Page 15 of Group Studies

I froze.

Saffron’s scowl deepened as his magic swirled around him. He widened his stance and dropped his hand as if ready for a fight.

Ashe tensed behind me. “You do not want to fucking fight me where there are no rules.” The temperature around us started dropping. “Go fuck your harem, get it out of your system. A’s not your fucking toy to be used and tossed aside when you’re clean.”

The air rushed out of my lungs. It wasn’t like that. The drugs in his system were my magic. Saffron left me cookies and looked out for me. Mostly. But part of what Ashe said felt too true.

Ashe’s fingers dug into my hips, keeping me grounded. Saffron didn’t say he needed me; he said Professor Garnet did. If the professor was busy, my magic was the reason Saffron was here looking for me. What he felt wasn’t real.

Saffron took a few deep breaths. “Do you want to come with me, Aphy?”

I felt my head shaking before the word ‘no’ formed in my thoughts. My magic disagreed, but it wasn’t in control right now. I didn’t want to be the Greek God’s guilty secret. I deserved more than a place in his harem, licking Mercedes boots so Saffron could get power-ups whenever he needed an ego boost.

Ashe might not understand what was going on between Saffron and me, but he also wasn’t wrong.

“Fuck off, now,” Ashe added to my head shake. “I’ve watched you mess with her for three weeks. The fucking flowers and text messages, whatever’s going on ends tonight. As the sole heir to the Gibson family, you’ll never fucking be able to have her anyway, so let her move on.”

Saffron let go of his magic and cocked his head to the side, looking at me.

Ashe didn’t know the flowers were from Beryl, and I’d never told Saffron about Beryl’s gifts. Not that I spent much time talking to the Greek God. Our mouths were usually full of each other.

“Do you want to stay with Ashe?” Saffron asked me.

Déjà vu washed over me, Beryl’s voice asking me a similar question when I’d first arrived. This time, I answered. “I do.”

Saffron’s posture relaxed. His eyes flicked to Ashe. “You hurt her, and no one will be able to find your body.”

Ashe didn’t respond.

Saffron gave me a final frown before turning and taking out his phone. A moment later, my text message chime rang from the pocket I’d sewn into my skirt. Ashe loosened his grip on me so I could pull it out.

Greek God: We’ll talk later. I want to fuck you until you scream my name, and I know you want the same. Text if anything changes.

A shiver of desire washed through me. I quickly put the phone back in my pocket before Ashe read it.

The Gentle Giant found my hand and pulled me after him. “Let’s get out of here.”

He led me to a dark lounge I’d not been in before. With a gesture of his fingers, a small ball of light appeared and floated above us. I wondered why he didn’t turn on the lights, but I didn’t ask. He eyed the room for a solid minute before guiding us to a couch in the far corner. I sank into the soft puffy padding.

Surrounded in shadow, I couldn’t make out much more than the dark leather under my butt, vague shapes of desks and a foot stool in front of us.

“This has to be the softest couch in the Institute,” I said.

Ashe sat next to me, making the couch padding lean towards him. “It’s intended for faculty.”

I cocked my head to the side, surprised students could get in here at all.

“I didn’t want us on camera.” He turned, rotating his body so he faced me. “A, what was the fucking deal with Nitis?”

I blinked stupidly, my worry over how we got in here vanishing. “You don’t want to talk about Saffron?”

Ashe picked up my hand and began rubbing my knuckles. “I promised myself I wouldn’t be drawn to you. But I am. A, it’s not only the well of power inside you that you’re fucking terrible at hiding. It’s you.” Ashe paused. “Fuck. You tutor Derek and his friend for nothing. Despite skipping meals, you always have a cookie for me. And the fucking hairdresser, you could demand he regrow your hair right now, and he’d do it because of the power you displayed during your Aptitudes, but instead, you’ve never missed a payment, and he’s not even done the fucking work yet.”

I chewed on my lower lip. “That’s an odd thing to value.”

Ashe barked out a laugh. “It’s not in the real world. It’s the little things that matter, Kitten, and you live in those little things. No matter how bad your day gets, there’s always something simple making you smile.” Ashe smiled and cocked his head to the side. “This morning, you showed me a pattern in your scrambled eggs. Your fucking eggs, like you’d found fucking gold. If I could be half as excited about patterns as you, I would die a happy mage. I can’t just sit around and watch you anymore. I want to see your smile never leave your face.”

Little butterflies filled my gut, and my heart beat faster. I suddenly didn’t know where to look.

---