Chapter 45

Julie

"These are just elections, Grace," Larissa laughed, apparently better able to handle the stress Grace was scattering everywhere in her election madness.

She wanted to be part of the Student Council Presidential Committee . And best of all, president .

I doubted she really wanted that. All she was striving for was to practice leadership positions because she didn't feel ready to take over the Circle as Domini someday.

"You don't understand," Grace snorted, her dark brown curls bouncing up and down as she stopped and wheeled around to face us. " A lot depends on that here."

Larissa and Bayla exchanged glances as if Grace no longer had her wits about her, then Vivienna pushed past us with her two best friends.

"Don't waste your vote, Grace," she sighed, "I'm on the same side as you." She tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "Your behavior is going to lead to the dogs' winning."

She, Amber, and Kelly laughed before Amber and Kelly strode past me toward the molecular biology seminar room, and Vivienna walked alone toward the law school.

"How can someone be so arrogant..." Larissa murmured, shaking her head.

"Let her talk," Grace replied and turned to leave. "And don't vote for her in March. She'll only cause problems and fuel more conflict."

Without another word, she strode off toward the Business French seminar room, leaving me behind with the others.

There were still three months to go. She really shouldn't have to worry about it already...

I turned to Larissa and Bay, who were both looking at me with expectation.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked nervously, because although I could sense that they wanted something from me, I couldn't read it in their faces.

"We want to see the hot professor that Amber has been gushing about so loudly all night long that I couldn't sleep a wink," Larissa said with a conspiratorial undertone and a treacherous grin.

She could only be talking about Professor Quentin Tiberius. A professor who was definitely wrong here. Outwardly , in terms of age, and professionally . It worried me that someone like him was in Blairville. If this guy knew how close to the truth he was with the theories in his publications...

I still felt like a stalker because I had ordered all his publications to find out how close to the truth he really was.

"I'll correct her," Bay sighed. " She wants to see the prof."

"What is your obsession with professors?" I laughed softly, feeling the blush creep into my cheeks.

"Hello?" Larissa exclaimed with indignation. "He's supposed to be the hottest professor at this university. And the youngest."

"It's not an obsession with professors, but with anything that smells of testosterone and can't escape her fast enough," Bayla waved her hand and rolled her eyes.

"I'm standing next to you," Larissa grumbled, visibly unimpressed.

In the corner of my eye, I spotted champagne-blonde hair. My head turned toward the classroom.

He was already in the room and with him, needless to say, were all the girls from the course. One of them was leaning over his table, hanging on to his lips while he explained something.

I had little desire to sit down in this estrogen-soaked room, but after researching the professor I knew he was the best person I could have ended up with, because the other professors and lecturers in molecular biology hadn't landed a desirable job at the DLSC.

"Oh my God! Is that him?!" Larissa exclaimed way too loud. "Holy shit..." Her eyes widened when she spotted Mr. Suspicious. " No wonder everyone orgasms just talking to him!"

I widened my eyes.

"Larissa!"

She started laughing, which she often did, just like Kelly, only she wasn't as annoying as Kelly.

"Good thing you already have your Erik," she joked, and my eyes widened a second time.

"Erik?" Bayla asked, irritated.

Well done, Larissa...

"I'm ready to end this conversation," I somehow managed to get out, and Bayla's pitying smirk spoke for itself.

"I'll get her out of here," she said quickly, already tugging on Larissa's arm.

"Come on! As if you don't think he's hot," I heard Larissa grumble before Bayla had already dragged her down the corridor behind her. "He's hot as fuck!"

I smiled at Larissa's manner. How often I wished I could be so relaxed and honest without sinking into the floor with shame. And how much I would like to be human.

I entered the seminar room unnoticed and thankful that the other students were blocking my view with their questions about the first exams and homework.

Without asking, I sat down next to David, who didn't seem enthusiastic but didn't send me away either.

"And I thought you had left the course out of fear."

I turned to the handsome Ruisangor in confusion.

