by Brenda Trim
“If you say Dani, I will throat punch you,” she barked as she cut him off.
Brokk chuckled and tweaked her nose. “One of her is enough for Mag Mell.”
“Agreed,” Ryker said. “Let’s make this interesting. How about, Sol?”
Maurelle smiled and recalled the fact that glamour is a water league power, as well, so she imagined the blood in her veins shifting shape and changing the shape of her body. Before she managed anything, something hit her head and made it whip to the side.
“What the hell?”
“Are you okay?” Ryker asked as he stepped into her personal space and ran his hand over the side of her face. Brokk was right behind him, scanning the room for the perpetrator. She appreciated the show of support from them both.
Ryker was so close her nose filled with the musky scent. Her eyes threatened to slip closed, but the sight of Dani standing there with clenched fists told Maurelle the female had sent the book sailing into her head on purpose.
‘Game on.’ Maurelle thought as she narrowed her eyes at Dani. Her head ached and she hated being the brunt of other’s jokes. No way was she going to take this shit lying down.
Maurelle cleared her facial expression and glanced up at Ryker. “I’m good. Risk of practicing with a bunch of inexperienced newbies. Let me try again.”
This time when she concentrated, Maurelle had no desire to cast a glamour over herself. Instead, she focused on the element of water and pulled every ounce she could from the air around them. The cold autumn day provided plenty for her to gather.
Until glamouring was identified in her assessment, Maurelle would never have tried to manipulate water. While she had no idea exactly what she was doing, she pictured the water she could feel gathered around them pooling together and forming a wave.
With the picture firmly in her mind she sent the water crashing toward Dani. The loud screech followed by the sound of water hitting stone told Maurelle she’d managed to hit her mark.
“You’ll have to wait to see Sol until lunchtime,” she told Ryker with a smile. “That’s too advanced for me.”
“Something was happening a second ago. Your entire body seemed to glow blue,” Brokk insisted. “You can do this.”
Ryker gave her a knowing look and leaned down, so his mouth was near her ear. “Or was that blue glow because you decided to drown Dani instead of trying your glamour.”
Maurelle forced her eyes wide and plastered an innocent expression on her face. “Who me? But the drowned rat look suits her, don’t you think?” Maurelle wasn’t one to fuck with and she would make sure everyone knew it.
Chapter Ten
Maurelle stopped in the door to the infirmary and her blood went cold as she watched Titania treating an incoherent Fae female that was fighting her. The female had the typical Fae build and long, green hair that was a mass of tangles with leaves and sticks matted in it along with what looked like blood.
What the hell was going on? She wondered. Stepping to the side, she peered around the open doorway and listened to the female that had treated Maurelle more times than she cared to admit.
The air tingled with energy as the nurse muttered a spell. The female on the bed stopped struggling immediately. Her face went slack, and her eyes stared into the distance. Maurelle wondered if that was how they’d subdued her when she entered the clinic. She still had no recollection of that time. Not that anything awful happened to the female. Seeing her relaxed was far better than seeing her fight against Titania.
Titania smiled at the female and removed debris with gentle hands. “How did you get here?” Maurelle had never seen the female at the academy so the question wasn’t entirely unwarranted.
“I walked from across the land. My family fled Bramble’s Edge when the humans attacked,” the female reported. Her comments made Titania glance around warily. The female continued oblivious to the nurse’s concern. “We’ve lived on the outskirts for a long time with other families, but the humans keep hunting for us.”
“What do you mean?” Titania whispered. “Nothing exists beyond the human neighborhoods.”
“You’re wrong. Life was hard at first, but the Fae that escaped managed to turn the barren land fertile. At first, they hid in the rocky mountain inside caves. Now we’re being hunted,” the female mumbled. Her feet started moving over the bed, leaving bloody smears across the white covers.
Maurelle could hardly believe what she heard. Her entire life they had been told nothing beyond the brambles and human neighborhoods. The humans claimed that Fae had robbed the realm of its resources which Maurelle never believed.
Fae had a symbiotic relationship with the elements, one of which included the earth. Their power fed off the elements and if there was an imbalance or corruption the Fae would weaken. Her parents never talked of their elders losing power.
What this female was claiming was lifechanging for the Fae. Most she knew remained in the Edge because they had nowhere to go. If everyone discovered the lie behind their restrictions, there would be a revolt.
Suddenly, Maurelle worried for this female’s safety. She wanted to barge into the infirmary and do what she could to set her free. The urge withered away as soon as it rose.
The fog settled over Maurelle once again, and her position changed. She understood the probability that more existed beyond the border, but her anger and concern disappeared behind the fog that rolled back inside her mind.
It was as if her rage flared so suddenly the fog wasn’t able to keep up with her emotions. Realizing the reason that she’d come to ask for a checkup no longer mattered, Maurelle turned and headed down the hall.
A screech escaped when she ran into a slim body. “What are you doing lingering around the medical ward?” the Headmistress, Gullvieg demanded with her hands on her hips.
