The skies above the Academy of Aether shifted colors again.
At first, no one noticed. A little swirl of violet. A faint, shimmering breeze. Students brushed it off — the aftereffects of someone's failed enchantment class, maybe.
But Elias knew better.
He was sweating. Again.
Not the good kind, like when Rael had him pinned against the headboard last night, gasping and begging for more.
This was the "holy shit I'm going to blow up the entire school" kind of sweating.
He sat stiffly in Elemental Theory class, feeling the low thrum of unstable magic ripple under his skin.
It was getting harder to hide.
Worse, it was responding to emotions now — anger, embarrassment, desire.
Which was a big damn problem when Rael kept looking at him from the back of the lecture hall with those smoldering, golden-blue eyes, tongue darting over his lips like he was remembering exactly how Elias tasted last night.
"Focus, Elias!" he muttered under his breath, gripping his desk until it creaked.
The Professor — not Wrynn anymore (thank gods) but a stern woman named Professor Lysandra Vorne — paused mid-sentence.
Her sharp green eyes snapped to him.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Wynn?"
Elias nearly yelped.
He forced a smile. "No, ma'am! Just, uh, enthusiastic note-taking!"
Professor Vorne squinted, clearly unconvinced, but continued lecturing about ancient spell matrices.
Meanwhile, the floor under Elias's desk crackled.
Tiny cracks. Faint blue glow leaking upward.
Shitshitshit—
Rael shifted in his chair. Elias could feel the demon's magic leaking toward him in invisible tendrils, soothing his instability. A warm hand under the table briefly brushed Elias's ankle — a silent reminder: I'm here. Breathe.
It worked — a little.
By the time class ended, Elias practically sprinted out of the room.
He made it five steps into the courtyard before Rael snagged him by the wrist, spun him into a hidden alcove between two rose-covered stone pillars.
And then... kissed him. Hard.
Elias gasped as Rael's tongue invaded his mouth — hot, demanding, tasting of something sweet and dark all at once.
His back hit the stone wall with a soft grunt.
Rael pressed against him — solid, massive, delicious — and Elias melted, letting his fingers clutch the front of Rael's shirt desperately.
Gods above, he needed this.
Needed the way Rael's body ground against him, the heat, the friction, the slow roll of hips that made his toes curl.
He whimpered softly into Rael's mouth, grinding back, lost in a haze of need.
But Rael pulled back first, panting. His eyes had gone slitted — a clear sign the demon inside was dangerously close to losing control.
"Later," Rael growled, voice rough like gravel.
"You're unstable enough right now. If I take you here, you'll light the entire Academy on fire."
Elias, dazed and desperate, could only nod.
Rael chuckled darkly, pressing a lingering kiss to Elias's forehead before stepping back. "Control, little spark. Control."
---
Meanwhile...
Up on the highest tower of the Academy, the Headmaster frowned.
He gazed at the changing sky, the ripples of unstable magic in the air, the increasingly erratic behavior of the elemental wards.
"Strange," he murmured, stroking his beard.
"Almost like... something ancient is waking."
He made a note to convene the Council.
Someone — or something — was disrupting the Academy's equilibrium.
And it was only getting stronger.