Compounding Traumas (Artemis University Book 6)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Yeah, and I don’t get all of shifter politics, but I know his sloth is towards the top of the bear food chain. There was also a folder named ‘Alpha Mate whores,’ so I’d guess those were the women trying to use their bodies to get in as his mate for power and he found out.”

  “Okay, thanks for telling me. I’ll think about it really, and I woves you for making sure I knew.”

  “Always. I’m always on your side, Tams.”

  I winked at her, knowing she was.

  We headed to the cafeteria, and it was almost weird to be at Artemis without the hobgoblins, but it was smart of them to take the first few weeks off until the idiots got settled. They were making extra money helping with the bakery and stockpiling the dozen industrial walk-in freezers I now had in my basement. Mel talked me into it, so we always had fae fruit everything in winter.

  Oh, plus, a huge room we filled with tons of shelves for preserves and pickling.

  Last night and this morning was when anyone helping with the freshmen were arriving… Or people who just wanted the chance to get back to Artemis early and away from their families. Or for other reasons. I was sure there were lots of those.

  I was sure I really didn’t care. It was pathetic people came back to school early to take shots to my face, instead of over social media about my owning Cherrywood or how they got banned from all the hobgoblins businesses. Yes, I absolutely seemed the type to cave because someone shouted in my face.

  It had worked so well for Blake and that group. I not only immediately sent that to Claudia, but warned her I was going to do something that would start trouble at freshman orientation.

  To which Geiger messaged me and asked if I wanted to spend my entire inheritance on their billable hours. I had laughed. I had more than enough new income from those inheritances, not to mention the interest on all the money sitting in banks, to afford them for whatever I needed.

  I simply replied asking why I didn’t get a bulk discount yet, or at least like frequent flyer miles, like credit cards gave. He wasn’t amused.

  Mel had found it hilarious, and I had a feeling Claudia did as well, but wouldn’t ever admit that since Geiger was her boss.

  People were abuzz about the new addendums to the student agreements, several shooting me dirty looks as if knowing who was behind it all. I wouldn’t even deny it, but it was disgusting that it wasn’t already a thing at the schools. Humans had integrity all the time without needing fairies to make them do what they should. I refused to accept this bullshit it was all because fairies were gone.

  It was corruption and laziness that no one pushed back and demanded better from their society. They were such children, they needed fairies to tell them how to behave and live?

  Fine, this fairy would.

  We had just sat down with our trays when someone cleared their throat behind me. I turned to see Darby laying down two massive yellow roses next to me on the table. They were astoundingly beautiful, and I knew they had to have been made by his magic. I swallowed loudly, and then again, when I met his gaze, my heart fluttering at how handsome he was.

  I wasn’t sure what I might even have said, but he simply smiled and dipped his head to Izzy in greeting before walking away. Wow, so he wasn’t pushing or being over-the-top, simply apologizing now that he could. I mean, he said he wrote letters, but it was hard to get them to me when he hadn’t know the address or no one would bring them. I had blocked him on my phone.

  So he really hadn’t had a way to apologize or talk to me.

  I was still staring at the roses when another throat cleared. I prayed it wasn’t Craftsman, not able to handle him anytime soon, even if I’d have to. Relief filled me when I saw it was Dean White, until I saw she wasn’t happy.

  I couldn’t keep the sigh in, and I saw mirth dancing in her eyes at least. “Good morning, Dean White. What can I do for you?”

  “I need to ask you a few questions about a situation I’ve been apprised of,” she answered. “Well, it was demanded of me to question you and make sure you weren’t lying.”

  “Sorry you were put in the middle of whatever nonsense is going on now, but I’ll answer what I can without my lawyer.”

  Her lips twitched, seeming relieved I immediately went there. “There have been reports of hobgoblins being abducted from their homes. Have you abducted any hobgoblins recently?”

