I’d been working at the Academy ever since. The position allowed me to meet with Vallynn without raising any suspicions, though the information he was able to pass along was becoming harder for him to obtain. We were saving fewer and fewer of the King’s intended victims, and Waylon was a stark reminder of that fact.
“If the King has already taken Waylon, there isn’t much we can do about it,” I said, forcing my mind back to the present.
“I am aware of that.” Vallynn clipped. “But for someone to gomissingfromthe Academy raises some concerns.”
I rose from my seat so fast my chair flew into the wall behind me and slammed my hands on my desk. “Why didn’t you tell me he went missing from the Academy before you started asking about his abilities?Thatis the sort of thing I need to know!”
An image of Bechora’s heart-shaped face surrounded by her wild, red hair flashed in my mind, and my dragon strained against my skin. If people were being taken from the grounds, my mate was in danger. That was something my dragon couldn’t abide; my need to maintain my position at the school to continue my work with Vallynn be damned.
Vallynn waved his hand, his magic wrapping around me and forcing me back to my seat. “Calm the fuck down, Thrackborne. I did not mean he was taken from the campus itself; the wards only allow staff and students through. Not even my father can access the grounds without permission. He was, however, taken from his lodgings just beyond the Academy’s barriers.”
“In case your lizard brain is failing to understand, those are the professor’s accommodations provided by the academy,” Dante interjected with a smug grin. I was definitely going to eat that fucking gargoyle once my work with him and the prince was done.
“Is the Dean aware of this?” I demanded.
“Yes, and no.” Vallynn shrugged. “There was a note claiming Waylon was defecting to the human realm. Same as some of the others we’ve been too late to save. I was able to convince her to extend the warding, however. It wouldn’t do for the crown prince to disenroll from the academy over safety concerns.”
I rolled my eyes. Blackthorn Academy was the most prestigious school in the realm. Their elitism was rivaled only by the royal court itself. Dean Femirea would do anything the prince wanted just to keep him enrolled and protect the Academy’s reputation. As much as Vallynn grated my nerveswith his pompous entitlement, he wasn’t wrong.
“Fine,” I gritted out, barely managing to soothe my beast. “If the wards have been extended, what exactly is it that you want me to do?”
Dante’s smirk grew wider, and he leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his thighs.
“Waylon was the head of Magus House. I’ve arranged for you to take that position so that we can, hopefully, prevent more missing people. If you’re my head of house, I have more reason to be seen meeting with you. With how difficult it’s becoming to even get the information before my father has abducted his targets, I thought this would allow us to act faster.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to head a house of mages and fae?” I snorted. “You do understand, Princeling, I am a shifter, and the heads of house are supposed to mentor the students in their house.”
“Dragons really do have tiny brains.” Dante snorted. “You have more innate magic beyond your shifting ability, you idiot. We all do.”
I snarled at the gargoyle, letting my dragon break free just enough for my nails to shift into claws and dig into my desk as smoke poured from my mouth and nose.
“Enough!” Vallynn bellowed. “Dante, stop taunting the dragon. Thrackborne, I do not carehowyou mentor the students of Magus House; you can send them to their damned professors for help for all I care. But thisishappening. There were over seventy disappearances over the summer. We cannot keep playing catch-up with my father if we want to stand a chance at saving any that are to come.”
The gargoyle paled and went still. If not for the rise and fall of his chest, I’d almost have thought he’d transformed into his stone form. Easing my claws free of my oak desk, I forced my breathing to slow and pulled my chair back toward me to sit.
“Have you gotten any closer to uncovering his end goal?” I asked.
“No,” Vallynn replied, his face tightening with anger. “ButI did look into the missing we are aware of. They each had particularly powerful magic, and based on their locations, it appears my father is homing in on the Academy.”
“His inability to snatch anyone from the grounds aside, what would he want with a bunch of untrained children?” I mused.
“Really, Thrackborne? You can’t think of a single reason he might be moving to target the Academy? Students leave with their magic bound all the time, not to mention those who go missing or die during the trials at the end of the year,” Vallynn answered. “Second Year class alone has nearly thirty fewer students than we did our first year, and the trials only become more deadly as we progress through our studies. Then there’s the magic of the Academy itself. You know as well as I that this place has a magic all its own that goes well beyond selecting names for admission. If my father found a way to steal the Academy’s magic, who knows what he could do with it.”
Gold and red scales erupted along my arms, and I struggled to maintain my hold on my dragon. If the princeling’s theory was right, my mate was no safer here than she had been in the human realm. My instincts were screaming at me to find her and steal her away somewhere we’d never be found, but that wasn’t possible. She hadn’t seemed to feel the bond, and even if she had, I needed to be here to continue the work I’d started with Vallynn and his annoying gargoyle sidekick.
I couldn’t do anything that would cause the dean to suspect Bechora Knight was my mate, or I would lose my position. The academy had strict rules around fraternization between staff and students. While the Dean would never fault me for finding my mate, she wouldn’t allow me to remain on staff to prevent any interference in my mate’s studies. I’d be banished from the grounds, and Bechora would be given the choice to continue her training or have her magic bound in order to leave the academy with me. It would be better for both of us if she and the Dean remained ignorant of our connection. At least until I’d help Vallynn expose his father’s misdeeds and placed the princeling on the throne in his stead.
“I am working on getting close to my father’s inner circle,” Vallynn spoke, pulling me from my thoughts. “He’s growing more paranoid by the day, and it’s making it difficult, but I believe I may be able to turn one of his newer cohorts against him with the right leverage. In the meantime, we have no choice but to stay alert and do our best to get to his victims before he does.”
The Fae prince’s eyes flicked over my head, and he suddenly stiffened before shooting a glance at Dante.
“What?” I demanded, turning my head to look at the clock on my wall.
“We should go; the Dean will be on her way to inform you that you’re now head of Magus House any time now. It would be best if she didn’t know that Dante and I were here already.”
I gave Vallynn a tight nod and watched as he and Dante made their way from my office before turning my attention back to the papers on my desk. This year was going to be a nightmare.
Chapter Four
