Weakened Mountains (Artemis University Book 4) Read online

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  Find A New Series To Love…

  About the Author

  Other Titles by Erin R Flynn

  A Supernatural Script Inc. Book

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  My name is Tamsin Vale, and I survived my first semester at Artemis University… And several Biblical plagues. Of all the things I’d been expecting, plagues weren’t one of them. We still don’t know who the culprit was or if it was simply a prank, so there’s possibly another threat out there against me.

  Add it to the list.

  Unfortunately, that damn list is getting long.

  But despite all of that, I think I’m getting the hang of this college thing. I like my classes, I’m doing well in them, and I’m making progress on also finishing high school. I have some normal in my completely crazy life with friends, a boyfriend, and typical worries someone my age should have.

  Granted, I’m still sleeping with my professor and a dragon prince, while trying to save all fairies, fair folk, and Faerie, but also help my friends and women in an extremely sexist society that treats them like property and fight the corruption of the councils. That should be enough to keep a woman busy for the rest of her life.

  It should have been… Except there’s a serious problem the dragons are facing, and they need my help. The lives of millions are at stake, so as much as I want to only focus on my people and my problems, they might have to wait a little bit longer.

  This will definitely end with more threats against me.

  Artemis University is an ongoing hot burning reverse harem, university-age paranormal academy series with darker elements, strong language, violence, and a heroine who follows her own moral compass of what is right… And who she ends up giving her heart to.

  1

  The night everything happened with Darby, I let Craftsman take care of me. He healed the bite and got me in the shower, holding me as I sobbed against him. Then he wrapped me in a blanket and sat me in my reading nook while he stripped and remade the bed.

  He was amazing. He held me all night as I got upset over and over again. My mind kept going round and round. It wasn’t Darby’s fault if vampires weren’t supposed to have fairy blood… But it wasn’t mine either. I hadn’t known.

  Then I was angry it wasn’t in any of the books… But of course, they wouldn’t let anyone know or put that down. That would be a red flag for every vamp to snack on fairies if our blood was awesome.

  I wore myself out with all the back and forth and crashed all of New Year’s Day, only getting up to eat. No one pushed me besides Mel, who told me Darby had left. It made me start crying all over again. I was glad he was gone, which was horrible since I was to blame for the situation as well. He might have known not to drink from fairies, but I’d kept what I was from him.

  I woke the next morning focused and knowing who to blame. I slid out of bed and got ready, my rage building as I put more pieces together. There was one person who would have known and should have warned me.

  And I knew where he was. Craftsman had mentioned how the deans were complaining they had to have a meeting the day after New Year’s, but Edelman said it was the only time they could speak freely without all the council snoops still auditing the school.

  I bypassed the kitchen and headed for the garage, somehow knowing my magic would send me to the place I wanted as I activated the portal. Sure enough, I came out in the faculty lounge and headed for the conference room off of it. People jumped when I threw open the door, but I only had eyes for one person.

  Professor Collins, Dean of the Vampires. I’d finally learned the man’s name and just in time to shout it as I pounded his face in.

  “Ms. Vale, we’re in the middle of a meeting,” Headmaster Edelman muttered, taking in my disposition with a frown.

  I ignored him, glancing around and making sure everyone there had been in the meeting the day I was brought in—or like Professor White, who found out later. No one else was there, so I focused back on my prey. “There was a promise made when I was brought here. That this was the best place for me as I would be protected and get the education I needed. That I would get help and—”

  The asshole rolled his eyes at me. “Go hand out more presents to some of us and then—”

  “You petty fucking asshole,” I seethed, taking another step towards him. Strong arms wrapped around me from behind and I realized Craftsman had caught up to me. I shoved away from him and threw out my hand, locking the meeting room door and putting a bubble around us since I was too distracted. Then I shot ice at Professor Collins’s chair, knocking it out from under him.

  He was too fast though, jumping up in time so he didn’t land on his ass. Anger filled his eyes that I would make such a move against him.

  “Oh, I’m just getting started,” I warned. “You want fairy fruit? Go fucking get some! I don’t give a shit, you baby. I gave some to my teachers. Why would I give any to the Dean of the Vampires? Right, so next time one of them starts shit it would be all about me bribing people.”

  “Let’s just take a step—” Craftsman tried when I moved towards Collins again.

  I wasn’t having any of his calm right then, and I wasn’t going to risk him pulling shit. I turned enough to focus on him and used the rune I’d found in a book in Faerie to tie him up in vines. “Stay out of this. He has this more than coming.” I smirked at the shock in Collins’s eyes. “I get it, you go back and forth with where you want me to land, but you were part of the deal made and gave your word—”

  “Where you land?” Professor White interjected, giving me a worried look as she glanced between us.

