Page 23 of Stray
“It is my greatest honor and pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said, his reverent words stroking the innermost sanctum of her soul. She shivered at the electric sensation of his skin against hers, and when he brought his lips to brush the back of her hand with care that bordered on worship, Ella felt every thread of herself come undone. He raised his head to meet her gaze once more, and in his eyes, she saw amusement mingling with something much more difficult to grasp, let alone believe. “Your Grace.”
Ella was left paralyzed and speechless as he rose with equally fluid ease and left her in a state of shock that seemed to be catching. The other students were dead silent, and even as Mr. Bryant ended the class period with instructions of what they were to endure tomorrow, they kept stealing glances her way.
For her part, Ella wasn’t aware of a word he said, even though she was trying desperately to pay attention. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, the memory of his kiss dancing across the sensitive flesh on the back of her hand.
No one had ever looked at her that way. Certainly not a man like him. All her life, Ella had been a ghost, no more a factor in the awareness of those around her than the surrounding air. For the first time, it felt like someone had actually looked andseenher, and it was the most terrifying, mesmerizing experience she had ever had.
The bell rang and Ella hastily grabbed her things, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. The other students gave her a wide berth on their way out of the classroom, but they didn’t go out of their way to shove into her as quite a few had done earlier in the halls, so she considered that progress.
She was the last to leave the room, and her beeline to reach the open hall on the other side of that door felt even more desperate than her attempt to breach the surface of the water in the temple room.
She was so close, but the moment that wickedly seductive voice hit her eardrums and called her name with the same intimacy with which he’d spoken her unlikely title, she knew it was out of reach.
Ella slowly turned to face him, intent on keeping her attention on the center of his forehead just above his eyes, since they were much too dangerous to risk looking into again. “Yes, Mr. Bryant?”
He walked over to her, his every movement fluid. “Is it true that you’ve only attended human school up until this point?”
She swallowed hard. If his display of reverence had been anything other than a cruel joke, he was most certainly going to lose all respect for her now. “Yes,” she finally answered, resisting the urge to step away from him. There were students more physically foreboding than him, but there was something undeniably potent about the energy and confidence he exuded.
“I see,” he said thoughtfully. “In that case, I would strongly recommend private tutoring sessions. Otherwise, I’m afraid you’re going to find this course entirely too difficult.”
She stared at him in disbelief, but the offer seemed genuine enough. “I didn’t know that was an option, but…”
“Yes?” he pressed.
Ella glanced away, too ashamed to meet his gaze. “I don’t think any of the other students would be very keen on tutoring me.”
“I wasn’t suggesting it. You’ll meet me in here every other morning, an hour before the first period,” he said, an unquestionable statement of fact rather than a proposition. “Starting tomorrow.”
“A-alright,” Ella stammered, too shocked to tell if she’d just lucked out or merely agreed to the hastening of her demise. “Thank you.”
“Don’t be late,” he called, giving her a scolding look over his dark frames that was absolutely devastating for all the wrong reasons.
“Yes, sir,” she breathed, turning to flee the classroom while she could still think straight.
Chapter 10
Ella
After surviving to the end of her first day at the Academy, Ella understood why drinking was such a celebrated college pastime. Even if there were spots that catered to the underage coeds, she very much doubted she’d get in.
Instead, she decided to take a walk around the campus building before heading back to her dorm room. She was almost afraid to find out if she had a roommate or not, and the fresh air was more than welcome.
She’d say one thing for the Academy. It was even more breathtaking from within its great iron gates than it was outside of them. If it hadn’t been for the sharp claws and sharper tongues of her fellow classmates, she thought she might have found it relaxing.
It had been a long time since she’d shifted, and the sanctuary of the woods made her inner feline long for release even more. Outside of the Hill family and their immediate associates, she doubted anyone knew what her shifted form was and intended to keep it that way for as long as possible. If there was anyone more unsuitable for the title of Empress than a stray, it was a strayhousecat.
After glancing around to make sure she was really alone, Ella unfastened the red silk tie around her neck and unbuttoned her neatly pressed uniform shirt. She stowed it in the hollow of a nearby tree along with her skirt, undergarments and shoes before padding out across the cool evening grass in her bare feet.
There had been a time when shifting came as naturally to her as breathing. In fact, back then it had been a challenge to maintain her human form for longer than a few hours.
Mrs. Hill had addressed that problem with the same cold practicality as any other, punishing Ella each time she took her feline form.
“You’re feral enough as it is,”the Matriarch had spat at her on more than one occasion.
Maybe she was right. Her lackluster performance at today’s etiquette class seemed evidence enough of it. As much as she had dreamed of one day fitting in with the world around her, it seemed more out of reach now than ever. She was all but convinced the moon goddess had chosen her either as a cruel joke, a punishment on the colony, or both.
When Ella took her feline form, dainty paws gliding effortlessly across the earth, the stress began to melt away. She allowed herself to give in to instinct, exploring every enticing sound and flicker of movement in the vast forest. The sky was already darkening with the promise of night, and while she’d planned on going back much earlier, the hours so easily passed themselves off for minutes.
