Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance) (17 page)

“Yea, I’d probably be
having scheduled panic attacks,” she agreed with a wry smirk.
“I’d say since we can’t even read the word ‘read’,
that that’s probably the best place to start. After all, it was
our mini-entrance exam.”

Mae’lin laughed softly at her,
his whole demeanor back to a more usual glow of pleasantness thanks
to her. “We’ll grab us some books on translation and
practice together,” he said, rising up and looking determined.
“We’ll catch up to them and in no time we’ll put
them all to shame,” he extended a hand out to help her up.

She took it and her eyes widened at the
shock that passed between them. Her breath hitched but she quickly
recovered. “Damn right, Mae’lin. They’ll chat so
much that they won’t know what hit them when we’re
casting circles around them. I’d say our first goal should be
lifting these stupid spells.”

With a chuckle he grinned. “Already
skipping past the learn-a-whole-new-language part in your head, huh?
You do move fast.” He flushed a little after saying it, then
realized he was still holding her hand despite pulling her up to her
feet.

She bit her lip as she slowly withdrew
her palm from his. Her head felt so light and airy as her blue eyes
met his emerald gaze. “It’s just a language. How hard can
it be?”

Mae’lin couldn’t help but
laugh.

Time was of the essence; Firia knew
that. She hadn’t been able to speak with Varuj in so very long,
and classes continued as she worked with Mae’lin to catch up.
The two of them were working hard to learn the arcane symbols that
the others took for granted, and they’d been able to glean
enough to start making
some
sense of the classes, at least.
Though she knew there was still so far to go.

As she headed off to meet with Mae’lin
again, Ala’nase stopped her, the dark elf slipping in front of
her, books in arm. “Where are you sneaking off to?” she
asked with a curiously raised brow.

Firia noted the tomes her friend held
and wondered if it was wise to be truthful. She paused as she thought
it over before she finally shrugged. “To the library.”

Ala’nase scrutinized her with
that sceptical look that seemed like it might bore holes through
stone once her magic prowess increased. “You’re meeting
with Mae’lin again, aren’t you?” she asked.

“We…” Firia paused.
If it was one thing she learned about the upper class elves was that
they hated hearing that their fortune was given to them by luck and
not prowess. “We’re falling behind.”

Ala’nase tipped her head back,
those piercing eyes of hers locked on Firia as she continued her deep
study of the young woman. “I don’t buy it,” she
said. “I think you two are rushing off to go make out in some
corner of the library and do all those things you never could back in
your farm town school house,” she said brazenly.

Firia’s eyes narrowed and for the
first time she felt truly disappointed in the other woman. As if she
was so heavily policed that she couldn’t do that if she wanted
to! She summoned and bound an entire demon and no one was the wiser.

“I’m being serious. I’m
not… I don’t have as much experience as you or Bran.”

The elvish woman’s head tilted to
the side and a grin was slow to form there. “Yeah right,”
she said with humour in her face. “Run on then. But you know?
We should make time to hang out and chat more still. Doesn’t do
good to ignore the rest of your friends for Mae’lin,” she
said with eyes wide as she backed away at an increasing pace.

“I just don’t want to be
kicked out,” Firia called after her, loathing how whiney her
voice sounded. Still, she hated to have her new friend feel neglected
and all the way to the library she felt distracted and forlorn.

She missed Varuj. If he was around he
could help speed this all up.

The faint tingle of his presence within
her reminded her he was there, but she’d still not been able to
find a way to circumvent whatever magic seals kept him from being
able to break out again. Was he starving, trapped as he was? Lonely?
He had to be frustrated with his position. She knew she was, and she
was free to wander.

She came upon Mae’lin in their
usual spot, already engrossed in the work. He was copying some of the
runic letters into his own pad as he smiled up at her. “We’re
making good progress I think,” he said with such glowing
optimism. He’d never let her down by surrendering to defeatism
again after that first time.

She plunked herself down and even
though she felt miserable, she endeavoured to lose herself in her
studies. To work as hard as she could.

