20 #2
“Yeah. It happened to me once. I was in the library, looking in the wrong section for a general magic assessment, and I think the building had finally had enough of my ignorance, because the book flew straight off the shelf at me.”
“Books have wills of their own,” I say, remembering the one Caryan gifted me.
“Right—but that one wasn’t…alive, you know.”
I nod, though I don’t know. I hadn’t known there were animated books and…normal books. Then again, I hadn’t known there was a thing called general magic.
“Right,” Shay says, as if she read my mind, picking up my class sheet.
“So—great. You and I have almost all the same classes. Which means our next one is alchemy and potions.” She glances at a thin golden watch on her wrist. “It starts in five minutes, so we should go. Professor Evanalora won’t be enchanted if we’re late. ”
My nerves spike at the idea of a classroom full of students. A cramped room. I’ve never been to any class—never been among so many people at once—and my panic stirs, the magic in my veins along with it.
My heart hammers, and my fingers turn cold and sweaty while I follow Shay out into the corridor. My limbs prickle with the anticipation to run, just like Blair. But I can’t.
I can do this. I have to. I have to stick to the deal with Caryan or doom us all: Aris, Blair, and myself included.
I’m about to mumble an excuse when an arm slides around my shoulders. “Easy. No one’s gonna eat you in there, I promise. Not even the big white wolf.”
I startle, staring into warm hazel eyes in a nice face, framed by long, brown hair tied back in a bun.
The boy, or rather man, rubs my arms as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
He flashes a grin when my eyes widen, then winks—still not moving his hands away.
Oddly, it feels…natural. And as absurd as it is, it calms me.
“Which is me, you know. The big white wolf.”
“Ryder,” Shay warns. She watches us with raised brows, biting her lower lip as if unsure whether I might just bolt. Maybe I do look like I would. “He’s a wolf. A wolf shifter. A bit touchy ,” she explains. “And puts his nose into everything.”
A wolf shifter? What the hells? After my last encounters with them, I can’t help but shudder—though Ryder looks nothing like the ones who attacked us in the Black Forest. Not to mention the steroid wolves in the human world.
“Come on, Shay. That’s not nice, the way you say it,” he whines. “Not my fault things smell so enticing and delicious. Especially those chocolates your mom always sends you. By the way, is that a caramel bonbon in your pocket?”
He leans away from me to nuzzle against her neck. She slaps his hand away when his fingers reach out to her jacket pocket. “Hands off, mutt! My bonbon! Besides, you always lick them but never eat them!”
He rolls his eyes like a guilty puppy. “I know, I know. They just smell nice, not taste nice. I wonder why caramel is so bitter,”he adds with a dramatic sigh. Then he looks back at me, still in one of his arms. “Other than this half-human here. She smells delicious.”
“Ryder! Let her go.”
He whines, then grins at me. “I can’t. Listen to her heart rate. She needs body contact. And a hug. I can’t help it. Instinct. Comforting people is my nature, you know it.”
“It’s true,” Shay assures me, flashing me another quite strained smile.
I don’t resist when Ryder pulls me into another hug. His warm scent—spiced pumpkin and earth after rain—wraps around me. A wolf. A wolf that smells of spiced pumpkin. Weird. But even weirder is that I let him hug me.
“You’re really a wolf?” I ask after I finally step back. His hands still rest on my shoulders while he sniffs my hair as if it’s totally normal behavior.
“Yeah.”
“Can I…see it?” I blurt suddenly.
He laughs, looking quickly surprised. “Of course.”
“Eeeek, now you made him strip in front of all of us,” Shay groans.
“Calm down, it’s nature. And it’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before, Shay,” he says with a wink, pulling off his shirt to reveal tanned skin and washboard abs.
I blush and turn away and, a heartbeat later, a gorgeous, white wolf stands before me. He’s huge—much larger than any wolf I’ve ever seen. His snout easily touches my sternum as he leans in and nuzzles me with a wet nose.
I laugh and brush my fingers over the soft fur on his forehead. Strangely, it feels as natural as cuddling Aris, although a part of me knows he was just a man seconds before.
“We should really go to class,” Shay warns after another glance at her wrist, and the wolf—Ryder—whines before shifting back. I turn away again, and he dresses fae-quick.
