by LJ Swallow
Katherine's loud, derisive laugh crosses the room. "Andrei and Maeve? They don't need to practice on each other. They'll just have eye sex."
"Nah. I don't want Maeve to see my thoughts," says Andrei and winks at me.
"You two are gross!" snaps Yvette. "Are your thoughts about ripping her throat open while you screw her?"
I gape at Yvette, speechless. Andrei glowers but says nothing; he's learned not to react, because that's what Yvette wants.
"That's enough!" snaps Tobias. "If you have an issue with my teaching methods, you may step outside, but I will fail you for the assignment."
Yvette shuffles down in her seat and swaps her disgusted look from me to Katherine. "You think you can get in my mind?" Yvette asks her.
Katherine gives a sweet smile. "With a click of my fingers, honey."
"Yeah? Well maybe you'll find something you don't like in there."
I attempt to catch Tobias's eye. What the hell is he doing? No luck—he's focused on the class and away from me.
Tobias leans against his desk and crosses his arms. "Katherine and Yvette. Move seats to sit together and stop wasting time."
As he calls out pairs, witches and vampires begrudgingly follow his instructions.
"The guy is inciting a riot," mumbles Jamie.
With another command from Tobias to shut up and get on with our task, I move my chair so I'm closer to Andrei. He gives me a sly smile—the guy lied; he does want me to look into his mind.
I link my fingers together in my lap and look back into the eyes that have looked at me both softly and filled with love, but can spark with unashamed lust too. Right now, his look is somewhere between the two.
I narrow my eyes at him as my competitive side edges in.
"You first," he whispers.
"Should I dig for memories or current thoughts?" I ask.
He shrugs. "Whatever you can find. I won't make this easy for you."
"Ha. As if you can keep me out."
Andrei rests his elbows on the table and moves his face closer to mine. "Challenge accepted." His breath strokes my cheek and the smell of mint stirs a weakness inside me. The scent will forever remind me of Andrei and how the cool lips heat my skin when we kiss.
I blow air into my cheeks as I edge into Andrei's mind. We've promised not to invade each other’s personal thoughts, so I'm intrigued and excited to find my way in.
The expected barrier is there, as glistening and hard as obsidian. My head hurts as I bounce my thoughts off the wall, and I grit my teeth. Will Andrei really keep me out?
Something catches my eye inside his head and there's a chink of light at the edge of his mind. Carefully, I push my magic through and chip at the gap in his mental barrier.
Andrei's with me, in his room, and he's kissing me. Okay, more than kissing me. I'm beneath him pink-cheeked and breathless and can feel everything the way he does. I'm half inclined to blink away what I'm seeing, but my less prudish side holds too much influence and curiosity. Looking down on myself in that position flares heat in my cheeks and leaves me open to him shoving me out of his thoughts.
He doesn't. Instead, Andrei continues to show me images of us and sex.
"Omigod, Andrei," I whisper. "Stop that."
"Stop watching," he whispers back.
I pull myself away from Andrei's pornographic memories and delve elsewhere. I come across a wider, darker section of the wall inside his mind and my magic bounces off. Annoyed, I move along the barrier looking for another way in. A small gap appears, and I edge my way inside.
Us again. His last vision was a memory because I recognised the time and place. This isn't something I remember. We're in the library, on the lowest level. I'm sitting on the windowsill, the same place Andrei approached me the first time. The day he triggered something in me that I hated—temptation and a confused obsession that led to me wanting but resisting his attention.
This scene is different to that day in many ways, including the fact I’m seeing this as myself and not him.
The library is dark—empty—but the thrill of getting caught adds to my arousal as his tongue invades my mouth and he touches me beneath my skirt. He pulls away and I look into his eyes, my lips hurting from the crushing kisses we share. There's something different in Andrei's eyes as they glitter darker and more primal than I've seen, and I'm midway between nervous and aroused by the danger lurking in them. He pulls me forward by the arms and roughly turns me around to face the window.
