“Be at that warden’s beck and call?! I’d rather hang myself than become his ward!”

  “And where exactly are you planning to hang yourself?” Eric inquired in a colorless voice. “What, on your very first day at the academy? Should we organize a festive funeral, or will you manage without one?”

  “Well, thanks for the support, dear brother,” I snorted indignantly, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Always happy to help,” Eric nodded seriously.

  Ugh, I have a love-hate relationship with that habit of his—talking with a completely impassive expression. So you’re left sitting there, wondering whether he’s mocking you or genuinely offering to help organize your festive funeral.

  More accurately—walking and wondering. We were heading toward the main entrance of the academy, where I was supposed to continue my education now as part of a group. Eric had volunteered to escort me today, while also giving me brief recommendations for my first days at the new place.

  I was incredibly nervous. Usually, all students at Armarillis Academy have been studying there practically since they were in diapers, but my magical peculiarities, the specifics of my constitution, didn’t allow me to study alongside others. I was taught alone, far away from everyone, under strict supervision. Essentially, today was the first time I was being freely released into the ‘big world,’ allowed to step beyond the prison walls—oops, I mean the strict home-schooling, yes, yes, that’s exactly what I meant to say.

  I had waited so long for this day, this moment, so desperately wanted to savor this freedom… And now—right away I learn that from now on I’ll be forced to constantly interact with the person I least wanted to interact with in the whole world.

  My entire festive mood went straight down the drain.

  “I will not be Calypso’s ward,” I stated firmly.

  Calypso. Just a few letters away from Apocalypse. My personal one. Fate had never been subtle.

  “This is an order from the Mentor, and it is not up for discussion,” Eric responded coldly.

  “I can manage perfectly well without a warden.”

  “No, you can’t. You need strict supervision, day and night. And you know it yourself.”

  “What about you…?”

  “You know perfectly well that I have too many responsibilities, and I don’t have time to supervise you.”

  “But why him?” I howled again. “Why him of all people?! I’m asking you! Give me any other warden!”

  “Lora, just anyone won’t be able to handle you. We’ve verified that many times,” Eric sighed. “All your previous wardens either fled from you screaming and begged the Mentor to remove them from working with you, or didn’t flee but one fine day woke up barely alive in the medical wing. With Calypso, there’s hope that he won’t come running to us screaming and pleading for help. Also, he’s quite sturdy, and you won’t be able to accidentally kill him. Well, unless you two actually end up killing each other.”

  “And then everyone around will just breathe a sigh of relief?”

  “Yep!” Eric responded cheerfully.

  “I hate you,” I exhaled tiredly, acknowledging defeat.

  “I love you too.”

  I smiled.

  It’s hard being the seventh child in a family where every older brother or sister is a talented supreme mage who’s impossible to outshine. Eric, for instance—my eldest brother, and such a powerful supreme mage that in my case, one could turn green with envy. I dreamed of becoming at least a little like him, but… A girl can dream. And dreams don’t come true, yeah.

  It’s especially hard being the seventh child in such a family when you yourself are… defective.

  “Always remember that you’re not allowed to take off your gloves without permission.”

  “You didn’t need to remind me,” I snapped.

  I already knew about my personal “curse” without any extra reminders.

  I looked at my hands in their long black gloves with hatred. Thin mesh ones, very comfortable, specially created for problematic me. My hands—they are my damned gift and my curse, because of which I was constantly kept under lock and key. And the reason all wardens ran from me like bats out of hell. Not one lasted more than a month. The last one ran from me after only three days. My personal record.

  “I’ll take your things to your new room,” Eric nodded at the bright blue suitcase with my belongings that he was pulling. “And you go to your new warden. You’ll find him in the small training hall.”

  I growled quietly in helpless rage.

  Eric suddenly stopped and looked at me with interest.

  “You know Calypso, you’ve interacted before. Why are you so afraid of him?”

  “Me?! I’m not afraid!!”

  Eric smirked skeptically.

