by Anna Edwards
Copyright © 2020 by Anna Edwards & Maria Macdonald
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
www.AuthorAnnaEdwards.com
www.mariamacdonaldauthor.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Disclaimer: Please don’t try any practice within this book, without the guidance of an experienced practitioner. Neither the publisher nor the author will be responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from the use of the information contained in this book.
Cover Design by Anna Edwards
Editing by Sheena Taylor
Formatting by Anna Edwards
For Yvonne and Donna.
Thank you
xxxx
The Witch’s Guardian
Caspian Academy Book One
Maria Macdonald
Anna Edwards
Table of Contents
Playlist
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
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
About Anna Edwards
Also by Anna Edwards
About Maria Macdonald
Also by Maria Macdonald
Playlist
i hate u, i love u - Gnash featuring Olivia O’Brien
If the World was Ending - JP Saxe, Julia Michaels
All I ask - Bruno Mars
Carry You - Ruelle ft. Fleurie
Killing me Slowly - Bad Wolves
Won’t give up - Various
Your Guardian Angel - Red Jump Suit
Turning Tables - Adele
Cryin - Aerosmith
Here without you - 3 Doors Down
Almost is Never Enough - Ariana Grande Featuring Nathan Sykes
What can I say - Shealeigh
Behind Blue Eyes - Limp Bizkit
The Words - Christina Perri
Wicked Game - Gemma Hayes
Careless Whisper - Seether
Little Do you kNow - Alex & Sierra
Trying Sleeping with a Broken Heat - Alicia Keys
Play Now
There shouldn’t be diamond dust in the air, not when there’s no snow and it’s an early spring morning in the south west of England. Unfortunately, this only serves to communicate what’s coming.
“Juniper.” His voice hits my ears first, then he appears, completely regal, fully robed, and expecting one hundred percent of my attention.
“Father.” I bow.
“Rise, daughter,” he commands, his voice void of warmth.
I do as I’m told. I learnt early that disrespect comes at a price. Remaining silent, I await his orders. He only visits when he expects something from me. Nikolai Ruben Ambrose doesn’t stand before me now as my father, like every other occasion he has visited me, he stands here as my King.
“You’re nearly eighteen, Juniper, it’s time for you to re-enrol at Caspian Academy. I’ve advised them you’ll start there Monday. A car will be sent here to collect you tonight.” He glances behind him. Someone is obviously vying for his attention; they can have it. I’d rather not be in his company. “I’ve arranged for you to have accommodation on site,” he continues. What he actually means is, one of his two assistants has arranged it for me. Briefly, I pray it’s Mirabel. She seems to like me, unlike Velva who clearly wants more from my father than to serve him as her King. “So, you’ll leave tonight,” he orders. “You can then spend tomorrow setting your room up, getting your class schedule, etc, etc.” Waving his hand in the air, he seems exasperated with me, and yet, I’ve only said a single word. He remains silent, and a frown appears across his brow, so I quickly nod my reply, arguing would be pointless and no doubt painful.
With nothing more to say, Daddy dearest disappears.
“Bloody hell,” I groan, slumping into the wet grass and watching the diamond dust finally dissipate.
“Problems?” The timid lilt of my mother feels like a soft blanket wrapping around me. Turning, I hold my hand up to block out the sun, allowing me to see her tiny frame swamped by her clothes. Her fragility has become more apparent over the last six months, and now at my father’s command, I have to leave her.
“Dad finally ordered me to attend Caspian,” I sigh, watching the sadness flash in Mum’s eyes before she hides behind a smile. I’m unsure if she’s sad because I’m leaving or because Dad never visits her anymore. I know she still loves him.
“It’ll be good for you, mixing with other witches again. Especially ones your age, honey,” she soothes as she runs her hand over my head, her fingers threading through my long, silver hair.
I roll my eyes. Everyone knows who I am; they know I’m a fake. At this point, I’m pretty sure my dad is only pushing my attendance at the academy to keep up with tradition. It’s not like anyone will allow an adopted kid to inherit the throne after he dies. I’m not of his blood, and ever since Mum got sick, he’s had nothing to do with her either, almost as though he believes he’ll catch her illness.
“Doesn’t Emmie attend that school?” I don’t respond to Mum as apprehension flows through me. Emmie was my best friend, but I haven’t seen her for over a year. “Oh, and Taya.” I bite my tongue. My mother still believes my old school friends are angels. I know better, though. Being able to avoid Taya and her lackeys’ nasty, bitter bullying ways over the last year has been a massive plus. “Jacobi Ashdown attends the school too. You remember him, right?”
