*************************
WARNING: There is raw animal aggression, forced sexual acts and some brutality. Please read with caution as some elements can be triggering.
*************************
Like most of the Mages in King Detry's Guild, I'd come to be here because Warlord, his Commanding Mage, had spotted me and seen me for what I was.
For the magic I was capable of.
King Detry, as was his practice, had slaughtered my family and brought me back to the castle to serve under Warlord and, more importantly, his Second in Command who trained us.
Hawk.
Damn, dreadful, cocky, despicable Hawk. I hated everything about the man.
But it just so happened he was the best mage in the country, other than Warlord who had some strange accentuated power no one could explain.
I'd heard whisperings he was less than human though.
He could be a demon.
Hawk certainly acted like a demonic minion. I made it a point to always go out of my way to avoid the striking man.
The other mage's fawned over him.
But I just want him to go the hell away.
But Hawk was Hawk. And he did whatever the bloody hell he wanted. Which obviously meant torturing me at every opportunity.
And the more I disregarded him the more awful he got.
He was a ruthless trainer and I was having a hard time mastering the techniques though my magic was incredibly strong, I had problems focusing.
Even I know that.
But it seemed instead of helping me, Hawk enjoyed distracting me even further and making me increasingly terrible.
Which boded ill for me.
If mages couldn't perfect their craft they were sent to the dungeons to refocus and if that didn't work then they were slaughtered as useless.
I was petrified of both options. I'd heard tales of the torment that awaited mages in those dungeons.
So I studied harder.
But stayed awful at all the physical training.
Which drew Warlord's eye. I'd seen the Master Mage come out several times and watch me with a disparaging look. Clearly not impressed by my lack of skill.
"Fix her!" He'd yell at Hawk.
"I'm trying." Hawk would call up the balcony overlooking the training yard.
"Do more!" Then Warlord, in his usual quiet fashion, would turn and walk away.
Terrifying and quiet and barely touching the ground.
***
Hawk was the second in Command at the Mage's Guild Academy. He was only a couple years older than me but it was a fact which he regularly reminded me.
"I'm older, stronger, and more powerful...As I should be."
Ugh.
"You're insufferable, annoying and ridiculous!" I countered. Watching him walk past me to drop onto the settee in the mage's Main Room of King Detry's Castle.
This room was special. A sanctuary.
Where we all tend to flock to be around kindred. I, however, often avoided this room because of him.
He's always around.
Especially when I'm trying diligently to evade him.
"When are you not in this room?" I asked pointedly. Wanting to know when it was safe for me to come down and read my spell books.
"When you're not." He said flatly. Pinning me with his penetrating green gaze.
"Are you ever going to get bored with this little game of cat and mouse?" I tossed straight blonde hair over my shoulder.
"Not in the least." He ran a hand through his curling black hair to push it back from his head. "Are you ever going to give in and come to my bed like a dutiful little Indo-Mage?"
Indo. I hate that word.
It was true I was a beginner in the magic arts compared to him but I hated the term Indo which meant I was less than or newly born.
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. Black leather pants creaking with his movement. As his intensity focused on me. "Just think of the things I could teach you."
His gaze skimmed over my oversized brown gown before he slumped back. "Were you not in that ugly thing."