The Claddagh Academy

Mandragora Officianarum for Breakfast

Kodiak

                 The moment Blaise’s mind turned off I knew the siren had taken over. Her signature scent of ocean invaded my senses and the beast inside of me responded to her calling. It didn’t matter I was in the Coliseum training with my brothers. I could be miles away, worlds away, and I would still feel the calling of my mate. I shifted, following her strong presence until I found her by the main ballroom. My eyes zeroed on Blaise and ignored the rest. She seemed to feel me behind her and a pair of recriminating eyes looked at me.

                 “It’s time to take your payment from me, siren,” I told her and the siren started walking to me, slowly, making me follow her every move with hungry eyes. She had the kind of arrogance that could bring any man to their knees. She had the kind of eyes that could look at a monster without fear. She was and would always be the only one that could walk that fine line between danger and death that led to my heart. I smiled when I finally took her in my arms. Her body felt lighter under my hands. For a moment I hugged her to me and the beast moved to my skin, feeling her through my body. One bite and I could mark her mine. The beast purred, pleased by that thought. Would it really mind if I bit her against her will? I played with the idea until the temptation was too powerful and the consequences too objectionable.

                 Then I took my leave, flying us through the arches and gaining height. Her long hair tangled over my shoulder and starved I scented her. My arms embraced her until I could feel all her body against me. My eyes closed at the exquisite sensation of having our heartbeats synchronizing.  She smelled like the ocean, wild and untouched, with a hint of pure madness. The siren pushed her head up and looked at me through narrowed eyes.

                 “You don’t ought to smell us…you lied. We were starving and you didn’t come to us!” it was my turn to frown. I’d known Blaise had been acting weird during the entire day but I thought she was just angry at having to plan the Winter Ball. I grew insanely mad at the truth the siren was pushing in my face. My own mate had been starving right in front of my eyes and I didn’t see it. The beast growled in my throat and the noise attracted the siren’s attention. She looked at me curiously and then smiled, “are you mad?

                 “I’m angry at myself, yes,” she was mine to take care of, and I’ve neglected her. A mistake that would never happen again.

                 “Good,” the siren gave me a kiss in the cheek then, she smiled wildly, as we descended to the place I’ve wanted to show her for a time now. When we landed the siren looked around us with a tense frown. Even when she was frowning she was utterly beautiful. She blinked, staring uninterestedly at the flowers coated in snow and the trees surrounding us, “you brought us here because of her, didn’t you? This is the kind of place she would like.”

                 “What about you? You don’t like this place?” I asked the siren. She blinked again, taken by surprise. The siren and Blaise were two creatures habituating one body. Knowing Blaise like I knew her I suspected she was the one who liked to be in control all the time. Only that she wasn’t in control. Not really. She would only be in control if the siren and her Fae learned to live peacefully as one. Blaise’s Fae side needed to be cultivated and their magic forged.

                 “I like the water, cold water and salt. Next time take me to the water,” she said in that melodic voice of hers, before crossing her arms over my neck and pushing herself closer. She smiled, turning her lips closer to mine. Slowly I pushed my wings around us, until we were cocooned inside of them. Her heartbeat increased, following my own erratic heart and in that moment we were just two wild creatures, crazy to feed from each other. The siren feeding from my lust and me and the beast feeding our need for our mate.

                 She moved closer and slowly I reached with my hand for her beautiful face. I touched her and in relish we both shivered, hugging closer until there was no space between us. Slowly to no frighten her I moved my head down. Blaise was so small that I had to reach all the way down to be at her same eye level. When we were finally standing face to face she started trembling in my arms, making me scowl.

                 “Am I scaring you?” I asked her and my voice was echoed by the growls of the beast wanting to touch Blaise through my skin. If she hadn’t been frightened before, now she had all the rights to fear me. To fear us. To my surprise Blaise shook her head. Her beautiful iridescent eyes shone while she looked at my face and smiled hungrily. Never a woman had looked so perfect between my arms. She was my mate. My soulmate. Mine.  She lifted her small, delicate fingers and caressed my face, pushing it down until our lips were brushing. Her sweet breath became the air in my lungs and black spots appeared behind my eyes. I was losing control to the beast when I never lost control. But right there and then I couldn’t do a thing to stop it from coming to the surface. He wanted to touch and feel Blaise as much as I did. And even knowing that worlds and gods could die if the beast was uncaged I did nothing to bridled it. I could do nothing to bridle it. We wanted our mate and that was all that mattered.

