The Devoted: A Reverse Harem Omnibus (The Devoted Season Book 1)(10)

“New join, stop!”

A smack of pain sends me spiraling back. I open my eyes. A cloudless sky soars above. The fire is gone. The room is gone. The screaming is gone.

“New join,” Instructor Caterina hovers over me. Deep chatter surrounds me and I register the assortment of shadows circling around me.

Just like the flame.

I sit up and stand on shaky legs. Curious eyes smother me. Every new join surrounds us, their eyes full of shock and worry. Some stare down past me and I follow their gazes.

Iris is enveloped by three women in stark white robes, little lines of scarlet threading through the white. One woman pins me with a gaze that drips with malice. It’s a look I’ve seen thousands of times before. Her nostrils flare, but she says nothing. Instead of words, all I get is that gut-churning look.

A shiny black arm lolls out between the women, hitting the grass. Iris groans. My eyebrows twinge on my forehead.

What did I do? I look at Instructor Caterina. The side of her lip twitches. Her eyes are hooded, sheepish almost.

“Remedial,” she says, not looking at me, “You will need remedial discipline training.”





Discipline Trumps Chaos





Rough wood grinds against my back, digging under the loose fabric of my tunic

“Hand over the familiar, new join!” comes the warning from beyond, followed by a harsh thump against the door.

“We promise to be nice!”

“Nice enough,” one of them chuckles.

My gaze flits from one corner of the room to the next. Naked bunk beds are flush with either side of the walls. On the center wall, there’s a little bookshelf that comes up to my chest. If I forced that against the door, the Initiates wouldn’t have a chance of ever getting in here.

But neither would my dormmates. Where are they?

Iris is still in the sickbay. Or have you forgotten how bad you hurt her already?

The rest of my first day passed by in a blurry whirlwind of guilt and confusion. A class on Lucan history. Another on selected fabrics and the elemental protection each one affords. A short row about basic conjuration, summons, and summoning circles. Firedrake has so much to offer—but only if I pass the ten-day trial. If.

And now I’ve got remedial studies. Already. A long groan escapes my lips. Mr. Kitty meows and pricks his huge ears up. He’s up on the top bunk on my right—my bed. Like everyone else, I haven’t got much up there.

“New join!”

A fist is rammed into the door again and I drop my head into my hands. I grit my teeth and slide down the length of the door, hitting the floor with a thump. My teeth chatter as I shiver. It’s like my heart might just come exploding out of my throat at any minute.

“NEW JOIN—”

I flinch. I shut my eyes tight and a chilled breath blows in a tendril of icy air. A chilly wind dips into the room and hugs me tight before it escapes. I open my eyes and stare at the unopened window above the bookshelf.

“No,”

I stand and spin around, throwing open the door with my heart in my throat. I’ve already been reprimanded twice for unruly magic. No, no, no. Not now. Please.

A sprinkling of frost glitters on the hardwood floor outside my dorm as hot tears beat behind my eyes.

Hold them back. Stop being a baby. I swallow against my inflamed throat and hold back a gasp.

A sable-haired man has his arm outstretched. The gloved hand of his raised arm trembles slightly as he holds the three Initiates in his thrall. I can’t see his face, but his hair whispers down the broad shoulders of his black doublet, tapering out at a taut waist.

“You’ll unfreeze in ten minutes or so,” he tells the wide-eyed Initiates. Their skin is crystalline-pale. Icicles dangle from their quivering lips and twitching eyelashes, “Or longer. Sometimes magic is...fickle like that,” he lowers his hand and turns to face me, “You’re the one who needed remedial, right?”

Steel-blue eyes stop my blood cold. With a face as elegant and smooth as the untouched surface of a porcelain vase, I’m almost unable to look at him without feeling my heart leap.

Okay—I am unable to.

My gaze slides to the three frozen Initiates and I try to avoid laughing. Instead, I swallow it down.

“Cullen Maes,” he says, extending a hand. I look at the hand and back at him, confused.

“Your tutor,” he says after a while, hand still extended.

Tutor? But he’s so...young.

“Lilac Heart,” I nod.

His hand lingers. My gaze flits from his face to his hand and back again. An awkward chuckle spills from me. I cock my head and search his face for some sort of clue.

Whenever Da does this, he always wants one thing. So, I slap it. Low five style.

A buzzing thread of lightning connects our fingers. Sparklers light up in my mind’s eye while frost congeals on my fingertips. I can feel his magic. Ice cold and sparkling like hoarfrost on a chilly winter day.

I take my hand back so fast that my shoulder pops.

“That’s...uh,” he lets his hand drop and cracks a slow smile, “that’s...not what you’re supposed to do,” he runs a hand through his hair, “It’s an Albius thing,” he explains as we begin to walk, “I keep forgetting I’m in Luca.”

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