Rise of the Red Queen: A Why Choose Academy Romance (Major Arcana Academy Book 2)

by Ana Calin

  I remember that time when I took Pandora’s mouth in the toilet stall, I thought about the Red Witch the entire time. But seeing what I did tonight, that topped it all. I mean how kinky is that? Maverick Jones, our professor of Potions and Dark Arts, taking his student in a dungeon, sharing her with her official boyfriend, no less.

  “The Lord Protector will see you now,” the butler Gordon says when he comes to fetch me from the majestic drawing room. The Lord Protector wouldn’t have seen me in a million years, but when I sent the message through Gordon that I had information about the whereabouts of the Red Witch, I had no doubt he’d grant me an audience as quickly as I’d snap my fingers.

  Gordon leads me up the grand staircase to the study, and pushes the double doors open. I enter a hall so big it resembles a cathedral. There’s an impressive bookcase on the back wall, high up to the vaulted ceiling. Right in front of it, the Lord Protector’s desk with a crystal globe, a golden skull, tomes of books, charms and magic candles. But what draws my attention is the Scythe in the corner. The symbol of the Grim Reaper’s power.

  But the scythe pales when a bundle of shadows forms behind the desk, like a raging black vortex. The Lord Protector in his Death form.

  I stand in front of him. Normally I’d have my hands behind my back, waiting for him to invite me to take a seat, but my hands are busy holding the crystal globe in which I’ve captured what went down in the dungeon. I hold it in front of me like a shield in case the Grim Reaper decides to reap my head before I get to open my mouth, simply because I know his protégé is no longer at the Academy.

  His face reforms from the shadows, his features sharp, like a killer’s, and his eyes a bright hazel with black rims. The eyes of Death.

  I hold the crystal globe out to him, staring down at the moving images and imbuing them with more of my magic so that it clearly shows what happened. The Lord Protector looks at it. His killer gaze is cold at first, but when he starts to understand what he’s seeing, he knits his eyebrows as if straining to wrap his mind around it.

  Pressure fills the air. I expect anything from the Lord Protector, so my body flexes under my black suit. I have to get out of his way quickly enough, if rage gets the better of him.

  And it does.

  “Fucking whore.” His snarl rips through the silence. He swipes his desk clean with one arm, blazing with fury.

  “That she is,” I say, keeping as calm as possible. “You have been protecting a whore, who fucked your two best soldiers at the same time—forgive my language.”

  “She’ll pay for this.”

  “As she should. But, if you’ll allow me the observation, Lord Protector, you’ll have to watch out for those two. They are like drooling puppies after her. I saw all that live.” I motion casually at the crystal globe, where the three are still having their orgy, surrounded by fog now that I don’t have my full magical attention on the recording. “They are in love with her, Lord Protector, head over heels. Completely in her power. Neither of them will ever let anything happen to her, they’ll die in order to protect her.”

  The Lord Protector has taken full human form, but shadows billow around him like the rays of a black sun. He heads to the window, clothed in his darkness. As he looks outside, his hazel eyes catch a bloody hue in the rising sun. And then it hits me.

  “I’m be damned,” I whisper. “You’re in love with her, too. You’re not just enraged, you’re maddened with pain.”

  He doesn’t answer. He’s hurting. I head slowly to him, fascinated by my discovery.

  “It’s why you covered her when she ran away with Maverick. You thought he took her against her will, when in truth, she had done it willingly.”

  “Shut up,” he growls, his jaw rippling. He looks me full in the face, and the blood freezes in my veins for the first time. I was never afraid before, Pandora calls me a psycho because of it. But the Lord Protector is a whole new level of dangerous.

  “You don’t understand,” he says. “Things are far more complicated than they seem. The Red Witch must never be with a man.” His jaw clenches, the cold beauty of his face morphing into cruelty. “And those two knew it, and yet they did all that.”

