Page 137 of Love Bites

BELLA

Alight mist clung to the emerald grass of the athletic lawn. Some of it was the haze that always floated around the campus. But a lot of it was from our Magical Combat exercise.

Looking around the group was like watching a scene from a movie, even the lighting seemed dramatic. The statues that marked the bounds of the combat area all bore dour expressions and faced inward to where Eve paced and lectured, as if they were listening intently. The gathered students were just as serious. The only difference was that the statues wore white marble togas, while the student were all clad in the signature Primrose Academy green gowns.

I was eager to learn, but the spell that tied me to Luke had me distracted and desperate. All I could think about was his eyes, his hands, the reassuring throb of his heartbeat, and the endless hours between now and tonight when I could be with him again.

I had been right this morning when I felt my attempts to deny the bond were hopeless. I didn’t have the discipline to study magic when his magic broke my concentration at every turn.

It was probably the reason every witch from Primrose Academy accepted her bond and left. It wouldn’t be hard to convince a woman to leave school if she was too tortured to learn anything anyway.

“Never mind, Bella,” Eve said sharply, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I gaped at her. Had she really asked me a question and I hadn’t noticed or answered? The group tittered at me for the fourth time so far today. I couldn’t even blame them. Before I could even formulate a half-hearted apology, she moved on.

“Let’s try someone else. Putting up a smoke screen is the magical equivalent to what, Esme?” Eve asked the witch with the golden curls on the opposite side of the circle.

“A rape whistle?” Esme giggled.

The others laughed too.

“That’s actually fairly accurate,” Eve said, eyebrows raised. “The smoke screen will provide a distraction, allowing you to escape a situation you can’t handle. It can also alert nearby witches that you need help. Some of you are having trouble with this exercise because you’re treating it like an attack. A smoke screen requires a light touch. Again.”

I closed my eyes and tried to picture plumes of smoke sliding from my fingertips. The way Eve did it made it seem effortless.

But when I repeated the words, there was nothing but a splutter of mist emitting from my thumbs.

The field was growing cloudy again. Across the circle Esme released a cloud of pretty pink smoke.

“Nice work, Esme,” Eve said approvingly.

I still hadn’t learned her last name. To the students, she was simplyEve.

Beside me, Cori was concentrating so hard her cheeks were red.

“Let’s have someone come up and give an example,” Eve said.

A dozen hands shot up.

“Cori,” Eve said, glancing at my roommate.

I could actually feel Cori’s spirit sink.

Cori struggled enough with her magic that she was still studying combat with the first-years. She had a natural gift with weather magic, which was very powerful and notoriously hard to control, according to Anya. But none of the professors cut Cori any slack. She was always having to redo assignments, go in early, and practice over and over to make up for her mistakes.

Cori ran a hand through her curls and headed to the center of the circle.

The other students backed up to the edges of the green circle right away. I figured she must have a track record for mistakes in Combat class, just like everywhere else.

Cori lifted her hands, palms up, and closed her eyes in concentration.

The breeze picked up a little, lifting her curls so that she looked like a heroine in a Jane Austen movie on BBC.

Her lips pursed slightly as a thin line of smoke slid out of her index finger, then another from her thumb.

We collectively held our breath and watched both hands issue plumes of slate-gray smoke.

Cori was doing it, really doing it. This was a textbook performance of the exercise, and I was bursting with pride for her.

---