A University of Betrayal (The Blairville Legacies #2)

Chapter 22

Quentin

Change is in the Air

RealTunesStudio

“Quentin?”

Realizing that one of the five lecturers from the mythology department had spotted me, I hurriedly disappeared up the stairs, thanking the gods that the vast corridors of Vanderwood were massively crowded at lunchtime, even if you had to be extra careful not to get hit by a football at this time of day.

This lecturer, Sarah, stuck to me like a burdock and I had already given her several signs that I wasn’t interested in her, but apparently it had mistakenly given her the opposite impression. I was already wearing the ring to scare off other women, but women like Sarah consistently ignored fake wedding rings and fucked their way through the faculty.

Knowing that she would probably follow me, I hurried, but took a detour so that she wouldn’t think of following me to my office.

Around a corner, I watched her choose the wrong corridor and snorted in annoyance before making my way to my office.

Fortunately, the corridors up here were empty at the moment. Still, I shouldn’t challenge my time. These girls here were like huntresses, lurking around every corner like greedy vultures, and there were only two places I was safe: my house on campus and my office.

I hurriedly put the key in the door lock, unlocked the door, not without looking around two more times, and entered my office.

The first thing I felt when I closed the door behind me was a strange cold, the same cold as yesterday.

I looked carefully at the windows, which were all closed.

It didn’t make it any better that the ravens were already bustling around in front of them again. Over the years, I had been aware that there were many of these birds in Blairville, but it was only recently that they seemed like a plague.

I stared at the black bird and couldn’t help but pause, because something wasn’t right here. It wasn’t just that the temperature seemed to be dropping, no, something was hanging in the air.

My eyes wandered to my desk, where I spotted the photo of...

My heart stumbled.

What the...

Suspense Dark Ambient

RealTunesStudio

Paralyzed, I stared at the photo that was supposed to be in my research folder.

I forced myself to walk around my desk without taking my eyes off the picture, even though a lump formed in my throat every time I looked at it.

My parents, Delilah and Dylan... The photo had been taken exactly one year before the incident. On my and Dylan’s birthday.

Anger clenched in my chest, as it did every time I thought back to it. And like every time, I couldn’t do my family justice, had to swallow the rage and hope to eventually have the blood of those who had taken them from me on my hands. None of them would survive. I would destroy them all.

I reached for the photo, staring for a while longer into the innocent faces of those people who were now trapped in Elysium. A place where I would never end up, because this earthly life had already forced me to sin unforgivably.

I reached for the second drawer on the left-hand side of the desk to put the picture back where it belonged, opened it, but stopped immediately.

I had locked the drawer this morning. Now the damn drawer was open.

Was I a fool to have taken so long to realize that someone had been rummaging through my things? For the second time? Someone who could pick locks…

Instinctively, I used my Quatura sense to reassure myself that I was wrong. But when I sensed the magic of another Quatura in my office – high-vibration magic, to be precise – my entire body tensed, ready to knock out whoever was in that room with me, and – if necessary – finish them off.

There was only one place the intruder could hide.

Slowly, I turned my head to the tall closet. Without hesitating, I dashed across the room and yanked the doors open.

I had expected anything; spies from the people who had killed my parents; people from my boss who wanted to check that I wasn’t keeping secrets from him; but seeing her in front of me threw me off my well-trained role for a moment.

She stood there, between my spare shirts, with a startled expression, flushed cheeks and tousled platinum blonde strands. But as always, it was those cursed aventurine eyes that caught my gaze. Eyes that made her look innocent, yet mystical.

“You...” I pressed out, and before she could react, or even flee, my hand sprang forward and closed around her neck. “Here.” She widened her eyes and I pushed her further into the wardrobe until she pressed my shirts against the inside of the closet wall with her petite body. “In my office.”

I fixed her gaze, but didn’t really manage to focus on the fact that she’d broken in here. Instead, I took in the smell of her perfume and her body odor with my next breath. A soft note of rose blossom and a pleasant natural smell that compelled me to inhale her scent a second time.

I would have liked to slap myself for it.

Did the gods have to make her smell the same as J? Did they have to remind me of something I was about to lose? With something that posed a threat to my existence?

My hand felt incredibly good around her neck, and only now did I feel her soft skin under my rough fingers, her pulse beating under my fingertips.

Julie swallowed under my grip and looked up at me.

A shiver traveled through my tense body, sending the blood down into my cock, making it throb hard against my pants.

I didn’t want to react like this to this girl, yet I couldn’t loosen my grip.

“What are you doing here?” I murmured in a low voice, hoping my physical reactions would remain hidden from her.