                 “I am not scared…I’m just hungry. So hungry,” and closing her eyes the siren moved and kissed me. At first it was just a small contact. Then our souls met in our lips and the kiss exploded in a thousand of sensations that ran from our skins to our bleeding hearts. I could feel all that she was feeling. From the hunger in her belly to that need for more that called to everything I was, beast, Fae and male. I pushed her closer by her waist and she crossed her arms at the back of my neck again. With my other hand I held her head and deepened the kiss, trying to speak between the purrs of the beast stuck in my throat.

                 “Feed siren. Take all of me and then more,” I growled against her lips, licking the sweet taste of flowers and ocean from her mouth. Blaise whimpered. This sweet, gentle creature was whimpering in need and I was here to give her all that she craved. I bit her lips with my fangs and she followed suit, biting my mouth and taking more. Slowly I started feeling the hot tingling of the siren feeding from my lust. It felt like flames climbing up my back and setting me on fire. The more she took the hotter it felt until the point I was burning, wanting more, needing her skin against my skin, touching her everywhere.

                 “More,” growled the beast, grabbing her harder. Blaise kissed me faster, feeding from my lust and from the beast’s. She made the sweetest noises while she fed, hungry moans that rushed to my head making me forget we were in the middle of an open space, easy target to our enemies and other beasts. Still I kissed her, over and over until the sliver of control I held over the beast started to disappear dangerously fast. I made myself stop. It took all my self-control to stop and move away from her. Go back. Me not escaping. Promise. No. No. I couldn’t lose control, not now, not ever. If I let the beast roam free there would consequences. Bad, bad consequences and Blaise would be right in the front line, a victim of the crossfire. I shook my head like a wild animal while trying to push the beast back into the prison inside of my mind.

                 No. No. No. Me not hurting her. Not her. She is mate. Mine. I shook my head one last time and built an immense adamantium wall at the back of my mind, securing the beast there and then reinforcing the structure with dark shadows. To my surprise the beast didn’t fight me this time. He…cried. Sobbed. Did he want Blaise as bad as I did? Was he in love? The thought was surprising enough to make me want to laugh. That a being like the beast was capable of falling in love was as plausible as a rising morning without the sun. Certainly puzzling if not a little bit unsettling. When I looked back at Blaise she was still panting, her iridescent eyes lowered at half-mast and her cheeks blushed. By the Gods she was beautiful. I took her by the back of her neck and hugged her to me, feeling her sigh when she pressed her head against my chest.

            “Your lust tastes like ambrosia,” whispered the siren making me smirk.

            “I’m pleased you like it. It’s a good thing you like it because that’s all you will be feeding of for the rest of our lives siren,” I said to her, resting my forehead against hers. She smiled, making me crave Blaise. I wished Blaise could smile at me like that too. I wanted all parts of my mate to smile at me as if I were the only one thing that mattered.  Siren and Fae. Blaise. Mine. If only Blaise wasn’t so damn stubborn. I looked down at the siren, slowly brushing my fingers through her long auburn hair. She rejoiced at the touch, pushing her head against my hand like a happy cat. I smiled while petting her, “tell me when you will hungry again and I would make sure to come to you and feed you.”

            “I’m satiated now. Will not be hungry in weeks,” she said shrugging and then narrowed her eyes, “Blaise will not let you feed us.”

            “Why?” I asked not understanding.

            “She thinks we will look weak in front of you. She is too proud. Will not back down,” the siren pressed the top of her lovely head against my palm and slowly purred. I wanted to kiss her all over again but she stopped me when she kept on talking, “you will need to negotiate with her. Promise her that by feeding me her Fae side will strengthen and she will think about it.”

              “Her Fae side doesn’t need any strengthening. I’ve felt the power she is keeping locked in her consciousness. She is powerful. A true Blood Fae that is waiting to get free,” at my words the siren turned serious and moved back, stepping away from my arms. She looked stunning with her long hair waving in the winds and her shining skin glowing under the winter sun. Slowly she brushed a lock of her beautiful hair behind a pointed ear and looked up at me.

           “Her Fae is locked inside and can’t get out,” she said in a whisper, “Our mother locked her to protect us.”

