Drowning Studies (Artemis University Book 2)

by Erin R Flynn

  But it was like a delayed reaction in movies where nothing happens right away from the sword slicing but then you realize it went through the guy’s body or the head is in half. Yeah, it was like that as a whole section of the left side of the mountain started sliding as if some invisible hand was slicing off some shawarma and it was tumbling down to the tray.

  And then it started on the right side as well. People screamed and I looked up in time to see a whole section of top was falling towards us.

  I had a moment to wish I’d punched some more people and worked out what happened to my inheritance if I died before what I assumed was going to be my getting smashed into a pancake.

  It didn’t happen though. It disappeared and reappeared on the scale area…. Which had a serious pile going on and more was still falling.

  I couldn’t even hide my shock as I slowly turned around with bug-wide eyes and found Hudson in the crowd with his mouth hanging open.

  “What the fuck was in that coffee?”

  The look he gave me clearly saying it wasn’t the damn coffee was almost amusing. I flinched when I heard another crash and looked back around to see more coming down.

  Holy crap. I took out a lot of that mountain top. I mean, there was still a lot of mountain left, but of the section they wanted gone to build up, I took way more than even all the other competitors so far combined did.

  Which was why I was a total bitch about it.

  I blew on my nails and rubbed them on my sweater as I looked out at the line who had been taunting me.

  “And that’s how it’s done. Let’s see what you can actually do after all your talk, bitches.” I strutted past them and kissed my hand, giving my ass a good smack with it.

  The crowd finally got over their shock and started wildly cheering. I got a standing ovation and I bowed at their praise, even going so far as to do a victory dance, which seemed to amuse people as the uproar started dying down.

  “No, so really, what was in that coffee?” I asked as a general question, circling my finger around my face. “Because all of this is going to be going on for a while. I mean, I’m dancing to the rhythm of my heartbeat that’s racing like bass in a club. Is there an antidote for this or am I going to grow wings like a Red Bull commercial here?”

  “You’re fine, you twit,” Craftsman said under his breath as he helped me into my jacket. “You’re bouncing.”

  “Yeah, caffeine, remember? You saw me after mocha cake, so whatever the fuck I had is going to be way worse. I’ll just be over there running up and down the mountain until I can feel my face again. Holy fuck that’s some good shit. Am I going to grow chest hair? I don’t want chest hair.”

  “I’m going to gag you,” he growled as he moved me off to the side of the stands.

  I groaned as I had a visual of him gagging me with something dirty. Nice.

  “Julian, good to see you getting involved,” a man said from behind us.

  I turned to see almost a carbon copy of Headmaster Edelman, but instead of giving off a safe feeling, I got the vibe to take several steps back from this guy.

  Craftsman slipped my necklace in my hand and I got the idea, quickly putting it on.

  “Well done, well done indeed, boy.”

  There were so many things wrong with that statement it wasn’t even funny but I went with the obvious one.

  “Yeah, good job, Craftsman,” I mocked. “You did it all. I mean that was all you, dude.” I glanced at the guy and rolled my eyes. “When you feel a shiver later, I’m sure it’s every woman here thinking they hope you get kicked in the balls, you creepy shit.”

  Craftsman went pale but I wasn’t taking this crap. Yeah, Craftsman did a good job helping me visualize and filling me in but fuck, I took down a chunk of the mountain. I wasn’t letting a man give or take credit for that.

  The guy blinked at me as if shocked I was even bothering to speak before completely ignoring me and looking back to Craftsman.

  “I heard you came up with a new rune,” he said brightly but with a tang of something dark. “I’m looking forward to it, very forward to it.”

  I snorted. “It’s not yours. It’s his.” He gave me another look like he was going to ignore me but I was winning this point. “He did it with my magic and for me, the telepath, so not with university anything.”

  The condescending smirk the guy gave me set my blood on fire. “Yes, well, as you’re a university asset, it does belong to me.” He looked me over with possession and everything I’d fought my entire life against. “As is all you do, so quite the win today. I’m sure you’ll be filled in soon on how things work and your place, what’s expected of you.”

