Page 1 of Class Studies

Chapter 1

On some level, I understood the chilly gray tower at the top of the Institute didn’t belong to me. But I’d never lived somewhere that felt like home so fast.

I straightened the tablet on its bendy arm, jutting out of the wall behind my alchemy workstation. The shiny device’s white edges and candy cane case contrasted my standard-issue black phone. I knew nothing about technology, but clearly, this wasn’t what everyone else had. The tablet’s suspicious delivery, only two days after I’d used my magic to take control of the Magical Authorities, didn’t help my unease.

I hesitated twice before finally hitting the power button. An animation of a circle spinning filled the screen. As I lowered my hand, the worn sleeve of Beryl’s gray hoodie tried to swallow my fingers, and I pushed it back up my arm.

My last text message with the sapphire-eyed Internal Mage churned in my mind. I’d asked him when I would see him again, and he’d responded with a joke, ending with letting go of his staff.

Letting go of his staff could mean letting go of me. The thought punched me in the gut, and I leaned against my tall worktable to keep standing.

As much as I hated it, I couldn’t blame him. I’d told him I loved him for the first time in a haze of drugs and magic. I did it to trick him into a threesome with Saffron.

I manipulated him. I was turning into my master.

My reflection on the glossy tablet screen stared back at me. My crystal rimming sparkled despite the pain squeezing my heart.

I loved Damon, but he used my love to further bind me to him. Now the men in my life were changing because of me.

Saffron dumped his childhood sweetheart.

Beryl put aside his business, his brainchild, to aid me.

I looked away from my reflection to peek across the room at Ashe.

He never said he loved me, but he implied we loved each other. Like it was a fact of life. As badly as I wanted it to be true, I also didn’t want to destroy everything he worked for. He was a decorated MA Officer with a son and commitments outside the Institute.

He wasn’t only in my dog house for deceiving me about his origins; he was there for his safety. Because of me, he lied to his superior and broke rules he should have enforced.

His intense loyalty chilled my blood. What was wrong with me? Or was this the nature of love? To force people to attach themselves and steer their choices?

I shifted uncomfortably and looked at my reflection again, surprised not to see my evil twin's red eyes. With a shake of my head, I reminded myself I wasn’t the center of everything. Beryl, Saffron, Professor Garnet, and Ashe were all grown mages who could make their own decisions.

The spinning circle on the tablet turned green, distorting my reflection and easing the pain in my heart. Just as fast, my stomach sank for an entirely different reason.

It’s a gift. I’m doing what I’m told, Abe’s apprentice said when he gave the tablet to me.

I wanted to turn him away, but I couldn’t. My dragon scales hopefully still sat undiscovered in Abe’s pantry. If they didn’t, she took them, which meant I didn’t just work for her—she pretty much owned me until I got them back.

I pressed my palms into my eye sockets.

Everything got so complicated so fast.

My life with Damon had been simple. I thought I was happy, but the MA set fire to all of it, saving me and destroying the world I knew. They tossed me into this misguided mage rehabilitation center, where my peers bullied me before my advisor attempted to kidnap me. Ashe pulled me out of a suitcase covered with blood, and we bonded. Only he wasn’t who I thought he was, and nothing was as black and white as I thought.

Most of all, I didn’t understand the MA. How could they come here and abuse the people they were supposed to help?

Two of their agents raped students and beat one boy so bad he was still in the medical wing. As much as I hated my roommate, she might have ended up with the same fate if I hadn’t stepped in. But by interfering, I’d used my magic to force people to do my bidding. Did two negatives make a positive?

I pressed my palms harder into my eyes. It couldn't work that way. My actions were evil. I even kicked the Director of this whole place out of her office so I could transfer my magic to my heart's content while riding Saffron and Beryl’s dicks. I did evil and rewarded myself for it.

I swallowed. No matter how hard I thought about it, I didn’t regret my actions, and I honestly didn’t even feel guilty. About the sex anyway.

Removing my palms from my eyes, I glanced at Ashe again. He sat next to the fire, reading in a leather armchair he stole from one of the lounges.

His red and blue military fatigues looked stiff compared to the mage I knew underneath. A maroon red t-shirt strained against his bulky chest. The biggest book I’d ever seen hid his duck beard. I narrowed my eyes at his crooked man bun, missing how he used to wear it loose around his shoulders.

A knock sounded at the door, and one of my guards cracked it open. “Aphrodite, Professor Garnet’s here to see you.”

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