Rosemary Johns - Rebel Academy - Curse

I scrabbled with my nails on the crumbling stone. "Magenta!" I hollered.

Could she hear me?

Pan's balls, how worried in that adorable I'm going to tear up the entire academy by its roots way of hers was she? Don't let her have self-combusted in a flurry of snow. Would the stress make Bask permanently unpettable? Although, that thought was sacrilege. What if Sleipnir savaged Lysander's gorgeous wings in his grief?

I had to save them from themselves.

My pulse pounded, and my throat was dry. "I'm alive," I called. Well, that rated highly in the Dumb Things to Shout to Your Loved Ones. If I'd been dead, I wouldn't have been screaming to them, would I? But it was difficult to think of reassurances under pressure, and the last time that I'd tried this, it hadn't ended well. "Just...don't worry."

So, that was Number Two on the list.

Ezekiel snatched my hands, pulling me back into his lap. "You're bleeding." I stared dazedly at my broken fingernails. "Plus, they can't hear you; it's part of the spell. In the past, they walled up whole groups of prisoner mages in the walls of this castle. It would've been distracting for the witches if they'd been able to hear them begging for mercy or shouting obscenities." I shivered. I hated to hear about other mages being hurt. Ezekiel glanced at me in surprise. "Doesn't Bacchus teach you anything in her lessons about the spells that live in this castle?"

"Live?" I asked.

"Spells and hexes are alive in a way," Ezekiel's eyes burned in the dark, "as much as we are or were, I guess."

I snorted. "Do you need a pint of bitter to down your bitter pill, professor?"

Ezekiel arched his brow. "Don't bother yourself; I've already swallowed it, since you students have killed me."

Ouch, that was my furry ass spanked. I hoped not literally because with the muscles in Ezekiel’s arms, it wouldn't be the sensual stroking that Willoughby gave Bask down by the lake.

"Does sorry cover it again?" I ventured.

I didn't expect the chuckle. " Killed by a pussy. .. My Glory in Angel World would die with shock."

I choked on my own tongue. The professor had made a sexy innuendo and it looked like he was probably more into sucking Ambrose in the common room than tonguing Bacchus.

My brain froze just for a moment on the image of Ezekiel on his knees before the dominant fae. Ambrose stroked Ezekiel's cheek, as he thrust his dick into his mouth with long, deep thrusts.

It'd have to be that way around because with Ambrose's sharp pearly teeth, he'd do more than graze Ezekiel's dick if he tried to push inside those plush lips. Unless, fae had developed a special method…? After all, I doubted that an entire race didn't suck each other off.

Was Sex in Different Supernatural Races an area of study because I'd be up for that.

"Did I short-circuit your brain?" Ezekiel asked worriedly, shaking me. "You've been staring off blankly for over a minute with this funny little smile. On my feathers, Ambrose should be here. He always seems to know how to talk to you students. But me...?"

I blinked. Okay, I was back in the room...or walled up alive.

I squirmed (nothing at all to do with my hardened dick). "Look, I wish that I could've passed the mission, then neither of us would be here."

Ezekiel's gaze was shrewd. "You don't because my assessment is that you chose not to capture the dragon." His wings flared, and he leaned closer until our foreheads touched. "Don't you think that my friends and me were desperate not to complete our missions? That we hated them? I can never rub myself clean. My Soul is tarnished. We cared enough for each other to survive."

" You survived," I corrected. "How'd it work out for them?"

Ezekiel let out a hissed breath. Right, no more pissing off my angel professor.

"They died one by one, and I had to watch them fall," Ezekiel whispered.

Truth: I'd have died to save them.

I rested my hands on either side of Ezekiel's cheeks because his truth had shivered down my spine like rain in twilight, the solitary plucked note on a trembling cello, and the salty track of tears.

"Then I'd return to the castle and their death portraits would appear in the gallery." Ezekiel's gaze was intent on mine. "The castle became one of ghosts and memories. Even though I survived, I was still trapped here, training yet more Rebels to send out to die. I've always tried my best by my students. Please tell me that at least I achieved that, even if..."

"You’ve been kind to us," I replied, tightening my hold. "You don't deserve to be in here. I don't care what Damelza thinks because she should've promoted you for understanding what we need. But how long is the House of Crows and its backers going to get away with treating the Rebels as their personal expendable army? We have to stop them."

"I admire your spirit. But I'd say that we've been stopped. Plus, you're wrong. What did I teach you about strategy?"

Typical . Even in here, I couldn't escape pop quizzes.

I desperately sought to remember his lesson. Damelza had swept in, then Willoughby's letter had spilled his secrets, before Bask had been snatched...

My brow furrowed. "Don't copy Napoleon...? Wait, it could've been always copy Napoleon…?"

Ezekiel sighed. "That right there is why I was slung in here, rather than promoted. Your Power of Confess senses the truth, right? Well, the truth is that I'm a terrible teacher." He paused a moment. I expected my power to blare Nirvana or possibly Eminem (I couldn't decide between the two), that Ezekiel was lying, but instead, there was only silence. So, he was terrible at teaching. It wasn't like I'd had any experience before coming to the academy, but in that case, the judgment of what made a good teacher could go screw itself. Ezekiel was epic. "See? I've been...concerned...for a while now that Damelza intended to punish me for my failings. Even you've noticed my loss of control over the class."

I laughed. "I’d prefer that than Bacchus who controls us with bondage or Juni who uses the traditional savaging with wolves method." He winced. "Anyway, we're terrible students, or hadn't you noticed?"

He snorted. Rude. "What, am I blind? But I'd never treat any of my students as strictly as I was, even if that’s meant bending the rules."

"The Princes obey you...sort of..."

"Barely. By my wing, the Princes will obey anyone who threatens them with their families." Gently, he clasped my hands, lowering them to his lap. Then his wings wrapped around me in a feathery embrace. "I don't imagine confidentiality matters anymore. I was stricter on the Princes, only because I was trying to protect them. You Immortals have no idea the pressure that the Princes are under from their so-called guardians. Our patron, Titus, watches over the academy in a spell that's triggered by certain words or behaviors, especially by his nephew. It's more watchful over certain areas like the Princes' bedroom or during class. Willoughby's brother has a similar dark curse that connects to his bed in the Prince's bedroom and his suit. Punishment Points must be administered by his Tutor. They're disciplined daily. She can't bend the rules, even if she wants to, and I highly doubt that she does." He grimaced. "Lysander has no choice but to act like a—"

"Jerk?"

"Fae prince." Ezekiel wings flared brighter. "I spoke about teamwork for a reason. The Princes receive enough cruelty, and I haven't even started about the methods to break Midnight. If I'd only made more effort for unity when I was a student and understood that we weren't rivals, then perhaps..."

My friends would've survived. He didn't need to say it for me to hear it. Nor the added: And us too.