Page 59 of Savagely Mated


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“You know what? Fuck you. Fuck all of you!”

I throw my homework into the fire and storm out of the room. I am wild with anger and hurt. What happened at the academy was painful and humiliating. I thought I’d at least get a little sympathy at home, but no. It was stupid of me to think that. It was stupid to imagine that anybody might actually be upset at my being handled so roughly. Even the people who love me don’t like me.

I slam out of the house, jump on my bike, and kick it into life. I’m not wearing leathers or a helmet because I don’t have time to put either of them on.

I tear into the night, my vision blurry with the tears I have wanted to cry all damn day. Instead of sitting like I usually would, I sort of hover up and over the seat. The balance isn’t as good, but it means my ass doesn’t throb like I’m being caned all over again.

The bike hits a patch of smooth tarmac. It’s nothing that would usually be a problem, but I am off balance, and so is the bike. I go from riding to skidding in an instant, sliding off the road and into a thicket of bushes.

“Fuck!” I scream to the night.

The bright light of another bike is already coming up on me. I can’t struggle up out of the bushes soon enough before being caught in my predicament.

Kirin is roaring with laughter as he pulls up, finding me cursing and flailing in a bunch of bushes that don’t want to relinquish me.

“I saw all of that,” he says. “That was worthy of the circus. Are you hurt?”

“No,” I sigh, giving up for a second. “I’m just stuck.”

Kirin gets off his bike and offers me his hands, hauling me out of the twiggy embrace of the plants that probably saved my life. If I’d hit something else, like a rock, I might not be having this conversation.

“Get on,” he says. “I might be able to get you back to the house before Einar finds out what the hell you just did.”

“The bike…”

“Me or Rafe will come back for the bike,” he says. “Get on. Quick. God, Darcy. You know how to make bad things worse, don’t you.”

He speeds me back to the mansion, and takes me in the side door, what’s called the servant’s entrance. It has some stairs and passages that aren’t obvious in the main parts of the house.

“Go up and get showered,” he says. “And go to bed before you can get yourself in even more trouble.”

I do as he says, not feeling much less sorry for myself than I did before. As I stand under the water, I try to count my very limited blessings.

I’m not hurt, and the bike still runs. I’m lucky. I get to live another miserable day.

CHAPTER 17

Darcy

The thing about accidents is sometimes you don’t know how much damage you’ve done until later.

I wake up the next morning, and I can barely fucking move. It’s not the cane lines. They don’t help, but they’re not the reason getting up feels like pushing through aching Jell-O. Everything bends, so I don’t think anything is broken, but God, it does not feel good to move. What I need is a heat pack and a lie down. I know that’s not going to happen. Einar can never know what I did last night.

I sneak around for a little bit, looking for Kirin or Rafe, thinking one of them might make some excuse for me, but they’re both gone.

I end up putting on the damn uniform that Einar expects me to wear, the thick stiff fabric feeling unpleasant against my skin. These fucking uniforms suck. They were designed by someone who doesn’t understand that being rubbed by something that feels like it’s been starched by a vengeful god all day is the mostdistracting thing possible. It also has a high collar that doesn’t really even fit girls, so it jabs into my chin every time I try to put my head down a little bit.

I hate this uniform. I didn’t hate the academy before, even though I snuck out all the time, but I think I am starting to hate it now. It used to be my only option, but now it feels like a prison I keep being pushed back into.

I straighten the jacket and adjust the britches and boots. It’s all very neat looking, but it truly feels awful to wear. Maybe the stiffness of the uniform will explain how awkwardly I move.

“Darcy! Breakfast!” I hear Einar call my name. Another awful day is beginning.

Einar

It is yet another day of being back in the academy and frankly I’d still rather not be here. Making polite conversation with other instructors, many of whom are both awed and slightly suspicious of me and my intentions, is not easy.

The fact that the director talked me back into teaching works in my favor. The story that I came across a runaway and decided my influence was needed certainly works. But I think everybody knows that there is a certain strangeness to my sudden reappearance on the scholastic scene.