“Kenneth,” Thorn said, his face reddening. “I’m glad.” He
took his hand away from Kenneth’s lips and threw his arm around the mage,
pulling him closer. They kissed hungrily, Kenneth moaning as his magic flared.
The sensation of Thorn’s lips, of being pulled close by Thorn’s strong arms,
was overwhelming.
The bulbs that illuminated the workroom burst all at once,
sending them both into darkness as glass hit the floor with an ear-piercing
roar. Thorn jumped back with a gasp.
Kenneth tamped down his control of his magic, watching as
the swirls of aether stilled with his increased control. Damn.
“Second time you’ve done that,” Thorn said, his voice
breathless from surprise. “I had to get all the bulbs replaced in my room.”
Kenneth could barely see him in the dark, and he called up a globe of light,
illuminating Thorn’s smirk.
“Sorry,” Kenneth said, taking a deep breath. “That was a
poor showing, wasn’t it?” He hoped the glow from the orb didn’t show how
red-faced he was.
Thorn’s laughter eased the worst of his embarrassment. “It’s
flattering, really,” Thorn said. “But I’m certain the masters here won’t be too
pleased. I’ll have to replace the bulbs for now—what say I meet you at the
collegium?” Thorn strode across the room, striking something on top of the
table, and then a fire burned on a small match. He lit a lantern in the corner,
dust making the fire jump before it settled into a steady burn. “There, now I
won’t need your light.”
Kenneth swallowed down disappointment. “I truly am sorry.
Later tonight, then?”
“Sure.” Thorn moved back over to him, his scent and
closeness making the aether in Kenneth’s vision swim. “At least at the
collegium, I can do whatever I want to you without worrying about your magic
breaking my things.”
Lust flared, and Kenneth shivered. “I like the way you
think.”
“Good.” Thorn gave him the lightest of shoves toward the
door. “Tonight, then. Be ready.”
Kenneth nodded, adjusting his robes to hide his swollen
erection. He would be ready.
But first, he thought as he headed down the hall and toward
the stables, he needed to begin to learn how to keep things under control. He
had a little under two months to graduate, and if he lost control like that
around his lifemate constantly…he shuddered to think of the shame. Especially
when he would become an Enforcer after he graduated.
Lifemates were rare, and Kenneth had never imagined getting one.
So when his professors had introduced the concept and informed the students
entering the collegium about protocol related to lifemates, he hadn’t paid
close attention.
After stabling Jade back at the magi’s collegium, though,
Kenneth did his best to remember what he had been told. One name stood out in
his mind—Ruta Maibell. She was the head doctor at the infirmary, had a lifemate
of her own, and was an expert on raw magic. She could tell a person’s strength
just by looking at them, and sometimes even found lifemates for mages who
desired one.
People wearing the tell-tale blue of healer’s robes passed
him by as he entered the infirmary wing, his shoes clacking on the marble
floor. It quieted when he got to plush carpet, and the entire building seemed
to hush when he entered a circular rotunda, almost like a smaller version of
one of the lecture halls. Curtains covered doorways that led further into the
infirmary, and overhead, sun beamed down through skylights. Plush benches lined
the sides of the rotunda, and a pale man slumped in one of them. Kenneth took a
seat as far away from the man as he could.
He realized his heart was beating fast, and he took a few
breaths to calm it. He hadn’t been here since Thorn had been hurt.
“Kenneth Victeni?”
Kenneth jumped at the voice, the person having moved so
quietly on the plush carpeting he hadn’t heard them approach. A young man,
probably a first year at the collegium, dressed in Healer’s blue grinned down
at Kenneth. His grin faded slightly when Kenneth stood and towered over him.
“What seems to be the trouble today?” the healer asked.
“I’m here to see Doctor Maibell,” Kenneth said. “Is she
available?”
The man’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “For lifemate
consultation?”
Kenneth grit his teeth. “Yes.”
“I…yes, then. Follow me.” He beckoned, and Kenneth fell into
step beside him. The young man was remarkably relaxed around nobility, and he
tried to remember what family this man might belong to. No memories of any
noble family with a son in healing came to mind, and he gave up on it when he
was led to a heavy wooden door.
“I will tell her you are—“
The door swung open, a short, graying woman with eyes like
an owls’ peering into the hallway. She looked Kenneth up and down, and her
mouth set itself in a firm frown. With a wave of a hand to dismiss the healer,
she nodded at Kenneth. “You think you
have got yourself a lifemate?”
“I do,” Kenneth said. Her tone and stance in the doorway
made him tense his shoulders. “I’d think I know that better than anyone else.”
He had argued with the Dean about Thorn; he’d have no problem arguing it with
this woman either, magic expert or no.
She stared at him, her mouth pursed, and finally nodded.
“Come in, then.”
Kenneth had expected something like the Dean’s office, a
sparse, utilitarian place of work with little other than a desk. Doctor
Maibell’s office looked more like a sitting room, with couches along an
enormous window that overlooked the collegium lawn, and a small desk that sat
in front of a plush chair. Kenneth opted to stand.
“So,” Doctor Maibell said after a moment’s silence. “With
power like yours, I imagine your lifemate’s presence must be quite distracting.
Is that why you’re here? Losing control and all that?”
Kenneth coughed in an attempt to hide his blush. “Yes.”
“Not a surprise.” She waved a hand, moving over to her desk
to write down some notes. “Well I can’t do much to help without whoever it is.
Can you bring them here?”
Kenneth stifled a sigh. This was certainly going to be
interesting.
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