To free the demon once more.

“I hope so. It’s getting
tiring being yanked home just when things are getting good, though,”
she lamented and then paused.

She’d called it home.

Mae’lin seemed to have caught
that remark too and he smiled at her with his head tilted. “You’re
really liking it here, huh?” he asked, never ceasing his work
as he jotted down the notes. Her study partner was almost as diligent
and dedicated as her; she had to give him credit.

“Well… sure. I mean, it’s
not like living back there was ever easy or stress-free. And I’ve
always put this kind of pressure on myself, so not much has changed
except now I actually have a chance. I never figured I did before.”

The tall elf studied her a while,
seeming to have found some deeper appreciation of her and who she
was. “I didn’t realize it had been that hard on you,”
he said softly. “I mean… I always struggled, but never
quite like this. I just…” he looked around, “I
just wanted something more
me
than being a farmer.”

“You already are.” She
smiled at him. “Not many farmers around here. And not many
elves that have as good of attitude as you, so be grateful you
weren’t spoiled.”

He laughed, but it was slightly
bemused. “If I was like them I’d be able to just teach
this stuff to you,” he said, holding up the book briefly.
“Would be much easier going than having to learn it with you.
Or… more accurately, struggling to keep up with you,” he
said with a wry smile.

“If you were like them, you
wouldn’t want anything to do with me,” she corrected, not
looking up from her book.

Those green elvish eyes of his lingered
on her. “I can’t see how that could ever be true. You’ve
always been the talk of the class, and… I’ve always
wanted to get to know you. I doubt that would change if I were a
little snootier. Didn’t stop the others from craving
information about you.”

She stopped, her brows furrowed in
confusion as her blue eyes finally rose from the page. “No one
cares about the groundskeeper’s girl. They just thought I was
weird.”

With a crooked smile he shook his head
and lowered his gaze to his book, but not entirely. He still stole
glances at her now and then. “They thought you were mysterious.
Clever. And very pretty. They just didn’t like to admit those
things, so they’d try to hide it by poking fun.”

Her nose crinkled.

She’d spent all her years growing
up on the outside, feeling isolated and alone. She had so little
support, especially after her mother died, and never did she feel
like anyone cared about her. About her wants or desires.

She figured they’d sooner watch
her fail than help her succeed.

She was just about to argue when she
realized he’d said they thought she was pretty and immediately
she shook her head. Lowering her gaze to the book, she muttered into
it, “You’re just saying that.”

Things went quiet a moment, but he
piped up again. “They’d always tack on ‘for a
human’, but you could see what they meant. I mean…
they’d blush or stammer their words after.” He laughed.
“I called them on it once. Told them to either start treating
you nice or simply get over their crush and stop obsessing. They
didn’t speak to me for weeks after that.”

She barely knew what to say. Instead
she stared at him and hoped that she wasn’t gaping.

Her heart beat faster and she didn’t
even really understand why. It wasn’t like she cared about the
people in her class. She’d been with them for so many years and
barely talked to any of them.

But the way Mae’lin was looking
at her made her flush deepen.

The elf cleared his throat and lowered
his head to his book again. “I wanted to talk to you too,”
he said after a long silent gap. “But I was just too shy,”
he confessed. “I figured with how cruel the others could be you
wouldn’t want to speak with me anyhow.” The red in his
cheeks obvious even with his face ducked down.

“You spoke to me at the
competition, though.”

With a shrug of his shoulders he said,
“I didn’t know if I would ever see you again. And…
and after the last day of classes when I…” He struggled
then said, “Never mind.”

“You can’t start then
expect me not to want to know the rest,” she pressed, though
she wasn’t certain. Did she want to know the rest? Her body
felt so warm and prickly as she stared at him. She needed to know.
That was why she was here. She needed to know everything she could.

She licked her lower lip, finding it so
dry.

