A Wicked Raven: A University of Morgana Novella (University of Morgana: Academy of Enchantments and Witchcraft Book 4) Read online

  A Wicked Raven

  A University of Morgana Novella

  Emma Dean

  A WICKED RAVEN

  A UNIVERSITY OF MORGANA NOVELLA

  UNIVERSITY OF MORGANA

  ACADEMY OF WITCHCRAFT AND ENCHANTMENTS

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Copyright © 2019 by Emma Dean

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, locations, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Want Free Stories?

  Other Books

  Other Books UK Links

  Other Books CA Links

  Other Books AU Links

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  All of my paranormal books exist in the same universe. The more you read the more you see familiar faces. You don’t need to read them in any particular order, or to know any others before starting any of my series or standalones.

  <3 Emma

  I

  Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,

  And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?

  The transient pleasures as a vision seem,

  And yet we think the greatest pain's to die.

  II

  How strange it is that man on earth should roam,

  And lead a life of woe, but not forsake

  His rugged path; nor dare he view alone

  His future doom which is but to awake.

  - John Keats

  1

  Corbin shifted midflight and landed on the deck. He pulled his jacket up to cover his neck. The chill this high up always cut to the bone. Glancing over his shoulder as he walked, Corbin slipped his hands into his pockets and headed toward the eyrie.

  Leaving Mika in the woods on Morgana Island hadn’t been easy, but he needed answers. Corbin needed to wrap his head around all this shit she’d stirred up that was throwing him off balance.

  He’d flown non-stop from the University of Morgana to his eyrie. Corbin would never admit it, never let it show, but he was exhausted.

  Guards recognized him and let him pass. The only reason Corbin even knew they were there was because of his extensive training. Otherwise it was all just mist and shadows.

  What would Mika think of this place? Would she know where to look?

  Grinding his teeth together he shook his head – wishing he could shake her out of his mind. It didn’t matter that she somehow always knew where he was. It meant absolutely nothing.

  He pushed open the massive double doors that always creaked. The Guardian always made sure they did. Even the best assassin couldn’t enter the eyrie quietly. At least not from the main entrance, but Corbin wasn’t trying to be sneaky.

  “Corbin! We weren’t expecting you back so soon,” the Guardian said, stepping forward – Emily’s father if he remembered correctly.

  Corbin and Emily had been top of their class together, and honestly Corbin had thought he’d end up with her one day, but the Morrigan had other ideas for the both of them it seemed.

  “I just need to see my brother for a moment,” Corbin told him. “Then I have to go back to my assignment.”

  The Guardian fell into step with him. Corbin had always liked Edgar, but at the moment he wanted to be alone.

  “We’re having the celebration for the graduates,” Edgar told him, hands clasped behind his back as he walked, keeping the proper distance between them.

  That was always the hardest part of assignments. Corbin didn’t like how close everyone was to each other – how most of them were pressed together in the cities. He usually wore enough clothing they couldn’t touch his skin, but the pressure was nearly as bad.

  The only one who seemed to know what that was like was Mika, and Corbin had been chewing on the various reasons why since he first heard her say raven like it was an answer to a prayer rather than a death sentence.

  He didn’t think anyone had ever said raven quite like that before—ever.

  “Your brother is down there with the next class – the ones who passed the trial.”

  Ah yes. Corbin remembered the trial like it was yesterday. It had been easy enough for him, but not everyone that finalized their assassin training made it into the academy. After a few years in the field his brother had gone and started working as an instructor at the Obsidian Academy of Assassins.

  It was odd, but not that odd considering what he knew about Wade.

  They stopped in the atrium that was the center of the eyrie. It was twelve stories tall and Corbin looked down at the ballroom far below. It wasn’t that long ago he’d been down there celebrating his own acceptance into the Academy.

  “Anything I can do to help speed up your assignment?” the Guardian asked. “There are quite a few waiting contracts that specifically requested you.”

  “Not unless you can convince the Council that a teenage witch isn’t a threat.”

  Edgar gave him a look. “If I’d known that’s what they wanted you for I would have insisted on someone else going.”

  Corbin would have agreed with him a few weeks ago, but now…he had too many questions he needed answered. “I doubt they’ll need me for much longer. Tell Emily I said ‘hi’.” Then he leapt off the edge, shifting before he could fall more than a single floor.

  Gently he circled, coasting down slowly as he inspected everyone below. Nearly the entire flock was here for the celebration.

  There, Wade was talking with a girl, Isadora if he remembered correctly. Corbin nearly rolled his eyes as he sped up his descent. Of course Wade was flirting.