  “And it looks like they intend to do it again. But what if it’s not their fault, Lord Protector? What if it was her who enchanted them, caused them to do it? Maybe she is more powerful than any of us thought.” I lick my lips, preparing to touch on the most important subject. “Look, I know it was her who opened the portal to Hell during the acceptance test at the Academy. You took the blame because you wanted to protect her, but why would you still want to do that now? If you ask me, she must have bewitched both Professor Jones, and Lord Aries. They worship her like a goddess, which is exactly what she planned from the very beginning.”

  “Tell me one thing, Mister Dark,” the Lord Protector says. “Why didn’t you go to the Headmaster when you discovered that Lucia was missing from the Academy? That her being ill had been only a glamour I had cast over her empty bed? That would have made things a whole lot easier. You don’t really need to persuade anyone that Lucia is evil, the Headmaster is convinced about that already. All you have to do is expose her missing from the Academy, and everybody will be searching for her, ready to throw her straight into the pit when they get their hands on her.” He narrows his dangerous hazel eyes. It’s not easy to hold my ground. The man is intimidating as fuck. “So why didn’t you do it? Why come to me with this, instead of the Headmaster?”

  “Because I imagined you might want to keep protecting her,” I say truthfully. “To be completely honest, not for one second did I stop to think that you were doing it because you were in love with her.” I puff. “I mean, that’s unthinkable. That the Lord Protector—”

  “So you figured there must be some other reason that you could extort me for,” he interrupts.

  “I guess I did.”

  The shadows surge around him, forcing me to step back. “So now that you know the truth, what do you plan on doing with it?”

  I ponder. I know just by looking at him that starting a war with the Lord Protector, the Grim Reaper, is not exactly a brilliant idea. When I fail to provide an answer, he continues.

  “I see you’re confused. No problem, let me paint a clear picture for you then. You go with this to the Headmaster. You tell him the whole truth. He will start a witch-hunt and, eventually, he’ll get his hands on Lucia, and he’ll throw her into the pit. Problem solved, no more Trojan Horse to endanger the Academy. But know this.” He looks me sharply in the eye. “I would take that as a personal betrayal, and hunt you down. I’d make a personal goal out of making your life a living hell. I’d torture you mentally and physically until you fall to your knees and beg me to finally take your life.”

  “Damn. You mean every word you say.”

  “I do.”

  “But, as you well noticed, I stand in front of you now. I’ve brought this to you, not to the Headmaster. But you’re right. I do want something in return.”

  “And that is?”

  “I want the Book of Prophecies. You know, the one you stole from me in the portal while I teleported back from the mortal world.”

  He gives me a dead stare. It lasts only for a moment, but it’s enough for me to understand. It makes me smile. “You didn’t expect that I knew what happened, did you? Yet another something the great Lord Protector didn’t see coming. I hope you’re not making a habit out of this, some would say you’re growing soft.”

  “One more word, and you’ll be the first to experience how soft I’ve grown.”

  He’s pissed, and he looks ready and willing to do bad things to me.

  “How did you even find the three?” he says, turning away from me.

  “I kept tabs on Silas. I knew he was in love with Lucia, and that he’d eventually find her. As a demigod myself, it was easy to keep tabs on the demigod of war. I can sense him.”

  “I see.” He steps behind his desk, the shadows wrapping around him to form a bla
ck outfit. It’s a fascinating process to watch.

  “I know why you want the Book of Prophecies,” he says, holding his hand over the items on the floor, and applying magnetic power to make them float back to the desk. “You think that way you’ll be able to control the Red Queen. But you can’t. No one can control her, no matter how much they know.”

  “Knowledge is power. We can neutralize her danger by knowing all there is to know about her.”

  “Everything you need to know is this, boy—She’s more powerful than you imagine. When she unlocks her full potential, she’ll be able to do things to you that will make you wish you’d never been born.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Listen, Mr. Dark. I appreciate you coming here, and telling me where those two traitors are keeping the Red Witch. But this is where your part in this story ends. Thank you for your assistance, but I’ll take things from here.”

