Wintertide Read online

  My lungs burned as he tightened his grip, cutting off my air. Black dots had begun to appear in front of my eyes, and I knew no matter how much I hated this Evangeline, or doing my Father’s bidding, I had no choice. His grip loosened as he saw my resignation, “Yes, Headmaster Frost,” I managed to rasp out.

  Finally, he released me and I gulped in air as I tried to stop myself from shaking. I gripped my fists at my sides to keep myself from touching my neck or lashing out. I refused to let him see how much he had hurt me. Casually, I straightened myself out and brushed the remnants of frost from my shoulders before I turned away from him to leave. I paused for a moment, my hand on the doorknob as he spoke again.

  “I expect to hear results in three days’ time. I will send for you and you had better have something to report.”

  “Yes, sir,” I replied evenly before walking out and shutting the door behind me. In the hall, I glanced around and noticed no one was around. I leaned my forehead against the wall and slammed my fist into the hard stone, my power simmering just beneath the surface and putting a crack in the surface. “Fuck!” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. How the hell was I going to pull this off?

  If it weren’t bad enough that I hated the girl, now I had to work with her, all while I had a bitch of a harpy to ditch. Regardless of what the warden claimed, there was no way that Carmen would move on quietly to someone else. I’d have to not only befriend shitty sorceress, but also contend with a cruel woman that had already made it clear she would make Evangeline’s life miserable, and that was before I had shown any interest in her.

  To top it all off, there was Calex. His actions at dinner made it clear that he had put his mark on Evangeline, despite the deal she had unknowingly struck with him. The way his wings fluttered around her, it was a display of ownership as clear as any as his arm had wrapped around her. No man in their right mind would dare to touch her. I had to find a way to get around Calex’s mark and still get done what Father demanded. Not only was my freedom on the line, but also my life.

  Chapter Eight

  A symphony of loud bangs startled me awake, and for a moment I didn’t know where I was. At first, I thought I was at home since it was so dark and plain, but the dim light filtered through the small window and I was just barely able to make out the stones that made up the wall. As my hand brushed against the wall, the cold, textured surface touched me and everything came rushing back. I groaned, Shadow Isle, my new prison.

  Below me, Una snored softly and I had no clue how she stayed asleep through the loud ass noise. Hell, I didn’t even know what the noise was, just that it was obnoxiously loud.

  I eased my way down the ladder, careful to not wake my roommate on my descent. I didn’t want to start out pissing her off by waking her up. My feet hit the cold floor and I looked around to try to find the source of the noise. I frowned as I noticed the door to our room open. I swore the thing was shut last night. In fact, I remembered hearing the lock click from the outside and the sinking feeling in my stomach that this was actually happening.

  I peeked out and looked down the hallway. All of the doors were open exactly like ours were. I turned back into the room with a shrug. It must have been part of the magic here that kept us all locked in at night.

  Well, I was wide awake, so I might as well get dressed and ready for the day. I turned back in the room to do exactly that. “Shit,” I mumbled under my breath. “They didn’t give me any actual clothes.” All I had was the pajama jumper that had been left on my bunk for me to wear last night.

  I wasn’t going to get anywhere with no clothes, so I quietly climbed back into my bed and stared out of the window. The rising sun painted the sky with beautiful hues of reds and oranges. Such a stark contrast to the bare grey walls that made up this room. Puffy clouds rolled by and I passed the time by imagining them turning into different creatures, before they moved out of sight to make room for the next one.

  A muffled voice came from below me, pulling me from my own thoughts. “You going to stare out the window all morning, or are you going to get your ass up and ready for breakfast?” Una still sounded sleepy, but just as snarky as I remembered her from the day before.

  “I, uh. I have nothing to wear. I’m not going out there in these ugly ass pajamas,” I replied.

  “They’re in the closet. It must have slipped my mind,” she cackled. The bed creaked as she shifted and got up to start getting ready for the day herself.

  I glanced at the door and then back at her. She was already half undressed ,and the door was wide open. “Aren’t you going to close the door?”

  She shrugged, “What’s the point? It’s not like these assholes haven’t seen a naked woman before. And trust me, if they wanted to, they would just open it again. Honey, your days of privacy are over. You might as well get used to it now.” She turned her head towards me, a mischievous grin on her face, “You’ll even have to get used to peeing in front of the guards.”

  My eyes widened and she chuckled again. “You’re joking, right?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Nope,” she responded, popping the P.

  Fuck me sideways. There was no way I would ever get used to people watching me get dressed, let alone pee for that matter. That just meant I had to figure out some way to maintain my privacy.

  I sighed and climbed down the ladder again. I opened the closet door, which was more like a wardrobe of sorts and spotted the uniforms I was expected to wear. “Seriously?” I groaned as I pulled out the blue plaid skirt with a frown. “Why can’t these places make yoga pants the dress code?”

  Una threw her head back and laughed, her purple hair glinting under the fluorescent lights. “I see it as a benefit. We get to be every man’s fantasy, who wouldn’t want that?” she shrugged. “Just watch the guards. Some of them are real snakes and like to cop a feel. Though there is a professor I wouldn’t mind, if you know what I mean,” she wiggled her eyebrows at me, and I giggled at her antics. I was happy I got a funny roomie, especially considering the kind of people that were known to attend this hellhole. I just hoped that it stayed that way; even she had warned me to trust no one.