The first time I spent a night in his bed, Andrei warned me he wasn't gentle. I’ve since decided he said this to dissuade me, because he's never treated me roughly. His control slipped once, but Andrei pulled back and dropped the strength threatening to overwhelm us both.
Not this time.
I should back away from his fantasy, but I'm aroused and desperate to see what he wants. His movements are harder than usual, his hands beneath my shirt holding my breasts as he presses his chest against my back. We're not undressed, clothes loosened, and perspiration builds again his forehead.
Everything switches and I’m him. He wants to do more. Go further, and his fantasy Maeve whispers to him that he can.
I'm shocked when he moves his hand around my neck and other arm tightens vice-like around my waist. I'm under his control, but experiencing Andrei's arousal, and the building pressure inside him fascinates and intoxicates me. The Maeve in his arms welcomes everything he's doing and as I'm transfixed by the scene. This is oh-so-wrong, but I want to be there.
Andrei’s mind twists and the scene reduces to flickering images as he tries to shut down. I need to see how this ends, and drag myself back into the scenario. He succeeds in blanking his thoughts and swears, as he desperately tries to re-build the barrier. In frustration, I pull at the edges before he closes me out.
"No, Maeve. Don’t."
Andrei speaks to my thoughts for the first time and his breathy protest only urges me on. The scene materialises in front of me again. I'm Andrei, experiencing the turbulence in his mind, the shadows in his vampire soul swirling with the pleasure as he tries to steady his thoughts.
And I'm confronted by why Andrei doesn't play rough with me.
The skin on my neck breaks beneath Andrei's teeth, the blood fills his mouth and I experience his high, pushing me towards a place high above the whirlwind of his thoughts. There's no longer a fight against the darker desires as every muscle in his body fills with the need to feed and hold onto the moment.
To chase the high from the witch blood.
My arousal snaps away, replaced with nauseated disgust and shock. I pull back from his mind, and I break my magic hold on him.
"Maeve, I'm sorry." I hear his voice but can't focus my vision as the room dances in specks of white and black
"Andrei," I say, barely audible. My eyesight sharpens as he reaches out to me, but I'm out of my chair in a heartbeat, stumbling backwards away from him.
I hold a palm across my mouth, terrified by what I saw but disturbed by more than his actions. The metallic taste when I was in Andrei’s mind remains in my mouth, even though I'm no longer deep in his head.
A familiar heartbeat pounds in my ears, growing louder and dulling my hearing. I place my hands over my ears and make a break for the classroom door before I lose control.
As I reach for the handle, I drop to the floor and my cheek lands against the runes Tobias uses to protect his space.
Chapter Forty-Seven
MAEVE
I regain consciousness within seconds, but not quickly enough to stop the whole class focusing on me. Tobias's voice is tinny as he tells the class to settle down and continue their work. Jamie's beside me, palm on my clammy forehead. I push myself to sit and blink the class into focus. No Andrei. Jamie holds me beneath the arms and helps me back onto the chair. I rest my head on the table, wishing I had the energy to leave.
Jamie rubs my back. "Did you have a vision?"
"No." I turn my face the other way. "I don't feel
well, that's all."
Tobias's voice easily enters my weakened mind. What happened? Why did Andrei leave?
I close my eyes and force away the last few images I saw in Andrei's head—not only because I want to forget them, but I don't want Tobias seeing what Andrei imagined.
"Would you like to leave, Maeve?" Tobias asks, now standing in front of my desk.
The silent class stares. Once again, I'm the day's entertainment. "No. I'm okay. Just dizzy."
"What did you see in Andrei's head?" asks Yvette with a mixture of curiosity and scorn. "Did you have a vision that he’ll rip your throat out?"
"Why are you such a bitch about me and him?" I snap, lifting my head from the table.
"Oh, did I hit a nerve, Maeve?" She smiles and nudges her grinning friend. "And you know why. The guy is a murderer."
Tobias clears his throat. "I will not listen to spurious accusations about somebody who’s proven innocent."
