Page 10 of The Magic of Revenge
We stopped outside of the closed door.
“Look at me, princess.”
My eyes snapped to his amber ones, which were swirling with emotions. I just couldn’t make out if it was worry or something scarier… Like hope. He spun me so I was against his chest and his hands rested on my shoulders.
“We have no idea how this happened, or what it means. I just... want you to be prepared.” He squeezed my shoulders gently and leaned down to press a soft kiss to my mouth.
My stomach clenched with anxiety and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to see what was behind this door.
“Bram, you’re scaring me,” I whispered. Truthfully, it wasn’t just Bram. It was everything. It was all too fucking much.
“I’m right here with you, Goldie girl.” And with that, he opened the door and escorted me inside, his hand steady on the small of my back. I was glad he seemed calm, despite this obviously being a big deal. His strength right now was all I had. Mine had left me the moment I’d seen my Guppy lying in the forest. Just that brief thought was all it took to have tears flooding my eyes once more. I’d probably drown in them and I wasn’t sure if I really cared.
The room was dark, with the light-filtering curtains pulled across the windows, doing a great job of keeping the sun out. My gaze darted to the queen size bed and I could tell by the way the blankets were arranged that someone was in there.Who is it?
My heart was beating wildly, my palms sweaty, and suddenly all I could think about was Mom’s spaghetti.Gods dammit, Saige. Focus! Now is not the time for Eminem references.
Bram’s grip tightened on my waist as we moved deeper into the space, toward the bed. He released me, moving for the lamp on the nightstand. There was a small click and then soft light spilled out across the bed. My curiosity couldn’t be stopped any longer. Stepping closer, I peered down.
“What the fuck?” I gasped.
The hot water was pounding my skin.
He can’t be dead. I’d know. I’d fucking feel it.At first, I did. The sense of loss was so fucking debilitating, I thought I’d keel over and die where I stood. But then, it lessened. If my boy ever truly left this realm there would be no lessening. Fischer got me. He might be the single person on this godsforsaken rock that truly saw me.
My hands moved over the sculpted muscles on my abdomen. The more I touched my skin, the more it seemed to itch. Maybe I was allergic to this fucking soap. That’d figure. What’s another helping of shit on top of a shit sandwich?
Rinsing quickly to get the damn suds off of me and hopefully put a stop to the incessant sensation, I couldn’t help but wonder what this little dinner party was going to entail.
Laurie seemed nice enough, but there was something about her that was... off. She was calculating under the surface and that was stuff I’d been trained to spot for years. My training at Radical had been extensive on shit like that. Why didn’t we work for them anymore? I focused on my memories, trying to find out what had landed us with Montague Industries to begin with, but unsurprisingly, there was nothing there.
This felt all too familiar to me. I was sure Cam and Kai would agree. As I dried off, my mind drifted back to when we were fresh at the academy.
* * *
“Alright!”Our trainer shouted, halting our exercises. “Everyone gather around.”
There were fifty of us in our class. We’d only been here for a month, but everyone knew the drill. We were here to learn and follow instructions. Once we’d all circled our trainers, Natalia, a witch with battle affinity, spoke up. She was an excellent strategist and had the ability to see probabilities of success in her mind just by running through scenarios in her head.
“We’re grouping everyone into groups of three to four. For the next two hours, we’re going to be practicing our affinities against one another. A reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this is not the time to try to show how badass you think you are. I assure you, you are not. The last thing we need is for someone getting hurt over showing off. The purpose of this exercise is to expose you to the different types of magic that are out there. There are endless numbers of affinities. It’s our job to expose you to them all. Over the next several weeks, we will rotate groups so that everyone has a chance to experience everything our class has to offer.”
I smirked and she caught me. Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted a brow. I was badass, and Natalia knew just how much.
“Jacobs, Bahri, Mori, and Sullivan! Get to it!” Phil, another of the trainers, called out before continuing down his list of teams.
“You’re such a fuck, Sloane,” Kai whispered as we turned and walked over to the back corner of the giant room.
I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong.
“You better be careful, man. You’re just asking for trouble. As usual,” Cam grumbled.
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll probably only fuck her a couple of more times anyway. She likes to act like a hard-ass and I just like to remind her that I know otherwise,” I joked, spreading my arms out.
Fischer snorted, shaking his head. Natalia would never be as good of a lay as my boy. Not in a million fuckin’ years.
“Sit down. I’m going first,” Fischer announced, dropping onto his ass and crossing his legs. We all copied him, sitting in a circle.
“What’s it gonna be today, Fish?” Kai asked. “More emotion reading? Gonna try to compel us?”
