I started. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I did, but it’s usually a once-in-a-blue-moon thing. You don’t really care for it.”
He shifted his weight on his seat. “I do, actually. I just… it was tangled up in my whole… sexual power dynamics issues. I more than just ‘care for it’, Win.” He gestured at Evira and Vax. “And you can’t do it with them.”
No, I couldn’t. Feeding from Evira would be worse than my current death-cold state with her ice dragon nature. Vaxan’s blood contained venom that would need a very delicate balancing act to hold off while feeding, so there’d be no relaxing during it.
“You’re sure?” I asked Zayn.
He ran his sneaker up my leg again, a smirk tilting his lips. “Does that answer your question?”
With him? Absolutely. “Yeah, it does.”
“Good.”
I looked out at Evira who was clearly as relieved about it as Vax was, both their territorial animal natures showing.
“Tell me, all right? If you have issues with me, or any of us, voice it.”
“Or it will fester,” Vax added, dropping the spell now we were done with all of that.
She reached out and stroked my nape, sending a rush of delectable sensation through me. “Promise.”
Her alarm sounded again. “Got to wrap this up, boys,” she said. “Vaxan and I have another first-year class to get to. The one that was delayed getting started.”
Yeah, I knew all about it. It wasPrincipal Governance & Supernatural Institutionstaught by esteemed Guest Lecturer Hugh Clayborne. He’d once been the leader of the Unity Council, which sat just beneath the Guardian Movement in terms of institutional power and reach. Well, at least when it came to official capacity. The Unity Council existed to benefit the people, to ensure their voices were heard. They operated at a community level and even checked the power of the Guardian Movement in a way. Their representatives were appointed through a supernatural electoral system.
Hugh had stepped down a few years ago from the position of leader, but he still retained influence and a role as a part-time member. He’d wanted to split his time to include teaching new generations of supernatural beings, and every year he moved to another academy as Guest Lecturer.
“Should be super interesting,” Evira said, giving me a look.
“Should be,” I responded, with a lift of my lips.
Given my familial connections to certain things, I couldn’t attend the class, even though it was technically mandatory for first years. For one, The Shadowed would be discussed, likely under theClandestineorSemi-Legitimatebanner—or at least what thoseabove groundthought they knew about it. So much was shrouded in deep secrecy. Given that my grandpa headed it and Dad was also directly connected to it through Requital… yeah, there were some issues with me attending. So the mandatory nature of it had been waived.
Fortunately, my nextGrimoire Creationclass now also operated at this time. Evira and Vax should have already had their first class, but Hugh had delayed due to overseeing a renovation project at the Unity Council. It had set the start of the course back by a couple of weeks.
Zayn drummed his fingers on the tabletop as he told us excitedly, “I can’t wait for my class in a few minutes.Creative Artistry in Flamecraft and Shadowcraft.”
As a fourth-year, he had more electives, and access to some more laidback, fun courses. The one he was looking forward to was taught by Professor Fyla Warrin, a Shadowmancer-Dark Fae hybrid, where students would learn to create and perfect creative artwork and animations forged by either fire, frost, or shadows. I would definitely be adding that to my schedule as time went along here at Loxley Academy. There was also another class for making artistic creations using frost, ice, and water, which was taught jointly by an ice dragon and one of the HICI Educators, Carnis Parlant.
We all finished up the last few bites of our food, then went to gather our trays, but a commotion had Evira and Vax stilling, their supernatural senses picking up on it first.
Evira and I both turned to see her friend, the Light Fae Princess, Octana Reyolde, tossing a bowl of berry yogurt into the face of River Leroux right after he’d grabbed her arm and pulled her in close.
Shocked cries and gasps erupted as Octana cursed at him, then spun on her heel and stormed out. River shook his head to himself, then swept a wave of his taupe magic over himself to clean the mess of yogurt away.
“I should see if she’s okay,” Evira said, pushing away from the table. She eyed Vax. “Can I catch up with you in class?”
“There’s no need, icicle,” Zayn said, and we all looked to see him grinning to himself.
“What are you talking about?” Evira asked. “She’s clearly upset and she’s my friend, she needs me.”
With a spark of his magic, anotherauditory reductionspell was being cast over the table. “That shit was fake, all for show. They’re fucking.”
“Interesting,” Vax commented. “Especially considering how terribly Octana is controlled by her father and his expectations of her as heir to the Light Fae throne.”