  I nodded. “He’s not sure he wants me to survive. He goes back and forth all the time in his mind. He does worry the world will take a nosedive if the last fairy dies, but he thinks if I do, all those vast fortunes will just be up for grabs. And he’ll h
ave a chance at them maybe. Or at least lucrative inside information to tell as he knows what I am.”

  “Disgusting,” someone hissed.

  “I will survive,” I promised Collins, ignoring the rage in his eyes that I busted him. “More than that, I’m not the idiot you think I am. I have a fucking will, dipshit. If I die, they’re just not up for grabs. I’ve set it all up so the fair folk are safe. You just think you can run me over? Do you think you can plow over Geiger or he’d let that happen?

  “You’re stupid if you think anyone can get the drop on him. We’ve also not been telling you everything as you haven’t shown you’re trustworthy. If you think to doubt I’ll survive again, I’ll gladly introduce you to any of the five fae dog packs I have sworn to me now.” I nodded when his face went pale. “Oh yeah, five now.

  “Two more helping but don’t want to swear to a light fairy. They’re putting all their chips on me because they know I’ll make it. So, it’s time to get on the right side of this and do what you promised. You have no idea what I’m facing and you’re not even trying to protect me from it.

  “Von Thann can act like it was a one-time distasteful comment from shock all he wants, but he thinks it every time he sees me. He thought it the other night at the Vogels’ party. I checked just to make sure. He still thinks I should be bred, tickets given out to the elite and lottery drawn like they’re taking a fucking spin in a fancy car. That’s what I’m dealing with here.”

  He cleared his throat, at least looking disgusted with that. “You know where my office is and can—”

  “I don’t know what to ask!” I roared, fisting my hands as I moved closer. “Calloway has warned me of things that could out me as a fairy. I had no idea what to ask. That’s what I was promised by coming here, giving Artemis the glory of having the last fairy here when people eventually found out.

  “So don’t give me that crap. Professor White has warned me. So have others. You could have too. You just don’t think I’m worth it, no matter the deal. You want me embarrassed. Fine, embarrass me, I don’t care if you think I deserve it. But does Darby?” My voice cracked as I asked, angry tears running down my cheeks. “What did he do to you?

  “He’s a vampire, right? You care about them still. You protect them? Why didn’t you protect him?” I let out a soft sob. “Why let him almost drain his girlfriend?” Horror filled his face and I got angry again. “You knew. Vampires can’t have fairy blood. And you didn’t tell the fucking fairy you promised to help, who is dating a vampire you’re supposed to protect.

  “So don’t even give me shit about calling a debt on this one.” My voice cracked again as I hugged myself. “You will help him or I will fucking gut you! He thinks… I don’t even know. He’s feral. His eyes went red. I had to burn him to get him to stop. He went to the teacher staying with me to report he raped me he was so out of his head he didn’t remember what happened.

  “You will help him! I don’t care if you have to lie your ass off and say sometimes it happens the first time feeding during sex. Or all young vampires experience it. Think of something where he’s not a monster.” I couldn’t see him through my tears now. “We just wanted normal. Why didn’t we deserve normal? Couldn’t you at least have protected him?

  “Instead, our first time he goes feral and tries to drain me. Do you have any idea the damage you’ve done? How could you not warn me of that? Fuck what you feel for me, I know you like Darby for standing up to the elites. He was… You have to help him!”

  “I will,” Professor Collins agreed. “I swear it. I will go see him today.”

  Someone else touched me, and I flinched but didn’t pull away when I realized it was Professor White. She hugged me to her and I let her comfort me.

  “I want a list of every danger or warning you know of or have even heard of in regards to a fairy before the semester starts. No more of this. She could have been drained. She could have had much worse if she’d been cut around those who know the smell of fairy blood and crave it.”

  People were not happy with Collins after she said that. Yeah, I wasn’t either. I hadn’t even gone down that rabbit hole of what else could have gone wrong with not knowing. I was still pretty focused on the disaster I was currently living in.

  Professor White sat me down at the table in an empty seat and handed me a glass of water. “The conversation we were having was boring anyways. Thank you for the break.”

  I snorted, but took a sip, getting she was saying it was time to calm down. Anger was fine, but I’d cried and there could be no acting like a girl if I wanted to keep my kick-ass rep. I was shocked I’d done it. Then again, I was really upset and mostly for Darby.

  And at myself for putting him in this position by being with me.