  I hid behind the open door and dressed quickly to avoid being seen. The white blouse was more restrictive than even the fancy dresses I had been forced to wear to dinner every night with my parents. The skirt hit right above my knees and briefly I wondered if they measured it to be two fingers above the knee like I had read in a book once.

  There was no mirror in our room, so I tugged on my shirt and hoped everything looked alright. I reached into the wardrobe and pulled out the last part of the uniform, a matching blue blazer with Shadow Isle’s crest on it. I shook my head as I slipped it on, they sure put on a good face, as if this was a real school instead of a glorified prison.

  “Ready?” Una asked as she looked me up and down.

  I noticed she hadn’t bothered with her blazer, so the dress code must be semi-lax. I shrugged mine off and tossed it back into the wardrobe. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  I followed her into the open hallway and the first thing I saw was Calex, his ice blue eyes watching me intently from the next floor down. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed and one leg propped against the stone. His white dress shirt was only buttoned halfway, showing off his very muscular chest and letting little peeks of his tattoos show through. Unlike the women’s skirts, he wore black pants, and had a blue plaid tie slung over his neck that matched the girls’ skirts. His gorgeous black wings were tucked in behind him and I wondered how he wore clothes with them. Would it be rude if I asked him to turn around so I could see?

  My cheeks flushed as he raised an eyebrow at my study of him. Fuck me, I thought to myself as the heat rose in my face. It seemed those were words I was saying a lot here lately. The mischievous grin on his face was sexy as hell and I hoped I wasn’t dripping through my ugly ass regulation granny panties.

  The thought had me flushing all over again just as he gave me a sexy wi
nk and I turned fifty shades of red as he pushed from the wall and strolled toward the cafeteria.

  “Well then,” Una said with a chuckle as she started moving toward the steps.

  “Well then what?” I cleared my throat as the all too familiar tingling started in my hands. Quickly I clasped them behind my back and hid them from sight as we passed the guards in the hallway. I didn’t need them to see the crystals that had started spreading across my palms. Sebastian’s warning was still in the forefront of my mind, and I didn’t want to take any chances.

  “Looks like a certain someone has their eyes set on you,” she smirked.

  “I’m just new. I’m sure he’s only curious about the new girl who ogles him like she would jump him given the first chance,” I dismissed. Things didn’t happen like that in real life, not for girls like me.

  “Yeah, sure,” she rolled her eyes at me as we rounded the corner to the cafeteria. I came up short as Calex stepped away from the railing, and sauntered over to us, almost as if he had been waiting.

  “Good morning, Ice,” his smooth voice washed over my skin and sent my heart racing.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I squeaked out. Embarrassment washed over me, damn, I couldn’t even act normal around a sexy guy. Frost started to climb up my forearms and fear replaced the desire as I looked around in a panic to ensure that no one was watching.

  Casually Calex leaned over and wrapped his arm around my shoulder as he lowered his head to my ear. “I did promise that I would have that number for you by breakfast,” his sultry whisper mixed with his scent of smoke and spice and made my knees weak as his breath brushed over my skin.

  Time seemed to stop as I looked over my shoulder at him and took in his touch and his intoxicating scent, the dizzying sensations rendering me speechless. I was so captivated by this sexy angel of death that I didn’t realize the ice melted and the tingles stopped, until I started tingling in other places that I shouldn’t have been.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, and my initial shock wore off, I cleared my throat, and willed my voice to be normal. “That is very nice of you. But what’s the catch?”

  “This one’s on me, Ice,” he gave me that sexy wink of his before he started to lead me toward the line. “Let’s go get some food.” He kept his arm over my shoulder and guided me toward the window.

  We arrived at Henry’s station and I swallowed hard. Shit I still didn’t know. Before I had time to panic Calex answered for me, “Six, three, five. Now mark her down,” he demanded his voice sexy and sultry even as he barked his order to Henry. I had the feeling that he had no clue he exuded sex in his every movement, in his every word and I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about that.

  Just as he had at dinner the night before, he kept his arm wrapped around me as he piled food on my tray. I should have pulled away, but I couldn’t. Not only did I like the way it felt to be touched this way, I also felt like he was somehow dampening my magic. I didn’t feel the fear of losing control when I was in his arms.

  Una followed behind us as he led me to a table and put my tray down indicating for me to sit. She stood for a moment as if she were debating on sitting with us or going to another table. Just as she started to step away Calex spoke up. “Hold on,” he stated making her stop mid step as she turned back to face us.

  He pointed to the man across the table and told him to make room for the “Purple Princess.” I held my breath to see what kind of reaction she would have, a little worried she would storm off at his use of a nickname for her and I would lose the closest thing to a friend I’ve ever had in my life.

  Relief flooded through me as she threw her head back and laughed. “You’re a funny one, Raven Prince.” She put her tray down and took the vacated seat, turning toward the man that had moved for her. “Thanks. I’m Una. We have classes together. Not that you’ve ever noticed the girl with the bright ass purple hair.”