            Protect them? From what? From whom did they need protection? The siren wasn’t lying. She didn’t need to lie to me. Blaise’s mother had protected her by locking her Fae  inside that safe in her mind. This could only mean Blaise’s enemy had existed for a long time now. Whoever was trying to kill her now had tried to harm her before. Why? Why back then when she had just born and why now that she was back in Faerie? Who could be afraid of a simple baby? Who was Blaise Darkholme and what she represented? Whatever it had happened didn’t matter. All I knew was I needed to make her stronger so she could be ready to face the dangers ahead. I would be there to protect her, that was unquestionable, but Blaise tended to look out for trouble and I wanted her to be ready to defend herself. The siren smiled at me and winked.

            “Now you know handsome. Until the next time,” she said with a smile that was all mischief and silent promises. The siren seemed to recede like the gentle rocking of the sea against the sand. After a blink of my eyes the siren had disappeared inside Blaise and once again she was back in control, staring at me through bewildered amethyst eyes. She looked around us, staring in confusion at the field of trees and snow surrounding us. Blaise looked back at me with a cute frown that begged me to caress her forehead with kisses, but of course she ruined that train of thoughts with her next words, “Don’t get any ideas about us! I don’t know what happened with that damned siren but I’m not responsible for her acts. Just forget whatever happened, I will not know either way.”

              And just like that the challenge of making her fall in love with me turned even more decadent. I will have her. All of her and I would enjoy every single second of the chase. She could run for however long and far she wanted but we both knew I would never let her go. She was my mate as much as I was hers. The real game would start when she realized that not having me would hurt her as bad as it would hurt me. Smirking I opened my wings as far as they could expand, attracting her eyes to them. It was the silent call of a male Fae to her mate to come closer and instinctively, even not knowing why she was doing what she was doing Blaise came to me and touched my wings. Like the siren I loved to be petted by my mate. Slowly I tuck my wings gently bringing her to me. I took her in my arms when she was close and frowning with distrust she crossed her arms around my neck.

              “I’m serious. Whatever happened with the siren is better if you forget it,” she said and I clicked my tongue against my teeth looking away from her while I started to flap my wings.

            “But that would make my enjoyment of your ignorance a lot less sweet. If both of us decide to forget what happened then only your siren would enjoy the memories,” I said and Blaise frowned again, her cheeks blushing.

            “There are memories already?”

                 “That’s for me to know and for you to imagine,” I told her wiggling my eyebrows and ascending the skies. Her frustrated groans were music to my ears in our way back to school.

Blaise

            Totem, the twins and me frowned from our place by the table at the end of the library. Oromir scratched his growing stubble and shared a worried look with his identical copy. Aramir shrugged and crossed his arms turning a questioning look to Totem. Totem lifted an eyebrow and looked at me with a pointed stare. It was my turn to raise my hands in confusion while we all looked back at the shelf where Kodiak was currently checking a book. Never, not even once in all the months I’ve known Kodiak I’ve seen him reading a single book. By the concerned looks in his brothers faces they were as surprised as I was. The most concerning fact was that we weren’t even receiving classes right then. It was winter break and all classes had been suspended until next year. So why was Kodiak studying? Some students had gone home for the break but they were all supposed to return for the Winter Ball. Amadeus hadn’t contacted me again and since I knew he was busy tracking clues about the mysterious hooded stranger I hadn’t asked him to take me with him for the winter break.  I wasn’t sure if it has been a conscious decision or not but the entire Doomhold dynasty had decided to stay at Claddagh as well. I’d asked Karoo if they didn’t miss going home and she had looked funnily at me as if I was making no sense.

            “We are at home,” she said and in a way I understood what she had tried to say. Little by little I was starting to fall in love with the Unseelie Court. The land was mystic and old, foggy but surprisingly beautiful. I liked the open fields and the freedom in the air. It was a mesmerizing place, even when it was covered in snow and even though during the nights we could heard packs of wild werewolves howling to the moon. Even when every dark corner serpentined with moving shadows. Even when the ice raised in the shape of Unseelie creatures. Being in the Unseelie Court was accepting your wildest nature and despite my love for the human realm I had to admit there was something liberating about accepting my darkest side.

            The school grounds were now more deserted than ever. All the remaining students tried to stay by the cafeteria, close to the hot chocolate bar and the burning fireplaces. During the break a lot of new couples had started dating. To our general surprise we had seen Uriah and Nerva holding hands while walking through the main hall this morning. That had been a couple that nobody, and I repeat nobody had ever seen coming. Apparently they had connected over our Tactics of Combat class and Uriah had asked her to the Winter Ball. One thing had led to the other and now they were an item. If Karoo was affected by their relationship she didn’t let it show.  She had a look of them while they walked together and looked back at me with a determined expression in her face.