Her lips opened slightly as if she wanted to say something and I immediately felt the urge to put my thumb on them.

What the fuck… What was wrong with me? Was this my body’s way of dealing with J’s rejection? And, of all people, this annoying little witch who was the complete opposite of the woman my heart belonged to.

Julie was breathing shallowly under my hand, and if I didn’t take her away soon, my body would go crazy.

And suddenly I knew that this moment was the perfect chance to take away her memory. I wanted to show Julie that she had crossed a line, wanted to punish her, wanted to wrap my hand tighter around her neck until she opened her lips wider. Wide enough to...

I bit my tongue and tensed my jaw.

That was going too far.

“You have one chance to explain to me what you’re looking for here.”

I loosened my grip, and she gasped, yet she didn’t seem to intend to answer me, so I stepped closer to her and took her chin in my hand.

“Listen to me, Julie...” I fixed my eyes on hers. “All the things you already know, all the things you should have found here...” I didn’t even want to know what she must have discovered. “Everything you think you know about me... I can erase them. All your memories…”

She stared at me, three seconds, then looked at me defiantly, stepped toward me, leaned into my grip.

“Are you trying to threaten me? Or are you trying to flatter me?” She didn’t smile. Nevertheless, it looked as if she was mocking me. “Do you really think I want to remember?” Her gaze became more serious, more insistent, sharper. “You’d be doing me a favor, Professor.” My jaw tensed even more, as did my cock. Did she have to call me that? “Go ahead.”

Confused, I eyed her, undecided how to proceed against her.

Who was this girl? What were her intentions? And why did she seem to be begging me to take away her memories?

“Who are you?” I pressed out, concentrating on not showing her all my confusion.

“I think you know who I am,” she said calmly, objectively, as if I wasn’t holding her chin in my hand while she stared at me like she was begging for a harsh punishment. “I guess the question should be: Who are you?” She stepped out of the closet, which made me automatically walk backward. “Or should I rather ask, what?”

I bumped against my desk.

“It’s not your place to ask questions,” I pressed out, stepping toward her again, while hoping she didn’t see how much her unexpected self-confidence had thrown me off. “Answer my question!”

Julie’s expression was unreadable, and with every second she stared at me, I realized how powerful it made her that she was unreadable.

Damn, this girl was going to be my downfall if I didn’t find a weak spot soon, if I didn’t act now and use my physical superiority to my advantage.

“It would be wise of you, Professor, to let me go now,” Julie continued. “If you would like me to keep your thousand little secrets to myself.”

She eyed me carefully.

This little beast.

My free hand clenched into a fist while the other still clung to her chin, gripping it tightly.

I didn’t like the fact that my ring was touching her skin.

That was the point where I yanked my hand away and backed away, ashamed of myself.

It was eating me up to think about J when that nasty little witch was around. Added to that was the rage Julie Blair triggered inside me.

Thud.

Startled, we both wheeled around to the window pane where a black raven was sliding down.

Those bloody birds...

As if that had been a signal, Julie shot past me, unlocked the door, wrenched it open and stormed out into the hallway.

Petrified, I listened to her hurried footsteps as they faded into the distance.

I should have run after her, dragged her back to my office and tied her to my desk, grilled her about the Councils and filled her with Salma until she didn’t even know who her mother was.

Instead, I let her escape. Again.

The problem was that I didn’t know enough about her, that I hadn’t expected someone spying on me, driving me to confusion.

It had been one sentence that prevented me from acting quickly.

“Do you really think I want to remember?”

What had this girl experienced that she didn’t fear consequences? What had she meant by that?

I remembered the scars on her wrist, which she now wore hidden under the white blouse of her uniform. I didn’t need to be a psychologist to know that she had inflicted them on herself.

My jaw was still working as I pulled myself out of my stupor and walked around my desk to the window to look down on one of the many courtyards that existed at Vanderwood.

I needed to sort out my thoughts, clear my head, and try to find out more about the Quatura girl before I planned my next steps.

She had threatened me. I wasn’t going to let her get away with this.

Something was pinching in my pocket, so I reached in and pulled out the silver bracelet with painful realization.

That night I never wanted to forget, J had left it in my back seat. And so, it was the only thing that confirmed to me that I hadn’t just been dreaming. The last thing I had left as a memory of that night.

I clutched it tightly and rested the fist it was in on my chest, feeling my pulsing heartbeat. It was beating for this divine woman, and it would beat for her forever. Even if I was doomed to perish with this town and the gods refused to allow me to worship her as she deserved.