“I feel like I must love her. I can’t be like you, ruined over a witch, but I am. The thing about her is that she loves everyone. She touches other mages and expects me not to rip her arms off. She doesn’t pretend not to love other mages, witches, humans, mice. It’s ridiculous.” I ran my hand through my hair then poured myself another drink. My hand was shaking.
“She loves you? Did she make you that coat?”
“I’m never taking it off again. I don’t have time to deal with Darkside right now. I’m trying to not be in love with a witch.”
“I see.” He sighed. “I understand. It’s a pity. Someone needs to clear up this business.”
Someone would. Damn. No more blowing off some steam in Darkside, no, I’d have to actually investigate every single battle before I won it. How many wars were our merc companies involved in? Probably more all the time if the paperwork the sorcerer across from me was looking at was any indication. No slipping into Penny’s bed to nibble on her hair. I had to get this cleared up before Valentine’s Day. I couldn’t exactly marry her if my father was replaced by a sorcerer who wanted to eat her up for dinner. I wanted to eat her for dinner. And breakfast. I had to focus.
The sorcerer gave me a fatherly smile. Had he cursed Penny? I would rip him apart. Oh, I would enjoy that after he’d made me feel like I had a father again.
“Drake, I understand. You’re under the most powerful spell in the world. You can’t fight love.”
“No? What about hate? You’re so wise all of a sudden.” I ran a hand through my hair, displaying my frustration. “I have to see her.” I sounded so sincere.
He nodded. “Take care of your witch. I’ll take care of everything else.”
Words to give me goosebumps. I sighed and nodded before I stepped throughside, from an alley to a beach, in the middle of the burning Lands, and a half dozen more steps until I was certain he wasn’t following me.
I came out on the stretch of glittering pale sand that reflected the starlight like diamonds. There wasn’t enough atmosphere here to hold the mists and smog so the stars were bright and crisp above me and beneath my boots as I walked. It was cold but warm at the same time. As in the coat provided shelter from the elements but I could still feel the temperature and air quality as though I were naked. It became harder to get enough oxygen, but I was spelled and even if I wasn’t, that sort of thing didn’t bother me anymore.
Above me I heard the rush of wings and then an enormous body blocked out the stars in the shape of a dragon. I knew that silhouette, but it wasn’t mine.
“Good evening, Princess. Enjoying the evening air?”
She growled and vanished without so much as a whisper of disrupted wind. I kept walking. The sorcerer was manipulative, but not commanding. He might have been able to break my mind, bend me to his will, but he much preferred me to fight for him while I thought I was fighting against him. It suited his sense of irony and whimsy, probably. He’d envied the coat. He wanted it like he wanted her. Pitch or Penny? I’d say both. They seemed to come as a set.
I whistled low and long. A few seconds later I heard beating against the air. The long, low roar rumbled through me and I started to run. I pushed myself as I raced across the star-studded sands until I leapt up, higher and higher until I reached the top of my arc. I landed lightly on Jello’s dark green back, my boots balanced carefully over his spine. For a long time I stood there, balanced, arms outstretched while the wind rushed around me beneath a million stars. Penny’s coat picked up every sensation as though it were bare skin against the frigid night air. Jello wouldn’t fit in a bath with me and Penny to be sure, but we could come up with some kind of bed. A seabed maybe. Penny might have trouble breathing underwater.
I shook my head and walked down his back to the place between neck and shoulders where I’d trained the spikes down so I could sit without impaling myself.
“You smell of sorcerer.”
I leaned back on my custom created backrest. “Jello, it seems that I’ve been under the influence of one. He’s taken over my armies.”
The dragon snorted. I had no way of knowing if he was talking out loud or in my head. He could do both and they seemed the same. “We should eat him.”
“He’s a deception sorcerer. We’d just eat someone we thought was him but turned out to be someone else, someone he wanted dead. No, he’s tricky.”
“Has he touched the treasure?” I felt his anxiety and my own heart pounded in response.
