by Marie Mistry
I shrugged, trying to put the gorgeous man from my mind as I focused on the one beside me instead. “We should get on with work,” I suggested.
“You’re right,” Daron agreed. “This exam is important. Thank you for getting us a seat though, Lilith.”
Rina snorted. “So, now that you two are mated, this whole exam should be a cakewalk.”
“I highly doubt it,” Daron said. “Have you foreseen anything about the exam that might help us?”
I frowned. “That’s kind of cheating…”
“No, I haven’t seen anything, and even if I did I couldn’t tell you. When I joined the school I got a long, dull and pointless lecture on how using my sight to cheat at exams would result in my being expelled, along with anyone else involved. I don’t want to risk it.” She pulled out her notebook and flopped it open to the page we’d been jotting things down on in class. Reaching back into her bag, she came up with three sandwiches and a few chocolate bars. “I got lunch for all of us this morning,” she explained, handing them across. “If we eat whilst we copy down notes on the practical stuff, we can get to practicing sooner.”
“You didn’t have to get lunch for us,” Daron muttered.
“It was very thoughtful, thank you.” I tried to be as polite as possible as I took my sandwich from her.
Rina shrugged. “Blaze pays for my stuff. He got a pay raise at the start of this year, so he doesn’t mind giving me extra every now and again.”
It was quiet for a little while, all of us munching through food and working quietly.
“Is your brother your assigned guardian?” Daron asked around a mouthful of food as he scribbled down notes from the textbook in front of him.
“Yeah.” Rina didn’t elaborate, head buried in her own book.
Unwilling to broach the topic that might break the truce which had been working so well today, I changed the subject quickly.
“I’ve finished.” I snapped my book closed. “Shall we go?”
“Yes. We have a lot of time to make up,” Daron replied, sliding all his books into his bag in a large sweep of one arm. He picked up his litter in his left hand and held the right out to help me up from my seat in a gentlemanly move that had my heart sighing slightly. His hand was warmer than mine and lightly calloused, causing me to wonder what he did in his spare time to make them that way.
“Thank you,” I murmured, blushing slightly.
Rina snorted. “Get a room.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped her off.
“You two argue like my sisters.” Daron led the way out of the room.
“You have sisters?” I asked, surprised.
“Two.” He smiled fondly. “They graduated two years ago and became architects, running their own firm together.”
“That’s a good career to go for.” I wondered how they pulled that off when Vice didn’t exactly teach traditional subjects.
“What do you want to do when you get out of here?” Rina asked me as we turned out of the building and into the fresh afternoon air.
I shrugged. “I have no idea. I was going to university before Vice… but I suppose they’ll assign me something they think is suitable for a Succubus... If I live that long… What about you?”
Rina raised her right hand and waved it. “Tester, remember? Kind of lost any career choice I might have had.”
I shrugged. “Do me a favour, don’t be anything like the last bitch.” I rubbed my lips at the memory and Rina’s gaze caught the motion.
“You had to be tested?” Daron frowned.
“It was the most painful thing I’ve ever felt,” I muttered. “She enjoyed it, wanted to punish me for being a Lust.”
“Mine didn’t hurt at all,” Rina confessed.
I’d known that most testings didn’t hurt, but hearing it confirmed just made me angry. In a strange way, I was almost glad I’d killed the Tester. At least now, no one else from my caste would be subjected to her.
We arrived at the practice pit, breaking my train of thought. I hopped down first, followed by the others.
“Should we continue with shielding?” Daron suggested.
Chapter 21
The day went quickly, and soon enough I was in the dining hall with the rest of my group, taking my time over the syrupy sponge pudding in front of me in an effort to get them to leave without me.
“Are you still eating, Lilith?” Nelly asked, staring at me suspiciously.
“Yeah, slow day I guess,” I muttered. “Feel free to go ahead without me. I’m meeting someone later anyway.”
Lulu frowned. “Who?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I mumbled.
Babette leaned forwards. “I thought you and Aeron were exclusive,” she commented.
“We are… sort of…”
“Are you back on the market?” Ryon asked, butting in.
Aeron elbowed him. “She most definitely is not,” he grumbled.
“Then what’s going on?” Nelly asked. “Is this about that guy from security who was waiting for you this morning?”
“Kind of,” I hedged.
“He was hot,” Nelly recounted for the rest of the group. “Bright red hair, green eyes, intense brows and the brawn of a Wrath caste.”
“Ooh, Wraths can be hot in the sheets,” Lulu sighed. “I did these twins once, they were from Wrath, and they were into all sorts of naughty things. I couldn’t walk straight for days.”
Nelly rolled her eyes, but it was Ryon who broke the silence.