"Fear of what?"

"The professor, who is fascinated by magic."

Surprised, I paused while unpacking my backpack.

"You've read his publications?" I whispered, barely audible.

David looked ahead at the professor.

"He works at the DLSC. It's my duty to find out about him."

I nodded silently and also looked ahead to where the last of the girls were moving away from his table and he was organizing a stack of papers.

Shit . My protocol...

I flipped through my folder and, luckily, found it quickly. I jumped up from my seat and rushed forward so fast that I didn't even have time to panic.

He was walking around his table, but I just followed him until he noticed me and turned toward me.

A slight panic flared up inside me.

"Miss Blair," the professor remarked in surprise and scrutinized me with that look that could mean anything .

"Here's my protocol," I said quickly. "And the others from the last few weeks."

Ashamed, I pushed my notes onto the pile on the edge of his desk.

I had wanted to hand in the protocols in one of the professors' letterboxes by the deadline, but his had been stuffed with whatever .

The professor looked up from the protocols with my scrawly, much too small handwriting. His gaze was unclear, but he seemed to be thinking.

"There were deadlines for that," I pressed my lips together. "But I'll overlook it. For once." Relief spread through me, even though I didn't know what I had done to deserve this treatment. "Although, I have to say, I wasn't expecting you at all." I looked up, tried to meet his gaze, and got caught by his peridot-colored irises. "I would like to remind you that although attendance is not mandatory, you should still take the course seriously."

In all my years at school, I had never received a negative or warning comment from a teacher. So, it sat all the more heavily that Mr. Suspicious, of all people , was the first to think this was necessary.

But how could I blame him? He didn't know how good I really was.

"Why don't you put something up on the server like other professors do?" I asked, realizing too late how that must have come across.

Mr. Suspicious raised both eyebrows, which, by the way, were the most perfect eyebrows I'd ever seen in my life.

Hell , I didn't even want to find this man attractive, but how could you deny something you've been confronted with from all sides?

"Because I highly value the interaction between fellow students. That's important in research. Especially when we're working in the lab."

Great. He was one of that And today we're doing group work professors .

"As long as I do the required work, there shouldn't be any problems, should there?" I returned impatiently, and he raised his eyebrows again, but this time...with interest.

"You seem to have a lot of confidence in your performance."

He stepped closer. And inwardly I trembled because of his statue.

This man was tall, three heads taller than me.

I wanted to take a deep breath to calm down inside, which was a mistake, because a pleasant citrus scent floated toward me, mixed with male pheromones that could only have come from him.

Something in my traitorous stomach began to tingle. And I stepped backward.

Something sharp pricked my waist and as I turned around, I saw one of the piles of papers that the professor must have placed on the edge drop to the floor and scatter behind his desk.

For heaven's sake...

I quickly bent down to clear up the mess I had made and grabbed the first few sheets of paper.

I saw him bend down as well and sped up.

"I'm..." I paused as I spotted the black ink rune on the parchment in front of me, and memories flashed through my mind. Memories I wished Gloria had erased. "...sorry."

I couldn't help but stare at the rune. A jagged, serpentine mark with three rounds of circles, decorated with splashes of ink.

The last time I had seen a mark like this, it had been in a forbidden book. The woman who had owned it had been robbed of her memory in front of the Circle and the Councils, and the book had been burned. The reason: Umbra . Shadow magic. Magic, I didn't know much about simply because we were not allowed to know anything about it, let alone mention it at all.

I spotted another mark.

Suddenly, his warm hand brushed mine as the professor reached for the paper, and only now I noticed the simple golden double ring on his finger.

Without removing my hand from his paper, I looked up.

His bright green eyes sparkled with indecision, eyeing mine.

"Julie..." he whispered, tugging at the paper and I finally loosened my grip.

"I'm sorry..." I replied just as quietly, realizing too late what he had just called me...and how forbidden good it had sounded...and how forbidden those marks there on that sheet were.