  “But the Book of Prophecies—”

  “That’s all. Return to the Academy, and don’t forget it’s in your best interest to keep all this to yourself. Remember, if you go with any of this to the Headmaster, you’re making me your very own personal enemy. It’s your decision.”

  He sits at the desk, and waves me away, like a king. He’s assumed full human form, but I can still feel the power radiating from him. And yet I can’t accept this. I am Zillard Dark, the son of Hades. I won’t bow before anyone and, by the cursed realms, I won’t let the Grim Reaper put me down.

  “I’ll keep this between us,” I say, ignoring his order to leave. “But this isn’t over yet, Lord Protector. One day, I will sit in that chair.” I point to him. The Lord Protector looks up at me, raising an eyebrow like he can’t believe my audacity.

  I turn on my heel and leave, grinding my teeth and promising myself that, one day, I will deliver on that promise. The moment will come for me to live up to my ambitions, and it’ll come soon.

  CHAPTER V

  Lucy

  I sit in the dungeon on one of the leather cases that Maverick has brought, wrapped in his warm magic, and sifting through the items in the other suitcase. I haven’t been part of this magical world for long, but I’ve come to love it, especially now that I’m getting good at some of this stuff. I take a bite of the voluptuous meal Silas brought for me, inspecting both sides of a special golden charm as I wait for my two lovers to return. I smile as I think about them like that—my lovers. Happiness fills my heart, knowing that the hatred between them is gone and, even though they might never hold brotherly love for each other, they are bent on protecting me, and they’ll work together if that’s what it takes. They’ll also happily work together to give me maximum pleasure again. I sensed that beyond a doubt.

  They left to look for a safe place we can move to. It’s not easy to find one on the Flipside, and I intend to suggest we move to the mortal realm. They’ll argue against it because supernatural creatures are forbidden from entering the mortal world, let alone live in it. But I hope to make them see that’s exactly why we should do it.

  The dungeon gates creak in the distance. They’re here. I stand to greet them, but it’s not my lovers that enter the cell. It’s a barrel-chested fae from the Lord Protector’s guard. I brace myself, my fingers hooking in the cocoon of magic Maverick has put around me like a blanket of cashmere. My lips go dry.

  “How, what,” I whisper, but the fae isn’t here for conversation. He lunges over, grabs me, and throws me over his shoulder. I kick and scream, but fall silent when I see half an army of fae waiting by the portal in the mansion underground. The Lord Protector must have sent them to shut down Silas and Maverick, if they resisted my capture.

  Thank God they’re not here! They would have fought for me, and probably lost their lives. The realization makes me still completely, and go willingly with the fae, who sinks with me into the portal. The liquid infiltrates my body, decomposing my cells and putting them back together as we re-emerge on the other side. My captor carries me up the stairs still slung over his shoulder, humiliating me in front of Gordon and the entire staff. Maids stop in the hallways to stare, and the satisfaction in Gordon’s face pisses me off. The fae only puts me down when we reach the Lord Protector’s study. Actually, he basically throws me at his feet.

  I look up at the Protector’s furious face.

  “Thank you,” he tells the fae. “You’re free to leave.”

  The doors thud shut behind me, and I flinch at the sound. I come slowly up to my feet, happy that Maverick’s magic is still around me, but Ramses looks me up and down as if I’m naked.

  The more I look at him, the more I realize how deeply I missed him. He is the missing piece in my life, and the Red Queen, that powerful ancient spirit deep inside me, surfaces with a great spiritual hunger for him.

  “Please,” I begin in a faint voice. “Don’t punish Silas and Maverick. This wasn’t their fault.”

  “I can’t believe you did this to me after how much I trusted you,” Ramses says as if he could care less what I just said. “I protected you, I stood up for you and endangered my very position as Lord Protector. And this is how you repay me? You go around fucking the two men I tasked with your mentoring and your protection.”

  I freeze. How in the world does he know? Shame floods me.

