Academy of Sorcery
Term 2: The Fallen Master
Alexa B. James
Academy of Sorcery, Term 2: Fallen Master
© 2020 Alexa B. James
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Published in the United States by Speak Now.
Cover Design by Melody Simmons.
First edition
ISBN-13: 978-1-945780-78-3
Table of Contents
Academy of Sorcery
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Author’s Note
Broken Princess Excerpt
Chapter One
“Tell me everything,” Asher says, sliding in across from me at the table.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I say with a forced laugh, glancing around the dining hall. “I worked for Silas over the holiday break. He was a jerk like usual, with the added bonus that now he leers at me like he wants to jump my bones.”
“And?” Asher asks, bugging his eyes at me like I’m supposed to know what he wants to hear.
“And… I got to see my dad, which was great,” I say carefully.
Asher sighs and flicks his black bangs off his forehead, sitting back in his chair. Elowen scurries across the dining hall and tucks herself into a chair, glancing between us with a guilty look. “Is this okay?”
“It’s fine,” I say. Yes, she betrayed me in the worst way, but it’s a new year, a new semester, and I’m trying to move past that.
“How was your break?” she asks.
“She says all she did was work and hang out with her dad,” Asher says, rolling his eyes. “Girl, don’t hold out on me. I know you got some sizzling sorcerer sausage in you at some point.”
“No,” I say firmly, glancing sideways at Thorn, who sits at the next table, pretending not to listen as he eats his own dinner. I’m not about to go into the story of how the sorcery students took turns guarding me over the break, and how Dad forced me to go out and invite them in for both Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Especially not since both Thorn and Ryker refused.
“I’m just saying, if those boys were right outside my door every night, I’d be getting some of that,” Asher says, wiggling his pierced eyebrows at me. He turns and gives Thorn a wink, as if I didn’t already want to murder him. I can’t decide if it’s worse to have silent Thorn standing guard than to have rude Rocco, who would laugh his ass off and tease me about Asher’s words.
“I thought you were already getting some,” I remind Asher.
“I was,” he said. “But once I went home and wasn’t around your sexy magic, I hit a dry spell.”
“Oh, wow, a whole month without sex,” I say, rolling my eyes. “That’s a full-on drought.”
“I know, right?” Asher says, ignoring my sarcasm. Before I can formulate a comeback, he grabs one of my hands and one of Elowen’s. His eyes widen, fixed on the door behind me.
My heart skips, and I’m sure I’ll turn to see the Bellas, AKA The Bitch Squad, headed our way. Instead, I spot a smoldering hot stranger with copper hair combed back from his forehead and a broody frown creasing his brow.
“Mine,” Asher whispers.
“What?” Elowen asks, giving him a funny look.
“I’m just saying,” Asher protests. “Every guy on campus wants to bone Jade. Can’t I call dibs on one of them?”
“Yeah, but not him,” Elowen says.
This time, Asher and I both turn to stare at her. “Spill,” he orders.
“What?” she asks, sounding defensive. “I saw him in the House of Necromancy. He’s a Dark Arts student.”
“Not a student,” Thorn says. “That’s Topher Stephens. He’s a grad assistant. The necromancer is right. Not him.”
Elowen blanches at being called what she is—or what she will be, anyway. Right now, she’s a student of necromancy. She hasn’t coaxed anyone from the dead yet.
“What’s he doing here?” Asher asks, gazing longingly after the guy.
“I’m sure he’s here to be gawked at like all the sorcerers,” Thorn retorts.
Asher doesn’t seem to notice the dig. “He’s a sorcerer?”
“I don’t know,” Thorn says. “He’s a transfer.”
“From where?” Asher asks with a dramatic sigh. “My dreams?”
“He’s teaching Dark Arts.”
“Want to switch majors?” Asher asks Elowen, his gaze still riveted on the hot redhead.
“You have him,” Elowen says, nodding toward the door.
I turn in time to see Professor Darius stride in. My heart flips in my chest, my belly fills with butterflies, and my head gets a little dizzy. The last time I saw my Intro to Magic teacher, he was rejecting my offer of sex but letting me have all the above-the-clothes action I needed to get off.
Heat creeps up my neck as he approaches. His long, lean legs are clad in a pair of grey slacks, but I remember them pulsing between my thighs, making me pant for more. His bronze hair is neatly styled, but I remember it messy after I ran my fingers through it. His chiseled cheekbones are clean shaven, his eyes alert as they sweep over his students.
Oh my gawd. Was he always that hot? It’s all I can do not to whimper. My mouth has gone dry, all my juices headed somewhere south of the border.