  “You are. Very much so. I can see it. Why?”

  I didn’t answer, just swallowed nervously, shifting my frightened gaze to the magnificent building of the magic academy.

  Why, why…

  Because for an entire year I had successfully avoided Calypso after our last meeting, the memories of which still instantly made me flush hot…

  I didn’t bother making excuses to my brother and simply headed silently toward the small training hall in search of this Calypso, damn him… If only anyone knew how much I didn’t want and at the same time desperately wanted to see him…

  The snow-white vaults of Armarillis greeted me with peace and quiet. It was already late, evening training had long since ended. Right now, the vast majority of adepts were either already in their bedrooms preparing for sleep, or relaxing in the garden near the academy: after all, the summer night had turned out surprisingly warm, quiet, and calm. And my footsteps echoed with the ringing clatter of heels on the stone slabs of the empty corridors.

  Armarillis is not quite an ordinary academy. More precisely—it’s quite extraordinary. A closed academy where you couldn’t just get in by passing entrance exams. And trying to sneak in through connections was useless. You could only get into Armarillis if you were born with certain magical abilities, and these special qualities could be discovered at any age, so wizards of very different ages studied here together.

  I was incredibly lucky to be born as one of those who could study at the elite Armarillis with the most amazing professors one could dream of.

  And at the same time: I was incredibly unlucky, because with my individual problems I was taught separately from everyone else, outside the academy. So that… Well, so that I couldn’t accidentally harm others. Usually people come to Armarillis from childhood, but I… I’m defective, yeah. And I had only been at the academy for three days in my childhood. After a couple of accidents with classmates injured because of me, they decided to isolate the walking disaster that was me.

  But, one way or another, I knew the layout of the halls in the castle perfectly and quickly reached the small training hall on the second floor. But I didn’t rush to kick open the door or joyfully burst into the hall—instead I quietly cracked the door open, peeking inside.

  I spotted Calypso immediately—he was alone in the hall, practicing strikes with a long saber against an enchanted moving target. The saber lay in his hands as if it belonged there, seeming to be simply an extension of his arm—that’s how coordinated all his movements were.

  Calypso was a couple of years older than me. Tall, fit, with long hair white as snow. That hair was currently loose and flew in all directions with each of Calypso’s movements, turning him into a white-and-red whirlwind. Red—because instead of the usual black uniform, he wore black trousers and a scarlet shirt. So bright, especially standing out against his long white hair. Yes, Calypso had always loved to stand out and attract as much attention to himself as possible.

  I openly admired his agile, polished movements. He moved so gracefully, as if he wasn’t training but dancing. Actually, that’s exactly what it was: energetic music was playing in the hall, and only now did I realize that all of Calypso’s movements hit precisely on beat with the fast rhythm.

  At one moment, he added a couple of spells to a saber strike, a bright scarlet flash blazed, and I felt a strong gust of wind in my face. When the flash faded, I realized with surprise that Calypso was nowhere in the hall. Hmm, how? Where did he go if he was just here, and I hadn’t taken my eyes off him?

  I opened the door wider—maybe Calypso had darted to some far corner of the hall?—but still saw no one. I frowned but didn’t have time to do anything else.

  “Hello, Lori,” came a silky voice from right behind me. “Long time no see.”

  From this quiet greeting right in my ear, I jumped in place as if someone had screamed in my ear and shocked me. I spun sharply on my heels and came face to face with Calypso, who was standing so close that I could make out each of his eyelashes and fully savor the tart aroma of his cologne and something else spicy, sweetish, that I couldn’t immediately identify.

  In the time since we’d last seen each other, Calypso seemed to have become even more handsome. He’d grown taller, and now I was looking up at him, though I was quite the beanpole myself. Cheekbones so sharp—the kind people like to say you could cut yourself on. One eyebrow was pierced with a small silver ring, and matching silver earrings shaped like small daggers hung from his ears. His hands were in short white leather gloves.