  I snorted. “No, no, I have not.” That was true. I didn’t abduct them. I didn’t even carry them off or extract them. I opened a portal, and they went through all on their own, not even knowing who had done it.

  “Do you know anything about it?” she pushed.

  “I heard from Keya that dozens of hobgoblins arrived at the main estate of HAVEN, asking for sanctuary as they were being held elsewhere against their will.”

  She nodded. “I need to verify where you were the past two days.”

  “What time exactly?”

  “They’re unsure, but they think about one in the afternoon, our time.”

  “Yesterday, she was training in the rec center then,” Ray told her, carrying a tray and walking with Zack. “I was right outside the entire time. She was in there for a couple of hours.”

  “The day before, she was at lunch with Mel, Izzy, and I,” Zack added.

  Izzy nodded to confirm it. “And then we were ordering stuff in our room until we all went to grab dinner.”

  Dean White nodded she heard them. “Have you used the portal in the student union or faculty lounge since you’ve been back?”

  “I have not,” I confirmed.

  “Wonderful. Thank you for answering. I will report back my findings clearing you.”

  “I’m disappointed that’s all you’re doing, Professor White,” Blake interjected from a few tables over. “It’s not like Vale hasn’t stolen hobgoblins before.”

  I’d picked up on a few things about how supes did ranks and subtle slights. I wasn’t sure if it was how humans did it at the college level, but it did get confusing. On my first year schedule, White was listed as Professor White, as she was my teacher. However, she was a dean, so unless she was acting in her capacity as a professor, we really should address her with her higher title.

  So Blake was actually slighting her by calling her Professor White right then.

  Bitch.

  I stood so I could see them both. “You cannot steal a person, Blake. The hobgoblins are free people, and I’ve helped them escape people who forget that—including your family.”

  She blinked at me as if I was speaking another language. “They’re hobgoblins. You stole our servants.”

  I fisted my hands and tried to reign in my anger. “Liluth is a person who was basically your family’s business manager and now runs the co-op. How you can—”

  “Oh please, they’re fair folk,” she drawled. “You cannot equate them to the rest of us.” She rolled her eyes when several people gasped. “We all know it, but most try to be polite and placate them.”

  “No, Blake, most aren’t fucking racist like you,” I sneered. I threw back my head and laughed at what I heard in her mind. “You’re just fucking jealous they’re more magically gifted than you.” I narrowed my eyes at her as if daring her to deny it. “I can hear their thoughts, as I can yours. The hobgoblins are just as smart as the rest of us. Hell, the fae dogs have more complicated thoughts and reasoning than you.”

  Rage filled her eyes as steam about came out her ears.

  “Enough, Blake,” Darby said as he moved near me, but so the three of us could still see each other. “Lots of us are tired of this picture you portray of vampires and as if you have some right to speak for us.”

  She snorted at him. “I do. I’m a council family. I can’t believe you are speaking to me as if we’re equals just because you’re not a scholarship student this year. It’s nuts.”

  “It is, because we’re not equals,” he agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m a senior who earned his place here and every grade he’s gotten. And you�
��re basically a freshman who bought her place here not once, but twice. So enough with you, of all people, trying to be the shining example of vampires.”

  If looks could kill, he’d be dead. “Aren’t you in enough trouble for siding with her over your own?”

  Darby snorted. “I love her, and I don’t even like you, Blake.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you use that excuse for a lot—don’t you? It didn’t work when you were called in front of the council for questioning about her. How much trouble did you get in for getting a magical tattoo to lock away her secrets from your own council and trying to say it was because you loved her?”

  I shot a glance at Mel across the cafeteria, seeing she had the same gobsmacked looked I did. We didn’t know that. Fuck.

  Blake smirked at me before focusing on Darby again. “Right, but how did that end?”

  Darby chuckled darkly. “I was ordered not to discuss what happened, but thanks for taking the gag off of me, because now you did, Blake.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “It was disgusting that they ordered me to go there and tell them everything about a young woman so they could try and steal what she has, and use anything they can against her.