            “We are going to the ball together. As of today you are my date and that’s that,” she had said to me and I’ve nodded obediently. One, I had no idea how the hell to dance. It hasn’t been Amadeus forte. His more pressing concern had been to teach me how to defend myself and even if I knew all about a dagger dance I highly suspected it wasn’t the type of dance that would go down at he Ball. Second, after Kodiak had so effectively scared all the male population away from me I was positive no one would ever dare to ask me out.

            Speaking of Kodiak…what was going on with him either way? These last days he had been visiting the library every night and reading almost all the books from the botanic section. Which made no sense. Kodiak wasn’t the type of guy that I’ve ever imagined would be interested on reading books about botanic. His siblings were as flabbergasted as I was. Totem pinched his chin, looking over me to Aramir.

            “Do you think he is interested in making a potion?” he asked and Aramir titled his chin to a side as if he was taking all the facts we had observed into consideration before answering.

            “Karoo is half witch, if there’s a person who knows everything about making potions is her. Why would he be researching these books if he has a direct source at hand?” Aramir said and we all nodded. Good point. Kodiak had only been researching the botanic section. He was clearly interested about a certain potion and needed to understand the measures and how to get the correct ingredients. I mean, for what other reason would he be reading books about plants? I didn’t know much about potions but Karoo was obsessed about making potions for everything. From potions for shiny skin to nail growth, the girl was obsessed. She always repeated how important was to be precise about the measures and get the right ingredients for every single potion. There was nobody better than Karoo to help you if you needed to make a magical concoction. Then again if he didn’t want to be helped that meant he was keeping secrets.

            “He is acting weird,” I said to no one in specific and all the Doomhold around me nodded in agreement.

            “I’ve never seen him reading before,” murmured Oromir with a frown. We all shared a worried look and stared back at Kodiak. It was then that I spied Karoo entering the library. She was wearing my magical cloak. I’ve won the cloak to an incubus a couple of years ago by winning a speed match. The cloak had been a great asset to add to my small list of belongings. I didn’t have much since Amadeus and I were always moving from town to town and it was easy to carry only what was necessary with us. Even if we didn’t carry much I always made space in my backpack for the magical cloak. The cloak was enchanted to always keep you warm, no matter the place or if you were wearing a bikini underneath, it will keep you warm. Funny thing was, the cloak didn’t look like much. It was simple, made of thin wool and dyed in a dark burgundy color. It had a wide hood that wrinkled around Karoo’s shoulders and a golden cape clasp to tie it together around the neck.

            Karoo’s golden eyes scanned the library and when she saw me seated between her brothers without a care in the world she scowled in accusation at me. I sighed tiredly while she made her way to our table. There were only three days left for the Winter Ball and Karoo had gone crazy while organizing the last arrangements. Literally crazy. She didn’t sleep and didn’t eat. All that she did was give orders. I didn’t even know from where she drew so much energy. I was exhausted only by looking at her. By the time she reached our table she already had materialized from inside the cloak a clip board and a pen. Karoo stopped right in front of me and started reading from her list of orders.

            “Blaise you need to visit the kitchens and ask the cook if we are stocked with everything that is needed for the Ball. Please remind him I asked for two wild hogs cooked in apple juice and brandy. Oh and make sure the salad doesn’t have four-leaf-clovers, all Fae are allergic to it,” she looked at me from over her clip board and roll her eyes at me, “what are you doing seating there? We need this for yesterday. Chop- chop.”

            I groaned while the boys laughed under their breaths at my bad luck. Yeah, and they didn’t even share a room with Karoo. I had to hear her speaking to herself all night long about all the details that she needed to supervise. I dragged every step on my way out of the library while I followed Karoo. She didn’t even check I was behind her but from time to time would look back at me while ordering me something else I needed to do. We were passing Kodiak by the botanic section when I slow down and narrowed my eyes to see what he was reading. In his hands was an open book with annotations and some lines that had been written in Fae. In the left page was the strange drawing of a plant, or maybe it was a root that looked like a baby crying. That was creepy if you asked me. To the right was a series of sentences that I couldn’t quite see but one thing I read easily. It was a header right on top of the page, written in beautiful cursive letters that had been printed in indigo blue ink. It read Mandragora Officianarum for Breakfast and that was all I saw before Kodiak closed the book with a loud snap and looked back at me. Kodiak squinted while he followed me with his eyes all the way to the library’s exit.