  His gaze… Ooh, that gaze of his gray eyes felt like being run through with a blade — though honestly, I wouldn’t mind him running me through in a different sense…

  Damn.

  I mentally slapped myself.

  Lora, what are you even thinking about?!

  “Spying on my training? Admiring me?” Calypso asked directly with that smug little smirk.

  Yeah right, like I’d ever admit I was quietly drooling here.

  “I see you still have some serious issues with personal boundaries,” I tried to say in an even voice, attempting to change the subject.

  “Oh yes, Lori, that’s my strong suit,” Calypso nodded with a serious expression.

  I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling in martyred frustration.

  That was Calypso all over. He’d always known how to quickly throw any conversational partner off balance.

  “And you still haven’t gotten rid of that stupid habit of calling me Lori. My name is Lorelei, and close friends and family call me Lora.”

  “Well then, let others call you that. Lori suits you better.”

  I snorted loudly, trying not to show that I actually even liked Calypso’s words.

  I actually liked all his wrongness. I just didn’t need him to know that.

  “And you’ve… changed a lot,” Calypso said, his burning gaze sliding over my thick black hair, over my lips, and lower, unambiguously lingering on the neckline of my black blouse before returning to my lips. “Lips like those… Inspire very sinful desires.”

  I barely held back from swallowing nervously and giving away my anxiety.

  Mom, please put me back where I came from.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  I didn’t know about my lips, but Calypso’s lips definitely inspired sinful desires. At least—in me.

  “How long has it been since we saw each other, Lori… Two years?”

  “One year,” I thought, but said nothing aloud, just pursed my lips and shrugged vaguely.

  I really had changed a lot, transforming from a teenager into a young woman—a fiery brunette with unreal gray-blue eyes. Quite an appetizing young woman, no point denying it…

  And Calypso unexpectedly placed his palm on my chest, right over my heart, stunning me. And he said melodiously:

  “Your heart is beating so loudly and frantically, as if you’re very afraid of something… What is it, Lori? What has you so scared right now? Am I the one causing such emotions in you?”

  I did swallow nervously this time, barely holding back from running away somewhere screaming from Calypso, and continued looking into his probing eyes.

  What a damn perceptive scoundrel.

  A year ago, I had done everything I could to make sure Calypso didn’t remember our last meeting… Well, at least so he’d forget my particular involvement. And I really hoped that the oblivion spell I’d cast on him then was strong enough and still working as intended.

  I was afraid that Calypso would remember me anyway… very afraid. That’s why I had strenuously avoided meeting him for so long. And that’s why my heart was beating an erratic rhythm, fluttering with fear. I tried not to think about what would happen to me if my spell failed and Calypso actually remembered me. It was obvious enough that nothing good would happen to me—he’d wipe the floor with me.

  I stayed silent, breathing every other moment and trying to collect my thoughts, but with his hot palm pressed against me, it was very hard to do. At least his hands were gloved, and Calypso was touching me through the fabric of the academy’s black uniform. Skin-to-skin contact I definitely couldn’t have handled calmly right now.

  Calypso was also silent. Silent and watching me, squinting suspiciously as if trying to read my thoughts. He was reading my expressions, my emotions, and couldn’t help but notice that I had frozen in place, and fear could be read in my eyes.

  My heart continued beating an erratic rhythm in anticipation of a possible storm… Would he remember or not?

  “You just scared me with your sudden appearance behind me. What’s not to understand? And how did you even end up here?” I asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from the dangerous topic. “In the corridor… You were at the other end of the training hall a minute ago. And teleportation is forbidden at the academy!”

  No, seriously, how?

  “There are other methods of rapid movement besides teleportation,” Calypso answered evasively, removing his palm from me but continuing to bore into me with that unbearable attentive gaze. “If I become your warden, and you’re an obedient girl, I’ll try to teach you these methods.”