“So you have to undress every time before you shift?” I ask, eyes wide and still trying to get used to Ryder’s rapid shift and the fact that he’s the first shifter who’s not mean as hells.
He grins at Shay. “She’s really new here, huh?” Then he says to me, “Yeah. Bit of a bother. Not too bad.”
“Yeah, because Ryder loves showing people his…you know.” A man with blond curls and a dimple in his cheek when he smiles drawls.
“Chunk,” Ryder offers, and Shay cringes.
I actually have to bite back a grin while I’m looking at the blond man, who makes a slight kind of mock-bow before me. “I’m Cassius, by the way.”
“We should buy him a wolf rucksack,” Shay says, smiling at Cassius. “Would be terribly cute.”
“Yeah, we’ll make it pink and stitch it with glitter,” Cassius smirks.
“It must be amazing to shift and run,” I say to Ryder.
He gives me the biggest smile. “It is. Best feeling ever,” he promises, and I believe him. That—and probably flying on Aris’s back.
“Guys, let’s go. Now. Or we’ll end up in detention,” Shay urges.
Ryder and Cassius roll their eyes, but nod.
I give Shay a shy smile and follow her, Ryder at my side, as we head down another grand corridor, then a sweeping stair with two statues of winged unicorns flanking it.
Ryder’s shoulder brushes mine now and then, and suddenly, for a reason I can’t quite comprehend, class doesn’t feel so impossible anymore.
I look up as we walk. The arched ceiling is painted with creatures of legends and fairytales. Statues of them guard every alcove, and the carved supports of the vaulted ceiling are shaped like dragon claws.
“Dragons,” I breathe.
Shay’s face instantly lights up. Ryder rolls his eyes. “No, don’t get her started on dragons again.”
She smacks him against the chest, and he whimpers wolfishly before laughing. “No one complains when you talk about the full moon for the hundredth time either!” she tsks.
“That’s because the moon is the most fascinating thing in this world. Do you know that you can see two moons in the Dark Lord’s kingdom, Shay? Actually, two moons?”
My heart twists sharply at the mention of Caryan, but I keep my face neutral.
“Yes, and we all know that’s the reason you want to enroll as a soldier there,” Shay recites, before glancing back at me.
“So, yes, dragons.” Her gray eyes shine when she looks at me.
“There’s a legend that this university once housed an academy for dragon riders.
When dragons still roamed these lands—before the portals closed and they disappeared. ”
I frown. “But the witches—they ride dragons. I mean, they’re half-translucent, but they look so real. Aren’t they dragons?”
Shay looks at me with a wild mix of fear and awe at the mention of the witches, and I guess that’s probably not a normal topic to touch.
“No, those are spectral wyverns. But, well—we only learned about them in bestiary class. I’ve never seen a witch in real life, so I can’t say much about that.
People usually don’t survive those encounters.
I mean, I’d never seen one until Blair Alaric just now.
Is it true you’re her friend? She’s a legend. I saw you arrived together.”
I bite my lip. “Yeah. It’s true.” I’m not sure what Blair and I are, but—yes. Friends, to me. Though, she’d probably say no if someone asked her.
“Wow. As for their mounts, there are two theories they teach us here. One: they create those beasts with their magic. Two: they summon them from another world. I’m not sure there are many books on it.
If there are, they’re buried deep in the archives where no one goes—or in a language no one speaks anymore. ” Shay keeps rattling off information.
“I warn you: Shay’s like a walking library in fae form,”Ryder teases and she bares her teeth at him.
“Never hear you complaining when you need a little help cheating, mutt. But I’m going to remind you next time you forget the names of the Nine Hells for the hundredth time.”
“Oh, I wasn’t complaining at all, darling,” Ryder says, lifting his palms in surrender and whining softly.
My heart beats faster. The archives. My deal with Beeatrisa—to translate whatever she wants. I make a mental note to look for a book on dragons while I’m there.
We arrive—judging by the crowd of students standing before an intricately carved arched door.
The bell chimes, the door swings open by itself, and the students pour in and head to the long, dark, wooden desks positioned in rows.
I draw in a sharp breath as my stomach threatens to turn upside down at the prospect of sitting in a damn classroom full of people, doors closed. Fucking closed.
The deal I made with Caryan is the only reason I enter.