I swallow hard and pretend to be engrossed in my salad as Darius strolls by without so much as a glance in my direction. And even though I know we can’t exactly gaze into each other’s eyes in public, my heart still falls a little when he ignores me as completely as if I were a Bella.
“Yeah, Professor Hottiepants is fine,” Asher says. “But see, there’s one little problem.”
“He’s a teacher,” Thorn supplies, his gaze cutting to me.
“Well, that, too,” Asher says. “But the main problem is he’s not into dick.”
“And that he’d get fired if he had an affair with a student,” Thorn says.
Fuck. He totally knows about me and Darius. I’m sure of it. I don’t know what gave us away, but he’s looking at me like we were gazing into each other’s eyes just now. Thorn is just too damn observant for his own good.
“Would he really get fired?” I ask. “I mean, he’s got the strongest magic of any sorcerer here.”
What I really want to know is if what we did would get him fired.
I mean, we messed around a bit, but it was entirely for magical purposes. It was a learning experience. He was teaching me to release my magic. I definitely wouldn’t call it an affair.
But oh god, I can still feel his long fingers straining to go deeper inside me…
“Obviously,” Elowen says, oblivious to the whole situation. As far as she knows, I just think Professor Darius is hot, and that’s not exactly a shocker. Every girl in the Academy of Sorcery probably wakes up with damp sheets at least once a week courtesy of the resident hot professor.
“The real question is, what about a grad student?” Asher asks, peering over his shoulder at Thorn. “Would he be fired for getting busy with a student?”
“It would be frowned upon,” Thorn says, watching Topher Stephens make his way through the food line.
“But he wouldn’t get in trouble?” Asher asks, wiggling his brows.
“He probably wouldn’t get hired for a permanent position at the Academy if he got that reputation,” Thorn says. “But no. Nothing would happen to him.”
That doesn’t seem fair, but I can’t exactly complain about it to my friends. All I can do is mentally check anyone who might have seen us together, hope Thorn can keep his mouth shut, and make sure no one else finds out.
Chapter Two
For the next week, I’m careful not to draw attention to myself. Last semester, I was the sex girl, which is pretty ironic considering I still haven’t managed to actually have sex. This semester, I’d like to be known for something other than my magic. And that doesn’t mean I want to be known as the girl screwing the professor.
Not that we’re screwing.
When we’re settled back into our dorms after the holiday break, I give Thorn the slip one evening and sneak over to see Professor Darius. I glance behind me every few steps, sure that my sorcerer guard will have caught on to my scheme. But a girl doesn’t grow up on the streets of post-apocalyptic Jacksonville and not learn to make a quick getaway.
I arrive at Darius’s office, check the hall in both directions, and dart inside. I pull the door closed behind me and bite my lip, smiling at Darius.
“Hello, Jade,” he says, standing from behind his desk.
“Hey,” I say, darting forward from the door and standing on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. “I made sure no one followed me. I’m alone.”
He clears his throat and steps back from me. “Did you have something you needed to discuss with me in private?”
I take a step back, stung. “I mean… Yeah. Of course I want to talk to you.” I haven’t talked to him since the night after finals, when he brought me to orgasm and then left my room, telling me he’d set up guards to make sure I could go home over the holidays like everyone else.
Professor Darius nods. My eyes skim over his sculpted jawline with the five o’clock shadow, his gentle eyes and full lips. Damn it.
Do not look at his lips. Do not remember them claiming, commanding, yours.
“What’s up?” Darius asks, folding his arms and leaning against the edge of his desk.
“So, that’s it?” I ask. “We’re just done?”
He sighs. “Jade, you know how I feel about you. But we can’t be together.”
I nod, my throat suddenly tight. Darius has been the one bright spot among all the guys. When they were complete dicks to me, he was there for me. Probably in ways he shouldn’t have been, but I wanted it as much as he did. Apparently more.
“Ever?” I ask, forcing the word out.
“I could lose my job,” he acknowledges. “And I would do that for you in a heartbeat, except it could put you in danger. You need me here at the academy with you.”
I know he’s right. If he got fired, he couldn’t be here to protect me. But the alternative is even worse.
“So… Never,” I say. “We’ll never be together.”
“Jade, what happened before break… That should never have happened. I should have been stronger.”
Stronger than what? He let me get off on him, sure, but we never even went under our clothes. It was just a make-out session. Or so I tell myself to keep from feeling like a complete, pathetic loser for thinking—hoping—more might come of it this semester. Clearly we both thought about it over the break, and clearly we came to the opposite conclusion.
“It’s fine,” I say. “It’s not like I expected you to be my boyfriend.”
Secret lover, sure. Sexual release? Yes, please.
Boyfriend? No. That sounds too juvenile for what we are.
Were. What we were.