I stared at him while he tidied up the rest of the papers with a working jaw. I shook my head absentmindedly and reached for the pieces of paper under my feet.

As I handed them to him, his gaze lingered on my wrist.

My gray wool sweater had ridden up a bit, revealing my forearm...or rather, the thirty-seven faded scars and the two new ones.

He stared directly at it, his features tense.

My fingers began to tingle with a traitorous coolness.

I shot upwards.

He did, too.

Our eyes met...

That was too much.

"I'm really sorry," I pressed out somehow, brushing a strand of hair behind my ears and turning around.

Before my insecurity could express itself in any way, I ran back to my seat and sat down, glad that none of the other students had noticed.

Everyone was engrossed in election gossip. Only David gave me a suspicious sideways glance.

The professor was sorting through his papers with his lips pressed together without giving me another glance before he began with the topic of today's session: epigenetics .

He handed out worksheets and had us work with the internet, and I had time to reflect on this strange moment from just now.

No doubt those had been runes of forbidden magic. But where had he gotten them from? How had he gotten them? The paper had looked old, worn...

Without attracting attention, I looked at the professor, who was sitting behind his desk doing something on his iPad.

My gaze lingered on the glasses he had put on and the tingling in my stomach returned, with it, the warmth in my face.

Of course , this man looked hot even with reading glasses.

What had he done in his last life that the gods had blessed him like this?

My gaze slid back to the ring.

And, of course , he had a wife. How could someone like him not be married? There had probably been several women fighting over him, and the one who had managed to get him into a marriage was now fighting with his thousand female worshipers.

Shocked by my thoughts, I lowered my head.

Out there, with the other girls, I pretended to be innocent and here I was gawking at the guy just like the other female students.

What was wrong with me?

I didn't want to have thoughts like that. Not about a married man who was ten years older than me and in addition my professor .

I pulled out my cell phone and guiltily opened the chat with Erik before I started typing. Erik was online, which increased the excitement in my stomach even more.

He read my message immediately and started typing.

I smiled, but the feeling of guilt didn't really go away. But at least it distracted me.

Then my message sounded. Unfortunately, it was too loud.

Everyone around me stared at me. And the professor looked up from his iPad. Right at that moment, my message tone sounded for the second time and I gritted my teeth. The professor turned his head toward me.

Oh damn.

"Ms. Blair?" He stood up and set the iPad aside. "Would you like to share with us what you're typing there?"

"No," I blurted, far too panicked, and I shoved the phone under my desk.

He smiled challengingly. "Then please turn off your ringtone."

I obeyed and took a deep breath while the girls around me giggled and Noah snorted at the back of the room.

David was the only one who didn't make a sound, probably because he had also been on his cell phone and had now discreetly slipped it into his pocket.

"Well, then I'd like to compare the assignments," the professor began, walking toward my table. "And since you seem to have finished quickly, I'll put your worksheet under the camera as an example."

I didn't even have time to protest as he simply pulled it off my table and walked back to the front.

Kelly giggled gleefully next to Amber, who gave me a condescending look.

Didn't this girl have any other facial expressions in her reservoir?

A glance ahead told me that Mr. Suspicious hadn't expected me to finish everything. He ran his examining gaze over my worksheet.

I couldn't help but smile triumphantly, even though I regretted it, because he looked up and studied me before pinching his lips together as if he was annoyed.

Nevertheless, I left the classroom proud of my achievement. And when the strange thoughts about the runes tried to catch up with me, I quickly reached for my cell phone to read Erik's messages.

The smile disappeared from my lips.

What if Erik was one of those who knew about the dark side of the city? What if he was one of them? What if he was a Senseque or a Ruisangor?

I shook my head.

What a stupid thought.

Probably his message was simply referring to the campus drama, the murder and the ongoing election preparations.

And as if the devil had been spoken, someone pressed a flyer with Vivienna's face on it into my hand.

I sighed grimly and put it in the nearest garbage can.

If anyone wasn't getting my vote, it was her.