  An obedient girl, ha! Found someone to call that. Ooh, Calypso, if only you knew how far I am from being an obedient girl…

  I would have laughed out loud under other circumstances, but right now I still didn’t understand what to expect from Calypso, so I kept quiet.

  My attention also snagged on another phrase.

  “If? You said if you become? Weren’t you already assigned as my warden?”

  “Not quite,” Calypso said, letting me into the training hall and following behind. “I said I’d think about it and agreed to, hmm, test you.”

  His expression changed, became less suspicious and more relaxed.

  It seemed he didn’t remember me.… Thank the heavens, he didn’t remembered!! Well, more precisely, he didn’t remembered specifically our last meeting. Excellent. Life could go on.

  I couldn’t hold back a convulsive sigh of relief, which didn’t escape Calypso’s notice. He interpreted my sigh in his own way.

  “Did I really scare you that much with my appearance behind you? It’s not good to be afraid of such little things, Lori. You’re an Armarillis adept, you’re a soldier. You should always be ready for anything. Or are you going to tremble like this when you meet demons too?”

  “Well, those are demons. You’re worse than them,” I smirked.

  Calypso laughed.

  “Hmm, is that so? How interesting…”

  I preferred to stay silent. My joke was only partly a joke. In fact, I wasn’t really joking, and I actually feared Calypso more than all demons put together. And why should I be afraid of demons? I know the principle of destroying them, predicting their moves is child’s play—they’re very predictable. But Calypso—ooh… That’s a completely different matter. A person whose thoughts are completely unclear. A real demon in the flesh.

  “I didn’t understand what kind of test you’re talking about,” I said. “What do you mean you agreed to test me? Test me for what? And how?”

  “What do you think?” Calypso said in a deep voice.

  As he spoke, he suddenly turned to face me, looking into my eyes and once again ending up so close that I involuntarily recoiled.

  What did I think… I wasn’t thinking anything at that moment. I was only thinking about how the air between us seemed to have become more electrified, and there was significantly less oxygen in it… or was I just forgetting to breathe?

  “Will you give it to me?” Calypso asked briefly.

  “What?” It caught me off guard.

  “The choice is yours, of course.”

  “I don’t…” I stammered.

  “A weapon,” Calypso whispered. “Necessary for testing you. Will you give it to me?”

  He nodded toward behind me: there, on the wall to the right side of the hall, hung many variations of cold weapons meant for training. Sabers, swords, all kinds of daggers and knives—there was a huge selection here, something for everyone.

  “Oh… You mean weapons,” I became flustered, feeling very awkward.

  “And what did you think I meant?” Calypso smiled dazzlingly. “But the direction of your thoughts definitely appeals to me.”

  “You don’t even know what they were,” I snorted.

  “Oh, don’t I?”

  God, I wanted to punch him right now—right between the eyes. He was deliberately mocking me and not particularly hiding it.

  I huffed indignantly and turned to the wall, examining the gleaming blades.

  “What weapon do you need?” Calypso asked.

  “What do you mean? You’re the one who asked, not…”

  “It’s you who needs it. Choose any.”

  “And… Why?”

  “We’re going to fight,” Calypso said with a smug smile.

  “Very funny.”

  “I’m serious, Lori. We’re going to have a training fight right now, and you’ll fight at full strength, the best you can. I want to see your potential. If you can deal me any damage at all, even give me a tiny scratch I’ll take you as my ward and I guarantee I’ll solve your problem with this,” he pointed the blade of his saber toward my gloved hands. “That’s essentially the only reason I agreed to consider becoming your warden.”

  “Agreed to consider,” wow, how pompous. How could I knock him down a peg…?

  “Enjoy working with defective ones?” I asked with a crooked smile.

  “I enjoy overcoming challenges,” Calypso objected. “And this,” he pointed at my gloved hands again. “This is very challenging. But interesting. Which means worthy of my attention.”

  “Modesty isn’t exactly your thing.”

