“You both attended here? I didn’t know that,” Dean said, surprise colouring his tone.
“We did,” Mrs Hardinger said, her eyes twinkling merrily. “It was eighty years before I came back to teach here, but yes, I once ran through these halls chomping at the bit to get my hands on a hot shifter.”.
The provost sighed, shaking her head and smiling. “Now Melody,” she began, trying to change the subject, but she was interrupted by Mrs Hardinger.
“Oh please, Augusta. Like you were any better. In fact, I remember that one particularly hot summer with you and the Carson twins and a large tub of cold water. It didn’t seem to shrink anything, come to think of it…”
“Janet!” screeched the provost, and the other woman subsided with an evil grin.
Melody gaped. This was the last thing she’d expected when they came here this afternoon.
“That’s better,” Mrs Hardinger said, looking at her. “Child, you looked like the sky was going to fall down and you were the only one who could hold it up. You’re much more relaxed now.”
The provost made a strangled noise, fidgeting in her chair.
“Oh, sit on it, Augusta. The last thing Melody needs is two more women with power over her, telling her what to do. She needs friends, she needs people she can trust, and she needs us to treat her like a real person instead of a problem.”
The two older women turned to look at her.
“Is that how you see yourself, Melody?” the provost asked her. “Do you see yourself as the problem? And what of your roommate, Carla? I thought you had made friends.”
Well, that was a whole other kettle of fish. After the brief moment of shocking levity, Melody felt her spirits sink again.
“She’s tied up with her new familiar. This is all new to her, so it’s taking her some time to adjust to the bond,” she lied.
She could feel the tension in her familiars, but hoped they wouldn’t give her away.
“Really?” Mrs Hardinger asked with a sly look. “As a newly bonded pair, they’ve been visiting me three times a week. I have to say, I’ve rarely met a pair so well suited. I think they’re going to be just fine once they’ve fully adjusted.”
“It doesn’t mean that her bond isn’t overwhelming and all-consuming,” Melody continued. She wasn’t exactly lying, Carla was probably enjoying it all and was completely distracted. It didn’t change the fact that they were no longer best friends, but she knew it was part of it. For some reason, Carla wouldn’t forgive her poor wording, and whatever had been between them was fading further by the day. Melody just didn’t have the energy to put into rescuing it. Not when she had bigger things to worry about.
The silence in the room made her skin prickle, but she wasn’t going to get Carla in trouble now, and she certainly wasn’t going to make the two women worry about her any more than they already were.
“You didn’t answer my first question, Melody. Do you really see yourself as a burden to us all?”
There was nothing she could say, and for once, it wasn’t the geasen stilling her tongue. Of course she was a burden. Melody could see clearly how they were worried about her, dancing around her, caring for her. That was the very definition of burden—taking action to care for another that wouldn’t normally be required.
The provost stood, walked over to her and then knelt down at Melody’s feet.
“Your mother was my best friend,” she began. “Adelaide was the brightest witch of our generation, loved by students and shifters alike and she shone like a beacon while she was here at Adolphus. We lost touch when we left to return to our covens. Her mother died shortly afterward and my own upbringing was, well, unusual.”
Mrs Hardinger murmured her agreement.
“Georgia was always jealous. Everything always seemed to come so smoothly, so perfectly to her older sister, that Georgia failed to notice just how hard your mother worked at it. Melody, your mother didn’t just take her gift for granted, she worked tirelessly to be the best beast tamer that this school has ever seen,” the provost watched her carefully. “Well, the best until the arrival of her daughter.”
Melody shook her head. No, no, she wasn’t as amazing as her mother. She couldn’t be better than her. Her mother was the best thing in the world, the best witch, the most amazing mother, the perfect woman. There was no way that Melody could outshine that. She didn’t want to. She was perfectly happy to bask in the light cast by her mother’s memory.
“It’s the matriarchal power,” Melody huffed out. “I’m stronger because of it. I’m not special, not like my mother was. She was ….” Words failed her as her throat tightened.
Dean scooted his chair closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her gently into his side.
“Don’t cry, Mel, please? We can’t stand to see you cry any more. Please, baby. No more tears,” he begged.
Asher was silent, but she could feel his support through the bond. She knew this was hard on him, hard on all of them, but he’d made this choice. They had tried to give him an out, but he had stubbornly chosen her, and now this was what he had to deal with. It was miraculous he tolerated her at all.
It was amazing how complex their bonds were becoming. She couldn’t hear their thoughts, only the strongest of bonds allowed for that, but she could feel their hearts, their desires. Despite her wish to hold them at arm’s length, these two shifters were rapidly worming their way into her heart. Even Asher. No wonder so many witches ended up secretly sleeping with their familiars. The bond urged them to come together.
Never before had Melody held onto a bond for this long. She’d had no idea of the depth that it could contain, the strength it had, and the purity
