Read Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance) for Free Online

forest floor and
her heart thudded loudly in her chest. She was sure he could hear it,
but then, she wasn’t entirely certain what he could sense
within her. What he experienced in kind.
    Her tongue pressed from between her
lips and dabbed them thoughtfully. She’d let him in so quickly,
so eagerly, and she wondered what that said about her. What that said
about how lonely she was. How much she desired someone in her life,
even if he was a demon.
    “I see.”
    “Your world is softer than mine,”
his words delicate. “Existence is not so cruel for those who
live here.” He reached over, gently laying his warm hand upon
hers. “I wish to help you become a great sorceress. Powerful
and respected. That one day you might use that power to free me, and
let me live here as one of you.” She could feel the hope on his
voice, it was palpable. The gentle touch of his smooth hand against
her flesh; it was exquisite.
    Her heart stopped and her breath
hitched. She wanted so badly to believe him, to feel close to
someone. To know someone.
    Yet there was still that wall of
defensiveness, of caution, and she withdrew her hand from his. “We
don’t have a lot of time for me to get into the academy.”
    He retracted his hand slowly. “I
can teach you some useful skills with your new familiar today,”
he remarked matter-of-factly. “Perhaps that shall be enough to
get you into the academy. Perhaps not,” he shrugged his
shoulders. “I have much more to teach you as well, but we can
discuss that later. One step at a time.”
    She nodded, looking at him curiously.
He hadn’t tried to betray her or harm her, but then, perhaps he
hadn’t the power now. He could be biding his time, waiting for
her to let her guard down.
    So she wouldn’t. She’d take
his lessons and succeed in her bid to get into the academy. She
controlled him, she reminded herself. Not the other way around.

Chapter 4
    She had gotten so wrapped up in her
lessons with the demon that she hadn’t noticed the day slip by.
When hunger finally began to overcome her excitement at learning how
to change her familiar’s shape to better suit it to different
tasks, Varuj merely smiled and taught her to send it off to fetch
food. The ripe berries it returned with were enough to keep her
satisfied and delighted.
    Though all good things had to come to
an end, and with night so advanced, she knew she had to get back
home, or else her father would finish work and worry at her absence.
    They walked together through the woods,
the town still a ways off, her new pet fox prancing at her side.
    She hadn’t felt so…
excited for life in such a long time. All her hopes and dreams of
actually becoming someone of value, someone of note, were coming
true. She knew her father didn’t want his job for her any more
than she did, and now she finally felt she knew a way to break the
cycle.
    To show those elves up, once and for
all.
    “I didn’t even know these
things existed. Not like this.”
    “There is much more,” he
stated casually, his hand gently touching the base of her spine as
they walked. “This thing is relatively simple,” he
explained, “though it would take one of your competitors many
years of tutelage to learn and do what I have done for you in but a
day, Firia. It is a good start. And one they will not be too likely
to suspect.”
    She nodded and a smile actually began
to creep to her lips. “Well, I hope so. But… thank you.
Just knowing these things is a joy, even if it gets me no further
ahead with my goals.”
    “It shall,” he said with
infectious confidence, though he came to a halt as they neared the
edge of the forest, facing her. “I must hide within you for the
night again, Firia. Though know my offer stands…” he
tilted his head down and let his warm gaze meet hers. “Treat me
as companion, and I shall show you more.” He looked back over
his shoulder to where they’d come from, “Go there when
you wish to learn, and I shall come forth and