Page 250 of Castings & Curses

“You should really learn to respect your betters,pigpen, or should I just call youpig?”

“Get. Off.”

“What’s going on here?” Professor Boreas, a delightful old wizard whose lecture I was actually looking forward to, came slowly down the hall.

Anger coursed through me, and I tore my arm away from Jeremy, greeting the professor with a tight smile. He didn’t deserve any disrespect from me.

“Nothing, professor. Just saying hello to an old friend,” Jeremy lied.

The old wizard was no fool, though. He took one look at us and offered me his arm, which I gladly accepted. I did not like confrontation, but I was practically seething with fury. That jerk and his name calling were completely out of line.

“Miss Montrose, how wonderful to have you in my class again. I was very glad to see your name on my roster. Now, shall we?” Professor Boreas asked, and I nodded.

We ambled down the hall together, and the professor began talking about gemstone recovery and the importance of crystals in the craft as we know it today. The lecture was surprisingly good. It was mostly earth witches, like me, but a good number were standard witches and wizards looking to earn the right credits, so they’d be taken into whatever covens they were applying to at the end of their learning.

The magical world was complicated, to say the least. After WWII, the Council started regulating covens, making them accept wider-abled witches and wizards not usually affiliated with them. Elemental covens were notoriously difficult to get into, though that was the specialty at Westwood Academy.

The WA program was renowned for sending the very best in elemental witch and wizard craft out into the world. Not everyone fit the bill, but many tried. Of course, downplaying the importance of elementals was something everyone did. With less and less elemental witches and wizards being born, it was no wonder.

Hmmm.

That was an interesting thought.

Could the low numbers of elementals be part of the problem with magic?

I would have to remember to bring that up with my roommates. The problem was with only half of us being born into magical families who knew the basics of our world, it would be a difficult discussion. Maybe Arlo and the rest of the boys could weigh in on it.

I met up with Enid and Rio after the lecture and we decided on eating in the caf with everyone else. The others were late getting there, but Jubilee, our favorite sprite, was already bringing out our favorites without us even ordering. Rio was the one who’d started this relationship with the pink sprite.

When I’d first met the chipper pink sprite, I’d been shocked as all get out. Sprites never talked to witches or wizards. Like many other species, they simply kept to themselves. It was just another one of those things we all accepted and never questioned. At least, I never did. Not until I was assigned to room 563W.

Anyway, now we were friends, and I was super happy about it. While everyone else ate the same food served up by the kitchen staff, our friend Jubilee worked on bringing us our favorite meals, with a touch of home. For me, that meant grilled vegetables with farm fresh goat cheese and an herb dressing to die for.

“That looks good,” a deep voice rumbled behind me, and I turned to see Arlo hovering over me.

“Hey,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat.

“Hey, sweet Jade,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss me in front of everyone.

My roommates made catcalls and wolf whistles, but I didn’t even mind. My smexy as sun hot wizard boyfriend—I think he was my boyfriend—was claiming me in front of the whole dang academy with his kiss and I was so fine with that. He slowed the kiss, ending with a loud smack and nuzzling my nose before tugging on my ear with his teeth.

“Damn straight I’m your boyfriend,” he said, and I blushed even harder.

Jubilee appeared then as my friends made room for Arlo, pushing an empty chair next to me. The pink sprite placed a dish of food similar to mine with an additional piece of grilled salmon. Arlo thanked her and I swear the girl blushed an even brighter shade of pink. I guess he had that effect on all species of women.

Impossibly gorgeous, sexy, blond, movie star hunk of man—and he is all mine.

CHAPTER9

After that day,I started seeing Jeremy everywhere. It was positively uncanny.

Did the Goddess hate me or something?

What had I done to deserve this kind of abuse?

And it absolutely was abuse. He was rude, whispering nasty things whenever I was within earshot. Still, I did not want to make a big thing of it.

So, I ignored him.

---