Terror surged and broke through the fog, making Maurelle’s heart race in her chest and sweat broke out across her brow. “Um. Nothing. Well, I felt off and came to ask Titania to make sure the virus isn’t back, but she’s uh…busy.”
“What did you hear?”
The way Gullvieg loomed over her, made her shrink back and cower beneath her glare. The air in the hall suddenly went cold and every panted breath that escaped Maurelle’s mouth came out in white puffs.
Wrapping her arms around her torso, she tried to calm herself down, so she didn’t raise even more suspicion. Problem was the fog that helped her deal with the worst of her emotions was nowhere to be found at the moment. No doubt, her fear overwhelmed it.
“I, uh…nothing, except Titania is with a patient. I noticed the female looked injured and turned around because my concerns aren’t important.”
The headmistress watched her with narrowed eyes, all the while her power kept battering Maurelle making her lips go numb while her skin froze. “I don’t believe you.”
Maurelle flinched at the harsh words and shook her head as if she could dislodge the fear now making her body shake. “No, I promise I didn’t hear anything.”
Gullvieg grabbed hold of her arm in a tight grip and started walking her down the hall away from the infirmary. “Please. I swear I didn’t hear anything. I’ll go back to my room now,” Maurelle pleaded over and over again to no avail.
“Shut up. You aren’t going back to the dorms…yet,” the Headmistress ordered her as she tightened her grip to the point Maurelle was certain the woman’s fingernails were cutting into the flesh of her upper arm.
Right before they turned the corner at the end of the passage, Maurelle turned and noticed Titania staring at them with her hand over her mouth. Shaking her head, Maurelle tried to communicate to the nurse that she shouldn’t share what the female said with Gullvieg.
It wasn’t safe for her to know anything. Maurelle wondered what she was going to do to her. Surely, she wouldn’t hurt her for possibly overhearing a conversation. Right?!
Her optimism died a quick death when two guards joined their procession without the Headmistress saying a word. No
doubt, she was telepathic and demanded their assistance.
Reassured that Maurelle wouldn’t escape, Gullvieg let go of her arm; but continued descending a set of stairs. For a brief instant, Maurelle considered running away, but she would never get far, and it would only make her situation worse.
Cold still beat at her body, seeping into her bloodstream. As every second passed and they went further and further down the steps. The lights went from electric to torches and the stone steps became damp and worn. At one point, Maurelle was positive she was below ground.
When the silence and the worry nagging the back of her mind finally got to be too much, she blurted, “What are you going to do to me?”
Gullvieg didn’t respond or look back for several seconds until they reached the bottom of the stairs. Holding a door open, she turned expressionless eyes on Maurelle. The guards pushed her through the door. She took two steps and stopped in her tracks.
The frozen blood in her veins chilled another couple degrees, and her heart stopped before plummeting to her feet. They were in a dungeon of some sort surrounded by various liquids and implements.
“I’m going to ensure you didn’t hear too much,” Gullvieg promised as a slow smile spread across her face.
The sight reminded Maurelle of a psychopath with no emotional compass. The Headmistress crossed the room to a table filled with potions, as well as devices designed to inflict pain.
Maurelle turned and tried to run for the door. One of the guards stepped in her path to stop her. Without thinking, Maurelle lifted her foot and kicked him in the balls. The second he cried out and doubled over, she dodged around his body and tried for the door.
Nothing good would happen if she remained in this room. Behind her the Headmistress barked orders to stop her. Reaching the doorknob, her fingers landed on the surface right before something wound around her waist and picked her up.
“No!” she screamed out and kicked her feet. The male holding her grunted but didn’t let go.
“You’re making this harder on yourself than necessary,” Gullvieg told her dispassionately.
Maurelle struggled to catch her breath with the tight band of muscle around her middle. Her vision wavered and her head went light. No way, she told herself. They already killed her mother and forced her to attend their academy.
Sure, she likely would have attended given the school was created by a Fae King, but she had a feeling that things were run very differently when the Fae were in power.
Focusing on the male holding her, Maurelle reached back and clawed at his face. He screamed and dropped her, but both males stood between her and the door. She glanced around the room for a way out of her predicament.
“Give up your fight, Maurelle,” Gullvieg commanded. “I can make this hurt if you continue fighting it.”
Not ready to give up, Maurelle continued to fight. She darted toward the table and grabbed a beaker of greenish liquid and threw it at the males guarding the door. It broke against one of their chests and exploded in neon green light.
Maurelle averted her eyes and never saw the blow coming. One second, she was crouching to bolt, and the next pain exploded on the left side of her head. She crumpled and before the world went black, she heard Gullvieg growl, “Stop shouting. Pick her up and put her on the table.”
Chapter Eleven
“Have you seen Maurelle anywhere?” Brokk asked Ryker as they left the mess hall and crossed the quad to their first class. Typically, Maurelle joined them and tormented Ryker with her stunning smiles and luscious curves.
Maurelle hadn’t been in class or at meals for three days now and Titania said she never stopped by the infirmary the other day like she told them. Initially, Ryker dismissed his concern as part of his obsession, but now he knew there was a reason his skin prickled, and his hands itched to do something to find her for days now.