  “No complaints there,” Calypso nodded. “I’m the best mage in our entire class right now, and I’ve already reached the level where I’m far, far ahead of our curriculum… Very far ahead. That’s why they give me more freedom and load me up with additional work and allow me more. I’m interested in developing in those areas of magic that are still poorly understood, and in magic there’s always room to develop. It’s impossible to reach some absolute limit, some endpoint. That’s why they offered me to work with you, since there’s so, so much to study in you. Enough work to keep anyone busy for ages… Well, that’s according to our Mentor, the professors, and all those unfortunate warden victims who fled after close interaction with you, as if you were some monster in the flesh… But instead of a monster, standing before me now is a lovely girl named Lori with the most innocent expression and frightened little eyes, and I have a suspicion that all your previous wardens simply had very weak psyches, that you terrified them to death, the poor things.”

  I burst out laughing, and Calypso smiled too. He continued:

  “Anyway, their words alone aren’t enough for me. I need to see everything with my own eyes. And I’m only willing to work with you if I see truly great potential for engaging and productive work. So you’ll have to try hard to interest me, Lori. So then, are you ready to have some fun with me, hmm?”

  It sounded ambiguous, to be honest. And I was sure the ambiguity wasn’t accidental. That was also very Calypso—he was quite the master of provocation.

  I settled on rapiers, forged by elves from Geros steel. Light, sharp, and very long, they were quite convenient for fighting an opponent who wouldn’t let you get close. And in Calypso’s case, I had no doubt that getting close to him with some dagger would be incredibly difficult.

  “It feels strange to fight you,” I admitted honestly.

  “Why? It’s just a regular training session. We-e-ell, okay, maybe not entirely regular, but we’re constantly practicing various strikes on each other during training. What’s wrong?”

  I shrugged uncertainly.

  I had my reasons, but I didn’t want to admit my true feelings and explain what was bothering me. Calypso would probably just laugh at me, nothing more… So I wasn’t about to let him in.

  I handed the second rapier to Calypso, and he took several steps back, explaining the rules as he went.

  “Use any tactics, any combinations. You can mix hand-to-hand combat with magical. You should, actually, you won’t beat me with just a rapier.”

  “You’re that confident?” I snorted, getting a better grip on the rapier and considering where to start.

  “Absolutely.”

  “I’m excellent with cold weapons.”

  “So am I. Shall we see who’s better?”

  I shifted uncertainly from foot to foot, biting my lip. Testing my skills with wardens hadn’t ended well so far. Which I decided to mention honestly:

  “My previous warden also decided to test my skills. It ended… spectacularly. My magic got out of control at one point, and I couldn’t suppress it on my own. By the time the seniors figured out what was happening and came to the rescue, my warden was already being scraped off the tree I’d slammed him into… Sure you want to repeat his fate? I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop in time. I’m afraid of seriously hurting you.”

  Calypso burst out laughing. His laugh was so ringing, so infectious. And at the same time—mocking. Leaving no doubt that Calypso didn’t even entertain the thought that I could beat him.

  “Well go ahead and try, oh spectacular one,” he said very cheerfully. “Less talk, more action. Prove with deeds that you’re worth something, beautiful. Let’s go.”

  He struck first, sharply, without warning, also knocking out of my head my surprise at the word “beautiful.” I blocked the strike and jumped to the side, but Calypso didn’t let me relax, attacking again and again and forcing me into total defense.

  Block. Strike from the left. Block. Strike from the right.

  The blades rang, but with each strike I grew more irritated because I wasn’t just failing to get closer—I couldn’t even properly attack. Calypso fought with rapiers virtuosically and with such a casual air, as if he were waving a fan. He might as well yawn, the scoundrel… Wait, what? Did he actually just yawn?!

  The openly bored look of mockingly yawning Calypso infuriated me so much that the stream of fire from my left hand came out especially powerful and bright. Flames shot up into the air, scorching skin even from a distance, sparks hissed as they fell to the floor, burning holes in the parquet, tongues of flame shot toward Calypso’s neck.

