Page 53 of Gemini Kings
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense, darling,” he drawls, one scornful eyebrow climbing over a venomous eye. “What tedious duties does this little improvement plan of yours entail?”
With difficulty, I tamp down this spike of concern for my student—because he is still that too, and I care desperately for his welfare and his state of mind, whether he wants me to care or not—and apply my concentration to the delicate maneuvering that is now required.
“I’m assigning you to tutor a student who urgently requires it,” I say carefully.
“Oh God, not our resident Hufflepuff again.” Vasili snorts. “I told you the last time we tried this nonsense. No amount of tutoring on my part is going to make Mallory McSnicker pass her midterms. She’s a catastrophically weak witch. This entire endeavor is a complete waste of time.Mytime.”
I proceed now with extreme care.
“The task may seem trivial, but I assure you, it is not. I’m well aware you’re already teaching two classes and carrying a full course load yourself, with qualifying exams of your own to pass this spring.”
“Qualifying exams?” Seemingly recovered from whatever was troubling him a moment ago, the villain bares his teeth in a contemptuous smirk. “Oh please. I could sit for those piddling tests today and pass every one with flying colors.”
I’m well aware this fiendishly brilliant student of mine rarely studies. He scrapes through his courses on pure talent, buttressed with stubbornness and ego.
But I firmly refuse to be distracted by his hubris.
“Unfortunately, your mentee received none of the prep school coursework that’s typically required for admittance, which imposes a considerable challenge.” I unbuckle my briefcase and remove the weighty study plan I’ve written out by hand (because computers don’t work behind the wards) in anticipation of this discussion. “I’ve designed a rigorous curriculum that contains all the necessary fundamentals. I’m relying upon you to administer daily lectures, assign and grade practical exercises as appropriate, and supply tutorials in Common Magics 101, Foundations of Witching World Law, Basic Science of Witchcraft, and Familiarization with Mogadon Magic. I’ll take the newcomer in hand for History of Witchcraft, I’ll ask Neo to provide tutoring in Alchemy, and Mistress Agrippina will make room for one more in her Genetics class—”
“And the student?” Vasili is eyeing me with open suspicion, because I’ve carefully closed my mind to him as my alpha, and of course he senses that. “Wearetalking about Mallory, aren’t we?”
I place the improvement plan on the desk between us like the ultimatum it is and level him with my sternest look. “Will you undertake the task or not? Because if the answer is no, you might as well return to thedomusright now and pack your bags for a one-way trip out on the next supply plane.”
In the rhythmic hiss of his breath, my lupine senses pick up a startled hitch.
Utterly appalled, he gazes at me, and I wonder desperately if I’ve gotten through to him at all. Saints preserve me, it will kill Zara and Ronin if I have to send him away. It will utterly destroy this fragile family we’ve cobbled together. Indeed, if I’m compelled to repudiate my alpha, I’m not at all certain how I’ll manage to survive these uncontrollable heats myself.
He plants his hands on my desk without touching the file I’ve left him and looms over me, all that porcelain prettiness of his honed sharp as a stiletto. “Tell me one thing more, Lucius, and I’ll give you my answer.”
Carefully I maintain my composure. “What is it, Mr. Romanov?”
His voice dwindles to a whisper even my wolfish senses must strain to hear. “If I have to leave, will you even miss me?”
My heart clenches hard in a fist.
“My God, Vasili,” I breathe, staring up at him. “Is this another of your rotten, wretched, manipulative mind games? How can you possibly be so blind?”
He searches my face with his pale glittering gaze. For some reason, my heart is pounding and I can barely breathe. Within the shell of my skin, my wolf rolls to expose his belly and whines in desperate entreaty.
“Hmmm,” Vasili says at last, lids falling over his searching gaze. “At least your wolf would miss me. In any event, he’d miss being fucked into a sex coma by his alpha, wouldn’t he?”
“Oh, for the love of Heaven.” Roughly I thrust to my feet and reach for him. “You have to know you’re far more to both of us than just the man who fucks me—”
A curtain falls over that cruel beauty he wears. Deftly he evades my touch.
“Look in the drawer.” His shuttered gaze flickers to the locked desk he’s violated. “I brought you a souvenir from Sin City. A curious trinket to be filed and tucked away in the Academy vault. It’s a nullifying object, quite a powerful one, which Zara claimed as tribute from that rotten little pinch-purse who betrayed her. I’ve locked it in a lead box.”
In that moment, I hardly care what he’s brought me. Without so much as glancing at the detailed instructions I’ve painstakingly transcribed for him, my impossible student pivots on his heel to saunter for the door.
Clearly he’s preparing to leave, and he still hasn’t given me the answer he’s promised.
“Blood of Christ.” Abandoning all restraint, I vault from behind the desk and rush after him. “Don’t you dare leave this hanging. Do you intend to submit to my discipline or not?”
With one hand on the door, his arrogant head swivels toward me. Finally, the naked urgency that saturates my tone surfaces one of those cold malicious smiles for which he’s so notorious.
“Let’s just wait a bit and see, darling, shall we?” he murmurs. “Bring me your poor little student and take your chances.”
Before I can stop him or voice any of the irritated objections to that plan that are bubbling to my lips, the infuriating wretch has vanished.
