Magenta's frosty tongue licked across my nipple, and I yipped, stumbling against the desk. Then to my surprise, the desk drawers flew open. I grimaced at the ghoulish contents: crow skeletons.
The skeletons rose up in the hold of Magenta's invisible mists like they'd sprung to life in a flock of dead crows.
The Duchess paled.
I smirked. "It's nothing. Just the storm."
The skeleton crows flew across the room, pecking at the Duchess' tits, as she howled, whipping at them with her tail. I laughed. This was the first time that I'd been glad of the Privacy Spell cast on the study.
"It's this cursed academy." The Duchess backed towards the door. "I shouldn't have trusted witches and their magic. This has nothing to do with me."
"Look behind you," I singsonged.
An incubi could have fun at his ex-bond's expense. That wasn’t in the code. But it should be.
The motivational sayings on the wall vanished to display in neon pink:
Bitches not welcome. Duchesses are forbidden on academy grounds. This means you. YES YOU!
It was impressive how pale the Duchess could become. She twirled, slamming open the door.
Was she leaving without me? I bit my lip because an incubus with hope was a disappointed incubus.
Still, I clutched hard onto the desk, ducking my head, just in case she'd forget about me. The words disappeared from the wall, and Magenta danced the crows back into the drawer, wiping away the offensive Unwelcome Message.
"Damelza!" The Duchess hollered.
Wow, that was the first time that I'd ever heard the Duchess raise her voice. It was a fine thing.
Damelza swept past the panting Duchess into the study. She eyed my open shirt and then the state of her desk and the heaps of books on the floor.
Damelza smiled slyly. "I heard that you liked it rough with your boys. Well, that certainly appears to have been a thorough inspection. I'd have appreciated a little more consideration for my belongings. This is a place of learning, you know."
Damelza bustled around to her chair, picking up a torn book and tutting.
The Duchess opened her mouth to point out the crows, before shutting it with a snap, as she peered around suspiciously to try and find them. She settled on glaring at me, and I settled on giving her the innocent look.
"Look at your window..." The Duchess pointed at the smashed glass.
Damelza didn't glance over, as she slid behind her desk and into her chair. "I'll add it to your bill. You should be more careful; you've cut yourself."
The Duchess flushed, then she swung to the wall. "How do you explain this...?"
At last, Damelza brightened. "Ah, my motivational sayings. I'm quite proud of those. As you can see, the saying for today is: Academy attitude is a positive attitude. I don't think that certain of my students have quite got to grips with it yet. Crown, the Princes’ Prefect, struggles with his attitude, despite his excellent grades. Perhaps, I'll talk with his guardian because he’s enthusiastic at adjusting Crown’s attitude."
I winced. I’d wank in Lysander’s bed, but I’d never wish attitude adjustment on him. That was my line, despite the fact that he was a haughty prick of a fae (who was so beautiful that I’d bet the hate sex would be hot; come on now, I wasn’t blind.)
The Duchess stared at the wall and the blinking words:
Academy attitude is a positive attitude.
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself laughing.
Magenta coiled around me. I could sense her mists and her icy breath mingling with mine. She was the academy. I understood that now. And she was more powerful than a woman who'd led me by the balls. Yet she didn't use her power against me, however, only to love.
"Your castle is most rude, hostile, and uncomfortable," the Duchess complained.
Damelza stared at her, nonplussed. "There I was thinking that I ran a spa."
The Duchess sniffed, before sweeping back her hair. "Have this, as yet unreformed, incubus ready for Sunday. I'll make my decision then."
I straightened. Fear shot through me, until I couldn't breathe.
She could still take me away from my lovers on Sunday.
Only four days…
What if the Duchess decided to keep me? She'd be even angrier now that I'd defied her. Would she force me back to the palace but leave me as an unpetted member of the harem? Tell me daily how much I displeased her? Keep me as a Not There, until I broke over and over and...
I clenched my jaw, narrowing my eyes.
If the Duchess didn't want me as a proper bond, then she didn't deserve any incubi. She didn't deserve me.
Magenta taught me that.
"Get on with you, I thought that I was unlovable...?" When I stalked towards the Duchess, I must’ve been channeling my predator vibes because she backed away. The thrill rushed through me to be the one in charge; power surged. "I'll find a way to break any bond, into which you force me. You already think that I'm not a true incubi, who should be cut off from the rest of the bonded harem and too shamed to be allowed contact with any of my family. I can't sink any lower."
The Duchess' eyes glittered. "But you can be bad…"
I gritted my teeth against the agony roiling through me. I still prowled closer to the Duchess, however, and she still backed up, banging her head against the door. When she winced, I bounced on my toes with joy.
I noticed that Damelza only studied us with interest and didn't stop me.
The Duchess wasn't a professor, so the Charms that dampened my powers and stopped me fighting them, didn't protect her. I treated myself to a dark grin at the thought.
"It's like this, see, you taught me to take pain. It doesn't frighten me now.” I tilted my head. “And I'd rather die than return to a bond where I'm despised, when I know what it is to be loved."
"What if it wasn't you who'd die?" I turned to Damelza, and she shot me a crafty look. No, no, no... She'd better not hurt my whipping boy; I'd sworn to protect my adorable foxy. I'd already lost Hector. I wouldn't allow anyone else to be hurt. She must've read my expression because she relaxed back in her chair. "I'm impressed by your oration skills, however, maybe we should set up a Debating Club. Plus, the only dying that occurs in this academy is strictly by permission or on my schedule."
When the Duchess reached into the cabinet behind her and started to set out deep bowls of herbs that smelled of sweet white sage and rich incense, I tensed. The air around me shimmered like Magenta was as nervous as me.
"More witch magic…?" The Duchess spat.
Damelza lit a black candle. The flame flickered spectral in the dark. Dread choked me.
"It must come as a shocking surprise since you're in a coven." Damelza's gaze darted between us. "I've been working on a spell to cast a ghost back where it came from. Yet it needed blood like most serious spells." Magenta's cool fingers traced across mine. I wished that I could take them in mine. What if Damelza truly could cast Magenta back, after everything Sleipnir, Fox, and I had done to bring her to life? "Yet as descendant to the House of Crows, it appears that I'm the magic ingredient."
I watched, mesmerized, as Damelza pulled out a silver knife and slit her thumb, then she held it over the bowl of herbs.
I wouldn't lose my Magenta.
I hurled myself across the desk, knocking the candle rolling to the floor and clattering the herbs over the books. Then I stuffed Damelza's thumb in my mouth and sucked, until there was no trace of her dangerous blood.
When I lifted my gaze to meet Damelza’s, I realized that I was lying on my Principal's desk and sucking on her thumb.