Magic Exchange: A Supernatural Academy Romance (The Velkin Royal Academy Series Book 1) Read online

  magic exchange

  Book One in the Royals of Velkin Series

  Emmeline Winter

  Chapter One

  Carolyn

  “Get out.”

  My mother hadn’t ever been a very pleasant woman—I had the scars and bruises and years of therapy ahead of me to prove it— but I was hoping that on the day she dropped me off for my last year of school, she might have had something better to say. I wasn’t hoping for much or expecting anything, really. I knew she wasn’t going to suddenly burst into tears and apologize for what she’d done to me over the years. She definitely wasn’t going to hug me and tell me she loved me. But would it have killed her to say anything better than that? Good luck kid was too much? I hope the magical creatures at that school of yours don’t eat you alive didn’t occur to her?

  Apparently not. Because no matter how long I dragged the moment out, idling in the passenger’s seat of her beat-up junker of a car, she didn’t open her mouth to say anything. She didn’t even look in my direction. Not when I got out and grabbed my pathetically small suitcase. Not when I shouldered the threadbare backpack that carried all of my favorite stolen—well, way past overdue— library books. And not when I stepped away from the curb and she drove away in a cloud of dust, leaving me all alone before the grand, towering, wrought-iron gates of The Velkin Royal Academy.

  “Bye, I guess,” I muttered, but there was no one here to listen to me but the wind.

  Not that I was feeling sorry for myself or anything. After all, my mom was part of the reason I was here in the first place. I needed to get out of the hell-hole she called home, and The Velkin Royal Academy’s exchange program for humans was the perfect escape.

  It was, technically, in another realm, after all. And unless someone discovered that there was a high school on Jupiter, stepping through the celestial gateway here on Earth and spending the next year trapped in a boarding school in Velkin was about as far away from home as I was ever going to get. And considering that the existence of Magic Folk had only been discovered last year, when some kind of cosmic event ripped apart the veil between our world—Earth, the Milky Way, whatever was outside of that—and their world—Velkin—maybe it was possible that next year, we’d find a high school on Jupiter taking applications. But by then, I was determined to be on a college scholarship to a school where it was always warm and sunny.

  So, Jupiter or Velkin, it didn’t really matter to me. I just needed to get out.

  I can still remember the day that the dragon rode through New York City, when the people of Earth thought that the leaders of Velkin were going to declare war. For awhile there, things had been tense. Nuclear Weapons had been involved. Threats had been exchanged. Doomsday cults formed, disbanded, and reformed with the Great Velkin Dragon as their new god. But eventually, words won out over fire power, and as part of an Armistice agreement, it was decided that Velkin would welcome the children of Earth to their most prized and honored academic institution, to foster a peaceful future between our two peoples.

  I couldn’t have given two rat’s asses why they were letting humans over to their side of the expanded universe. I was just glad they’d picked my application. Besides the whole, you know, needing to get away from my mother before she beat me to death thing, leaving home my senior year to be one of the first human students ever to set foot in the magical land of Velkin, where dragons and elves and demons and witches and sirens and orcs roamed free and completely shattered all of our understandings of life itself with their very existence, was going to look great on a college application.

  Survive one year at the magical boarding school even though you’ll be only one of like, twenty humans there, then you get the college acceptance and the scholarship, then you get away from your crummy life forever. The plan was fool-proof. Or, it would have been fool-proof if I wasn’t so damned terrified. With my mom’s car out of sight and the sidewalk before the gates empty, I knew I had to turn around and face my fate. It was a fate I wanted and worked hard to get, after all. But my heart pounded against my ribcage, harder and harder, until I was positive I’d end up throwing it up all over the concrete by my suitcase.

  “You can do this,” I whispered to myself, practicing the breathing exercises I’d stolen from one of those meditation apps. In, two, three, four…Out, two, three, four…In…don’t think about the reality that you’re going to a celestial plane where everyone will have magic and you won’t and you’ll have to survive a year there because you can’t admit that you failed and because going home to your mother would basically be a death sentence…

  …Out, two, three, four.

  No time like the present. Spinning on my heel before I could change my mind, I forced myself to turn and meet my destiny. The Velkin Royal Academy.

  Well, not exactly The Velkin Royal Academy. Given that the Earth students they’d accepted had been from around the globe and their school was very much not on Earth at all, they’d given us all addresses near our home cities, wide, open fields where they projected an illusion, a glamor, of the school. Once we walked through the gates, some kind of powerful, magic mumbo-jumbo would take us all to Velkin, where we would meet our professors, find our dorms, and settle into our new life among the fairies and the talking goats.

  I checked my watch. 7:54. A few minutes early. I’d told my mom that the drop-off time was at 7:15 instead of 8:00, because the woman was incapable of being on time. Good. That gave me about six minutes to adjust to the sight of my new home…and to swallow back the waves of nervous bile rioting around in my stomach.