  “Blade,” he grunted before he tucked into his food again, determined to ignore her. Man of many words, this one.

  Una continued her incessant babbling and drew the conversation out of him as Calex left us to check in and grab his own food. The guy that called himself Blade stared at me over his tray with eyes that glowed a deep amber.

  I didn’t mean just bright eyes, but eyes that literally glowed like a light. Ones that if the lights were off, I could have sworn they would have illuminated the space. Openly I returned his gaze as I tried to figure out what sort of creature he was. His ebony skin was perfect and smooth and his features rounded yet not chubby. There was something about him that drew me to him, and I found that I couldn’t pull my eyes away.

  He laughed at something Una said, and while I had been too busy drooling over him to catch what was so funny, I was finally given a clue as to what he was. Sharp incisors peeked out from between full, sensual lips. He flicked his tongue over his lip, just the tips of his teeth peeking out, and I imagined those teeth biting down on my neck. Instead of being repulsed by the thought, I was intrigued.

  Heat rose up my back as Calex put his tray down on the table and took his seat next to mine, his soft wings fluttering against my back. Between my thoughts of Blade and the sexy feeling of Calex’s wings, my thighs grew damp and I groaned, I was going to need a hell of a lot more underwear.

  “What the fuck?” a man demanded from behind me. “Who is this bitch in my seat?”

  Instantly the cafeteria fell so silent that I swore I could hear Calex’s heartbeat next to me. I whipped my head around to see who had spoken. A lithe man stood behind me, his eyes burning in anger and to my surprise he stalked over to Una and hunched over her. My eyes widened in surprise as gills popped out on his neck, his breath heaving.

  I held my breath and waited to see what would happen next. I had no clue what the protocol was for things like this here and I didn’t want to make it worse. I only hoped it wouldn’t escalate because my magic would certainly lash out if he tried anything with my roommate.

  “I’m Una, and I was invited to sit here,” she replied in boredom. When his stance grew more threatening, silently ordering her to leave, she faced him and lowered her voice menacingly, “If you have a problem with that, take it up with the Prince.” She pointed to Calex, then turned her back on the fish man, completely ignoring him as she picked up where she left off in her conversation with Blade.

  Next to me, I felt Calex’s feathers shudder and somehow I knew it was in anger. I tensed up in response, expecting a fight to break out. “Leave my guest alone and sit your ass down,” Calex’s voice was dark and dangerous, nothing like the sexy one that I had grown accustomed to. The two men stared at one another heatedly before fish boy did as he was told, though his posture still showed he was pissed. “Get over it, Jet,” Calex chuckled with a shake of his head, his voice normal once again.

  The tension in the air melted away and conversations picked back up now that everyone was over the initial confrontation. Jet seemed to get over it rather quickly because he shifted in the seat next to Una and started talking to her as if nothing had happened. I could still feel Blade’s eyes on me while I watched Una and Jet flirt with each other.

  I didn’t understand how these people could go from wanting to rip each other apart one minute to eye fucking the very next. At home I only had my sister’s wrath to contend with, and it was constant and unfaltering. I hoped that I would figure out the dynamics of this place, and quick if I wanted to survive.

  “Let’s go, Ice. Time for your first class.” Calex grasped my hand after we finished our breakfast and helped me up. He held my hand as we walked down the long corridors, the others following behind in some sort of formation that made me think of an army. I couldn’t help but wonder if it were by design, or if they automatically fell in line behind him because of who he was.

  We entered a large classroom and I wasn’t surprised to find it was just as cold and barren as everything else I had seen. Plain desks and chairs sat in rows, all bolted to the floors, I assum
ed to prevent any from being thrown.

  After looking around the room, it still gave me no indication what this class was and there was no sign of a teacher or a guard inside either to give me any further information. The only people in the room so far were a pair of male students that stood between the row of desks, anger rolling off them both in waves.

  We approached them and the scent of saltwater assaulted my nose, along with something that I could only describe as the air on a rainy day. A motion from the dark-haired guy had my eyes widening in surprise. Water twisted furiously like a small tornado rising up from his hand. It swirled angrily as he faced the other student, both refusing to back down.

  I had read about the elemental fae of the Earth, but had never seen one in real life. And here I was standing in front of two. I was amazed at the amount of power that exuded from them, not to mention the control they showed.

  The other student faced him, equally as angry and we all watched unsure of what would happen. The second students shaggy auburn hair whipped around his face, blowing as if a huge fan had been blowing on him. This standoff would have almost been comical if I hadn’t felt the strength and power that radiated from each of them. Neither had spoken a word since we walked in the room, both just posed, waiting for the other to strike first.

  Suddenly, the sound of wind around us escalated until it sounded like a freight train would bust through the wall, and the wind fae directed all of his power toward his opponent. My mouth dropped in shock as I watched the water fae being lifted in the air and thrown across the room, his body hitting the stone wall with a loud thud that made me wince.

  Without hesitation he got back to his feet, a torrent of water twisting and churning around him before he flung it at the other student, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying backwards.