  “Did you just call me a university asset? You are a creepy fucker,” I seethed. “I pay to go to Artemis, not for you to own me and you’re not even part of that school!”

  He did a double take but frowned. “Pay?” He focused on Craftsman. “How does an unknown hybrid have the money to pay? How is she not on scholarship?”

  Oh, this whole conversation just got creepier.

  “Not your business,” I interjected. “Refer to what I just said about you not working for the school.” He finally seemed to realize he’d have to deal with me and sighed, giving me an annoyed look, but I talked over him. “Yeah, yeah, your family was one of many who founded it. I heard. Do you own it? No, right?”

  “That doesn’t matter as—”

  “No, it absolutely does matter,” I drawled. “In this world and the real world. You don’t own it and you’re not the headmaster anymore so you own nothing of that university or Craftsman, and certainly not me.

  “You are not getting that rune and not a damn thing from me or you will not like the shitstorm you start. You think I’m young and an unknown but you have no idea what stands behind me, so let me show you.”

  I used the cheering for whoever was going next to cover that last bit before deciding to take Mrs. Vogel up on her offer to find her after my turn. I climbed up the seating and waved at her when she glanced my way.

  She nodded and gestured for me to come over. It wasn’t far, as her family would have prime seats since it was their castle and event.

  “Nicely done, impressive to say the least,” she praised as I sat down.

  “Thanks! That was some good coffee,” I replied with a bright grin. “Hey, I get the chunks I made, right? That guy over there with Craftsman said it’s all his because I’m a university asset and he owns me? He thought I was a scholarship student but still, I mean, is there something in that NDA we sign that’s part of our soul?”

  I wiggled my finger in my ear as I got more and more attention with how loud I was talking.

  “Sorry, my ears are still ringing. Is there some sort of Skull and Bones cult stuff with supes? I don’t get what he thinks he owns if he doesn’t own the school but he was demanding stuff of me and he doesn’t even work there anymore.

  “I didn’t want to join a human cult and a supe one sounds just as bad.” I gasped as I moved my hand to her arm. “Is he Underground?”

  “What?” she asked, her eyes going wide. I saw she was playing along but that meant accepting what I was doing and I went for it.

  “That’s the supe bad guys, right? I mean, the scholarship students aren’t slaves, right? Please tell me supes don’t have slaves because humans haven’t done that for a long while.

  “Do we have police to investigate like supe trafficking? I mean, if he owns me—who is he selling me to after I graduate? That’s what the Underground does, right?

  “I bet he’s the one who called Headmaster Edelman demanding blood and samples from me. Can he do experimenting on scholarship students? That’s some serious fine print on those scholarship forms.

  “Who do we report suspicious activity that might be Underground? Or like audit the school if he thinks he owns it and the students since his son is headmaster. Is there supe FBI we call?”

  The entire stadium seating had gone quiet listening to my worried ramble. I
gave a half yawn and gasped.

  “Oh, my ears finally popped,” I said in a normal volume. “Could you hear me?”

  “We could all hear you,” said another woman, who exchanged a look with the man sitting next to her before they looked at the headmaster’s dad.

  And they weren’t the only ones. While they were looking at him, they weren’t looking at me.

  So I was a brat and smirked at him. Steam about came out of his ears and fire looked like it would have come out of his mouth better than any of the dragons there.

  Mrs. Vogel cleared her throat. “I appreciate you telling me right away, but I feel this discussion should be carried behind closed doors and in detail. You’ve given many of us a lot to think about and take seriously, but today is about the contestants and we should get back to that.”

  “Of course, sorry, I didn’t mean to be shouting,” I apologized, wincing as I glanced around.

  The next contestant went while we were distracted and people clapped at the nice boulder the guy knocked out.

  “Let’s get something to soak up the speed,” Hudson said so his parents could hear. “We don’t need you bouncing off the mountain when you claim your prize.”

  “Will I really win?” I asked.

