Corbin gritted out. “Fine.”
Mika didn’t wait for him to finish talking. She brought her knee up hard and fast. He dodged the first strike, but not the second. His balance went off and sh
e used the momentum to flip him over her.
Using his grip on her wrists she twisted and grabbed, striking at the back of the neck.
Corbin chuckled and dodged again. “You’ve been practicing. I wasn’t sure since it’s so hard to see what’s going on inside your damn wards.”
He flipped her up and over with his ridiculous shifter strength and he nearly had her flat on her back again, but Mika flipped midair and landed on her feet, driving her elbow up into his diaphragm at the same time as hard as she could.
The sound of the raven’s air leaving his lungs urged her on, and Mika pushed him, setting her foot right behind his ankle so he was the one on his back looking up at her. She took a split second to enjoy the sight, giving him a small smile she knew would grate on his nerves.
Before she could make the next move, he was on his feet and coming at her with a combination of strikes that had her on her toes, dodging and twisting and flipping to avoid the rage-fueled strength behind those attacks.
Mika muttered a word and the grass turned to ice under one of his feet. Corbin slipped, a look of surprise on his face as he caught himself. The small slip gave her the breathing room she needed, and Mika summoned a pair of knives.
“Using magic is unfair,” Corbin told her, unable to hide his amusement. “But I’m impressed you kept up with the lessons.”
