Page 17 of Wings of Ashes
“So,youare here to learn?”
Why did that “you” feel so pointed? “Yes,” she replied, Wasn’t that why everyone came to class?
“You didn’t register for my class, knowing a few students dropped out due to the difficulty, so you could sit there and stare at me with dreamy hearts in your eyes and try to grab my attention in a romantic manner like the rest of them?”
Nix’s jaw clicked and panged from falling so fast. “I’m sorry,what?” she asked, offended at such an outlandish accusation. Professor Thierry was good-looking, but damn, he was a conceited son of a bitch.
“Come to the front of the classroom.”
Nix sat there, still in shock, disobeying a direct order.
“Come,” he demanded in a harsh voice that cracked down like a dominant whip.
“Ohh!” a few of the females in the class gasped and squealed and swooned at the power in his commanding tone.
Mara shot Nix anuh-ohexpression.
Nix ground her teeth as she jerkily stood from the desk and walked down the aisle to the front of the classroom.
“I have had many cygnus shifters enroll in my class and fail out of it because they were only here for one reason. I’ll give you a hint—it was not to learn.”
Cygni? So, was he taking all this angst out on her because of what hethoughther species was or because she destroyed his vial in the hall?
“Professor…” Nix began. “Are you implying my species cannotlearn?”
The classroom went completely silent. A shifter in the front row paused in tapping his pencil and mumbled, “Oh, shit.”
Professor Thierry’s silver eyes seemed to flash and ensnare her for a moment behind those glasses. “Not at all,” he replied. “I was just stating a fact.”
“So…” Nix said, “You are implying you are so attractive that I won’t be able to focus on the content? The content, which Ienrolled in this class specifically to learn—without ever having seen or heard of you before?”
Professor Thierry’s silver eyes narrowed as he glared at her. “Is that right?”
“It is.”
“You are interested in the history of winged paranormals?”
“Yes,” Nix said, gritting the word between her teeth in frustration. Did he really think it was appropriate to try to humiliate her on her first day, in front of the whole class?Any apple you ever get from me will be rotten.
“Then, tell me, what kind of creature is known for stone wings?”
“Stone?” Nix repeated. What the heck kind of shifter would that be?
“No answer?”
Nix glared right back at him and replied, “I don’t know.”
He nodded, and his top lip curled into a smirk. And damn it…it was a tantalizing, sultry expression on him. “What species of fiery winged shifters have become rarer than even Pegasi?”
Pegasi. Like a Pegasus shifter.
Like Persius.My mate. Heartbreak stabbed into Nix’s chest, and her face went white and expressionless at the reminder of her loss.
The professor mistook her expression for completeI-have-no-idea. “That’s what I thought,” Professor Thierry said smugly. “You clearly do not have the background knowledge to enter this class in the second semester—”
“I. Will. Learn,” Nix spat out each word with a little too much venom. So, she added, to be respectful, “Professor.”
“I don’t think—”