  “Ramses—”

  He flashes to me and grabs my hair. “Don’t you dare speak my name.” He glares at me so sharply I’m surprised it doesn’t cut me. “I saw it with my own eyes. I saw you banging them at the same time.” He forces me to my knees as he bites the words, his lip curling over his teeth. “You are the Red Queen, and you’re more wicked than I imagined.”

  “Please, Ramses, it’s not like that.” I manage. “Maverick told me he discovered what my vision meant, back when I saw myself in his crystal globe at the hut. I’m destined to be with the three of you.”

  “Oh, you’d add me to your little harem, too, yes?” Rage shimmers in his eyes, though he tries to mask it with contempt. A contempt that I’m determined to refuse. I jut up my chin, because it’s the only thing I can do, being on my knees, in his power.

  “I’m not sorry for what I’ve done. I’d do it all over again. And after all, you’re the one who first instigated Maverick to seduce me. You knew I wanted Silas, but you caused me to have something with Maverick. If you think about it, you’re only reaping what you sowed.”

  He falls silent. He loosens his grip on my hair, his face changing from angry to hurt. So deeply hurt that my heart twists. He turns and leans with his hands on his desk, head down, as if he can’t sustain his own weight anymore.

  It breaks my heart. I remember how he unblocked my magic powers months ago. He and I, alone in my room, his fine hands massaging my body. Only the duvet between us, and his darkness that always surrounds him in the form of shadows or black clothing. Our connection was deep, loving. And yet he ordered Maverick to hurt me deeply by using me, and separating me from Silas.

  “You always knew I wanted Silas,” I say. “And yet you had no problem basically giving me to Maverick. It’s you who shared me with these men from the start, Ramses.”

  “I didn’t mean it to be that way,” he manages in a broken voice. “I just...”

  The Lord Protector

  I GATHER MY STRENGTH and turn around to look at Lucia. It’s hard to see her wrapped in another man’s magic like in a sparkling white cocoon. She seems an angel with her fiery red hair, her blue eyes, and the sprinkle of freckles on her heart-shaped face that make her look innocent, and yet forbiddingly sexy.

  The idea that she basically fucked two men just a little while ago puts a knot in my throat. I can smell their essence inside her even through the warlock’s wrappings, and I could kill her for it.

  “You are an evil witch,” I say pointedly, coating my hurt in frustration. “You must have bewitched them, otherwise neither of them would have done what I’ve seen—” I bite my lip, unable to say it.

  My black clothes surge into shadows, and I walk away fro
m her, before I roar so loud that it would make her eardrums bleed. I open the drawer and take out the crystal globe that Zillard used to record her. I hold it out to her, my fingernails long and black as my hand transforms into the Grim Reaper’s. Fury and pain draw out this form of me.

  “You, fornicating with both Silas and Maverick.”

  She looks down at the crystal. Shame colors her cheeks, making her look even more innocent. A deceiving image. I want to snarl in her face she’s as much a whore as the one she’s supposed to give birth to, but I swallow it down.

  “Believe it or not,” she manages, “it’s not what it looks like.”

  “Oh, no shit.”

  That gives her pause. “I think this is the first time I’ve heard that word from your mouth.”

  “You were an innocent and loving girl in my eyes before. Now you’re a—” I look her up and down, letting her read my disdain.

  “We didn’t go all the way,” she says through her teeth. “Silas and Maverick told me the truth. I know what losing my virginity would mean.”

  “And yet you did all those things with them. That would be enough to drive an archangel mad, sooner or later. They won’t be able to resist your pull forever, and you damn well know it.”

  She just stares at me.

  “I see you won’t even bother to deny it.”

  More silence.

  “I took your side, Lucia. I destroyed the spells blocking your power, I stood up for you, took on the Headmaster and the entire Board. And this is how you repay me?”

  Tears appear in her eyes that sparkle like cold waters. She’s starting to break. Her chin trembles, and it almost makes me feel sorry for her. I puff.

  “Can’t believe you’re actually trying to use your power on me as well, trying to manipulate me like you did them.”