  For weeks now, I’d been daydreaming about what VRA would look like. On the living room futon where I slept, I would close my eyes and dream about this moment, this first moment when I saw Castle Bloc. As a girl used to disappointment, I guess I’d steeled myself for this place to be the opposite of everything I’d dreamed of, that it would be dreary and lifeless, a nightmare of stones and spikes. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Not only was it not dreary and lifeless and depressing and miserable…It was even better than my wild fanciful imagination could have ever come up with. Castle Bloc was beautiful. A picture straight out of a fairy tale, a stunning painting done in light stone and gilt-edge decorations. It seemed perfectly positioned to soak up all of the light and the sunshine pouring in from the cloudless sky above me, with large, stained-glass windows done in designs so intricate that I could see their patterns even here, a few hundred yards and an entire universe away.

  Drinking in a deep breath, I stepped forward and reached with my free hand out towards the gate, a wrought iron construction with rod-straight bars that grew up into an intricate garden design at their top. For a moment, I was even sure that I spotted a metallic snake slithering through the iron flowers and vines, but as soon as I tried to focus in on the sight, the movement stopped.

  Hm. Tricky magic users.

  The cold of the fence-posts greeted my hand, and I clung to it for the slightest of moments, allowing myself a breather. I can do this, I reminded myself, and I have to. With that, I pressed forward, opening the gates and entering my new life. I braced myself for magic to wrap itself around me and drag my ass into Velkin, but…well, nothing really happened. Nothing spectacular, anyway. Instead of getting magicked away to a world of fantasy and the unknown, when the gate closed behind me with a final thud, a small blonde woman in a white dress with blue trim and barely enough height to ride a kiddie coaster appeared in my way. A haze, glistening and ephemeral,
danced around her like a halo, and she stepped slightly back at the sight of me, as if she were surprised to find me here. But she recovered quickly, and her cute pink lips burst out into a face-splitting smile. I flipped through everything I knew about mythology and our new Velkin friends. Was she…a pixie? That seemed about right, but considering I didn't know much about magical races and didn't want to offend anyone, especially the first person I met, I kept my mouth shut and clung to my backpack a little tighter.

  “Oh, hello! You must be,” the blonde girl scanned a long parchment clutched in her hands, her impossibly blue eyes skimming calligraphic script as she tutted a small waiting tune. Then, her eyes found a name, and she returned her gaze to me. It was disarming, just how friendly and warm she looked. Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  A glimmer of hope nestled itself inside of my chest, but I didn’t let it take root. I knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving. For all anyone else knew, my mom was a fine and upstanding member of the community, but I knew what happened behind closed doors. I wondered what the closed doors of The Velkin Royal Academy were hiding.

  “You must be Carolyn Connors. Is this correct?”

  “Yep. That’s me,” I said, trying to brave a smile, knowing that my smile and my American accent were garbage next to her blinding grin and her softly accented Velkin speech. I’d never seen someone this enthusiastic or smiley or beautiful at eight in the morning, but I couldn’t deny that her joy was kind of infectious.

  “Welcome to The Velkin Royal Academy. I am Kyra. Oh, you’re so cute I could just die! Are all humans this cute?”

  “No, I’m just lucky, I guess,” I said, even though I’d never felt less cute wearing my old school uniform, a hand-me-down skirt and a tucked-in white button-up. My acceptance letter to The Academy didn’t specify what to wear, but this was the nicest outfit I owned and I wanted to make a good impression. The rest of my wardrobe—mostly consisting of jeans and t-shirts, utter fashion fails when compared to Kyra’s gorgeous, figure-hugging dress—was safely tucked away in my tiny suitcase.

  “No, we are lucky to have you,” she assured me.

  “You people really know how to roll out the welcome wagon, don’t you?”

  Kyra’s blue eyes widened in concern. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry. There’s no wagon. You’ll have to walk. Is that acceptable?”

  “Yeah. It’s just an expression. It means, uh, well it means you’re doing a good job of making me feel at home already, I guess.”

  Anywhere even halfway decent would feel more like home than my actual home did at this point, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that. Not when she was smiling at me like I was the most important person in the entire universe.

  “Welcome wagon,” she said, slowly, testing out the words on her tongue before letting out an eardrum-popping squeal of delight. “Humans say the most precious things! Truly, this is such an honor. I’m a complete sapienphile, you know. I am going to be a Velkin's foremost expert in humans and human culture one day. I want to know everything.”

  “You guys can do magic. I don’t think we’re that interesting when compared to you.”

  “Great demon’s ghost! Of course you’re interesting! Fascinating, even. Most of the other Velkins might not agree, but I think you all are absolutely divine and certainly not at all worthy of being murdered for our own amusement.”

  I tripped over my own feet and her words. “I’m sorry, what was that about murder?”

  “Listen, Carolyn.” For a brief moment, Krya’s face twisted into something grave and worrying. And for the first time since meeting her…I was afraid. Not of her, but of what was waiting for me in that big castle in the distance. She halted her pretty little steps down the road leading away from the castle gates, and took my free hand in hers. I shivered. I hadn’t realized Velkins were so cold-blooded. “Given the…tensions between our two communities, let me be the first one to say thank you for trusting us with your life and your education here in Velkin. I swear that as long as you are within these gates, I’ll be there to make sure no harm comes to you, alright?”