“She’s safe.”
“She should be here where we can guard her.”
“She doesn’t know that she’s a dragon’s horde. She might not like that.”
He made a grumbling snorting sound that came out as a ball of fire arcing across the starry sky. “She likes me.”
“Yes, she does. She signed the contract.”
“She already belonged to us.”
“Yes, but now she knows it.” I shook my head. Jello had been fixated on her ever since the Creagh battle when she’d stroked him and he’d admired her red-gold hair.
“How does she taste?”
“Very sweet. Too sweet. She’s delicate, Jello. We have to be gentle with her.”
Another fireball exploded into the night. “Gentle. We will not eat her.”
I nodded. “Now that we got that out of the way, would you like to visit some battles?”
“Eat Darksiders.”
“Actually, we’re going to chat with them. I have to be a cautious mage, investigate the battles and mark their sides. You can do that, can’t you?”
The dragon had an intricate map of the entire world of Darkside inside his mind and he could mark areas as good for hunting, cold, warm, filled with danger and delights, that sort of thing. I could access that brain anywhere I liked, which was part of how easily I stepped throughside. Having a dragon inside you all the time could give you a headache though. I’d used to have migraines until I’d learned to partition the voices. Great dragons like my Jello wasn’t just a creature, an animal, a person, but a compilation of the dragons that had come before him, those strands of DNA carrying knowledge and experience to the new generation, essential for survival when a dragon would hatch hundreds of years after its parents had passed on. There hadn’t been any great dragons for generations of Darksiders. Jello said it was a sign of a rise of a new kind of sorcerer in Darkside. He inferred that I was part of that, the stories of sorcerers who could unmake worlds and break time. If that was true I should easily be able to defeat the subtle sorcerer who’d managed to so embed himself in my family.
“Then we eat them,” Jello growled as he flew higher and higher until I couldn’t breathe at all. I sank into the dragon, letting his strength fill me. I felt whole almost, but even lost in the dragon, my heart ached for Penny Lane.
Chapter 15
Witch
Drake was in class on Monday, but he smelled like smoke and his eyes weren’t entirely focused when he looked at me, like he was somewhere else. Maybe he was in shock from being under contract with me. It didn’t stop him from dancing perfectly in ballet or his hands from being completely solid as he raised me above his head. After class, Madame pulled us to the side.
“You two will do another performance at the Final student show. I want more of Penny, less of you, Huntsman. You must be the foil to her, not the star. It will be a challenge for Mademoiselle Lane, but that is the purpose of this school, to show the students what they’re capable of achieving.”
She nodded and turned, apparently dismissing us.
I glanced at Drake who gave me a lazy half-smile. It wasn’t really lazy, no, there were any number of diabolical thoughts going on behind his mask.
“Looks like we’ll be spending more time together. Agonizing.” He stopped suddenly, frowning in earnest. “Actually, I have a lot of business in Darkside right now. I’ll have to ask Ian to work with you until I wrap things up.”
“That’s where you were last night? You seem out of it this morning.”<
br />
He smirked. “I am always delirious in your presence. Yes, I’m terribly sleep deprived. You should tuck me into bed.”
I swallowed and edged closer to him, awfully aware of the scent of black cherry that swirled off his skin. “Are you too busy? I know it’s not Tuesday, but I thought that maybe…”
He stared at me for a long time before he brushed his fingers across my cheek and leaned close to inhale deeply. “What thoughts do you have that smell so delicious?”
I swallowed while his lips grazed my cheek. He was acting kind of weird, kind of wonderful, like he was drunk on me. “I thought we could go on a date.”
“Another tea party?” His lips brushed my jaw that time.
“Um, what? Oh, no, probably something involving trees.”
“Trees are very nice.” His lips grazed my ear. “You have delicious ears. I never see them except in ballet. Your hair is glorious, but your ears, works of art.”
I shivered and took two steps away from him, gripping his arms to keep him away. “Are you okay? You seem kind of drunk.”
