nails. I just haven’t found my tribe yet, I guess.
But living with the guys has been great. They’re respectful, and there’s only been a couple awkward moments. I’m enjoying it, actually. I fit right in, Dmitri’s eye rolls notwithstanding. And when it’s just the two of us in a room together it’s… oddly comfortable, even though it’s usually silent. Being around him, I don’t feel like I have to put on a show or hide who I am, and I’m grateful for that.
Maybe it’s because he just expects the worst in me. Who knows.
“I’m all good here, Mads, I promise,” I assure her. “I have to run to class now—but I love you, and I’m glad you’re doing well. Let me know if anything changes, okay? Classes or no, I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”
“I know you will,” she replies. “But you don’t need to. I love you too!”
My Combat class is run by this terrifyingly sophisticated woman, Josephine. She’s everything I’m not, with her perfectly coordinated outfits, her hair always sleekly styled, eyeliner sharp enough to stab a man… she’s the whole package. She tends to wear bright colors, since they go so well with her dark skin, but she’s never gaudy. She’s so gorgeous and willowy that it’d be easy to underestimate her fighting ability, but she definitely knows what she’s talking about.
After saying my goodbyes to Maddy and slipping my phone into my bag, I run to get to Tamlin’s class on time. Raul saved me a seat, thank God. In this classroom, like a few others, all the desks are set up in a perimeter along the wall, leaving a huge mat-covered space in the middle for us to practice.
“Overslept?” he whispers.
“No, I was talking to my sister. Lost track of time.”
He nods understandingly before turning his attention back to the professor. I don’t actually know if he has siblings or not, but I’m guessing not since he’s never mentioned any. Or maybe he’s one of those people whose families don’t approve of their Unpredictable magic.
Josephine—sorry, Professor Tamlin—is only a few years older than the rest of us, maybe late twenties. She must’ve just been made a professor.
I mention this to Raul in a quiet voice, and he nods.
“Yeah,” he whispers, “rumor has it Roman put in a good word for her and that’s how she got the post. Not that she hasn’t earned it; she’s awesome.”
My brows draw together. “What? Why did Roman put in a good word?”
“Oh, didn’t you know? They dated for almost a year. A real power couple.”
Oh.
That shouldn’t make me feel anything. Roman and I have been keeping our distance from each other ever since I got here five weeks ago. And if he’s a little harder on me in class than he is on the others, that’s his business; I’m not going to cause problems by calling him out on it, even in private. Besides, we just had a one-night stand. Less than that, since we didn’t even spend the whole night together. I have no rights to him, and no reason to care one way or another about who he dated before or might date after our hookup.
And we can’t be together as teacher and student anyway.
So, there.
Raul also said she and Roman aren’t even together anymore. They just used to be.
But it makes my stomach churn all the same.
“All right,” Professor Tamlin says, clapping her hands once. “Today will be another sparring class. I’ll pair you off this time, instead of you choosing your own partners.”
Well, that’ll be nice. Raul’s great and all, but I think we were both a little tired of always being each other’s partner. I need a new challenge. He’s got sound dampening and telekinesis powers, so he’d probably be no slouch at magical combat, but so far, we haven’t fought with magic in this class.
I’m already out of my seat, anxious to get started. But my excitement about facing a new opponent dies when Professor Tamlin says, “Dmitri and Elliot.”
Well, fuck.
I walk over to Dmitri and shrug. “I guess now we can finally work out all that tension between us.”
He raises a dark eyebrow at me. “I think that’ll take more than just a practice fight.”
I know I’m probably reading too much into it, again, but damn if that doesn’t sound like an innuendo. “What, you think I’m not going to challenge you?”
Not all of our classes are mixed. Some are divided strictly by year, others first and second, but Combat class is