Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,5

only too glad to accept that order. The ride back to Wurthaven took nearly two hours, and he had to share the carriage with Stephanie. She made a point of pretending he didn’t exist, and he returned the courtesy. Still, it made for an awkward period.

Back at the college, he disembarked and began walking toward his new home, one of the larger buildings among the private residences set aside for the senior masters of the college. In fact, it had once been the chancellor’s manse until just a decade ago, when funds had been set aside to build the chancellor a newer dwelling more in keeping with the modern trends in architecture. The vice-chancellor had been considering a move when Selene’s influence took the choice out of his hands. Will still marveled at the speed with which she had moved.

She only had one day after we were married, and yet she managed to set me up as though I were a nobleman, he thought wryly.

He mentally reviewed the last year in his mind as he walked. Thanks to his grandmother he didn’t feel much like a married man, for he hadn’t seen his royal bride since their first day of marriage, nearly twelve months past. He’d finished his first year at Wurthaven alone, and now he was right in the middle of his second year.

Several students waved at him as he walked. Will nodded and smiled politely but didn’t stop to talk to any of them. They weren’t friends. People had begun to treat him differently once it became known who he had married. Everyone was polite now, no one dared ignore him, and when he spoke, people listened. Having just passed his nineteenth birthday (alone—again), it felt strange to receive such deference, especially when he knew quite well that many of them despised him. Marrying the princess hadn’t made him any friends, merely enemies who didn’t dare do anything else but pretend at friendship.

Finally reaching the short walk through his private yard, he took a moment to study the place he had been told was his home. It was a three-story building with an elegant portico framing the front entrance. Marble columns on either side supported a second-floor balcony overlooking the small but well-kept garden that served as the front yard. Will advanced to the door and opened it without knocking, for it wasn’t locked. He threw the bolt home once he was inside, though.

“I’m back!” he said loudly, but there was no answer. Will glanced around anxiously, studying the open door to the cloak room and then gazing down the entry hall. There was no one in sight. “I swear to the Holy Mother if you’re planning on ambushing me, I’ll tie you up and strap you until you’re black and blue. Do you hear me? I’m not joking! It’s been a long day.”

There was no answer, and Will felt his blood pressure rising. Moving carefully, he took the right-hand doorway into the front sitting room. No one jumped out at him, but he didn’t relax. He called out once more, “Blake, where are you?” Blake was the servant that Selene had forced on him before she had left, though the term servant didn’t quite fit. Blake had made the arrangements for the house, along with everything else in Will’s life. His nominal title was butler, but Blake Word was a gentleman’s gentleman and it was his job not only to take care of Will, but to train him to be the sort of man worthy of being married to the king’s daughter.

“I’m in the kitchen,” came Blake’s answer.

“Where’s Selene?” responded Will, yelling back.

“Not sure. I’m sure she’ll find you soon enough.”

“Shit,” swore Will. She could be anywhere. He scanned the sitting room once more, studying the corners of the room. The turyn in the room seemed to be moving normally, but that didn’t mean much; his opponent was skilled in masking her presence. Will shifted his vision to enable him to see heart-light, and the room shifted into shades of gray. In one corner he could see a vaguely feminine outline.

As soon as his eyes focused on the figure, she launched herself at him, not as a woman would, but in the manner of a hunting cat. Selene leaped into the