  My stomach dropped. Oh, god. What did I just get myself into? Maybe all of those crazy conspiracy theorists online were right, and that the Velkin were just using this exchange program as a convenient, clever way to get human hostages or something. Had I just willingly given them my wrists to shackle? Had I traded my life for the chance to get out from under my mother’s thumb? Kyra gave my hand a light, friendly squeeze, one I didn’t have the strength to return. I offered a small, weak, faltering laugh. “Should I be worried about something?”

  Her face returned to its normal, cheery grin. “Oh, yes. Very worried. Come on. Let’s get you to Velkin.”

  Watching her remove her hands from mine and pull out a long strand of metal—longer than her forearm—and use it to conduct the air, pulling particles of magic from it and wrapping them around me was like an out-of-body experience. Not only because it was the first time I’d ever seen magic done in person, but also because I couldn’t stop thinking about her words. Yes. Very worried.

  My nose itched as the magic took hold and tightened around my chest. This was my last chance to escape, my last and best chance to leave before anyone would really care that I was gone.

  But I stayed put and let the magic do its job, lifting me off of the ground and into a beam of white light of pure energy. Maybe I was about to face down the human-hating Velkin armies. Maybe I was about to get murdered for being mortal. Maybe I would be thrown in a dungeon and forced to beg for mercy at the feet of the Elfen princes I’d heard so much about.

  Fine. I could handle it. I could handle anything as long as it was far away from here.

  Chapter Two

  Anatole

  “I hate them.”

  It was the first thing I’d said to either of my parents since they made this absurd decree, and I meant it with every fiber of my being. As I stood beside my father at the top of The Staircase of Ancients, the main entranceway of the castle that had stood there for thousands of years and welcomed thousands upon thousands of immortals and magical students to their school and their new home, my jaw clenched tight. Any minute now, the humans would be walking up these stone steps, muddying up an ancient tradition with their pathetic mortal bones.

  I didn’t just hate them. I hated this, the spectacle that we were now in the process of performing, where we were pretending as if they were an ally instead of an enemy that needed to be destroyed. My hands wrapped around the bannister at the top of the staircase, clenching around the carved marble as I would have liked to have wrapped around some human’s poor neck.

  They were dangerous. And here we were, opening our world to them as though they wouldn’t destroy us if they had the chance.

  My father turned to me, reproachful. With a wave of his hands, he dismissed the royal guards surrounding us, giving us privacy. The man was a tall elf with a warrior’s body and a sorcerer’s touch, and even without the towering crown of golden brambles dotted with jewel-tone berries he wore today, he had the imposing presence of a king. Most wouldn’t have dared to speak a cross word against him—most didn’t need to, considering how beloved he was in Velkin—but as his son, I had certain privileges. “Son—”

  “I. Hate. Them.”

  “And I suppose you hate me for allowing them to come here.”

  I bit my tongue and tried to be as tactful as possible. The man wasn’t just my father, after all, but king of all Velkin. Maybe throwing a temper tantrum wasn’t my best course of action where he was concerned. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

  “Not directly, I’m sure. But I happen to know you’ve been saying it to anyone who will listen since we made the formal announcement.”

  The walls had ears here in Velkin, sometimes literally. I’d always known that word of my displeasure would get back to Father and Mother, but I hadn’t expected him to call me out on it. But now that the truth was out in t
he open, I took the opportunity to make my feelings known. My emotions, now free from the tight rein under which I usually kept them, galloped off without me as I tried to convince him to end this charade of peace once and for all.

  “Humans destroy everything. That you would willingly invite their children into our midst, to attend our most sacred and highest place of learning…it sickens me. You’re getting weak in your age, old man.”

  “Anatole. You are not king.”

  “Not yet,” I corrected, tearing my gaze away from him and returning to take in the Grand Entrance Hall of the castle. This was one of my favorite places in all of Velkin, a place where the magic of our land concentrated in the artistry of the design, in every carved corbel and gilt design flourish. To think that the humans would be destroying a place as meaningful as this one…It boiled my very blood.

  “So, don’t you dare try to speak to me as though you are one. Do you understand?”

  “When I am king—”

  “You won’t be king until you’ve learned to understand and welcome the humans.”

  I blinked. My father’s two-hundredth anniversary on the throne would take place at the end of this year. My ascension would begin shortly thereafter. That was the way things had been since the beginning of Velkin. With a royal bloodline of immortals who could conceivably sit upon the throne for eternity if they were so inclined, the traditions of succession were crucial to maintain. Any deviance from the prescribed path could end in bloodshed, and besides the brief skirmish with the humans, Velkin had been free of war since our family, The House Starborn, had taken over the throne nearly a thousand years ago.

  “I beg your pardon?” I asked, my voice slow, measured, deliberate.

  “There’s been a change of plans. King you will be…once you’ve learned what it is to love one of them.”

  “There’s nothing to love about a human.”