Page 3 of Ulune's Daughter

“Let’s try it. I’ll get cat’s blood for the next class and we’ll practice making the ward with blessed water and with cat’s blood.”

He nods at me like I’ve earned his approval. Which I don’t need.

Jane calls time on the class a minute later. I return to my desk and scribble a note to order cat’s blood, which is not a common spell component. When I look up, it’s into a pair of ghostly eyes.

Standing, he towers over me: a long, lithe body draped in black. He’s wearing black fatigues, a black half-shirt that shows off a lean, muscled abdomen and enviable hip dips, a black hoodie open over the shirt, and black wraps around his hands like boxers wear under their gloves. The effect is purposefully intimidating.

I’m not intimidated.

“Luca,” I say in acknowledgement.

“Thank you for not dismissing my suggestion.”

“Not at all. That’s what these seminars are for: learning how to build on the basics to create more powerful magicks.”

The creepy, white eyes slide in Jane’s direction, where she’s standing behind the podium, talking to several other students. “Not everyone is as receptive to suggestions.”

I’ve never found Jane close-minded, but I’ll admit I rarely offer the kind of variations that Luca has suggested. Lateral thinking isn’t my forte.

“She knows more about Necromancy than you and me combined,” I say. “She’s been studying it longer than we’ve been alive. Her views may have hardened a little.”

He grunts. “Can I offer some other suggestions, over coffee?”

I have to give him points for boldness.

“How about we see how the cat’s blood goes first?”

The corners of his full mouth twitch. “Then can I just buy you a coffee?”

“No, thank you. I’ll buy my own coffee. But I’ll drink it with you.”

His lips spread into a grin. “Fair enough.”

“Give me a moment to speak with Madame Serpa and I’ll join you. Bodeman Main or do you prefer the coffee off campus?”

“The campus café coffee is deeply questionable.”

I guess it hasn’t improved while I’ve been away. “True,” I say with a laugh.

He waits while I speak with Jane, who strives for a neutral expression when she sees Luca lingering. I’ve known Jane for a long time and I can tell from the slant of her eyes and the slight curl to her lips that Luca’s one of those thorny students: brilliant but difficult.

I can’t judge him too harshly for that; I was one of those students myself.

Chapter2

A Gothly Coffee

KELLAN

The creepy white eyes turn out to be contacts.

After I tell him I’m having a hard time looking at him because of them, he slips off to the café bathroom and returns without them. Revealing a pair of gray-green eyes that remind me of the junipers on Isla Cedros.

His light eyes hold mine steadily. Intently. He’s not staring me down. He’s just very focused.

It’s kind of nice, being on the receiving end of such focus. It’s certainly more attention than Rowan gave me by the end.

Luca asks direct and informed questions. He clearly knows more about who I am and where I’ve been for the last few years than the cursory introduction I gave in class.

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