“I never should have touched you,” Darius says. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I say, holding up a hand to stop him. It’s bad enough to get dumped. I don’t need his pity on top of it.
“I shouldn’t have led you on.”
“You didn’t,” I say, raising my chin and meeting his eyes. “I led myself on. I appreciate you being straight with me. From now on, we’ll be strictly student and teacher.”
He swallows so hard I can see his Adam’s apple bob up and down. And as shitty as it is, I’m glad this is hard for him. I know he still wants me just as much as I want him. But he’d lose his career, and I don’t want that any more than he does. He’s made for this. He’s a great teacher. I wouldn’t want him to give that up, not even for me, not even if he offered.
“That would be best,” Darius says, his eyes softening. “Jade, I don’t regret what happened. But I’m an adult. I have to be responsible here.”
“I’m an adult, too,” I say, not appreciating his insinuation that I’m not responsible. “I can take care of myself. Believe it or not, I’ve been doing it for years.”
Darius’s eyes widen, and I realize what that sounded like. I didn’t mean it that way, but I don’t correct him. If he wants to think about me pleasing myself the way he pleased me, I’m not about to stop him. I leave him with that image and slip out the door.
Thorn is standing in the hall in his usual pose, leaning back against the wall with one foot propped up on the wall behind him, his arms crossed.
Damn it.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, pulling the door to Professor Darius’s office closed behind me.
“I had a feeling I might find you here,” Thorn says casually, pushing away from the wall. “Got any other errands to run while you’re out?”
“You know, I don’t need a guard around campus anymore,” I say, starting down the hall. “The demonlings were coming from Bella, and I have Cleo back, and we knocked Lilith back into hell.”
“The spirit world,” Thorn corrects.
“Whatever,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I can walk around campus by myself.”
“Until Headmaster Orville agrees, you get an escort.”
“Wait, you’re a male escort?” I ask, giving him a wicked grin. “Damn. I haven’t been getting what I’m paying for.”
“You’re not paying anything.”
“Oh,” I say. “Then I guess I’m getting exactly what I’m paying for.”
“You know, Jade, you don’t need a male hooker. Any guy on campus would have sex with you. If you’re just looking for a hook up, I don’t think you’ll have any problem finding someone willing.”
“But not you.”
He pauses, staring straight ahead with a frown. “No,” he agrees at last. “Not my style.”
Fucking ouch.
“What is your style?” I ask. “Be a complete dick, hook up with a girl who despises me, tell me it meant nothing and nothing happened, and then go back to being a dick?”
“I guess you’ve got me all figured out,” he says.
I want to scream with frustration.
“I don’t have you figured out,” I say in a huff. “You’re impossible to figure out because you go from hot to cold so fast you’re giving me freezer burn.”
That’s the problem. I thought things were changing between us after the final trial first semester, but he’s been cold as ice to me ever since. Was it j
ust my magic making him act so sweet? It’s the only explanation I can think of.
“Things are complicated enough for you without you trying to figure me out,” he says. “Trust me on that.”
“Maybe I want to,” I say. “I thought we were… I don’t know. Friends, or… I don’t know. Maybe more than that?”
“What gave you that idea?”
Okay, then. That’s a big fat nope.
“I don’t know,” I say. “When the trials happened, and…”
“And you were leaking magic, and we all helped you?”
“Thanks for making it sound like I’ve got a runny nose, and I’m leaking snot or something.”
“Jade, you know what Bella did to us,” he says quietly, staring straight ahead. “What all three of them did. I know it’s not the same, and you weren’t trying to manipulate us, but I prefer to keep my own free will.”
If the rejection hurt, this is ten times worse. “I didn’t do anything to you,” I say through clenched teeth. “If you don’t want to be around my magic, then leave.”
“I think you’re…Pretty impressive. But I’m not down for being anyone’s love slave.”
“Then don’t be,” I snap. “I’m not making you stay. I’m not releasing a drop of magic right now. So why are you still here?”
He’s stone-faced as we arrive at my dorm. He opens the door and gestures for me to precede him. “I’m your guard, Jade,” he says. “I’m not going anywhere until I’m dismissed. But don’t worry. I’m not a snitch.”
“What?” I ask, stepping through and eyeing him suspiciously. “What exactly are you going to not snitch about? I told you, I’m not using magic to interfere with your free will. I think you’re just afraid to admit that you might actually have feelings.”
Thorn fixes me with a steady gaze. “I’m not going to go running to the headmaster when you go visiting men. But you need to tell me what’s going on so I can keep you safe.”
I cross my arms over my chest and wheel around to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean? What exactly do you think is going on?”
“I don’t think anything,” he says. “It’s none of my business. I just need you to stop trying to shake your guard.”
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