"Yeah, he's your golden boy," mutters a guy beside her. I've seen them together a lot recently—he's strongly elemental attuned: fire to her earth. The reminds me of the bond between Izzy and Anton.
Anton, whose death I contributed to.
"Enough." Tobias's composure slips as his voice rises and I widen my eyes. Katherine chews on a pen as she watches him, running her tongue along her top teeth. Our gazes lock and we look at each other in silence for a suspiciously long moment. I turn my head and Katherine sinks back in her chair; lips pursed.
Is she still obsessed with Tobias? I swear part of the reason Katherine doesn't like me is because she wants his attention.
"Back to work," he snaps and turns away.
For the last ten minutes of the lesson, I sit upright with my hands on the desk again, refusing to be the weird witch whose so-called magic causes her to have visions, pass out, and leave the class.
If only they knew the extent of my powers. What if one day my magic spills again, the way it did with Nikolai the other night, and there's no Tobias to wipe up the mess—or wipe minds?
I'm the last student in the classroom once the lesson ends and everybody noisily files out, apart from Jamie, who sits rubbing my arm.
"Jamie. Perhaps find Ash," says Tobias. "He'll hear the gossip and panic. It's best you go to him first."
"And Andrei?" he asks, looking between me and Tobias.
I sit upright and watch for Tobias's reaction, and there's a telling pause before he replies. "Leave Andrei. I'll speak to him later."
The door closes as Jamie heads away, and I'm left alone in a room with Tobias for the first time since events at the Blackwoods. Without speaking, he turns away and walks to his office. The door remains open, so I gingerly follow him.
Tobias sits on the edge of his desk in the sparse room and something on the floor close to his feet catches my eye. A new rune painted red.
Red.
"Yes, that's blood, Maeve. I haven’t cleaned away the result of the boys' spellcasting.” Tobias doesn't move. "I also see blood in your mind. What's happening?"
I flop into the velvet upholstered armchair as the images stream back. "I—"
"Shit, Maeve!" I startle at Tobias's change in demeanour. "Is that what Andrei showed you?"
"He was teasing me with..." I wave a hand. "Things and he went too far."
Tobias blinks as he catches more of Andrei's fantasy in my mind. "I see. Literally see, Maeve."
"I'm not worried," I lie.
"I don't care if you are or not. This concerns me. I presumed Andrei never thought about your blood in this way, and I appear to be wrong."
"No. This was his imagination going too far. He tried to stop. I felt how shocked Andrei was too."
Tobias's lips press together. "Maeve. Andrei showed you his fantasy."
The sick feeling I always have after fainting unsettles my stomach. "No. I don't agree. He wouldn't—doesn't want to."
"I'm no longer sure." Tobias drags a hand through his hair. "I've been too focused on everything happening around us and not spent enough time working with Andrei on his appetites."
Appetites? As if I'm the meal.
"Andrei has a reputation for a reason, Maeve. Before I arrived, he was obsessed with blood. He only fed from humans he could charm into letting him before wiping their minds, but the worry was Andrei would move on to witches. That he'd kill."
"I don't believe he could be that bad."
He sighs. "Maeve. You were involved the night he lost control with a human shortly after you arrived at the academy. The closer he becomes to taking on his hemia form, the stronger this becomes. Now I've proof that he needs a lot more teaching."
"It was a fantasy!" I protest. "He'd never do that to me."
"What if this was a vision?" Tobias eyes burn with anger.
"No. Definitely not."
He stands and silently rubs his temples for a few minutes. "I warned you both how dangerous your relationship is and how this could send Andrei in the wrong direction."
I stare at my shoes. Is Tobias right? I hate that he's planting doubt in my head about Andrei, and I hold on to the memory of the cottage and the trust I had for him the last time we were intimate. "Andrei won't hurt me. He cares about me."
"Like I won't hurt you?” Tobias says the words softly but with regret.
