A University of Betrayal (The Blairville Legacies #2)

Chapter 51

Julie

Suspenseful Mystery Investigation

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I hadn’t changed the seminar. In fact, I had intended to, but I didn’t have the strength and I just managed to take care of my daily changing and exhausted body.

So here I was, standing in front of the table where David was already working on his tablet, thankful that the professor wasn’t here yet.

“The baby has a strange heartbeat,” David said without looking up.

My eyes widened and he looked at me.

My heart had stopped.

“What?” I barely managed to get out.

He took advantage of my shock to look at my stomach, which you couldn’t see through my uniform... yet.

“A secret, then?” he asked, looking me straight in the eye.

I avoided his eyes. David’s gaze was one of the many I couldn’t manage to hold.

“You hear the heartbeat?” I whispered in a shaky voice and sat down, feeling paralyzed.

I looked at Amber, who fortunately hadn’t heard anything David said, then at the table in front of me, unable to unpack my laptop.

“Miles said he heard it first,” David continued. “Whatever he was doing near you.”

I bit my tongue and tried to keep my breathing under control.

So Miles knew too... The Ruisangors could already hear the heartbeat of what was growing inside me. I was wondering if Larissa had heard it too. I was almost certain about Emely. Ruisangors and Senseque had heightened senses. And of course they must have heard. I could only pray that they kept it to themselves.

But how long could I keep it to myself before other Quatura found out?

“I’m pleased to announce which two of you have qualified for the internship.”

I jerked my head up and stared at Mr. Suspicious, who must have just entered the room.

He was standing at his table as usual.

How had I not noticed that he had come? Did I really drift off so often?

The man, whose office I had already broken into twice and about whom I knew enough to risk my life if I acted on it, glanced at me briefly before focusing on David.

It was torture having to sit here, because it was obvious he was just pretending none of this had happened, which made him all the more unpredictable to me.

“David DeLoughrey, congratulations.”

Hadn’t I predicted it? David was intelligent and interested. But that wasn’t the reason. He was a DeLoughrey. And he... “And Julie Blair.”

I looked at Professor Tiberius and our eyes intertwined. There was a strange glint in his.

Until now, I had thought David had thrown me off track, but what this crazy maniac had just done was beyond anything.

“What?!” I heard Amber exclaim, and a collection of disappointed groans went through the rows of girls.

I didn’t blink, just stared as if I was born for it.

And it wasn’t until the professor was about to turn away that I managed to open my mouth.

“There must be a mistake.” It was more of a stammer, and that was because I had thrown up the Salma this morning. Unexpectedly and twice. “I didn’t even apply.”

Mr. Suspicious paused in his spin, turned back and... smiled?

“Don’t be ridiculous, Miss Blair,” he laughed softly, looking at the floor for a moment, as if he really had to force himself to keep up this facade. “You’re the best in this course.”

“She’s been absent all the last few times!” Amber, who also seemed shocked by his choice, let out.

No one seemed to have expected it.

“And, remarkably, still managed to get full marks in the midterm exams,” the professor said without looking at Amber.

His eyes were on me, inspecting me.

And in that moment, I regretted putting so much effort into studying over the last four weeks, trying to block out all the other problems in my life. Apparently, even something so simple was getting me into trouble, as if the gods were out to torment me.

Amber stared at Professor Tiberius as if he had slapped her. Then she looked at me and her gaze was... devastating.

I forced myself to look ahead, at him.

An unpleasant premonition arose in me: He was up to something. He wanted to make me disappear from the picture. What if he wanted to frighten me? Was this his last warning before he would erase me?

Panic spread through me, because as well as I had escaped every tense situation with this man so far, I also knew that luck would never be on my side forever.

“I’m sorry, Professor,” I blurted out and jumped up, the unopened backpack in my hand. “But I won’t be able to take this internship spot.”

He stared at me, a blank stare, but I didn’t wait any longer, I stormed out of the seminar room through the rows of benches, ready to make my way to the registrar’s office to sign myself out of this course. For good.

“Julie,” I heard a familiar voice and spun around, startled, as if it had been Erik’s voice.

