Chapter Five #3
“I’ll try to enjoy myself,” I say, returning the professor’s smirk with one of my own, since he seems to be waiting for an answer. “I love to learn. But don’t hold it against me if I need some pointers along the way. Since it is my first time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Professor Sinetar says.
From the corner of my eye, I catch Sharp Tooth standing in the nearby stacks, glaring at the professor.
Ignoring him, Sinetar starts in a on a quick history of the dragon kingdom.
“As most of you know, there were originally nine dragon clans, based on the type of adaptations the dragons made to their environments. One queen ruled them all. In ancient times, she traveled from one kingdom, or clan, to another, making sure the royal bloodline was established in all clans. But after human and fae interference—dragonkind’s only two natural predators or competitors, depending on your point of view—the queen had to be much more discrete.
She began to hide away in one of the palaces.
No one except her own royal court is supposed to know where the current queen resides. ”
The hottie professor winds between tables as he speaks.
“As you all know, a female dragon can lay nine eggs. For millennia untold, the queen gave each clan a royal heir. When it was no longer safe to travel, a royal from each court would visit her for mating, and an heir with the powers of that clan would then be hatched and go to live and rule in their kingdom. Only in the last few thousand years has conflict arisen in the queen’s absence, leading some of the rulers of the other clans to seek more power, especially as the current queen ages.
You truly live in an unprecedented era, to be able to witness a new rule begin.
The last time it happened, your ancestors were drinking from clay pots and harnessing fire for the first time. ”
A few people murmur assent at his reverent tone.
You can tell the guy loves his history. After the overview, he tells us to plan our first documentation assignment, due in three days, and dismisses us to explore the library for the rest of class.
Most students just browse the shelves, but I catch a few glancing in my direction, whispering and talking in low voices.
I’m not sure I want to be known as the girl who’s sleeping with the professor.
But then again, I’m not sure that I don’t.
I’m also not sure that I don’t want to make the rumor true.
I was dying to lose my chastity, after all, and the guy clearly knows his way around a vagina. Probably not the education my parents had in mind when they sent me to DLSA, but hey, they were on board with me getting some. I’m sure he could teach me a thing or two outside the classroom.
I expect Professor Sinetar to approach me and ask me to stay after class, maybe go out for drinks later. Or hell, maybe just bend me over a table right here in the library. He obviously has no problem letting everyone know he’s available for students in more ways than one.
Instead, he walks the far wall with the redheaded guy while I peruse the shelves from one side of the great hall all the way around to the other. When class ends, I make my way outside to meet Pax without speaking to anyone else.
*
Pax
As soon as I walk out of class and see Vynessa waiting, my heart settles, and everything is right again.
She comes bouncing over and takes my arm, her face flushed with excitement and her words tumbling over each other as she tells me about the library.
I want to grab her, lift her off her feet, meet her smiling lips with my own.
I want to celebrate this moment with more than a friendly smile. But I have to take what I can get.
“Promise you’ll let me show you around the library before anyone else,” she says, gripping my arm possessively as we walk. She looks up at me, her eyes on fire. That passion she has for books… I wonder what it would look like when focused on me.
She licks her lips, and that’s all it takes.
I can feel myself stiffening inside my pants again.
I step closer, until I can feel the heat of our bodies longing to entwine, can smell the chocolate scent lingering on her from breakfast. Her perfect lips part just slightly, and her chin tilts upwards, angling towards mine.
I want to taste her, to devour her, to make her mine.
But she’s not mine.
A guy with red hair passes us, raising his hand and calling hello to Vynessa. The spell is broken, and I step back quickly, my heart hammering.
That’s how fast she tore down all my resolve. She’s dangerous, in more ways than one. If I dared touch her, it would be the death of me.
The thought quells my desire for the moment, and we turn and walk towards our dwelling place.
She can’t keep silent for long, though, and soon, she’s back to describing the library.
Her excitement is contagious, and by the time we get home, I’m smiling too.
I know that whatever price I have to pay, it will always be worth it to have her smile at me like that.