Chapter Three
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No,” I repeated, yanking my hand free. “You are not my new vice headmistress. Sunella and I had a deal. She was to send five candidates and then I would choose my vice.”
Ash clicked her tongue, cocking her head. “My dear, Sunella did hold up her end of the deal. She sent all the willing and available candidates. They stand before you now.”
I glanced at Nia, flicking my head for her to take off. I didn’t need the council knowing who my allies were. “I don’t understand,” I said to Ash. “You were the only one willing to take the job?”
“Of course I was, dear.” The condescension in her tone set my teeth on edge. “How many grown and educated professionals did you believe were willing to take orders from a girl who hasn’t even gotten her back teeth? Let alone graduated from the very school she’s daring to run.”
I growled. Our wolves had more teeth than our human halves did, and those forty-two fangs came in at different stages. Our wolves wouldn’t get the last few in the back until we were around twenty-six, which led some people to believe anyone under twenty-six was still an under-developed child.
Pretty much what Ash just called me.
My growl was cut off by a sharp hiss. I winced as a sudden spike of pain went through my skull. I knew this pain—all too well. “Apparently there’s one grown and educated professional willing to take orders from a little girl,” I said, pushing through the agony. “Why is that, Mrs. Ash? Is it all for the pleasure of strangling my hand and insulting me to my face?”
She gasped. “Oh my goodness, no, High Priestess. I meant no disrespect, and if I hurt you, I deeply apologize. I am here for exactly the reason I gave, and it matters more than petty pride and power plays. If Luame gave you a vision for the future of Corvin Academy, it is my pleasure—no, my duty to help you carry it out.”
“Let’s be clear,” I said, closing the distance between us. “It is my duty to carry it, and your duty to obey me with a slavish devotion that’ll make me blush. Understood?”
Her smile went nowhere. “I am here to serve, High Priestess. You need never question by devotion to Luame.”
I have no doubt you’re devoted to Luame, but that doesn’t mean you’re devoted to me, and you told me so just as clearly.
“Sunella and I had a deal,” I pressed. “A deal that Councilman Tahan is currently putting into law. The changes stay. For as long as I attend the academy, I run it as I see fit.”
Ash was the same height as me, so she couldn’t look her nose down at me, even though she tried to. “I am aware of the terms.”
“Then why did you say you have a list of priorities?”
“Merely to help you with the running of the school,” she replied. “But there’s no need to get into all of that now. We wouldn’t want you to be late for class, Headmistress .”
It was deeply impressive how much sarcasm she stuffed into one word.
“We’ll meet tonight to go over my twenty-point plan for the new integration of the classes.”
“I can’t, I have a date tonight,” I blurted before anger choked my tongue.
Seriously! I shouted at my wolf. You won’t lift your nose for breakfast, but you’ll butt in to set me up with that fuckjerk, Paxton? I thought you hated him as much as me!
Amusement came back to me, loaded with more than a dash of satisfaction.
“I see,” Ash said, a chill biting into her falsely sweet voice. “It’s good to know from the outset how seriously you take your position, High Priestess. In future, I’ll be sure to schedule important matters around your social life.”
My nostrils flared. I bit down hard on my lip, forcing down the first unpleasant response that hit my lips. I don’t think I ever disliked someone so hard or so fast. “I don’t think that’s quite fair, Mrs. Ash. You are the one who showed up unannounced and gave yourself the job without so much as an interview.
“Oh, speaking of interviews.” I returned the same phony smile. “Yours is tomorrow morning in my office—seven o’clock sharp. You can tell me all about your twenty-point plan then, and if I don’t like it, you’re gone.”
She blinked, her confidence cracking. “I beg your pardon? You and Sunella—”
“—have a deal,” I finished. “A very clear and direct deal that states that I choose my vice. It’s not my problem her entire three-day search turned up no one I wanted. She’ll just have to hit the job boards a little harder next time.”
“But— There’s no need—” She caught herself, clearing her throat. “I’m certain that you will love my plan, High Priestess. We are united in the same cause, I assure you.”
“We’ll see.” I sidestepped her. “I have to go, as you said, I’m late for class. Please, help yourself to some breakfast before you go.”
“Go?” she shouted after me.
“Well, you can’t stay here, obviously. You haven’t gotten the job yet.”
“But—!”
“See you tomorrow.” I slipped through the double doors and slammed them shut, cutting off whatever she yelled back at me. As soon as she couldn’t see me, I took off—tearing through the halls for the front doors. Out I shot onto the stone steps leading to the gates—the wide-open gates.
Ash hadn’t been lying.
The gates of Corvin Academy were impenetrable, surviving centuries of vampire and ancient mundane attacks, but all that impenetrable might didn’t matter a lick if the gates were wide-freaking-open!
Hurriedly I slammed them shut, mind spinning. How did this happen? Who could’ve opened them?
The gates were keyed into me and me alone. Only the headmistress could open them to let people in or out, so how could this happen? Did the council do something? Does Rianna Ash, the metal wolf, have her own unseen, unbelievable power? Power that can open these gates at will, because if she does, that would explain why the council sent her and her alone—
My thoughts cut off as another, more horrible explanation came to me.
Dread filling me, I tapped into Edric’s bond and followed it down to his mind. What I saw made heat rise to my cheeks.
That morning Edric bent me over in the shower and drilled me from behind until I came so hard it washed down my own face. He was currently replaying that scene over and over while pretending to pay attention in leadership.
“ Will you stop perving over me for one second? ”
“ Will you stop interrupting me when I’m perving over you? ” came the dry reply.
I almost chuckled. When I wasn’t too busy cursing her for it, I could see why Luame chose the mates that she did for me. Edric could hold his own against me like no one else could. Growing up, people were either in awe of the child born from the goddess herself, or they were scarily jealous.
Edric neither feared me nor revered me, he just wanted every inch of my body like a melty ice cream cone running down his strong, naughty fingers.
He was going to eat me all up.
I shook my head, ridding myself of my own pervy thoughts. “ I need you ,” I said, never more serious than I was at that moment. “ Come to me, please. ”
“ On the way. ” Edric pushed back from his desk and walked out, leaving his instructor shouting at his back.
I paced the whole wait, and nearly pounced on him when he stepped through the doors, falling in at my side.
“What’s wrong?”
“The gate,” I cried, grabbing his hand. “I need you to try and open the gate.”
“What? Why? I can’t. Only you can.”
“Edric, please.” I drew him over and stepped aside. “Just try.”
Giving me a look I was getting quite used to, Edric sighed and put his hand on the lock.
Clang!
Our brows bounced up as the internal mechanisms clanged and groaned, breaking free of their iron embrace and swinging the gates open for all to come in.
“But how?” Edric cried. “Only the headmistress or headmaster can open the gates. Did something happen? Does the magic not work anymore?”
I shook my head, groaning. “I think it’s something much simpler than that. Only the headmistress can open the gates. Only her... and her fated mates.”
“Oh?” Understanding dawned on Edric’s face. His jaw clenched tight. “Oh.”
I nodded. The tight ball of stress that had been living in my chest filled with something else—fear. “That’s why you can’t find Badr, Edric. That’s why you can’t smell him.
“He’s gone.”
***