  Mr. Vogel snorted and gave me a firm nod, Mrs. Vogel winking at me.

  “I didn’t even ask what the prize was. I was just excited to try really letting out my power clap without doing any unwanted damage. Even the trees on campus I’ve practiced on at least go towards firewood.”

  “You’re the reason huge piles of firewood are ready for winter?” Hudson asked, shaking his head when I nodded. “When do you sleep?”

  “I just practice for a bit with Dr. Craftsman after my run in the morning. I’m getting better at focusing it or cutting the impact, but I’ve never had the chance to full out hit the gas. It was fun.”

  “Yes, fun,” Mr. Vogel chuckled. “And a million-dollar prize.”

  Mrs. Vogel burst out laughing when my mouth just dropped open.

  “But I don’t need the money,” I worried.

  She gave me a kind smile. “No, but I believe you know some who were looking for some startup capital.”

  Right, the hobgoblins. I was going to lend them the startup money. I leaned in and kissed her cheek, thanking her and then apologizing when I saw people were shocked—and some appalled—that I’d done it.

  Great, now I needed to learn dragon court customs.

  I wasn’t surprised when we headed towards the kitchen, but then he kept going, grabbing my hand when I stopped. “Hey, I wanted more of those donuts from heaven.”

  “Later,” he growled.

  “I’ll give carnal favors for them,” I muttered under my breath as he pulled me up a staircase.

  “Good to know.”

  We went up two more flights of stairs and down a long hall before he yanked on the handle of a door and pulled me inside. I had a second to realize it was a bedroom before his lips were on mine.

  He had me against the closed door as he cupped my face and kissed me silly.

  “Your room?” I cut in, not sure how I felt about that. We were casual but I didn’t want to be one of many like this was the prince’s thing to get girls back here in his castle and all of that.

  He nodded, sensing my hesitation. “I’ve never brought a girl here. I’ve never brought one home or here. I’m not like that.”

  “Sorry, it’s just seeing the wow castle it sort of hit me, like, the reality, not just sort of the idea of—”

  His lips found mine and shut me up, which I deeply appreciated and would thank him later. I didn’t always need to be rambling on caffeine or even saying stupid stuff without it.

  “You were so fucking hot,” he growled against my lips. “I got hard when you smacked your ass.”

  “Yeah?” I teased as he was already taking off my sweater. “You want me to smack it for you, my dragon?”

  “I want to smack it,” he admitted, kissing away my scathing comment as I yanked off his sweater too. We were a whirlwind of clothes flying and making progress to the bed. “Fuck, I’m going to fuck you bare in my bed, my princess.”

  I groaned. Just groaned. Not because it was like a thing with me, but I could feel how much he wanted it, was into it.

  “We don’t have enough time,” he growled as he tossed me on the bed naked. He finished peeling off his pants, boxer briefs, shoes, and socks while I licked my lips and watched like a perv. “I need to start having you in my bed at school. I like you naked in my bed.”

  “Maybe,” I purred as I snuggled into the comforter. I let down my hair and made sure it was spread all over his black comforter.

  That was it. That was all it took and he cracked, gobbling me up in the best way. I enjoyed my orgasms while he stretched me out, that energy going crazy between us.

  Then again, it might be because of all the energy I used for the competition.

  I had a feeling I would crash hard after I came down from the speed.

  “You landed hard on your ass or I would give it a good slap,” he threatened. He raised an eyebrow when I opened my mouth to bitch. “Smack mine as often as you want, Princess.”

  Fair enough. I didn’t really object unless he was doing it in front of people like I was his bitch.

  He flipped me onto my hands and knees, growling to show him my nape as he thrust in me. It was quick, hot, passionate, and seriously hawt. But that was all the time we had. I knew I had to get up but my body wasn’t responding great after such high-grade loving.

  But Hudson being Hudson, he took care of me. He grabbed a towel from his bathroom and cleaned me up before he got dressed—clearly so I was naked for him longer—but then came and redressed me.

  “It’s only fair since I took it all off,” he murmured as he kissed my neck. “How are you?”

