“You smell fucking incredible,” he groans.
How do I tell him that even when I hated him, he smelled like home? That breathing in his scent beneath the pier at Rose Beach somehow forever changed me? Thatheforever changed me?
That I could love him again. That I want to.
That it would be so, so easy to forget the horrible things he said to me, all with the intention of protecting me.
But I need time. I need time with him. With this changed alpha, who would do anything to keep me safe.
I ease back and press a chaste kiss to his lips. “Do you feel better?”
He leans back into the soft sofa cushions and pulls me into a sweet embrace, nodding against my crown. “You’re safe,” he whispers.
“With you,” I say.
I don’t know how long we stay like that, but I must fall asleep because I wake the next morning, tucked snugly and soundly in my nest, sea salt and sunshine in my nose.
* * *
I tryto look beyond Cadigan’s disdain for me in Intermediate Casting on Monday morning. I do what I did with Ian and Simon over the weekend, trying to look past his surface thoughts to see what lies beneath. He’s harried as he scribbles in a notebook and then slams it shut, but I catch his thoughts and see the long lines of sigils I’ve only just come to recognize.
Magical calculus, just like Ian was thinking of during my training.
Desperation nearing panic rolls off of him in waves.
The timing is too soon.The spell isn’t ready.
I stumble, and Marcus catches me, his arm going around my waist. “What is it?”
I give him a quick shake of my head and look toward Professor Cadigan out of the corner of my eye. My honor guard follows my gaze, his own turning stony. He gives me a barely perceptible nod and guides me over to my usual worktable.
I try to press deeper, to figure outwhatspell of Cadigan’s isn’t ready. Whatever he was jotting down looked complex, but I would expect nothing less from one of the strongest, most talented mages alive. I push past his thoughts of the material we’ll cover in class today, but beneath his surface thoughts, he’s afraid. But why?
Alyssa drops down into the chair beside me with a huff. “You coming out for the Feast of Marmora, girlie?”
“Hmm?” My concentration breaks, and I watch Cadigan out of the corner of my eye as I turn to the other omega. “Oh. No. I’m attending the homecoming game with Rad and I’m pretty sure he’ll escort me straight back to my cottage afterward.”
Alyssa mimes gagging, and I force a smile.
“And we’re going out courting on Saturday, so it’ll be a quiet night in for me after that. But I hope you guys have fun.”
“Not as much fun without you,” Alyssa promises. “Well, there’s always All Saints’ Eve.”
All Saints’ Eve—just one day before Rad could fail in his task, and I could be free. My father said his hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed, but that doesn’t mean he’s been successful. He could still fail to show the results he’s been tasked to show, forfeiting my mating contract in his failure.
When Professor Cadigan calls the class to order, his tone is even sharper than usual. He gestures sharply to our latest stack of essays with a disgusted sigh.
“Inadequate! Your work this term has been wholly inadequate, and I fear that if you don’t start showing results, none of you will pass this class.”
If I don’t show results, it’s my head…
His thought catches me by surprise, and I freeze, going utterly still, but Professor Cadigan doesn’t stop his tirade despite the fearful thought.
“Was your previous instruction so devastatingly lacking that you’re now unable to grasp these concepts, despite my teachings?”
Ian. He’s callingIan’steaching lacking. Ian’s the only professor who teaches freshman Introduction to Casting, the only casting teacher we would have had before Professor Cadigan. The barb stings. My feelings for the imperious mage aside, Ian is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Even when I struggled in his class, and he rubbed it in my face, it wasn’t due to his teaching but to my locked magic. Just like Cassian, he taunted me, hoping I’d leave the danger of Fairhaven behind and go home where I’d be safer.
How little we all knew then.
