I narrowed my eyes but allowed River to drag me out of the locker room. He was right. The sooner I faced Ignis and told her to fuck off, the sooner I’d feel better. Something was wrong with me, and I didn’t need to be stressing about her right now.
Sunlight made me wince when we stepped out into the cool exterior of the gym. It wasn’t like my pad back in the Fire Kingdom, with iron and walls that blocked out the elements. The Academy encouraged all elements to play freely, meaning an exercise and training building would be open for all. Enormous windows spanned the ceiling, allowing wind and light to slip through to caress the great oaks and vines that acted as climbing walls with shifting footholds. I let my eyesight adjust, and three female fae came into focus.
Ignis glowered at me, tall and furious. Her red hair curled around her cheeks in a way that could have made her look innocent if it hadn’t been for the tiny flames that licked across her fingertips.
I groaned when I saw that she’d brought reinforcements. The Water Fae, Sickle, and the Air Fae, Aerie, stood on either side of her with hatred blazing in their eyes.
“Thank you, River,” Ignis said curtly and waved him away as if she’d ordered him to retrieve me, which she likely had.
River ducked his head and let go of my wrist, but I spotted the mischievous glint in his eyes as he glanced up at me through the shaggy hair covering his face. The bastard thought this was immensely entertaining. “I’ll catch up with you at the entrance,” he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and shuffling out of sight.
I sighed. “Look, Ignis—”
She stormed up to me and slammed a crooked finger into my chest. Any other fae would have gotten burned by an act like that, but her fire seemed to have grown overnight—after she’d tricked me into sleeping with her.
Damn it.
I was a moron.
“Why have you been avoiding me?” she snapped. “You’re mine now, Titus. You and I fucked, which is a binding contract between Fire Fae for at least a month’s time.”
Well, she wasn’t going to beat around the bush about it, was she?
She grinned, no doubt thinking she had me right where she wanted me. I was going to be her trophy for a month? No fucking way was that going to happen.
I matched the fire in her eyes with my own. Maybe if we’d been back in the Fire Kingdom, I’d have to indulge her—no matter if she’d poisoned me with seduction magic or not—but not here, not in the Academy, where freedom was encouraged and elemental customs wavered.
That didn’t make my predicament much better. She would fight for this particular custom to be enforced if only to imprison me to her side and add to the growing reputation as a Fire Fae not to be messed with. Taming the Powerless Champion no doubt was on the top of her list of recent achievements and would reduce my pride to the most withering of embers when she was done with me.
The most logical prevention would have been to not sleep with her, and of course I knew better than
to stick my dick in this crazy bitch. Just because I had a playboy reputation didn’t mean I always acted on it. No one would believe me if I told them that she’d tricked me into sleeping with her.
Seduction magic was a black-market commodity and not permitted on Academy premises, but I still had the sour aftertaste of its recognizable compulsion in my mouth. The bitch had stoked flames that weren’t intended for her, which was likely what had left me feeling so off right now. She might have gotten a taste, but never again.
Growling, I gripped her fingers and forced her arm to bend backward. Like most fae, she was graceful and lean, but she was still of the fire element. With the amount of power coursing through her right now, I suspected she might even be a suitable match if we really went head-to-head. I’d already gotten dinged for fighting this year and couldn’t afford another mark.
“I’m not interested in entertaining your fantasies, Ignis. You might have tricked me into your bed, but in the light of day, I see you for what you really are.” I leaned in, enunciating my words carefully. “Not. My. Type.” I let go of her arm. “I’ll watch my drinks with a closer eye from now on. Don’t think you can trick me again.”
Ignis stumbled, overacting the motion as if I’d hurt her. Her eyes brimmed with crocodile tears, and her friends rushed to her side. “You would accuse me of spiking your drink?” she shrieked.
“You brute!” Sickle snapped at me, her voice grating against my ears with the icy edge of her power, making me wince. “How could you treat a kindred fae like Ignis so poorly? What a horrid accusation!”
I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest, which was more of a motion to try to keep the growing inferno contained than anything else. “When she acts like a kindred fae, perhaps I’ll treat her in the manner worthy of her station.”
Ignoring them, I flared my heat, allowing enough of it to singe the air until the fae instinctually backed off, allowing me through.
Normally, I would have been flattered that a powerful Fire Fae would have thought me untouchable enough to have to spike my drink to procure a night with me, but now I just felt angry, manipulated, my pride bruised. Seduction magic might not be permitted on campus, but it wasn’t entirely illegal generally because it couldn’t force someone into bed unless an ember of desire existed in the first place. It grew passions; it didn’t create them.
But I didn’t even like Ignis, let alone find the devilish female attractive.
No, something felt wrong. My powers were stirring restlessly inside of me, as if on the brink of chaos. And it had started late last night.
Which, from what I had heard, was when the Halfling had arrived in our realm.
Whispers reached my ears, all of the other fae talking about her.
“I heard she’s killed already. Should she really be here?”