  He shifted again and landed on his feet next to his brother with barely a sound. It was something they’d all grown up with over the years so Wade and Isadora didn’t even flinch. His brother did look surprised to see Corbin though.

  “I thought you wouldn’t be back for a while yet the way the Guardian and the Diplomat were talking,” Wade said, eyeing him up and down. “But you are the best I suppose.”

  Corbin grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him along, barely sparing a glance for Isadora, despite the very pretty woman she’d become. Corbin had eyes for no one but Mika lately, and it was unnerving.

  “I’m not the best,” Corbin muttered. “And I’m not finished. I need to talk to you about something.”

  The others were starting to notice him, and they gave them curious glances as Corbin steered his brother out into the main hall of the eyrie.

  “What is it?” Wade asked, frowning as he studied Corbin even closer. “What’s wrong?”

  Glancing over his shoulder at the nosy birds clearly listening in on their conversation, Corbin kept walking. “I need to talk to you about a sensitive matter, and I can’t do it here.”

  Wade frowned but nodded. Corbin wasn’t usually like this – ruffled and anxious. “Come with me.”

  Without another word Wade shifted into his raven form and flew out one of the many windows that overlooked nothi
ng but the clouds and the sky. Corbin followed without question.

  Not many outsiders knew this, but raven eyries were carved into the tops of the tallest mountains and spelled to keep away humans and other paranormals. Unless invited, no one would ever find the various eyries around the world.

  But this eyrie was special. They’d done favors for their blood witches nearly a millennia ago, and in return their eyrie made of stone floated high above the earth, anchored in place above the forest with a spell that was long lost to the witches now.

  The clouds left mist on his black feathers and Corbin shoved down the exhaustion. He would need to rest before flying across the country again.

  Wade landed in the forest below – where the trials for the hopeful assassins had just taken place. No one would be out here for another day or two, and the coyote shifters usually stayed to the west.

  The small necklace around his neck shifted with him and dressed him as it always did, another gift to his flock. What was the point in being the best unless they had something to show for it?

  Corbin tugged on the corded necklace and felt the absence of Mika’s blood crystals like an ache in his chest. He didn’t know how to feel about that, or any of it really.

  The last thing he’d expected when going to the University of Morgana for his new assignment was to slowly fall for a witch – but she wasn’t just any witch.

  “So, what is this sensitive matter?” Wade asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Corbin looked at his brother. Everyone always said they could be twins, but Wade was leaner and meaner than Corbin. Before he’d given up assignments, he’d been the best assassin in their flock.

  “There is…a lot,” Corbin hedged. This was a sensitive topic for more than one reason. It wasn’t just the witch or her specialty. “Before I continue, I just want to tell you that I know.”

  His brother’s jaw clenched and the light in his green eyes stuttered before dying completely. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Be more specific.”

  Corbin started pacing. There was too much to go over to argue about something so stupid. “I know you keep your emotions on now. And I honestly don’t give a flying fuck, so turn them back on. I needed you to know I know because I need your help.”

  Wade’s eyes narrowed. Then that light flickered back into them and the green practically glowed in the dark forest. Corbin wondered if that’s how Mika knew or if it was some other ungodly sense she possessed.

  “Why did you decide to keep them on?” Corbin asked

  There was a moment of silence as they considered each other.

  It wasn’t against the rules to experience emotions, but somehow over the centuries it became the ‘popular’ thing to do. It was easier, no one had to care about much. Everything became focused on the work, on the job, on the survival of their species and flock.

  Very rarely did ravens end up with anyone outside their own race thanks to the gift they had – the one species of shifters they knew of who weren’t forced to mate by the universe. There was no magical bond tying them to anyone.

  Everything was about the flock, about the greatest good for the greatest number of ravens – and emotions made them fickle, they could make them choose their lover over the flock, or to seek power they didn’t possess.

  Some were able to continue making the right choices with emotions, after all they were raised this way. But it was frowned upon, considered a faux pas.

  It didn’t help that Corbin and Wade had been competing against each other for their entire lives. Until Wade just…gave up his position as ‘best assassin.’

  Corbin had suspected the reason why, but he had never called his brother out on it.

  “I just did,” Wade hedged, looking Corbin up and down. “I didn’t feel like me.”

  What the fuck did that even mean?

  “Why do you ask?”

  Because a nineteen-year-old girl made Corbin question everything he’d ever thought he knew. What were the chances his assignment was a blood witch? That she would recognize what he was?

  The Morrigan had to have put her in his path for a reason.