  “Crashing hard,” I admitted.

  “Let’s get you food then. That was an astounding amount of power you used and no, it wasn’t from the speed even if that would ramp it up.”

  “A lot of it was from the shit comments that a little thing like me wouldn’t do much. I was good at harnessing negative even before I learned what I was.”

  For the first time I saw in his eyes he wanted to ask.

  But I wasn’t ready to tell even if his mother knew. We were casual and if that changed, fine, he could know, but I liked what we had.

  I liked what was between us the way it was and I was not about the idea of changing it. I had too much else up in the air in my life.

  Hudson was a nice constant.

  Maybe I would have to figure out a way to get up to his room so he felt spoiled and would understand it wasn’t because I didn’t care. I just couldn’t handle more right then.

  He snagged a bunch of donuts for me from their chef who specialized in pastries.

  “Will you marry me?” I asked the guy before biting into one. “I’ll make you a very happy stay-at-home husband, I swear it.”

  The dragon looked at me like I was off my rocker but eased up when a few of the other staff burst out laughing.

  I shrugged. “It was worth a shot. Seriously, can I get your number? Maybe a side hustle selling these to me. Or teach the hobgoblins at school?”

  “That I can do, thank you for your praise,” he chuckled, handing me another bag of them and waving for me to get lost.

  Score!

  We rejoined the fun and I noted Craftsman was sitting with the Vogels. Good. I’d felt bad leaving him on his own with the elder Edelman but if I gave him too much attention, that could mean trouble for him later.

  He gave me a quick glance it was all good and I offered him a donut.

  “She offered to marry our chef to get them regularly,” Hudson drawled as we sat in front of his parents, Craftsman, and Mel’s dad.

  “He’ll make some woman very happy one day but he said I’m not the one,” I fake rasped, wiping a nonexistent tear.

  “What is this contest you’re
hosting later? And Hudson next weekend?” Mrs. Vogel asked us in between competitors when we could hear each other. She looked amused when I filled her in. “Something to break up the stress of midterms.”

  “Yes, a productive way to enjoy your schooling instead of those who get into trouble,” Mr. Vogel praised. “And your competition is dragon sculptures?”

  “Yes, Father, I thought it interesting not only to see the creativity but a lot can be judged by the impression we give other species.”

  “Well done,” he agreed.

  They started talking about school and I could see the genuine love and support Mr. Vogel gave Hudson. It was nice. You always heard about rich or important people being cold to their kids but it wasn’t the Vogels. Sure, Mr. Vogel was stoic and stern, but you could see his true feelings even if didn’t say it all.

  Sort of like his son.

  “And Melody is adjusting well?” Mr. Vogel checked, Mr. Rothchild flinching at the mention of his daughter.

  “Very well,” I answered honestly. “Her extra physical training help three days a week is insanely popular. She’s a much better teacher than Khan and he focuses more on the big strong men who need the most attention. Male shifters and dragons get all the help they want with him.”

  “She’s gotten Tamsin’s tutor, Darby, up from the first level to second in under half a semester,” Hudson bragged. “He’s a junior but a vampire and clearly was stuck in the corner as a geek not worth working with much.

  “But it was a bad call as he’s incredibly fast. He’s taking down sparring partners twice his size because he can get the good hits in and out of the way fast.”

  Mrs. Vogel glanced at Mr. Rothchild and looked like she mentally sighed that he didn’t say anything. “And she likes it?”

  I didn’t answer so fast this time. “I think she really does. Mel goes with a lot and you really have to push her to make her object or not put up with stuff but I think this is what she wants to do, not just because I’m there. I was afraid she was just doing it for me and loyalty to me, but I think that’s changed and I’m the perk of her possibly dream job.”

  “She absolutely loves calling lazy elites on their crap,” Hudson admitted, smiling brightly. “She chewed on some juniors—and for a long time—that they needed to worry about their lives and what was out there in the world, not finding the right husband to bring back to mommy and daddy so they’re deemed useful.”