  “They are sick in the head—including your grandfather—for ordering me to rekindle our relationship and report what I learn to them. Also, for disallowing me from adding to my magical tattoo, refreshing it, or telling anyone. They also broke the law by not allowing that my attorney be at the hearing and by our laws, I’m allowed to tell them.

  “I did, and since Claudia is also Tamsin’s attorney, she immediately told the dragon royals who help protect Tamsin. They all granted me their protection as well, so the next time the vampire council tries to drag one of their people in and break their own laws like criminals, they will have a huge fight on their hands. So thank you for outing that whole situation I was gagged on.”

  “Wait, so how did bigmouth Blake learn of this?” a different vampire interjected. “It’s sacred that our council hearings are closed and private.” Darby snorted and Blake gave the guy a look like he was an idiot. “This is bullshit.” He glanced at me with worry in his eyes. “I used to think you were full of shit and just dense to reality because you were raised with humans, but now I believe you.”

  I gave a swift nod. “We only know what we know, and I can understand that. You grew up seeing them as your law and protection. I’m sure I came in like a loudmouth bitch who acts like a bull in a china shop. It’s the only way I’ve seen things get done though when there’s corruption. They don’t protect you, they control you. The councils are puppeteers and it’s all bullshit.”

  “Spoken like an anarchist and terrorist,” Blake drawled.

  “Spoken like a dictator and tyrant propagandist,” Mel threw right back as she joined us.

  Blake snorted. “You work for the school now. I’d remember that if you want to keep your job, Rothchild.”

  Mel snorted as well. “Yeah, I work for Artemis, not your fucking council, Ms. Ward. And it’s Instructor Rothchild to you.” She held up her hand when Blake went to argue. “You need a reality check, as your council started a lot of shit with me and my clan when I wouldn’t allow any family to buy or change grades. I don’t work for, or answer to, any council. I justified my grades and they stood.

  “So, I don’t answer to you. You are a student and answer to the faculty. I believe Dr. Craftsman already reminded you of this. I will make sure you learn it again when you get properly demoted into Physical Training I, as I don’t give a fuck what bullshit tutor you had in your year off, but you will earn your spot and grade, or I will fail you.”

  I quickly picked up the conversation again when Mel had won that point. “And I don’t want anarchy. I abso-fuckng-lutely want order and the laws followed. That’s what I’m fighting for. I’m fighting for the councils to follow their own laws or they’re out. That’s about as anti-anarchist as things go. I’m not fighting the system, idiot. I’m fighting for people to obey the laws and system.”

  “The councils are the system and above the laws,” she sneered. “You can’t touch them.”

  “Bullshit. That’s tyranny and dictators, not councils and justice.” I shook my head when she opened her mouth. “And you forget I already had Elder Harbour removed. There are several I’ll make sure will be out, and Ainsworth I’ll get if it takes my last breath, as we submitted proof he’s killing witches and warlocks as part of the black market. So don’t fucking tell me anyone is above that.”

  Dean White finally interjected, probably letting Blake ramble out her crazy so more people heard it. “There is a morality clause in your student contracts, Ms. Ward. It is very clear that all supes are equal and will be treated as such; hate speech is not allowed in any form on campus. I will be adding a warning to your file and informing your parents that you were clear hobgoblins are able to be owned.

  “Also, of your public chastising of a dean and disrespect of your instructor by not addressing her as you should. This will be the only warning you get, Ms. Ward, and as you know from signing the addendum, being expelled again will be your final chance at attending Artemis. You may be let back into another college, but it will not be this one, and your place will be given to a more deserving student.”

  Blake actually fucking snorted at Dean White. “The councils won’t let that stand. We all signed it to get our keys, but they’ll undo it in no time.”