  At first Corbin had turned on his emotions just to get a better read on her, to see if there was a way to make her respond after ignoring him for an entire week like a pro when everything else had failed.

  But once Mika had responded it was addictive. Corbin couldn’t stop trying to talk to her, to learn more about her…

  “There’s this witch…” Corbin said, trailing off as he studied his brother. He realized how stupid this sounded. He sighed. “My assignment is to keep an eye on this freshman witch at the University of Morgana. She’s considered a suspicious character by the Council of Paranormals due to her involvement with the sacrificial killings that happened there, but I know for a fact she had nothing to do with them. She caught the killer. But there is something she’s hiding.”

  Wade’s eyes narrowed as Corbin started pacing again, grateful for the fog that clung to the forest floor and muffled everything.

  “I had to follow her to her clan’s house for a death in the family and there I found out she’s a blood witch – a real one, Wade. She confided in me and I don’t…know what to do.”

  He stopped and stared at his older brother, if only by a year. He hoped Wade had some advice, something he could use to figure a way out of this situation.

  “And I assume you have feelings for her,” Wade said, smiling slightly.

  “It’s not funny,” Corbin snapped.

  His brother sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “No, this is very complicated for multiple reasons. She’s your job, Corbin. What if you have to kill her?”

  That was the very question Corbin hadn’t been able to ignore every time he stared at Mika’s lips or watched the way her icy blue eyes would thaw when she looked at those she cared about.

  He hadn’t been able to stop thinking that question even when he’d gone and called her ‘queen.’ As if he’d temporarily lost his mind all because she’d let him into her world, let him see things he knew very few ever saw.

  She didn’t completely trust him, not yet – and all because he had taken this job from the Council with the caveat that he might have to assassinate her if they told him to.

  His options were limited.

  “You can cancel the contract,” Wade told him. “But then someone else would be called to watch her with the same orders. What if they order her death? Will you stand against one of your own? Will you stand against your flock and the Council to protect her? Why? Because she’s some blood witch?”

  Corbin glared at his brother and tilted his head. A twig popped but it was just a rabbit, one ear always listening. “You know just as well as I do that if the flock finds out what she is they’ll stand with me to protect her.”

  Their goddess demanded it.

  Wade shrugged. “But then you have to betray her trust, and tell the whole flock, tell the Council. What will you do, brother? Either way you lose her.”

  “There has to be another way!” Corbin shouted, his words echoing against the trees, their leaves practically rattling at his words.

  The following silence didn’t ease his anger, but Corbin was able to control his emotions, so they were no longer controlling him – he was learning.

  “This is why I came to you,” Corbin admitted. “I need your advice. I needed advice from someone who would understand.”

  Wade laughed at that. “I never thought my younger brother would stray from the golden path. You were the chosen one, Corbin, even before I disappointed our parents with my choice.”

  Corbin shook his head. “I spent my whole life trying to keep up with you, to be just as good as you. And I never quite managed it.”

  For the first time in their lives they smiled at each other in understanding and affection. Wade even stepped forward, arms out for a hug, but he waited – letting Corbin choose.

  For a second he hesitated, but this was what he needed,
or so his heart told him. And he was starting to learn how to listen to it.

  Corbin stepped into his brother's arms and hugged him fiercely, squeezing him so hard Wade’s breath was knocked from him, but he held on just as tightly. And somehow despite the unfamiliarity of touch the embrace soothed his soul and eased the unending fear he had that he would have to take Mika’s life.

  Wade pulled back and inspected Corbin closely. “I just want you to know that letting yourself feel something isn’t weakness – loving someone isn’t weakness.”

  Corbin stepped back, putting distance between them once again. He wasn’t so sure about that. Where he used to be sure, he now doubted. How was that strength? How was going against his orders just for some feelings not weakness?

  “I know you don’t believe me yet,” Wade murmured, looking up at the trees. “It takes some time to figure it out. But if you love her, I would suggest going to the cataloger. He would know the most about our relationship with blood witches and the Morrigan. There are so few now, we rarely get involved with them.”

  Corbin nodded. The cataloger would keep his secret – they were similar to the priests in the human world in that way. It was a good idea.

  With more information he could ask Mika what she wanted and what she thought. Feelings didn’t have to be mentioned for that. And as for the possibility that he might have to kill her…

  If it came down to it, he would tell his flock and they would help him protect her.

  Corbin had already put out his feelers, tapping his contacts for information, carefully wording what he needed to know to protect a class of witch no one knew still existed.

  Hopefully they would reach out to him soon. He needed to be three steps ahead of everyone until he figured out what he wanted to do – with the emotions swirling around inside making him question everything.