  The strike was powerful… But Calypso deflected it playfully, extinguishing the fire with a counter water sphere and immediately sending needle-ice back at me. The frost needles flew toward me in a solid wall, threatening to turn me into a sieve. I couldn’t fend off all the needles—some of them still reached me through my shield—though weakened, they still reached me, and I hissed from the unpleasant sensations. The skin where the frost needles hit burned with icy cold, my hand with the rapier trembled, and I almost missed a strike.

  Strike, block, another fire whirlwind, another water sphere, this time nearly engulfing me completely.

  Now I had to defend again—Calypso forced me into total defense. He attacked precisely and sharply, barely moving from his spot, practically just shifting from foot to foot in the same place, while I was hopping around opposite him in futile attempts to reach my opponent. How was I supposed to get through to him at all?!

  Strike, another strike… I finally missed a thrust, and Calypso knocked the rapier from my hands—it fell clanging to the parquet.

  “Boring,” Calypso sighed, clicking his tongue in displeasure. “Take off your gloves.”

  I raised my eyebrows in confusion.

  “I’m not actually allowed to take them off without permission.”

  “Well, I royally grant permission,” Calypso smirked. “Go on, take them off.”

  Yeah, right. When pigs fly.

  “Eric didn’t give me permission.”

  “Mm, great,” Calypso drawled mockingly. “Except your warden is me, not Eric.”

  “You’re not my warden yet” I squinted.

  “Well, I will be. If you show me your real power. And as your almost-warden, I demand that you take off your gloves.”

  I snorted loudly and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “The Mentor won’t like this. And I’ll catch hell from him.”

  “Your warden is me,” Calypso said firmly. “And if the Mentor is displeased, I’ll be the one answering to him. Take off your gloves. I want to see what you’re capable of without them.”

  “No,” I said firmly. “I won’t do it.”

  “Afraid you won’t be able to handle it? You’re supposed to be strong, so you’ll handle it.”

  “I’m smart, so I won’t even try.”

  “Worried about your magnificent brother’s wrath?” Calypso raised an eyebrow mockingly. “Does he exert such strong pressure on you that you can’t make your own decisions in such trivial matters?”

  I ground my teeth, eyes narrowed angrily.

  “Nonsense. You’re just twisting everything around right now.”

  “Or is it our omniscient master Eric who’s doing the twisting…?”

  I pursed my lips in displeasure.

  Well, I wasn’t going to fall for provocations. Say what you want, but I’m standing my ground. Yes!

  Calypso snorted, shook his head in disappointment, lowered his rapier, and stepped toward the wall to return the weapon to its place.

  “Well then, this is where I say goodbye, Lori,” he said, not looking at me. “You’re not trying and you’re fighting like a child. I have no interest in wasting my time on the weak.”

  These words made me see red so intensely that it was amazing sparks didn’t literally fly from my eyes—I was clearly on the verge.

  I’m the one acting like a child?!!

  I don’t know if Calypso said that deliberately to make me angry or not, but it triggered me so hard that I was seething with rage inside.

  And instead of being happy that this person wouldn’t be my warden—isn’t that exactly what I wanted from the start and what I asked my brother for, wasn’t it?—now out of sheer principle I wanted to prove to Calypso that I was absolutely not weak, and I was perfectly capable of wiping that smirk off his face.

  And it wasn’t about Eric and his prohibitions—it was that I was afraid of accidentally hurting Calypso or simply causing him real pain. Or accidentally killing him altogether—I could do that, unfortunately.

  Well… Now I wanted to hurt him on purpose. He’d struck a nerve with his provocative words, ventured into my sore territory, and my internal ‘revenge’ program had switched on. To make sure Calypso remembered not to poke the bear. I may seem meek and mild, but push me too far and…

  With these dark thoughts, I pressed my palms together, whispering a couple of necessary spells to remove the special blockers. The next second, the gloves began to disappear from my hands, and lightning bolts started running along my arms and hair…