Page 58 of Monster's Delight

“Remember, your essays on the comparison of potent versus extreme components are due in my office by the end of the week,” Professor Reynolds said in parting.

Most of the students groaned at the reminder, but I only smiled smugly. I’d finished mine over the weekend and had submitted it first thing this morning.

I gathered my things together and stood, half my mind on lunch.

“What’s your afternoon like?” Aiden asked, coming up beside me.

“History.” I made a face. “You?”

“Break. I think you should skip it.”

I raised my eyebrows at him, unimpressed.

He smirked back at me. “You know you want to.” He raked his hand through his black hair like I had done so many times before, while we were intimate together.

It made me salivate. “I’m not supposed to get distracted from my studies,” I said weakly.

“Tell you what. I’ll go see your professor and get the notes from today. I’ll tell him you’re feeling under the weather.”

“How would that even work? One potion and I’m cured.” I wrinkled my nose.

“I didn’t say you were sick. No potion cures general blah-ness.” He winked.

“Is that your professional opinion, doctor?” I teased.

Aiden’s eyes flared with fire. “I think you need a complete physical in order for me to give an accurate assessment,” he murmured, his breath hot on my ear.

I shivered, clamping my thighs together as liquid heat filled my center at the promise in his words. “I’m sure you’ll be able to fix whatever’s wrong, doctor.”

Jaw clenching, Aiden took a deep breath, nostrils flaring. “History, you said? I’ll meet you in the mess. No point in making your friends worry about you.”

His thoughtfulness over little things like that made me fall more in love with him every day. “Yes, History.”

Aiden whirled away from me, stalking down the hallway to the professor’s office.

I turned in the opposite direction, toward the stairs down to the mess hall, a skip in my step.

The girls and I had a lively lunch, discussing everything from our classes to the clothing we wanted to try making next. Una was becoming quite adept at designing clothing that fit curvy girls and looked amazing. I had managed to modify all my clothing from home with her advice, and I couldn’t get over how much better they fit me.

It wasn’t until the warning bell rang that I realized Aiden hadn’t come to find me. Unsure over what to do, I waved to the girls as they headed off to their classes and pulled out my grimoire. He’d said he’d meet me here. Whatever was holding him up would let him go eventually, presumably, and he’d come looking for me here.

“Well, let’s try this new spell analysis out on Grandfather’s bond breaking spell and see if I can learn anything new about it,” I muttered to myself.

Nobody was paying attention to me, all focused on getting to their next class on time. I quickly opened the grimoire to the middle, pinched at the hidden handles, grabbed the pages I needed, and closed everything up.

Comparing Grandfather’s notes to mine from class that day, I started slowly working my way through each spell component. Several times, I had to make a note on my copy to look up comparable components in the library, but neither Aiden nor I felt comfortable spending too much time in the presence of Mr. Brecken. We’d made several quick trips to check out leads that hadn’t panned out, but other than that, when we were working on grimoire stuff, we did so in other parts of the academy.

“Well, bless my stars. I haven’t seen that grimoire in ages!” said a voice.

I instinctively drew it closer to me before I looked up at the speaker. It was my academic advisor, Ms. Carlisle.

She brought a straw to her lips, sucking up a viscous red drink. “Do you mind if I sit with you while I finish eating?” she asked.

I shook my head and she slid into a seat, peering intently at my notes. “Disjunction magic?” Shetiskedloudly, her tongue pressing against her teeth. “Who’s teaching that? Every spell in that branch of magic is very tricky to complete properly, especially on a nexus point. Magic is magnified at a nexus point, you know.”

“Yes, I do. I’m taking Professor Akhtar’s class on that as well. This is just theoretical work, dissecting a spell for Professor Reynolds,” I explained, veering close enough to the truth to assuage my guilt.

“He’s a nice man,” Ms. Carlisle said, a far off look in her eyes. “Very handsome.”

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