He blinked and the green in his eyes grew very bright before he laughed, low and melodious. “I am a changed mage. You need a ring.”
“What for?”
He covered my hands with his and pulled me closer to him. “For putting on your finger. Or lighting on fire. Whichever. I love your coat. I had the hardest time taking it off this morning and putting on my school uniform.”
I swallowed because he kept looking at me like that, hard and burning, and he smelled so delicious and dangerous. “You spent all night in Darkside?” Was that jealousy I felt? I couldn’t go to Darkside, and it was full of things I didn’t understand that got to play with my mage.
He raised my hand and kissed my fingers, his lips lingering on my skin, soft and burning, the scent of ashes and smoke seeming to come from his mouth. “Not all night. I went home for a little while. I’ll be in Darkside as often as possible in the next few days. After things get resolved, we’ll go on as many tree dates as you like. I’m very intrigued.”
He smiled at me and he was a little more himself. I sighed and nodded. It was only fair for me to give him space when I’d abandoned him for a week to skin Jackson.
After school, I went to the library to study with Viney. She didn’t study with me, she thumped the desk where Oscar glowered and the two of them had a rollickingly fun discussion about arbitrary mortality.
I walked over to Lester. I hesitated before I sat down next to him and pulled out my Conversational Portuguese. I went to work without saying anything. After about twenty minutes he addressed me.
“Congratulations on your contract with Huntsman mage.” His smile and heavy-lidded eyes made the words incredibly suggestive, like the postal worker on Pasciones.
I leaned on my elbow and smiled at him. “Thanks, Lester. Thanks so much for your willingness to work with me. I think it kind of pushed Drake in the direction of offering me his contract.”
He raised one heavy eyebrow. “I’m glad that everything worked out. Should you be sitting with me?”
“Do you think he’ll try to kill you for talking to me? There’s a clause in the contract about me working with other mages.”
He frowned. “Any mage? I understand that you’re working with Stoneburrow, but why would Huntsman allow you to associate with any others?”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “What are you talking about? Since when has Drake been jealous? He’s not. Sometimes he says he is, but he doesn’t care what I do with Zach.”
Lester studied me for a long time. “Be careful. Huntsman treats Stoneburrow with care because of who he is and the balance that is required between two such families in one world. Their families at war could easily turn our world into another Darkside. Also, Drake considers Zachary his friend. Don’t test such friendships.”
I nodded. “Very wise, Lester. I thought you’d like me better now, safely under contract with someone else so I didn’t accidentally marry you. If you’re worried about Drake going to war with you, I’ll make a point to avoid you in the future.”
He studied me for a few seconds. “I would like to be your ally. I will discuss it with Huntsman first. He will let you know whether or not he approves.” He bowed to me and turned his hulking, meaty self away from me.
I couldn’t find Viney or Oscar. Probably they were making out in the stacks. I wasn’t exactly happy about Lester asking Drake if I could study with him. That’s what that whole thing was, right? Whether or not I had the right to sit at a table with another mage. Macaroons and bonbons, I was marrying Drake to save my mother, not so he could control my life more easily. Was that why I’d signed the contract, to save my mother or because I’d seen him across the tea table from me with Professor Cadaver eating a cookie on his hat brim wearing a tiny top hat that Drake must have made himself?
I was irritated, but I couldn’t help but smile. I loved the mage. I adored him. I would probably marry him without a contract if he asked me to. If he told me that he loved me, but no, of course he’d never say that, even if his eyes did, his hands, his voice, every part of him whispering that he adored me as much as he loved my jacket.
“Excuse me, Miss Lane?”
I turned towards the men in suits who were clearly not from Rosewood. I swallowed and crossed my arms, but in a moment, Lester was at my side, his hulking figure glowering dangerously at the neat men.
“Yes?”
The one in charge, a man in his forties stepped forward, hands clasped like he was about to sing an aria. If I had magic that’s what I would make him do. He’d sing like Wit. “We represent the investors who control Rosewood. It seems that you’ve been using these premises to create and develop products that must be monitored and controlled, for the sake of safety of course.”
