“Everyone out!” Dr. Jemison yelled.
The room filled with scurrying sounds. Chairs falling. Words blurted. Maggie had only the sense of noise and chaos, but after a moment, Maggie felt Dan finally withdraw, too.
It was all she could do to hold back some of the magic.
She could see as well as feel the magic flowing from her into Axell, awave of energy rushing at him. He was writhing and making noises she wasn’t sure she ought to hear. “Sorry. Didn’t mean…”
Then her teacher stepped in front of her, like an extra junction in the magic that was insisting it needed to flow.
“Let it go, Maggie,” Dr. Jemison ordered. “All of it.”
So she did.
Maggie looked away from Axell, away from Dr. Jemison, and closed her eyes against the lash of magic that ricocheted through her own body. She bit down on her lip and swayed, still pointedly not looking at either of the two other people still in the room. Sharing unplanned magic-induced orgasms was not something she had ever considered in her life.
When Maggie opened her eyes, Dr. Jemison was looking directly at her, relatively composed, even though her shaking voice betrayed her. “That was unexpected.”
“But not unwelcome,” Axell said calmly. “I am not upset with you, Maggie.”
“I tried to… to stop the magic from…” She glanced from the Viking-looking man to her teacher. “I amsosorry.”
Dr. Jemison smiled. “Oh, Maggie, we can all use a little joy, can’t we? I felt how much energy you were trying to contain, and I apologize. I had no idea you were so powerf—”
“I’m not.”
“Beg to differ.” Axell squirmed slightly. “That was a lot, er, of the magic sex. Doc? Any magical napkins or towels?”
“I would suggest returning to your rooms to clean up.” The doctor gave him a sympathetic smile.
“And a nap,” Axell joked as he stood, robe still gathered in front of him. Then he caught Maggie’s eye. “No regrets, Miss Maggie. No guilt.” His words felt like an order, but he was soyoungthat she felt guilt all the same. Then he added in a soft voice, “If I wasn’t pursuing Daniel, I would ask you to join me in my room… to hold you after that.”
“Thanks for saying that,” Maggie managed to reply, face flaming in embarrassment.
Once he left, she turned to the teacher. “Daniel is some sort of battery booster pack. When he touched my back, it was like a jolt sizzled though me.” She caught Dr. Jemison’s eye. “It wasn’tmymagic.”
Dr. Jemison sighed softly. “The headmaster needs to know about Mr. Monahan and about this incident.”
“I can go tell him. I needed to speak to him anyhow.” Maggie crossed her arms, now feeling guilty for an entirely different reason. Whatever she’d done with Sondre was no more than friends with benefits, acquaintances with benefits really, but she had a flicker of a thought that he might not be pleased with what just happened.
It was an accident, and I’m not staying here anyhow.
Maggie had been hunting Sondre for several hours. She’d confronted hobs, students, and finally just grabbed a blanket and decided to sleep outside the man’s door. The ground was uncomfortable stone, indented in the way of stone that had seen innumerable steps, but it radiated a low warmth that she hadn’t noticed initially, as if there were in-floor heating lines in it. Was that intentional? Or was the warmth she felt an embedded spell?
Maggie flattened her palms to the floor, feeling no clear answer, but somehow shifting the hard stone into something vaguely squishy.
“I broke the castle,” she muttered, but she wasn’t entirely sure how or what she’d done.
She waited for hours, but finally, Sondre stomped toward her. Oddly, he was carrying a stack of what looked like meat in his arm. Over his shoulder was a bulging sack. At the top, she could see a bag of pretzels of all things.
When he noticed her there, he rubbed his head with his free hand in a way that was already familiar to her from her initial imprisonment. “What are you doing here, Maggie?”
“I have some words for you.” She pushed to her feet, not particularly graceful with the cocoon of blankets she was currently wrapped in. “You lied to me.”
“Not directly.” He held out a hand to her. “There will be no back and forth between parents for Craig.”
“Because he’ll think I abandoned him!” Maggie smacked his hand away. “Why? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sondre sighed. “There are rules, Maggie.”