“So, you’ll share her with a Wrath but not your caste brothers? What kind of loyalty is that?” He directed the angry comment at Aeron.
“Not my fucking idea and none of your fucking business,” Aeron growled.
Triston put a restraining hand on Ryon’s arm. “This petty jealousy is not our way,” he reminded his friend calmly. “Lilith is a Lust, she chooses her bedpartners. If she no longer wants us in her bed, let it be and continue on.”
Ryon frowned but sighed in defeat. “I guess so,” he muttered. “But you have an open invitation back if you want it.” He directed his final comment at me, standing up and leaving us.
“As I promised at the beginning, no drama,” Triston said, with a nod to me before following his friend.
“Ryon will get over it.” Nelly watched them go, but her words were directed at me. “He’s just more used to kicking people out of his bed than being kicked out of theirs.”
“Give us all the details about how this Wrath treats you.” Lulu smiled, getting up. “Nelly, point him out to me if you see him. I want to see this hotness for myself.”
The twins got up along with Babette, leaving me and Aeron together.
“Tonight,” he promised me, the heat in his gaze taking my breath away. “He gets to walk you back, but tonight you’re mine.”
I nodded, swallowing my nerves.
He stood, leaning down to kiss me, taking ownership of my mouth with his own as his hand caught in my hair, pulling me back and exposing my neck, where he pressed a line of kisses. He let me go, one hand stroking my left horn, before leaving me panting and alone.
Or not quite alone. I followed his path to the door to find a distinctive mop of red hair watching from the shadows beyond. I was too far away to make out his expression, but I knew he had seen everything we had done, which was probably precisely why Aeron had done it.
I stood, slowly pulling on my coat and gloves, gathering my bag and checking to make sure I had everything in it as a method of trying to control my libido before I moved slowly towards the doors and towards my mate.
Blaze waited until I was out of the building before joining me, and I secretly wondered if it was on purpose. Would being with me, a student, harm his career?
“Is this allowed?” I blurted.
He looked down at me quizzically. “Walking?”
“I mean, a student, walking alone with the head of security.”
His gaze darkened. “Let me worry about that,” he instructed.
“Tell me about your day.”
I frowned. “It wasn’t very interesting. I spent a lot of it with your sister. She was actually almost nice to me, which was weird, but other than that I didn’t really do much. You?”
“Broke up a fight outside the Vengeful Tower, patrolled the shield to ensure no humans were getting too close. Pretty standard day,” he summarised. “I did check on you once or twice through the CCTV to make sure my sister was keeping her promise.”
“What did she see that made her decide to tolerate me?” I asked, curious.
Blaze shrugged. “It’s bad form amongst seers to tell of someone else’s vision. You’ll have to ask her.”
I rolled my eyes. “Because that’s going to happen, one sandwich does not make us that close.” I sighed. “Although, technically, I think you paid for my sandwich today, so I should be thanking you.”
He smiled softly. “My grandmother would tell you it is an honour for a male to provide for his mate.”
“What’s your grandmother like?” I’d heard a lot about this woman, and I almost wanted to meet the demon who saw the future in entrails.
“She’s serious and hard to understand, but she loves Rina and me in her own way,” he admitted, making a turn that would take us longer to get back to the Carnal Tower. It was a frosty night, but I didn’t comment on the move, secretly pleased that I would get more time to unravel the puzzle of this man. “She spends a lot of time in visions, so she doesn’t always know what’s happening around her. But when she’s present, she has a sharp wit that makes me laugh.”
“She sounds formidable.”
“She is,” he agreed. “What about your family?”
I bit my tongue. “I guess you probably are the only person who didn’t see my mother try to kill me at the Christmas Visit,” I murmured, curling into my heavy winter coat.
He stopped suddenly. “I didn’t hear anything about it.” He sounded displeased, as if the idea was inconceivable. “I should know everything that happens on these grounds.”
“Yeah, well. It was over fairly quickly.” I hugged my arms around my chest and prayed he’d let the matter drop.
“If I’d known, I would have put a stop to it before it even began,” he growled. “What about your other mates? Your father? Grandparents?”
“I didn’t know I had mates back then, and my dad was as indifferent as ever,” I muttered, bitterly. “His parents are wonderful and supporting me through college, thankfully… I haven’t heard from my mother’s mother since before my showing. She’s old fashioned, and doesn’t believe in putting effort into seeing children till they’ve gone through their showing, in case they don’t have one… I assume that she didn’t want to be associated with a Lust either, because she hasn’t bothered to write.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realise it was such a shitty subject to bring up.”