My mother witters on naming different people, but they’re all the same. It may be a year later, but I’m pretty sure none of them have grown up. Jacobi Ashdown is someone I’d rather forget. His perfection serves to impress the halls of Caspian Academy, but I’ll be trying to avoid him. Too much arrogance, and a lack of compassion. Plus, the last I remember, he was dating Taya. Yeah, this is going to be so much fun.
Heaving myself up, I shake off the bad feeling slithering through my veins.
“Why don’t we have tea in the sunshine, Mum?” I smile, threading my arm through hers.
I help her shuffle to the outdoor table, seating her in a soft chair with a little shade from a tree, and then with a flick of my wrist, I conjure a tea set adorned with everything we need. As I sit sipping my hot drink, I watch my mother wince in pain and retrospectively try to hide it. I know we don’t have long, and my father deciding it’s time for me to go back to school makes me hate him even more. At least, before Mum was i
ll, we all lived in London, so I could attend as a day student. Now I have to go back as a boarder, and there’s no way Mum is well enough to move to London with me. Besides, she has people here, people who will look after her when I can’t. Clearly none of these points affected my father’s decision, though.
King Ambrose is arrogant enough to believe everyone either worships him or fears him. I’m not sure which category he thinks I fall into, but I’ll surprise him one day when he realises it’s neither. Once my mum passes, he’ll learn how formidable I am, even without the magic of his blood.
Mum sighs heavily, and even though it’s barely mid-morning, I know she requires rest. “Mum, I’ll take you back to your room,” I tell her. Sadly, she only nods, barely having any strength left in her body.
She leans heavily on me as I half carry her to her room and help her into bed. The moment the covers are blanketing her in warmth, she offers me a small smile. I kiss her forehead and go to move away, but she grabs my wrist weakly and says, “Juni, you know I love you right. I chose you.”
“I know, Mum,” I reply, turning back towards her and listening to the words she’s repeated to me ever since I can remember, making sure to drum it home to me.
She’s always told me how most parents don’t get to choose their child, but she did with me, which makes her lucky…blessed, she says.
“I’ve had one big love of my life, Juni. Only one. You, baby,” she whispers, and I feel the emotion crawling up my throat.
“You’ll always have me, Mum.” My voice is soft and her face gentles on me.
“Even when I don’t.” The words are a vow. She knows her time is coming to an end, and she’ll be gone soon, but we both know dying doesn’t mean ending. The two things are sometimes very separate. If you’re lucky.
“Even when you don’t,” I turn her words around. Strangling the tears which are threatening.
“Go on, honey, you have packing to do.”
I squeeze her hand. “I’ll come see you before the car arrives,” I tell her, but she’s already asleep.
“Thank you,” I murmur to the crotchety old secretary as she hands me my schedule. She huffs under her breath, and I roll my eyes, walking away and wondering what crawled up her arse.
The car which dropped me off last night was, as expected, driven by one of Dad’s many minions. He never said a word to me, other than addressing me formally upon both my collection and his departure. When I hit the room, which is more like a self-contained flat, it was bare except for a dresser, wardrobe, desk and bed. Exhausted, and knowing it was too late to shop, I took myself to bed and slept for twelve straight hours.
I was displeased when the sun woke me, shining directly through the window and onto my face. Managing to drag myself up and get ready with minimal effort, I went shopping, thankful for once I was a trust fund baby and said trust was already available to me. I spent way more than I should, gathering the ‘nik naks’ and much needed detail to make the mini flat feel more like home. I then came back to school to get my schedule from Mrs Happy, bringing me back to the here and now.
The school is strange when it’s like this, mostly empty but with the boarding stragglers. The hustle of the weekday is absent; however, a slow amble remains. As I walk out of the building, I stop to rearrange my many bags. Taking a moment, I look up to the sun, allowing it to bathe my face in warmth, my earlier ire at its behaviour forgotten. Smiling at the sky, a feeling of being watched creeps over me. I look around, alert and on edge, and then I see him. There’s one hundred and fifty feet of grass and courtyard, four trees, and about twenty students between us, but his stare locks on, boring into me, angry and full of fire…Jacobi Ashdown, still as imposing, dangerous, and darkly beautiful as ever.
Neither one of us backdown from our stare down, not until Taya walks around the corner and grabs his arm. She frowns and starts turning, ready to search out what has him so enraptured, but at the last minute, he stops her. Grabbing her and pulling her into his body, his arms slide around her and she giggles, but his eyes don’t move from mine. I lift my chin, grab my bags and walk back into the school. I make sure I don’t rush, not for a second, not even when I know I must already be out of sight, not even when my heart doesn’t stop thrumming at twice its normal rate.
