Page 82 of Self Studies

Why couldn’t Saff’s thoughts be simple?

Professor Garnet clapped to get my attention. “As I’m sure you’ve figured out, I’m not in Saffron’s harem, nor is my relationship with Saffron common knowledge. Though we don’t hide it well.”

I refrained from mumbling ‘understatement’ under my breath and stood. My skirt easily slid over my hips. I smoothed it into place.

Beryl’s nickname of ‘Boy Scout’ for Saffron didn’t seem accurate now. I wanted to pry, but Professor Garnet moved the conversation along.

“Sex is part of life. You need to be able to talk about intimacy when you join your harem.”

I shook my head. “I’m not joining a harem.”

“You need protection.”

I scowled, anger making me see red. “And I need to pay for it with my body?”

Professor Garnet back-peddled. “Sex is a piece of it, a piece you don’t have to participate in. If not a harem, then a Coterie. At least find someone who can be at your side, so you aren’t left alone to be harassed. That’s all I ask.”

I closed my eyes. Beryl’s laugh echoed in my memory, followed by Saffron’s intense gaze. I’d already found someone, two of them. But neither of them wanted to be with me, and Professor Garnet couldn’t.

The professor tried to smooth down his mop of hair, but with my magic, even the little bit I’d given him, it stood at attention much like his dick had earlier.

A smile twitched my lips.

Before we left the greenhouse, he drew my gaze. “I can’t give you special treatment as I’m a teacher here. But know that it kills me. I’m always on your side.” He smiled. “I’d give anything to be taking you up to my apartment right now instead of your dorm room, but I’d lose my job and my home. The administration might look past the occasional fling, but moving a student into faculty housing would destroy the Aptitudes.”

I wrinkled my nose unhappily.

“Regardless of my personal feelings,” the professor continued. “Transferring is still illegal, and you must learn to fit in. If intimacy with me makes you lose control, then we need to avoid it.”

My heart fell, and I clenched my fists, Beryl’s rejection hot on my mind.

“Aphy,” the professor said softly. Being careful only to touch my clothing, he pulled me in for a side hug. “It’s only the physical. Relationships are about so much more.”

I took a calming breath. He wasn’t abandoning me. Actually, he’d used the word ‘relationship’. I pressed my cheek into his side and bit my lips together to keep from grinning stupidly.

With a final squeeze, he released me and stuck his elbow out. I raised an eyebrow, looking at it.

The professor chuckled. “You put your arm through, like this.”

He showed me how to weave my arm through his, before guiding us to my dorm room.

My jaw dropped to see the dome now around my bed. The stone of the floor twisted into a sculpture of living vines, just like I’d imagined. I took the few necessary steps to my creation, dragging my fingers along the uneven surface as I circled it.

One of the Dealership, Yasmine, tracked my movements from her bed under the window. I ignored her. Coming full circle, I bounced and beamed up at Professor Garnet.

He leaned casually against my door frame. “Amazing. Did you make a way to get into it?”

“Pfft,” I said. “I’m not stupid.”

Sliding over to where I’d drawn the rune for entry, I brushed my hand against the stone vines. They recognized my unique signature and silently peeled back. With an excited butt wiggle, I entered my new home. It was a little dark, so I didn’t see the details, but I spun a circle anyway. My space. Where I would be safe from the Dealership.

The professor grunted, and I poked my head out to grin at him.

“Do you know who charged your runes?” he asked.

I bobbed my head. “The Director told me their names, but I don’t know them.”

He leaned against my door frame. “It was the two closest most powerful mages, as far as we can tell. We’ll find out more when they wake up.”

---