It didn’t make for a comfortable learning environment, and I was questioning how the vampire got her job, since it was obvious how little she knew about herbs.
“You know a lot about this stuff,” Lachlan mentioned as he moved his hand back and rested his chin on his fist.
“Because she was the best herbalist back in her village,” Thorn answered for me with a hint of pride in his tone that made my heart palpitate.
“I was one of them,” I murmured, heat racing up the back of my neck.
“Don’t be modest,” Thorn whispered, trailing a finger down my arm and icing my skin in a wrap of cool. “You ran the pharmacy more than Alice did.”
I shrugged. That was true, but Alice was getting older and mixing the herbs with her magic had taken a toll on her over all the years.
My chest twisted as I realized there would be nobody to help her take on the demands of the village. She could barely make ten healing salves before wearing herself out for the day.
“You get this fire in your eyes when you talk about herbs and remedies.” Kian leaned forward to peek out from behind Lachlan with a smile. “It’s inspiring.”
Tucking my bottom lip into my mouth, my cheeks warmed. Kian had a soft heart, and being around him sent loads of comfort through my body. Having Kian, Lachlan, and Thorn in this class with me was the icing on the cake, but I wasn’t exactly sure why I was even placed in here when I already knew all the material better than the professor did.
“Okay, so someone tell me what willow bark is good for?” Professor Fallon sat on top of her desk and crossed her ankles as her skirt rode up.
A red-headed fae, Nate, leaned up off his desk to answer. “It’s good for relieving pain.”
Thorn stiffened beside me, and I shot him a curious look, but he just shook his head. He seemed to know Nate, and I needed to mention it later to see how. The first day of class, he’d acted weird when he realized he was here.
“And why does it relieve pain?”
“Something in it. Not sure, but when we add our magical essence, it can become strong enough to aid in surgery,” he said, and she nodded.
“Does anyone know the active ingredient in willow bark that gives it those properties?”
Nobody spoke up for a few seconds, and I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer. “Salicin.”
She nodded, picking at her fingernails. “Humans use salicin as the active ingredient in some of their pain-relieving drugs, but they aren’t as potent as ours.”
“What herbal salve is the best for vampires to use to replenish their magical energy?”
I rolled my eyes at her trick question.
Vampires fed only off blood to replenish magical energy. However, they could use a cinnamon salve to speed the process along. Each supernatural was tied to an herb that increased how fast it took for their magical energy to replenish. Shifters used a lavender salve. It was surprising how the majority didn’t know that.
“Nobody? Not even you, Wren?” Her lips pulled into a smirk as if she’d won some unspoken battle between us.
“Cinnamon salve,” I answered, and her face dropped. “It works faster when blood is mixed in.”
She turned her attention to the class. “That’s all the time we have for today. I’ll see you Friday.”
I was on my feet in the next beat, shoving my textbook into my bag and high-tailing it out of her classroom with the guys behind me.
“Surely, there’s a way you could get excused from that class,” Lachlan mentioned, falling into step with Thorn and me as Kian walked beside him. “You know everything there is to know about herbs. You shouldn’t be in the theory class.”
I shrugged. “If there was a way I could figure out how to be exempt, I’d have done it by now, but I don’t know how this academy works.”
“Have you made an appointment with the counselor?” Kian asked in a begrudging tone before Lachlan elbowed him.
“Why would she need to do that?”
Thorn sighed, raking a hand through his blue hair. “As much as I hate to admit it, Kian’s right. The counselor could get you transferred out of Herbology Theory and into Herbology Practical.”
Desire and confusion mingled hot in my throat at the mention of the incubus Rhett. I couldn’t imagine being alone in a room with him after he made me feel what he did with his pheromones.
