Page 21 of Wings of Ashes
“Really? Oh no, I hope he is feeling okay.”
Nix asked, “What do you mean? Is he unwell?” Did the other girl know what was making Professor Thierry experience fits of pain?
“Well, he’s a…you know,” Sarasa said. As if Nix would know.
“He’s a…jerk?”
“He is a gargoyle shifter,” Sarasa whispered like it was inappropriate to say at full volume. “And you know what that means…”
“I don’t know.”
Sarasa gaped. “Nix!”
“Nix doesn’t know much about other shifters,” Elle said. “Gargoyle shifters begin to turn to stone when they reach a certain age without finding their fated mate,” Elle informed her.
How did Elle know that? Why was Nix so uninformed about the different species at the academy compared to her peers? Nix took almost all of the same classes as Elle.
“It’s a slow transition, very painful. Limb by limb, internal organ by internal organ, turns to stone.”
He was turning intostone?
“The last thing to harden is the heart,” Sarasa said. “If a gargoyle shifter can’t find his mate before his heart turns to stone, he…well, he remains a statue. Forever. It’s sad. AND romantic. Every girl wants to take his class and melt his stony exterior and—”
Nix tuned them out as she chewed.
Professor Thierry was basically…dying. Slowly. In an excruciatingly painful way.
What if he never found his mate?
What if, in this life, Nix never found hers?Persius, where are you? Some place safe?
“Ready to head to dance class together, Nix?” Elle asked.
“Uh, actually, I ended up enrolling in something else.” Nix admitted, “Combat.”
“Combat?” they both repeated.
“Whoareyou?” Sarasa asked in an amazed, fascinated voice.
Nix did not miss the way Elle flinched at her friend receiving such attention.
“What. The. Fuck.”A familiar, annoying male voice sounded from the group on the field as Nix strode toward where the rest of the class met for Introduction to Combat.
Considering it was the second semester, Nix expected more “You won’t be able to keep up; you’re going to fail” statements of encouragement.
“Are you stalking me, swan girl?” the annoying male voice spoke from the crowd again.
Nix met the gaze of the blond-haired jerk from potions class who had told Professor Bowen that she would be too much of a “distraction.” Mr. Graeves, right?Great.
“Birds are supposed to be flighty, not fighty, don’t you know that?” Graeves asked like a real douchebag. “Or is this just an excuse to grope some muscles during hand-to-hand combat practice?”
Another male said, “Probably the only context an alpha would let the Ugly Fuckling touch him.”
A couple of the guys in the group snickered.
Nix pushed her shoulders back and asked, “What am I doing to offend you by being here, huh?” Her hands fell to her hips. “What does a woman learning do to you? Unless you prefer us to not know how to protect ourselves. I bet that’s it, isn’t it? You prefer your women to not know how to fight back? Is that the only way you can get one?”
“Daaaaamn,” someone laughed in the crowd.
