Rosemary Johns - Rebel Academy - Curse

"Take your mottoes,” Lysander drawled, “and stick them up your feathery behind."

Damelza's mouth fell open and then snapped shut in shock.

That was satisfying.

"It's funny how quickly you've forgotten that your guardian has authorized harsher methods," Damelza snarled. "My daughter always was one to have her head turned by a handsome boy. But I'll marry her into a respectable coven by Christmas and who then shall protect you, Dunce? You're nothing but a crush, who she'll forget like your entire kingdom has. If I were you, I'd remember your new position."

Lysander's lips thinned. "Thank my wings, you're not me."

"Open the wall and free my lover." My voice was hard and dangerous.

Damelza's eyes glittered, but she held her palm against the wall. "By the branches of the tree, free those who are no longer your enemy, blessed be."

I jolted. The incantation was so close to the invocation that Byron had said as he'd pressed his hand to this wall, after Robin had been walled up alive. Also, the one that I'd repeated. Had Hecate heard us...or had Byron been praying to someone else?

I'd hoped that it'd free Robin, but it hadn't.

Had Byron simply messed up one of the lines, or had he only known some of them? After all, he wasn't a mage.

Witches above, I missed Robin, Fox, and I missed father.

This time, let it work...

I held my breath.

Please, please, please...

I jumped, as a gaping chasm of black appeared beneath the mirror.

It was opening.

Yes, yes, yes...

Lysander dived forward, clutching my hand and crushing my fingers between his.

I wasn't alone this time. I hadn't been alone since I'd been resurrected. Yet could anyone survive so many hours walled up?

There was a tumble of violet feathers and bronze muscles through the hole. I stared down at Ezekiel's eerily still body.

Not dead, not dead, not...

Lysander wrenched away from me to crouch next to Ezekiel. He brushed Ezekiel’s hair away from his eyes and pushed him onto his back. Lysander’s troubled gaze met mine, before he leaned closer.

"Professor," he whispered, urgently.

Ezekiel's eyes fluttered open.

Thank Hecate.

"W-where's the p-pussy?" Ezekiel broke off, coughing.

That was no euphemism.

Lysander awkwardly cradled Ezekiel onto his lap, even though he was twice as large as him, patting him on the back like he'd never helped anyone in that way before.

I fell onto all fours and peered into the darkness. Why wasn't my Fox crawling (or falling out unconscious) after the professor? If he wouldn't come out, then I'd go in after him.

When I started to edge into the wall, however, Damelza let out a squawk.

"Hecate above, do you have no idea what impact your magic would have inside a spell such as this? Do you wish to tear this entire academy apart?" Damelza demanded.

Ah, rhetorical questions.

In fact, yes, I did wish it. Truly to the depths of my wicked heart I did .

Lysander raised his wing to Ezekiel’s lips. How inappropriate. Did the prince believe that now was the time to offer the professor an aphrodisiac as he had to Bask in the magical game of Russian Roulette in the traditional fae way? Hard pricks were not a conventional medical cure, unless they were in the twenty-first century….? This world nowadays was, after all, strange; cum could be the new penicillin.

Perhaps, Lysander had simply misunderstood the pussy reference…?

When Ezekiel licked Lysander's feathers, however, I realized that he must've offered him something far more refreshing.

What a handy spell.

Was he creating water? Lemonade? Witches above, could he produce tea on his feathers because if so, I'd never allow this fae out of my bed. Those tea-infused feathers would be mine alone to lick.

I choked on a sob. I craved to lick my raspberry scented mage . Without him, everything else would taste of dust.

I huddled over, clutching my arms over my churning guts. I was crumpling, falling apart, dust .

Then Fox stumbled through the darkness in the wall, and I caught him in my arms. He was breathing, warm, alive . The sweetness of his scent was everything .

Dust coated his curls, dirt smeared his cheeks, and purple shadows smudged under his eyes. He was exhausted and pale. I shuddered to imagine how hard this last day had been for him.

Yet right now with the way that Fox’s arms curled around my shoulders and his cheek rested against mine, all that mattered was that I'd saved him like I hadn't been able to protect Robin.

I could never forgive myself for Robin’s death; I understood that now. Reaching for redemption as the Princes did, was a false hope.

But I could make different choices, and it started with Fox.

My magic burst out of me in an explosion of intense joy. It grew in brambles out of the floor and walls around Fox and me, protecting us in a glowing womb from the rest of the academy. I ignored Damelza's hollers, and instead, wrapped my arms even tighter around Fox. He raised tired eyes to mine, but I shivered at the strength of his love.

I kissed him, licking across his dry lips, and the breath rushed from my mouth into his. The way that his tongue pushed desperately deeper, before curling around mine was like it belonged there and always had.

It was... life .

I grasped Fox’s hair, twisting my hand in his curls. Then I drew back, panting. We rested our foreheads together.

Alive, alive, alive.

A laugh bubbled up, and I couldn't hold it back. Fox pressed kisses against my smiling lips, before slipping his palm to the hollow of my back, as if I was just as much a miracle as he was.

"I breathed for you," I murmured.

"Well, it worked." Fox's gaze was fragile, and his voice raspy, but then he smirked. " Pfft , I told you that I could hold my breath for a—"

"Really," I nipped his lower lip on each word, " really , long time."

" Don't hog the mage ," Echo called from the other side of our magical briar.

" We won't peck his balls ," Flair promised. " We know that you need his fuckable behind whole, boss ."

" Tell him that we're glad he's not dead ," Echo added. " We'd have missed his curly hair. It shines like moonlight. "

When I spluttered with laughter, Fox raised his eyebrow at me. Had Lysander and him been taking lessons together?

"My familiars wish to tell you that they're glad you didn't smother to death in the walls because your hair glimmers like moonlight."

Fox bit his lip hard to hide his grin. "Wow, they're warming up to me. But then, who wouldn't wax lyrical about a mage like me? After all, I did win the Shiniest Hair Awards Five Years running and have the ribbons to prove it. I had several offers to pursue a career as a hair model, but that's a crazy lifestyle, and I didn't want it to turn my head."

Ah, my adorable pathological liar. How I missed you.

Then the tips of Fox's ears reddened, before he offered, "It's hard to explain...okay, the truth is that I don't want to explain yet but...I've sort of discovered a whole new perspective on this ghost business. I understand being shut away, invisible, and ignored, but I'm free from the attic now. Your familiars aren't free. How about we let them into our love nest?"

I stared at him in surprise, and Echo cawed hopefully

" Well, fuck me," Flair gasped.

No one had never loved me enough to also see my familiars. Admittedly, they were kinky, loud, and possessive, but they were also smart, loyal, and mine . Now Fox wished to include them.