“Don’t be. I’m mostly fine with it,” I lied. “My mother is very… impulsive. If I did something amazing tomorrow that made her proud, she’d suddenly want to be a world-class mum again. She just thinks that the horns are a cry for attention, and she hates that I’m in Lust.”
“If she can’t accept you as you are, then she doesn’t deserve you,” Blaze informed me, resuming our walk again.
“That’s a very sweet thing to say.” It didn’t make the truth hurt less, but it was nice that he thought that way.
We reverted to silence for a short while, before he broke the wintry peace again. “I wanted to ask you if you had a plan, regarding these people who want to kill you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t even know who most of them are,” I admitted. “I saw the Tester in my vision, and Professor Saxon, but neither of them was in charge.”
“Did you see who was?”
I swept a long strand of hair out of my face as I shook my head. “I didn’t. The Strange God only let me see the two people I already knew.”
“What–” Blaze cut off, his gaze losing focus as he stared out into the distance.
“Blaze?” I asked, moving in front of him. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t respond, and I waved my hand in front of his face, looking around to see if anyone was nearby.
We were completely alone.
“Blaze? Snap out of it!” I tried again, shaking him slightly.
I couldn’t even budge him.
“Blaze… you’re freaking me out a little,” I admitted, taking his hand and wincing at how cold he was.
I’d used a lot of my power today just practicing with Rina and Daron, and I’d been relying on seeing Aeron later for a top-up, but now I dug down deep into my reserves and used a combination of aerokinesis and pyrokinesis to try and heat the air around us.
His eyes remained fixed in front of him, unblinking despite the harsh wind. “Shit, is this a vision?” I wondered aloud.
What was I supposed to do in this situation? How long did visions last? Was it okay for him to feel this cold? I turned up the warmth a bit more.
“I’m so low on power that you’re probably going to want to jump my bones when you snap out of whatever this is,” I muttered, already feeling a headache brewing. “But you’re as cold as ice, so I’m going to try keeping you warm and hope that that helps. For the record, you could have warned me!”
But he didn’t know what his trigger was, I remembered, so perhaps he couldn’t have warned me.
Twenty minutes passed of us both standing there in the cold, me pacing in front of him and checking his temperature every minute or so, and him staring into space. I was checking the temperature of his hands again, seriously debating running for some kind of help when he suddenly blinked, his whole frame relaxing, except for his hand, which clenched down on mine, preventing me from pulling away.
“Oh, thank the Strange God,” I breathed, “Please don’t do that to me again. Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he mumbled gruffly. “How long?”
I looked up at the castle clock-tower even though I knew exactly how long it had been. “Twenty minutes. You went freezing cold, so I tried to warm the air around us a bit, but I don’t think it worked so well.” His hands were warming up now though.
“During visions my body tries to hibernate,” he explained. “The blood doesn’t really go to my limbs that much.”
“Okay, so cold is normal,” I muttered, dropping the heat bubble and feeling the cold slice straight into me. “Damnit! You could have warned me!”
He chuckled. “I was fine. You should have left me and gone inside.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, “What kind of woman do you think I am?” I paused. “Don’t answer that.”
“I’m surprised you’re not harassing me for details of what I saw,” he said.
“I was more worried about making sure you were alright,” I muttered. “Plus, I don’t know if I want to know the future.”
“You don’t?”
“No, I rather prefer surprises... And the future seems so glum at the moment.”
He smirked, leaning in close. “A certain future isn’t, and I must say, you’re going to look stunning in that black lace.”
I blushed scarlet. “What the hell did you see?”
“Only what I’m certain will be the best night of my life,” he muttered, pulling me close before he tensed abruptly. “Lilith, are you low on power again?”
I avoided his eyes guiltily. “You were cold,” I mumbled.
He was quiet for a moment. “Was what Kellert said true? Can you take power from just a kiss?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t refined it,” I muttered. “I killed the Tester that way. I almost killed Vrosis. I don’t want to risk it with you.”
“Lilith. Use me,” he demanded. “You can’t go around low on power, it’s dangerous. And I trust you.”
I shook my head, trying to pull away. “No. I don’t care if you trust me, because I don’t trust me. I’ll just wait till I get back to the Carnal Tower.”
Blaze didn’t let me go, pu
lling me closer. “Take what you need,” he commanded, lowering his face to mine. “Do it for me.”
I shook my head, but my eyes were hypnotised by the way his lips parted slightly. Then he touched my horns, stroking down the length of one of them.
I moaned quietly, embarrassed by how easily he’d found my turn on spot, and when he pressed his lips to mine, I didn’t resist. My body burned from the contact, every nerve ending I possessed blazed bright for him as he stroked my tongue with his. I kissed him back, tasting the sweetness of apples and the spice of cinnamon as I explored him leisurely.