No. I won’t show weakness. Jacobi Ashdown doesn’t get that from me. Not now. Not ever.
I can’t believe she’s here. I thought she’d finally gone and was hiding away in the countryside with her dying mother. But no, her father must have summoned her back, and it’s going to make my life hell again. No, scrap that, I’m not going to let it happen for a second time. This time, I’ll be ready for her. I’m the king here at Caspian Academy, the person everyone looks up to, the man every doofus of a guy wants to be, and the man every girl wants to date. Little Miss Juniper will kneel at my feet before the end of the day, and she’ll be begging her father to let her leave. I’m a bastard, and I’m not going to let my name down.
Stomping through the corridor, the sound of my heavy boots echoing off the walls, I follow Juniper into a classroom. My minions trail after me ready to do my bidding. Taya is still attached to my side; she’s the girl I’ve been dating, the Queen of the school. We’re the royalty here, and no one will ever put an end to that.
“I’m surprised to see you back here.” I throw myself casually across the classroom table Juniper has sat at.
She’s studying her schedule. I pick it up and scrutinise it. Damn it, we’re in most of the same classes. Is this someone's idea of a joke? Juniper lifts her head up but doesn’t look at me; instead, she turns her attention to Taya.
“Hi,” her little voice mumbles. “Nice to see you again, Taya.”
“Whatever.” Taya looks down at her fingernails, flicking a piece of dirt from the tip of one of the brightly painted red spears.
Uniform rules dictate she should have natural coloured nails, but no one is going to argue against her choice, not when they know they’ll have to face me if they do.
I wave the piece of paper in front of Juniper, or Flake as I like to call her because she’s beyond insane. “What’s this Flake? Why are you back here and enrolled in all my classes?” She tries to snatch the paper back from me, but I hold it high up where she can’t reach. “Answer the question first.”
“Jacobi, I’m bored can we go already?” Taya asks, not giving Juniper time to answer my question. She places her hand on my right shoulder and pulls my face to hers, but I slide from the table and shake her off. Taya huffs. “It’s nearly four. I want to go and see if we can try some of that vanilla smoke Benson was offering the other day. It made me feel so horny for you. You remember the things we did afterwards?”
I grab Taya by her long blonde hair which is up in a ponytail, and when I pull her flush against me, my body heats.
“Go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute. I just want to clarify a few points with Juniper about her return here.” I press a scorching kiss to Taya’s lips aware of how uncomfortable it will make Flake feel.
“Of course. But don’t be long.”
“I won’t.”
Letting go of Taya, I signal for my minions to follow her and leave me alone. I don’t need an audience for what I’m about to do. As they depart the classroom, I pull a chair out from underneath a table, twist it around and straddle my long, muscular legs over it.
“Talk, Flake.”
“Go to hell, Jacobi.”
“Answer the question.” I slam the piece of paper with her schedule down in front of her. “Why now?”
“You think I had a choice in this? You know full well I don’t control my destiny.”
“Your father needs to stop interfering in my business.” I slam my hand down onto her table, and Flake jumps back, her chair scraping on the floor.
“My father is the King. Your business is his,” she retorts, staring back up at me.
“He needs to go to hell.”
She snorts a laugh. “I’m pretty sure that’s w
here he goes for his weekend vacations.”
I flip her my middle finger, not wanting to hear her idiotic jokes. “You think this is amusing?” Jumping up from the chair I was straddling, I send it flying across the room, tumbling other chairs and desks out of the way. “It’s not, believe me. Let’s get things straight, right here and now.” Flake at least has the decency to look scared. “You stay the hell away from me. You don’t even look in my direction. I enter class, you look at whatever book you have in front of you. You don’t talk to me. I’m at a party, you don’t attend, I’m eating lunch in the canteen, you eat in the toilets for all I care. Basically, you stay the fuck away from me. You’re dead to me and vice versa. Get it?”
I don’t mean to, but I grab the long academy regulation tie around her neck and yank it upwards. For the first time since she’s been back, I look directly into her eyes, and the unusual purple flecks I see there dance in the morning sunlight flooding into the room via a small window. The irises of my destruction stare back at me, taunting and teasing me with the magic hidden within them.
“Why do I have to do what you say? You’re no different from me. Here in this place we’re both pupils.”
“Wrong.” I let go of Flake’s tie and shove her with my hand against her chest. She goes skidding back on her chair, flailing to get her balance and only just manages to keep it. “I’m king here, not Daddy dearest. You want to enjoy your time at Caspian, then you vanish. If not, I’ll make sure everyone makes it a living hell. Get it now?”