His eyes flickered to her, but he
couldn’t maintain the gaze before he stared back into his book.
“I determined that I would approach you on the last day of
classes, and ask… and try…” he coughed, clearing
his throat. “I would talk with you. But… I chickened
out,” he confessed sadly. “So when I saw you at the
competition I knew… I knew it was my last chance, for real.
That I couldn’t blow it. And I guess… with all the
courage I had summoned up for the competition…” He
trailed off and licked his lips, his own seeming so dry. The two
awkward youths trying to talk so.

Her lips quirked at the side, her eyes
narrowing, “And you were still willing to kick my ass to get in
here.”

Mae’lin raised his head and
stared at her with shock. “I couldn’t throw the
competition! My dreams all rested on it!” He cleared his
throat. “Besides… it’d be insulting to you if I
did,” he added as he lowered his head.

She smiled, feeling a bit more
comfortable as she gave him a stern nod. “Well, that means that
we’re going to have to both work as hard as possible so we
don’t get kicked out, huh? I mean, I’m the one that ended
up assaulting you to get in here, right?”

With a grin he nodded to her slowly. “I
knew we were alike the day you nearly burned me to ashes to get into
the academy,” he retorted with an attempt to hide his smirk.

“If what you said is true, it’s
probably less dangerous for you to be burned than for me to be a
drowned rat. It’d ruin my image.”

Mae’lin's eyes widened then he
laughed and shook his head. “I don’t know that you
could’ve done anything that would make you seem less mysterious
to them,” he remarked, smiling so happily that his mouth hung
open.

She didn’t know where she got the
courage to even banter with him, and it was almost as though
recognizing that made her clam up. She felt so warm and sticky under
her clothing, and there was an excited buzz that she couldn’t
quite place.

“Get to work,” she managed,
but she almost felt like floating!

With a grin, Mae’lin nodded and
gave one of those peculiar elvish salutes. “Yes ma’am.”
He couldn’t help but smile though, and look over at her once
more before returning to his studies.

The grass fields were so full, it was
nearly time for harvest. Firia could recognize it, as she’d
lived in that country long enough to tell by the simple feel of the
air alone. It was where she was born and grew up, after all.

The warm wind washed over her face and
she heard, in the distance, a curious sound of approaching feet. When
she opened her eyes again she saw it was Mae’lin. Bare-chested
and wearing his work pants, she could see every outline of his leanly
muscled physique. He’d just come from working his farm. There
was a sheen of perspiration on his body, and the way his muscles
bulged from a day of strain and effort were so pronounced.

“What are you doing here?”
he asked, and instead of feeling awkward or out of place, it felt so
incredibly… right.

She wasn’t sure she spoke. Not
really. It was almost as if something was passed between them, said
without the need for words and she smiled. She felt so much lighter
than usual, as if her worries had dissipated and left her free of the
burdens of reality.

She didn’t realize how much they
were weighing her down.

Lowering himself down onto the field
with her, Mae’lin rested on one side right next to her. “I
was hoping you’d drop by,” he said so casually. “I
was thinking about you all day. And some of the guys dropped by, they
were asking about what was going on between us,” he said with a
bit of a grin as he reached an arm over her waist with a certain
familiarity and closeness that felt so natural.

She felt a buzz of excitement and
realized she wasn’t wearing the usual heavy, hand-me-down robe
she was so fond of. Instead it was something lighter, more suited to
her mood, and it ruffled against his hand. “What did you tell
them?”

The grin on his face grew as he leaned
in closer. “That I was going to propose,” he stated so
warmly, so boldly, “but that you would probably refuse me.”
It was like the words, though so exciting, were expected. It made her
heart beat faster, her skin flush, but it felt… right, and he
closed the gap between them and pressed their lips together, his
tongue dipping into her mouth as their eyes shut and the world
vanished.

Her arms went around his neck, and she
his body pressed against hers. He tasted so sweet, so warm, and she
felt that spark of electricity travel between them once more.

It only increased as he moved tighter
to her, his hard, hot body so primed from a day’s labour
pressing against her as he moved down atop her form. It felt so
right. His kiss so skillful, so… passionate! It grew in
intensity and she felt him grind down against her until their mouths
broke and…