I came back out of that possible future and smiled sadly at my friend. “Just love her with all your heart, Orio,” I sighed, knowing I couldn’t interfere with their fate. They had to make their own decisions, overcome their own obstacles. But it left me with fear clutching my heart for them.
Were both of my sisters going to end up broken because of the men they’d chosen to love? It didn’t bear thinking about, but the stars probably wouldn’t let me avoid it.
“Always,” he promised.
We made it to the long passages where the classrooms were located and I headed into the one assigned to me while Orion followed.
“What’s the word on Justin Masters?” he asked.
“Still nothing yet,” I said gravely. “The Cyclopses won’t stop trying to get some hard evidence or a confession though.”
“If Hamish would just let me inside his cell, I’d get it out of him in minutes,” he said with a glimmer of malice in his eyes.
“Yeah, and you’d add another crime to your collection. Are you sure you wanna be a murderer?” I asked.
“What’s one more little crime? I’m on the run anyway,” Orion said with a shrug and I laughed.
“Do you wanna stick around for today’s lesson?” I asked him. “I could use a hand teaching them ceromancy.”
“Sure,” he agreed and I headed over to my desk, a flash of a vision tearing through my head a beat before my chair burst into flames.
“What the fuck?” I cursed, placing my coffee mug down on the desk and rushing around to put the fire out. But the moment I got that one under control, my whole chalkboard went up in flames.
“Orio!” I barked for help as small fires burst to life all around the room and a flash of who was responsible filled my head. “Xavier – what the hell?!” We finally got the flames under control, and I turned, finding Xavier standing by my desk with his cheeks flushed and an awkward smile on his face.
“Just a little joke,” he said innocently and I noticed Tyler and Sofia stepping into the classroom. They weren’t really supposed to have joined this class, but Xavier had asked for Sofia to join and after my agreement, Tyler had shown up too and refused to leave. The Sight told me it wasn’t a fight worth having, so I hadn’t bothered to send him away since.
“Hilarious,” Orion deadpanned, moving to perch on one of the desks and fold his arms.
“Well I’d give you detention, but I’d rather gouge my eyes out than spend an hour of my evening watching you do some menial task,” I muttered, picking up my coffee and swallowing down the last of it. A strange taste lingered on my tongue for a second and I smacked my lips together before my eyes shot up to Xavier, his cheeks, ears and neck now bright red. “Go and sit down.” I wafted him away and he trotted to his seat beside Sofia near the front of the class.
Tory, Darcy and the Heirs arrived followed closely by Geraldine as she sung a loud ditty about the moon coming down to a royal ball and I waited for them all to drop into their seats before picking up a bunch of candles from my desk.
Orion snagged them from me, handing them out to everyone a little aggressively as he tossed them down on everyone’s desks. But as he approached Darcy and she held out a hand to take one, he moved it out of reach and tapped his lips, smirking at her. She stood from her seat, kissing him as she reached around his back to snatch the candle from his hand.
“You might be free to kiss in class now, but that doesn’t mean you should,” Max called to them and Orion stood upright, locking him in his sights like prey.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I please, and if you want me to continue teaching you so that you don’t miss out on your final year of studies, then I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself,” he said through a deadly smile and Max rolled his eyes, but didn’t say another word.
“I think it’s romantic!” Geraldine gushed, cupping her chin in her hands. “A shamed, repulsive Fae professor claiming a princess when the whole world would rather he didn’t.”
“Geraldine,” Darcy hissed.
“Forgive me, my lady. Have I spoken out of turn?” she gasped.
“Don’t call him repulsive,” Darcy insisted.
“Oh my holy biscuit box!” Geraldine gasped. “Forgive me, dear Darcy. I shall pick a more fitting word in future. Ghastly perhaps? Or abominable? Maybe the word pugnacious would be more to your tastes?”
“He isn’t those things,” Darcy growled.