Page 46 of Cursed Heirs

It was business as usual at Electi Academy despite the high-level Onyx Alert that had gone out a couple of days ago.

But it wasn’t business as usual for me.

At least not when it came to the guys.

First, with Xavier not here and having broken up with me, then with Orpheus and Talon pissing me off, I’d been keeping to myself, just going to classes, then holing up in my chambers in between and afterward, just keeping my head down and trying to focus. I had checked in with Orpheus regarding the progress made on locating his father and I’d also contacted my mom about it. There still hadn’t been any news so far. And my momwas now dealing with the attacks all over the supernatural world.

I looked out at the man responsible for it all.

He wasn’t dressed down in a relaxed state like I was, nor was he half-naked this time.

And I hated that I felt a sliver of disappointment at that.

Instead, he was in his battle garb, the way I’d first known him and seen him that night three years ago.

His black wavy hair cascaded down his cloak. Haunting cloudy eyes met mine and he scrubbed his hand over his chiseled jaw with a couple of days’ worth of facial hair plaguing it as he regarded me. He was in all black, a leather open-collared shirt and a pair of tough leather pants.

“Wasn’t what you meant?” I asked, dazedly, the effect of the dreamscape getting to me more than it even had last time.

“I asked you to step outside of your mother’s ward. While you did technically do so, you merely teleported to the one surrounding Electi Academy instead.”

“It’s where I belong. And I needed to see my men.”

Thinking he’d react angrily and be highly displeased with me, I was surprised when he came to me and perched on the arm of the chair, sinking his fingers into my hair and stroking softly instead. “You belong in a place that doesn’t understand you or your power, surrounded by those who fear it, in fact? To your men who possess that same ignorance?

“The Academy is just being careful. And my men aren’t ignorant or—”

“So Orpheus isn’t afraid of the discovery that you can destroy dark magic?”

I hesitated, then looked up at him, his eyes kind and understanding. “Maybe, he was,” I found myself admitting.

A part of me knew I shouldn’t reveal anything.

A part of me also knew I should stop him from touching me, especially so intimately as he stroked my hair like we were lovers.

But the other part, a part I didn’t recognize, but which was taking the wheel somehow, enjoyed it and wanted more.

“Aren’t you?” I asked him, worried about his response and not wanting to earn his displeasure.

What was happening? Why was I thinking along these lines? How was—

He tipped my chin, my thoughts fading like they’d never been.

“You were saying, my princess?”

“I…” I struggled to find my train of thought again.

He brushed his lips over mine, making my eyes flutter closed briefly.

When I opened them, his almost-white orbs that I remembered finding creepy, but now found enchanting, bored into mine. “Focus on me,” he spoke in a soothing tone.

A different train of thought took me over, some sort of twisted version of the previous as I asked him worriedly, “Aren’t you afraid of what I can do? Using it against you was when it first came into being, when I first realized I could do it.”

“As it should have been.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand… you wanted me to use it on you?”

“I wanted you to realize your true potential. Well, to begin to.”

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