Rosemary Johns - Rebel Academy - Curse

Why would a child have to be hidden? But then, Fox had been shut away in an attic simply because he was a mage.

No wonder the kid was desperate for company.

Delighted, Ty bit his lip, edging closer on the window sill. My eyes widened.

" Woah , short stuff, let's not have you taking another tumble. Your dad can be one scary..." I caught the asshole , quickly changing it, "... professor . I'm not up for a spanking right now."

Ty gasped. "Nay, da doesn't spank. He says that hurting others is bad."

Yeah, tell that to the whip Ambrose cracked at students like he was a Rebel tamer .

I forced myself to smile. "My bad."

"Witches hurt. It's confusing." When Ty shrugged like it was a simple fact of life, I clenched my hands into fists. I'd spent my life running from witches. Witches who hurt. "I'll tell him you're my friend." All of a sudden, he looked vulnerable and painfully hopeful. "Will you be my friend? The elf said he'd be my best friend. I've never had one before."

It was snow wetting my cheeks. Definitely only snow.

"Well, if you have a Prince as your pal," I smirked, "you'd better have an Immortal as well. Friends, right?"

Ty bounced up and down like he'd forgotten that he was sitting in an open window, and I reached my arms out in case he fell.

Thor’s balls, Ambrose was going to kill me...

Ty looked thoughtful. "I hope da doesn't sit you on the naughty step. That's horrid."

"I'd like to see him try."

Ty appeared doubtful. "Da's strong."

"But does he have werewolves inside him?" My wolf tattoo stalked out of my coat cuff, glistening and alive. Ever the showman, Fenrir twirled and chased his tail down the back of my hand, as I held it up for Ty to see his antics.

Ty’s eyes widened, and he giggled. “You have a wolf as well as a snake! Can we show da? Please!”

“I can already see it, Ty, now get inside,” Ambrose’s Scottish voice, which vibrated with dominance and fury, hissed from the stable’s shadows.

I startled, twisting to face him.

Ambrose was even more beautiful when he was angry, and I wished that my traitorous dick could remember that he was the Seelie prince who trained the dragons and called them beasts .

Yet he’d also once been a Rebel just like me, and had fought for his survival…and his son’s.

Could I blame him for wanting to keep his son safe?

Wouldn’t Loki do the same for me? Hadn’t he?

Ambrose was delicate with golden hair and emerald eyes that were dark against his alabaster skin. His steampunk uniform didn’t shield him against the cold because Seelie weren’t meant to live in wintry cursed grounds; shivers wracked him. He wrapped his golden wings around himself.

Ty’s eyes gleamed with tears. “D-don’t put my f-friend on the n-naughty step,” he burst out.

Ambrose arched his brow at me. “Naughty step, boy?”

“Friend,” I replied, smugly.

Ambrose took a shuddering breath like the thought of that had affected him as much as it had Ty. “Inside, Ty, and close the window. Why don’t you go and draw your new friend ?”

Ty glanced uncertainly between us but nodded. He softly closed the window, cutting off the music…and leaving me with his pissed off fae dad.

Ambrose studied me for a long moment in silence, before his hand dropped to the leather whip at his belt. “You’re early, boy, again .”

His hand tightened on the whip.

“What can I say, I’m a motivated student, Prince Ambrose.”

Ambrose’s wings burst out in a display of rage that drove the breath from my lungs. “I’m your professor, you bastard,” he howled. Ambrose dived on me, shoving me into a snowbank. I let out a shocked oomph . He wrapped his wings around me, as we tumbled round and round. I spluttered, as he rammed my head into the snow. " Professor ," he snarled, pushing my face into the snow on each word, " professor , professor , professor . Say it, you rascal."

I spat out a mouthful of slushy snow. Yuck.

Ambrose panted, and his shoulders shook. He threw me onto my back, squeezing me between his thighs.

Huh, did he ride the dragons himself to develop muscles like that?

Right, now wasn't the time for those kind of thoughts.

He was so close that his nose was almost touching mine, as he waited expectantly.

" Prince ," I hissed.

Ambrose reared back like I'd struck him. Then he reached for his whip, pulling it out.

I flinched. So much for believing that hurting others was bad. At least it wasn't the naughty step.

I clenched my jaw, staring defiantly at Ambrose, whose expression was carefully blank. He swung the whip behind his shoulder, and I stiffened, preparing for the searing pain.

Crack.

I jumped, as the whip cracked into the snow next to my head.

I blinked at Ambrose in confusion. He hunched his shoulders, and his hand flexed around the whip's hilt so hard that his knuckles became white. Then he howled, as he hurled the whip across the yard into the darkness.

What in the name of the Valkyries had I done? Had I wrecked him?

Guilt clenched my guts because unlike my lovers, I couldn't even reach out to comfort Ambrose.

He was a professor.

I'd never seen Ambrose without his dragon trainer whip before. It was kind of weird how much younger he looked.

Ambrose threw himself down on his back next to me; he stared up at the night sky. Snowflakes caught on his eyelashes.

"You know, all your bluster doesn't hide your pain," I ventured.

"Are you mocking me?" A blush spread across Ambrose's translucent cheeks.

Were all fae beautiful?

"I guess that happens to you a lot in the academy, huh?” I replied.

Ambrose's blush deepened. The other professors were dicks but then, I had been too. "I respect that you've survived this long here, and if it means so much to you to be seen as a professor—"

"I don't give two feathers for my title." Ambrose turned his head to face me. "But it's all that's kept Ty alive and..." He took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Are you trying to punish me because of Marcus and the dragons? Do you wish to see my son taken away from me?"

My eyes widened. “Valhalla! Never. ”

I snatched Ambrose’s hand, squeezing his fingers between mine, without thinking. "I give my oath on the World Tree, I'd never separate a dad from his kid, especially as he adores you, and you...protect him. I know a good dad when I see one."

Ambrose swallowed, and his eyes gleamed like he was holding back tears. "Nay, I'm a bastard. But I'm all Ty has." He didn't take his hand from mine, instead he quivered as I tightened my hold. He was touch starved. " Our kind patron and VIP guests are now in the castle, and you'd tempt my son to break the rules. I know you hate me but..."

"I don't." It was weird how that was true. "I just hate how you treat the dragons. Plus, Ty opened his window and waved to me first..."

Awesome, now I was the tell-tale. Had I just earned Ty the naughty step?

To my surprise, Ambrose snorted with laughter. "Aye, that sounds like the rascal. He hasn't stopped talking about the elf and you. He's lonely." When his gaze met mine, it was anguished. "What do you want from us?"

To help me save my lovers...

Yet what I found tumbling out of my mouth was, "To help you."

What would Magenta say about my desire to save a fae prince? First Lysander and now Ambrose...

It was okay though because I had enough fae hate left to direct at Titus.

Ambrose stared at me with wide emerald eyes. "Right, like you mean that. No one wants to help me."