  “Budgets are never a fun topic,” Headmaster Edelman drawled. “But no matter how much I want to approve your proposal with Pillay, I cannot just make a hundred thousand dollars appear out of the budget. That’s what it would cost to put in a second greenhouse to the level we need and so fast.”

  “For our saplings and plants experiments with fae dust?” I asked, glancing between them. I shrugged when they nodded. “I’ll donate that. It’s still the same project we were planning on having to do and I don’t have an adult just waiting to handle that. Fine, it won’t be as fast being educational, but it’s a start, and I get all the trees and plants in the end.”

  “That’s very generous of you,” Headmaster Edelman muttered.

  Craftsman snorted. “You didn’t see the price tag of all the properties she just bought to make these havens, mate.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered, seeing he freed himself of the vines.

  “I’ll forgive you if you teach me that rune.”

  “I can’t.” I shrugged when he frowned at me. “It’s a light fairy rune. I haven’t had a chance to really even look over the book I found.”

  Found was a stretch. More like I’d bought every book Katrina Calloway had in Faerie, and she was on a quiet mission to get more. Soon I was going to have people help me scour other branches of Veritas Portas to find all of them.

  I studied Professor White and realized I probably knew the perfect person to help me with that… And something else. “I did something with some crystals on my dress.”

  “Oh yes, I heard about that,” she chuckled. “You turned power crystals from Katrina Calloway’s provider into tier four crystals in one night.”

  “Seven,” I corrected, nodding when she gave me a shocked look. “That’s what Darby said. I was happy and stuffing my face. We were having fun.” I angrily wiped my eyes and stared at my water. “Yeah, I really can’t get into all of that, and I know it’s going to be a thing.

  “He wanted to study them with Craftsman. Can you look at them first and make sure they won’t give me away? Or—can I just get the short version? No one can like use them for world domination, right? They were made with joy power?”

  “Yes, that is the very short version,” she promised. “They would be perfect for growing magic.” She held up a finger to hold off what I might say next. “And tier seven crystals fully charged cost about as much as you just donated to the school.”

  “Well, shit,” I hissed, blinking at her. “No wonder people were freaking out.”

  “Undoubtedly,” Edelman drawled. “And yes, only good can be done with magic of that type. I’ve only had the chance to study higher-tier crystals a handful of times. Those who can make them or have them are very protective of them for good reason.”

  “Huh,” I muttered, staring at Craftsman.

  “What is that brain of yours concocting now, duckie?” he asked me gently.

  “A work-study program for the scholarship students,” I admitted. “They don’t get paid to be a TA like normal colleges.”

  “TAs get paid?” White asked, glancing at others when I nodded. “I didn’t know that.”

  “They get a stipend for a semester towards tuition or free tuition,” I purred. “And they get paid to
tutor. A grant or scholarship is based on grades, not forced labor. The rest they do paid.”

  “I looked into that after you mentioned it before, but now isn’t the time to try for that change,” Edelman hedged.

  Fine, fair enough. Rome wasn’t built in a day or whatever cliché.

  “What about a seminar study?” I tried instead. “Something extra for credit and to add to their resume like humans do internships. They do it, they get to work with the crystals—”

  “And help grow your groves, getting real-world experience like an internship,” White finished for me.

  “Yeah, and maybe a good lead-in for summer jobs?” I shrugged, rubbing my head.

  Craftsman cleared his throat. “You need to eat.”

  I nodded, glancing at him. “How did you catch me?”

  He held up my phone as if trying to answer like it rang and he came to find me, but I was gone. Instead, it probably woke him and I was gone. “The Rothchilds accepted your request for a meeting? You requested a meeting with them?”

  “Yeah, I want to try this catching more baddies thing again,” I admitted, taking my phone from him. I pulled up something on my phone and wrinkled my nose. “This says professors get around three grand each extra class or seminar they teach unless they’re tenure and then it’s included. That’s shit. I’ll donate an extra ten grand for the salary of each teacher who will do the seminar.”

  “I’d do it just for the chance to work with the crystals and the publishing possibilities,” Craftsman admitted.

  I rolled my eyes. “You can have as many crystals as you want. You’re spending your whole break teaching me Latin and magic basics everyone else gets growing up.”

  “You are feeding me and quite well, duckie,” he teased me.

  “Fine, you replace the crystals I tiered up with normal ones on the dress, so I don’t mess with Ayesha’s masterpiece for their portfolio and you can have some.” I pursed my lips and nodded, coming to a decision. “Space is limited for the seminars, scholarship students get first crack and after that, master’s students sounds fair.”