Chapter 5 Zayn #2
If that motherfucker thought I didn’t have the means to bring him to his fucking knees and—
A shift in the air pulled me up short.
Snow squalls materialized all of a sudden.
The wind picked up.
And then I caught sight of somebody I actually didn’t want to bring to their knees.
The dragon princess.
Keuric jolted, then broke eye contact, and swung his head to his right, two hundred feet away from where he stood on the lake.
She came into view, in human form, but with her wings out. It was a sight to behold.
Her wings were fully extended and spanning ninety feet, arched with elegant curvature. They were etched with fractal patterns and overlapping scales that shimmered with frosted blue and snowy white. Gorgeous didn’t do them nearly enough justice.
I watched as Evira touched down, her furry boots finding purchase on the grass.
She put her wings away with a little burst of glacial magic, then shifted her weight, her charcoal jeans pulling taut across her toned legs.
She was wearing a strapless crop top with a black and white crisscrossing design, but then she adjusted her white blazer with the jeweled buttons, covering her shoulders and some of her shimmering ice dragon markings in the process.
She shook out her incredible ice-blonde hair with the edgy blue streaks and gazed ahead at the main building in wonder, looking so happy to be here.
Through it all, it was clear she’d lost track of her surroundings.
She didn’t know he was too close.
Her predatory ex-boyfriend—word had spread about their interaction the first day of induction week. And the fact that Winter had rescued her.
Not sure somebody as powerful as her had actually needed his rescuing, but that was Win to a T.
Especially when he’d established an emotional connection to somebody.
And I knew he had with her. I was aware that they’d slept together, that she was the first woman he’d slept with.
Once again, he didn’t know that I was privy to that secret of theirs.
He didn’t need to worry. I’d never breathe a word to anyone.
Still, I couldn’t actually believe he’d done it, considering what the insane fallout would be if word did one day get out. I just hoped it didn’t.
I flinched as I saw Keuric start over to Evira who was still not paying attention to her surroundings. I could see his predatory intent in the way he approached her. Dammit.
In the next second, I called my fuchsia flame, pulling hard and quickly to flare the magical glow, the strain of it making me grunt.
And then I tossed it toward Keuric, sweeping my hand around, and the moment it hit just a foot from him, I had raging glowing pink power surrounding him, enclosing him in a circle.
An indignant snarl tore from his throat, and he swung his head up toward me, glaring with fury and some awesome disbelief that I took great pleasure in.
I winked at him and it pissed him off all the more, and he tried to push at my flames.
I grinned as he hissed, burning himself against them, then jerking back.
The rush of power, combined with his snarl caught Evira’s attention, and she spun around, startled.
That startlement quickly dissipated as she covered it up like a true warrior, and glared at Keuric.
I saw her briefly register me, and offer me a chin lift.
It sent a wave of serenity through me. Just that slight acknowledgement from her.
An aggressive exchange took place between her and Keuric.
Then I watched her taking control of the situation, to the point where he actually shrank back.
I smiled and called back my flames.
She had this.
She didn’t need my help.
I walked back inside my room.
I needed to take a shower and get dressed.
Seeing as though I was intending to do that the mundane way in a bid to calm and soothe myself a little, I needed to hurry or I wouldn’t have time to hit the Cafeteria for breakfast before my first class.
That was Arcane & Elemental Synergy. Fortunately, I wouldn’t have to see Winter and deal with things that I currently wasn’t in any stable state to handle—not without making things worse and maybe even lashing out with words that I knew I’d regret as soon as they left me.
As a first year and a hybrid being, he had to take a prerequisite course to mine and attend at least four sessions before he would then be permitted to take Synergy alongside it.
They called it Hybrid Dynamics & Magical Physiology.
Unfortunately, Vaxan would be in my class. Hopefully the fucker would keep to himself as he’d been doing throughout Induction Week. Well, until the events of last night.
Some other good news was that Keuric would be missing Synergy.
With my connections throughout Loxley, I’d found out that he’d been ordered to report to the Therapy Zone for Coexistence Management later this morning.
It wasn’t an actual class, but more like supernatural anger management.
Hilarious. Somebody had reported his behavior.
And, no, it hadn’t been my doing. I wasn’t underhanded and calculated like that.
I would’ve thought Vaxan was the culprit, but with him spending all night with Win, there’d been no time.
Also, he hadn’t witnessed Keuric’s altercation with Evira that first day.
Ah, it was probably the Celestial, Christalyn.
Last year when she’d first joined Loxley, I’d noticed that she hated any sort of abusive dynamics among students and anything she perceived as injustice, and she rooted it out.
I’d seen her making friends with Evira last night, so it just lent more weight to my theory. I knew I liked that girl. Good for her.
I smiled to myself like a fool, thinking more about my first class because Evira would be in it.
Strange. For once I wasn’t pissed off that I’d failed out of this twice, which was why I was still taking it. Last year, I’d just skated by, but because of that and the first two years of failing it, they still wanted me to take it again.
Well, at least, now that could be a good thing.
Grinning like a fool, I strode into my ensuite bathroom to take that shower.
And I tried to focus on that—and not the Winter and Vaxan thing.
Nah, not one little bit.