But it wasn’t Erik . Of course it wasn’t... It was the professor standing in the middle of the corridor. He started to move and everything in me wanted to flee, but I forced myself to fight it and not show any weakness.

I didn’t want him to think I was scared. I didn’t even know if I was.

He stopped two meters in front of me, his jaw tense, as was my core, and for the first time in a long time I caught a closer look at the peridot-colored irises.

“Take this position.”

Realizing I was staring into his eyes again, I swallowed, trying to focus on his words, but slid to his angular features.

“What are your intentions, Professor?” I began in a shaky voice. “I know there’s something wrong with you...” I stroked my black uniform skirt as if there were creases to smooth out, but the only thing creasing was my confidence. “And that you’re practicing forbidden magic.” I tried not to look away, managing to maintain eye contact even as the heavy intensity of his eyes threatened to pierce me. “You know I’m going to expose you.”

I shouldn’t have said that. No. Because he took a step toward me.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” he began in a sharp, lowered voice, as if he wanted to kill me quietly with his words. “Because I could help you with something the Circle could never help you with.” Surprise spread through me. “That magic you possess.” A devilish smirk played around the corners of his mouth. “Impressive.”

I felt my eyes widen, clawing my hands into the fabric of my skirt. It was as if my knees wanted to give way.

“Where...” I started, but couldn’t get any more out.

“You seem to have so little control that you risk losing it at the most inopportune moments,” he remarked, stepping even closer. “In the middle of a courtyard.”

My heartbeat was a literal hammering, and it didn’t get any better when I realized that we had maintained eye contact until now, that we were separated by a few inches and that a pleasant citrus note was hitting my nose.

“It was you,” I whispered, and his gaze broke away from mine for the first time... only to slide down to my lips.

A violent flutter shot through my stomach and I gasped softly.

His gaze was lost on my lips, but he looked back up, into my eyes.

“I can help you, Julie,” he murmured softly, his gaze serious. No devilish grin. “All you have to do is accept this internship.”

I felt backed into a corner, and yet I didn’t react with fear, but with this incredibly intense fluttering in my stomach. Panic spread through me and I could feel ice crystals forming on my fingertips.

“No...” I whispered, shaking my head.

“What?” he asked as if I had surprised him.

“No!” I gasped, louder this time, and before I had time to realize it, I was rushing toward him, pressing my hand against his torso and pushing him toward the nearest wall.

Howling

RY X

I could feel the magic shooting through my veins, ready to make its way into the daylight, ready to do damage.

He knew what I was capable of, had apparently watched me when that magic had just burst out of me after Grace had pushed me to my emotional limits. So he should get to know the dark side of this magic too. Maybe then he would understand once and for all that I was dangerous... even if I didn’t want to be.

Ice crystals moved over his shirt, over the gray vest, up to his neck, where they began to form a pattern.

He swallowed, looking from the ice on his torso to me, and I got a better look at his Adam’s apple, where the ice pattern was traveling past.

The professor stared at me, breathing barely audible through his slightly parted lips. Full, even lips. Pale and yet rosy.

I could feel his heartbeat under my hand, his warm chest through his shirt and vest, which rose and fell heavily under my hand.

He sighed, overwhelmed, and rested his head against the wall behind him as if exhausted, exhaling his breath and closing his eyes as the ice traveled further up his neck to his jaw.

The sound sent an unfamiliar tingling sensation through my fingertips, sending tingles all the way to my stomach, to my trembling knees.

I stared, transfixed, at the thick lashes, at the champagne blond strands that fell down his forehead.

He opens his eyes.

And I pulled back.

His eyes were completely black.

He didn’t attack me, just stared up at the ceiling, and I didn’t know if I had hurt him or if he was shocked, if his body was just reacting.

I stared at my hands, stared at him and back at his eyes.

He looked at me, breathing shallowly as if he was in shock as he slowly raised his hand to the ice on his neck.

What was I doing here? What had I just done to him?

This wasn’t me... I wasn’t hurting anyone. No... I staggered back, startled by what this magic inside me had just done, his indistinct, far too intense gaze on me. And then I rushed through the corridor to put as much distance as possible between me and the man who was able to bring out this destructive side of me, to turn me into a weapon.