  Dean White smiled. “If you wanted to fight it, you should have done that before you signed it, Ms. Ward. That’s the downfall of being an adult. What you sign is legally binding as an adult and your parents cannot undo it, nor the council, unless you prove some sort of duress. Not being allowed into your dorm is not a form of duress, as you could have used the portal to go right back home since classes haven’t started.”

  Dayumn that was good. Blake and several others looked as if they were just told there was no Santa, eyes bug wide as if trying to process their parents couldn’t save them.

  Idiots.

  “This is your fault,” Blake snarled at me. “You did this.”

  “Yeah, I did,” I chuckled, smirking at her, shocking everyone around us that I blatantly admitted it. “It’s bullshit that you guys do whatever you want because you’re ‘elite’ and lie through your teeth that you’ve learned your lesson and deserve another chance. You aren’t sorry. You’ve learned nothing. And you never will, because you’re never truly punished.

  “There’s no real consequence for any of you with money and parents that have power. You’re spoiled and entitled. But guess what? So are humans your age, and they face real consequences when they fuck up. Not always, but they do better than supes do to actually make people prove they’re sorry and work for that second chance. Are you saying you can’t do what humans do? That you’re not as capable as humans?”

  “Of course I am,” she snapped. “We all are. We’re better than them.”

  I smiled brightly at her, mentally laughing at how easy that way. “Good. Then there won’t be a problem, and you can accept the consequences for your actions, just like humans do. That’s what I started. That’s what I showed the school. Ivy Leagues don’t put up with half the shit from the students they do here. Well, they won’t anymore.”

  “This won’t fly,” someone argued. “Just because you got Artemis to pull something—”

  “Your assumption it’s only Artemis is wrong,” I purred. “Now, I’d really like to get back to my breakfast if we’re all done with the drama. I know everyone wants to try and think every problem or issue in the world is my fault, but most of it you brought on yourselves.” I glanced at Dean White, bringing us back to the original reason we had started talking. “Lots don’t like how the hobgoblins are treated.”

  “I agree, but most think of you when someone fights for them. It was demanded that we question you and make sure you weren’t involved this one time, and so we agreed to play nice. Now we won’t again.”

  I snorted. “Even if I did
, there was nothing illegal about getting hobgoblins to the sanctuary.”

  “They were clear there was trespassing on private property, breaking and entering of their residences,” she clarified.

  “Oh, so they admit to keeping hobgoblins as slaves then, and they weren’t allowed to leave, where someone had to trespass and do such things to get them out? Is that what they’re saying on the record?” I smirked at her. “They should be very, very careful about saying that, as the hobgoblins are clear that the fairies aren’t gone for good and will be back. Several say all the time there are signs they’ll be back.”

  White’s eyes flashed shock that I went there, but she schooled it. “Yes, they do say that and often, but I believe you know how many do not listen to anyone but themselves. I will make sure to note who was making the complaints for the hobgoblins though, as they will undoubtedly want to blacklist them.”

  “That is a rather long list.” I couldn’t even hide my amusement. “And one that cannot be gotten around.” I smirked at Blake, remembering how she’d lied that she could. Bitch.

  And just to be petty when she couldn’t do anything more to me, she reached over the table and smashed the roses Darby had given me. The smirk on her face dared me to take a shot at her.

  Instead, I wrote the rune to make roses and leaned my hand on the table so two yellow roses appeared. I smirked right back. “Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten kicked out last year and gotten so far behind, Blake. It must suck to be a freshman again.”

  “I’m a sophomore like you,” she snarled.

  “Yeah, not like me,” I taunted, picking up my flowers and smelling them. “I really wish you had been at the Power Playoffs. We could have had such fun together. Well, I could have. You could have cried some more.”

  “You’ll get yours one day, Vale.”

  “Probably, but so will you, and yours will be deserved.” I shooed her off like a bug, knowing I’d won when people chuckled. She tossed the roses on the ground and stormed off like a child.

  I sat down and focused on my tray, dying to glance at Darby and apologize that she destroyed his flowers. Or maybe thank him for backing me up?