His intense gaze caused me to squirm in my seat, and I picked at imaginary lint on my uniform skirt just to give my hands something to do. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional. This whole… everything… has just been a little overwhelming.”
I glanced up in time to see the dragon’s eyes soften. “That is understandable,” he sighed, running a hand through his short brown hair, causing the muscles in his arm to flex. The urge to run my fingers along his bared skin gripped me suddenly, causing me to nearly miss his next words. “Am I correct in my assumption that you’ve missed lunch?”
My mouth opened and closed in shock. I didn’t know what I’d expected him to ask, but it definitely wasn’t about whether or not I ate lunch. Thrackborne watched me expectantly, and I finally managed to nod. His jaw clenched, and he moved around his desk, dipping down to pull a Tupperware container from a drawer. He murmured under his breath as he held the container between his hands and then moved to hand it to me.
“Eat.”
“Thank you,” I managed to get out as I opened the container.
Delicious, savory scents filled my nostrils as I took a moment to study the meal Professor Thrackborne handed me. The bright colors, so unlike anything I’d come across at home, instantly told me that it wasn’t anything from the human realm. Cautiously, I speared the fork attached to the container through an orange, meaty substance and took a bite. Flavors exploded on my tongue, and I let out a low groan as I reveled in them. My life in the human realm left me ill-equipped to describe the taste, but I was eager for more, hurriedly stuffing my mouth with more of the strange food.
Thrackborne cleared his throat as I devoured the last bite,my taste buds tempting me to lick the container clean. My eyes shot to where he stood stiffly behind his desk, his eyes a molten amber as they burned into me. I could have sworn the temperature in his office ratcheted up as flush crept into my cheeks and I carefully placed the empty Tupperware on his desk.
“So…” I started, repositioning in my chair and twisting my hands in my lap.
“We will try the visualization again,” the professor said with a slight nod of his head. “Close your eyes.”
I let my eyelids fall closed and waited for his next instruction. My body relaxed into my chair as Thrackborne began to speak. His voice wrapped around me like a gentle caress, and something in me wanted to reach out to pull him closer. The room seemed to warm around me, and a smoky scent filled my nose. It was almost like I was hypnotized, my mind following his whispered instructions without a thought as the sensations around me lulled me into a peaceful calm.
My senses felt heightened with each mental prod of my body, and while I still hadn’t uncovered the well of magic these sessions were meant to uncover, there was a strange, insistent pull toward the cranky dragon. My fingers curled in my lap, nails biting into my palm as I resisted the urge to do something reckless, like stand from my seat and launch myself at the professor.
“Bechora,” Thrackborne drawled. His voice held a hint of warning, as if he’d detected the direction of my thoughts. “Focus.”
Opening my eyes just enough to glance at him through my lashes, I blew out a puff of air. “I am focused, Professor. Have you considered that maybe this just isn’t working?”
“This is only our second attempt. It will work… in time.”
Shaking my head, I closed my eyes again and began to feel my way through the rest of my body with Thrackborne’s guidance. I was ready to make a sassy remark and demand we call it a day when I found myself on the edge of the vast void I’d sensed thelast time. The yawning chasm felt like it stretched for miles, though it was impossible for it to be so large inside of me. I hesitated in my mental explorations, wondering at the depths of the void and the aching emptiness it seemed to fill me with. Except, that wasn’t quite right this time. Just on the edges of my consciousness, I could feel something writhing within the void. A spark of power that seemed familiar.
“Bechora!” Thrackborne barked, causing my eyes to fly open.
Without realizing it, I’d reached a hand out, palm up, and it was slowly filling with shadows. They weren’t nearly as intense as the shadows that erupted from me in my room. Instead, they were slightly translucent, as if whatever fueled them was waning with each second that I held them in my palm. The small spark of power jerked free of the void within me, and the shadows sputtered out.
“That is not the power of a fire mage,” Thrackborne said slowly.
“But mages with more than one ability are a thing, right? You said they exist.”
Thrackborne narrowed his eyes at me, one hand rubbing the light stubble on his chin. “Elemental mages do exist, yes, but shadows are a fae magic, and even then, they are exceptionally rare.”
“You sound like Dante.” I snorted before I could stop myself.
“You’ve summoned the shadows before? In front of the gargoyle.” Thrackborne stalked toward me, his nostrils flared, as smoke puffed out on each exhale, and his eyes screamed murder.
“It’s not like I did it on purpose.” I scoffed. “It just happened. I was just venting to Shadrie about that absolute dickbag of a prince and his cronies, and the next thing I knew… shadows. I couldn’t stop them, so she went for help.”
If you asked me in that moment why I was spilling my guts to an extremely intimidating and pissed-off dragon, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Part of me seemed to understand that he was one of the few I could tell, even though everythingabout his reaction screamed that I was one wrong word away from being dragon-flamed-Bechora.
Thrackborne gripped my wrist, sending an electric shock through my arm, and pulled me to my feet. His nose was nearly touching mine as he stooped to my height and growled. “You can’t tell anyone about this. Not until I figure out what you are.”
Jerking my arm free, I tried to take a step back, only to have the chair behind me hit my thighs. Unable to get away from the dragon crowding into my space, I put my hands on his chest and shoved. “I didn’t plan on telling anyone other than Shadrie a damned thing. She actually wants to help me, unlike whatever this weird alphahole shit you’re pulling is. You’re my professor, not my father.”
His lips peeled back as he bared his teeth and backed away from me. “You’re correct, Bechora. As your professor, I must insist you keep this and any new abilities you manifest quiet until we know more. This isn’t the human realm. Revealing abilities you shouldn’t possess to the wrong person can get you killed, and by my count, you’re up to three abilities that do not make sense when added together. You’ve manifested fire, a nearly impenetrable shield, and now fae shadows.”
“And ice,” I interjected thoughtlessly.
Thrackborne stiffened, his eyes widening in shock. “Ice? What else have you been keeping from me, Bechora? I can’t help you if you insist on keeping me in the dark.”
The smartass response on the tip of my tongue was cut off by a knock on the office door. Thrackborne shot me another angry scowl before stomping over to jerk the door open to reveal Dante standing on the other side with a lopsided smirk on his face. His expression fell into a mirror image of the surly dragon’s when his eyes landed on me.