The time at the Blackwoods. His loosening self-control. I tip my chin and harden my jaw. "Yes. Like you won't, Tobias. And don't judge Andrei based on your past. You've done much worse."
Tobias smacks his hand on the desk, and I startle. "Andrei fantasised about killing you!" he half shouts.
I shrink back. "Tobias, calm down. Andrei didn't imagine killing me, only tasting my blood."
"And that's not bad enough?" asks Tobias, face reddening. "Andrei Tepes does not stop when he tastes blood. He hasn't learned self-control. That's why I'm here, watching him!"
I stand and almost reach out to Tobias, but he's defensive, arms behind his back.
"I know you're stressed about Andrei’s behaviour, but this is more. What happened when you were away? I worried that you'd be arrested," I say.
His tense stance remains, and he looks the other way while I struggle to deal with his anger—mentally and physically. "We were talking about Andrei and your safety."
"And I'm talking about your safety."
"The man I work for didn't care that a witch died; he’s more interested in who I met and what happened to you in the house." He pauses and looks to me. "And what happened to Andrei."
"He wasn't with us inside the house."
"No, but his mother found him, and you know Andrei almost agreed to go with her. We stopped that happening.”
"Who are you working for, Tobias? You've never told me. Another secret?"
“The answer to that should be obvious—Oskar Petrescu. You met Andrei’s grandfather and you know his importance within the Confederacy. He has a lot of power."
"That power didn't help Andrei when he was accused of murder," I retort.
He shakes his head. "Killing a witch leads to an instant death sentence, Maeve. Believe me, his grandfather helped him."
I can't hide my shock. Execution before trial.
“I've told you numerous times that my freedom is dependent on Andrei's safety and my controlling his behaviour."
"Which is why you're losing your shit over this," I tell him.
He gives a small nod. "I've resisted interfering in your relationship with him, but please understand that if things slide anywhere near the point he imagined today that I will need to. He escaped a death sentence once, imagine what would happen if he injured you in any way—the Confederacy's witch prodigy."
I swallow. "Don't call me that."
"You need to deal with your position. You have unique skills and that will always be who you are.”
I blink. Unique skills now mixed with darker magic. "Will there be consequences for Nikolai's death? Did Elon say anything after the meeting?”
He stares at me as if I'm stupid,
and I bristle. "Maybe not from the Confederacy, but from the Blackwoods. They'll want us both dead now."
"But the Dominion need me."
"You heard and saw that the alliance between the two is shaky. The Blackwoods see themselves as above everybody. They've spent much time in exile and don't trust easily, especially as the Dominion is led by vampires."
I digest his words; the experience with Andrei earlier now blanked out by the new threat to us. This is a worse situation than Tobias told the others at the cottage last night.
"The Dominion want you alive, which means they won't help the Blackwoods if they come for you. That's in our favour," he says.
"And you? Will the Blackwoods come for you?"
Tobias regards me unblinking. "I don't know."
"But the Confederacy will help you, won't they?"
"Again, I don't know."
His troubled mood pulls me to him as much as our energy and I reach out to touch his arm. "I'm sorry. This is my fault."
"No. None of this is your fault, Maeve." He looks to where my fingers rest against him and closes his eyes before resting his hand on top. His sadness moves through me as strongly as the magic, but the emotion isn't because Tobias thinks he'll die.
The sadness is due to a closeness between us he's backed away from but aches for.
"We'll work through this together," I whisper and hug him.
Tobias tenses for a moment before embracing me hard against him. "I'm sorry for everything you go through."
Tobias told me he needed to back away; asked me to do the same, but at this moment we both realise that new bond could never break.
Tobias holds me away from him, brow dipped. "I can see blood in your mind that's not connected to Andrei. Why?"
My mouth dries and I relax when there's no metallic taste. I can tell Tobias anything —he's told me everything. "Ever since I took over Leon’s body, I have moments where I taste blood."
"What?" he asks hoarsely.
"Not that I want to," I hastily add, and perspiration breaks out on my neck at his shocked expression.