Both he and Brokk stopped by her dorm room, but her roommates were too busy flirting to tell them much beyond the fact that she hadn’t been there for days.
“I haven’t seen her, and I refuse to face those soul sucking females in her dorm again,” Ryker replied.
Brokk shook his head and didn’t laugh or make some crass comment about cozying up to the females to get some action. “I don’t like how she suddenly disappeared without a word.”
Ryker actually liked his dormmates, but he kept his feelings about the academy, specifically the staff and human control and influence over Fae, close to his chest. Maurelle’s sudden disappearance didn’t come as that much of a surprise given everything they discovered and went through since their collection months ago.
“Do you think they let her go home to be with her family?” Ryker asked, testing Brokk’s reaction.
The male scrunched up his face and stopped in the middle of the grass where they wouldn’t be overheard. “Hell no. There’s something off about the entire situation. I don’t know what’s going on, and I have a feeling I haven’t noticed too much that’s going on around here. If anyone other than Maurelle went missing I would have ignored it, but there’s something special about Maurelle.”
Ryker’s jealousy reared its ugly head hearing Brokk talk about how he thought Maurelle was special. His jaw clenched and his hands balled into fists. “We need to find her. Have you ever tried a locator spell?”
Brokk cocked his head to the side and considered Ryker’s question. “That’s some pretty advanced stuff. I have no idea how to even begin.”
“Then we need to sneak into the restricted section of the library and find some books on the subject,” Ryker suggested.
The expansive lawn lead to the cliffs above the ocean on one side and the dorms along another the elemental leagues bordered the rest of the academy. Ryker loved the academy, just not what seemed like their intent with the students.
He’d seen too many arrive wary and with questions only to see them become compliant and agreeable within days. He knew the food made them more compliant, and not just because Shineah told him the purpose. He felt his mind go fuzzy and his emotions become blunted any time he ate.
It had become habit for him to focus on Maurelle and the burning need to make matters right for the Fae people. The anger that coursed through him any time he thought about the way Fae were collected and the tragedies like the death of Maurelle’s mom burned away any hold the magic in the food had over him.
Seeing Brokk start to make comments that went against his previous position made Ryker question if the friendship he’d established with the other male was having an impact on him as well.
The Peridun told Maurelle she had some protection against the mind control because of her connection to Ryker. A smile flitted over his mouth when he recalled how she denied having any connection to him.
Ryker needed to stay away from her for both his good and hers, but it was incredibly difficult to keep his distance from the sexy female. Especially, after he tasted her. He thought it best to get her out of his system, but his desire was now only worse.
“Do you really think we will be able to find something? I’ll do anything to help Maurelle.” Brokk vowed as he scratched the back of his neck.
“We have twenty minutes before class starts. Let’s go now,” Ryker said as he started to the small building nestled between the air league and the water league.
“You keep watch while I try to use my invisibility and sneak through the door,” Ryker continued.
“I’ll try to alert you if someone is coming your way,” Brokk promised.
They entered silently and noted there were few students while the librarian sat looking bored behind her desk in the middle of the first floor. There were three floors with the restricted section being on the top floor. Ryker had only been there one time.
“If the top floor is this empty this will be easy,” Brokk whispered.
Ryker glanced around. The first floor had countless stack arranged around the librarian in the center, but the top floors allowed for more privacy and secrecy. The sta
cks circled the outskirts of the room, but also crossed the entire floor, covering nearly every inch of the space. Desks to do your studying were all located on the first floor.
Brokk waved to the female behind the desk and continued to the stairs off to the left side of the room. Ryker followed him and ignored the female like he usually did. At the second floor, Ryker paused and looked down as many aisles as he could.
Certain they were alone, they climbed to the top floor. There weren’t as many shelves on this floor to make room for the doors at the sides that lead to sections that they weren’t allowed inside.
Ryker stopped in front of the door and realized he had no way of getting past the locked panel. “Can you manipulate the lock?”
Brokk’s eyes went wide and he shook his head. “Fucking hell. I didn’t even think of how we were going to get through the door.”
Ryker discovered he had far more than the three abilities identified in his assessment. He’d kept that fact to himself, unsure of what would happen if anyone discovered what he could do.
He had no desire to become anyone’s bitch. Or have his powers used against him and his people. He had to trust that Brokk wouldn’t say anything. Ryker put his hand around the metal and called up his fire. He sent a small tendril through the locking mechanism.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Brokk hissed. “Since when can you wield fire?”
“It’s a recent development. Don’t say anything. I don’t want anyone to know. The Gods only know what those in charge will do.”
“That’s seriously badass,” Brokk gushed as he watched.
Ryker cut off his flame when he felt the metal beneath his hand heat. Testing the nob, he smiled when it turned under his palm.
“Call out or make some kind of noise if anyone heads this way,” he ordered Brokk.
“Will do. I’d say be careful, but you’re like the most powerful Fae alive so there’s no reason.”