Lester nudged me and muttered in my ear, his breath hot. “Contact Stoneburrow. Now.”
Contact Zach? I reached for my phone, but Lester frowned. No? The bond. I dug my nails into my hip and focused on that connection. Zach. My friend who I trusted for absolutely no reason.
In a moment he was there, a snarling, hissing, badger of a mage between me and the men in suits. “How dare you approach my intern? Do you imagine that I didn’t have the legal procedures completed before allowing another into Stoneburrow’s confidence? Penny Lane is in my employ. You touch her, you touch me.”
I blinked at him. That had all been kind of more than necessarily passionate. Also, what was that about me working for him? He was my hurter assistant. His job was to keep me from blowing myself up.
The man in the suit glared at Zach. “I’ll have to see the documents.”
“You can talk to my contract mage.”
“It’s hers that I’m interested in.”
Zach cocked his head as he studied the other mage like this was a serious standoff. Zach was so alive, intent, totally not suicidal. He should assault men in suits more often. “Her contract mage is Jasper Hopeworth. Do you really think that you’ll survive that kind of cross-suit? Do you think Rosewood would look better with the Huntsman crest or the Stoneburrow?”
The suit guy and Zach glared at each other for a long time before finally the suit glanced away. “I see that this is out of our jurisdiction for the time being.”
“I’m glad you’ve become enlightened.” Zach grabbed my hand and dragged me after him, away from the men.
“Zach, I don’t think Pitch likes being dragged around,” I whispered.
“Good. She can come and rip apart the vultures.”
“Those guys were vultures?”
He gave me a contemptuous glance. “You don’t know anything. You honestly came to this school and chose me to marry because you like the way I looked hanging from a Christmas tree.”
“You did look adorable as a Christmas ornament. Would you please stop dragging me? I don’t think they’re chasing us.”
“Do you have any legal counsel?”
“You mean my own contract mage? Re
vere always did tourney paperwork. Does that count?”
He hissed. “They’d be after your hurters if they knew about you.”
“What would they do with them?”
“Confiscate, tax, sell to the highest bidder, they’ll also jail you and try to torture you into replicating the tech for ‘the greater good’. Walk faster. It’s a good thing that you called me.”
“Lester told me to.”
Zach hissed and gripped me tighter. “What were you doing with that hulking heap of detritus?”
“Apparently bringing out your vocabulary. In the contract I have the right to work with whoever I want.”
“And according to the fact that I own you, you can only work with me unless for some unforeseen reason I think you need to drive another mage insane.”
He kept dragging me and didn’t let me go until we’d reached the hideously ugly Commons Room. Zach was on his phone at once, arguing with someone who probably wasn’t arguing back. He hung up and turned to glare at me, his eyes bright and electric.
“You’re going to sign an employee confidentiality statement to guarantee your legal rights.”
“How are they legal rights if I have to pretend to work for you to get them?”
He sneered at me. “You work for me. Did you not notice the tech class? I grade you.”
“I’m going to fail, aren’t I?” I shrugged. “Seriously, Zach, what was that? Are you just messing with me?”
He raised his eyebrows. “You’ll get used to being copyrighted. It’s better this way.”
“Excuse me? Croissants and strawberry shortcake, you are going to die.”
He turned away with his phone, leaving me to sputter at his back.
I left him, slamming my door. I grabbed my phone and called Revere. He answered after fourteen rings.
“Penny.”
“Some guys in suits came around, asking about the stuff I was working on. At least, I think that’s what he was saying.”
“Members of the government of technical magical development?”
“What?”
“TMD. They’re a branch of the council that was basically created to try and control Stoneburrow. They are unequivocally failing at that. They say that the Council controls the TMD and Stoneburrow controls the Council. As though we need more complications. How close are you to getting a contract, or have you given up completely?”
Blooming Black: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 4) Page 13
