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“We talked. He wanted to come to Dragons earlier after the fire but I kept pushing back on his arrival, and now that the whole story has finally come to light, I couldn’t delay it anymore. He deserved to know that he had been used.”
“How did he take it?”
“On the chin. Surprised, insulted, humiliated, but he was overall stoic about it, I think. We managed to make our peace with the past and with each other.”
Sam hummed and Magdalene turned to face her.
“Are you jealous, darling? I did not bring him up to upset you. All this meandering of mine had a point, I swear.”
“And that point would be?” Sam knew she must have been pouting, knew it was a bit childish to be upset when the man was no threat to her at all.
“Sam Threadneedle, my point was that I am completely and totally yours. You saved my life over and over, stood up to me and for me, had my back, had me on my back, on my front too.” And now the smile was back in both the tone and on those beautiful lips. “If I hadn’t already been utterly, entirely, and totally in love with you, then seeing you march into my office like a guardian angel three days ago would have done it. Not even strong enough to stand, you took on my stalker, you uncovered the mystery, and you did it all while loving me. I will be falling in love with you ‘till the day I die, Sam. If you’ll have me, that is…”
“Is this a propos…” Sam’s mouth went dry, and she couldn’t even push the words out.
“Do you want it to be, darling?” Magdalene’s voice was gentle, quiet. But her body under Sam’s suddenly went still, betraying her nervousness.
“I do, but not right after what happened? I do, very much, and that will be my answer too. But not when you’re still vulnerable and a little fragile and betrayed by the person you believed in for so long. I do, but on a different night?”
And the tension that had been keeping the body beneath hers rigid drained immediately. The full lips caressed her injured temple again, and lanky arms wrapped around her with renewed strength. Sam smiled, thinking how almost every other kiss Magdalene gave her was on her temple, next to where the stitches no longer hurt, but somehow still seemed to improve exponentially with every affectionate peck.
“Well, then sometime down the road I might just find such a night. But you should know, darling, there isn’t anyone on my mind when I’m like this with you. You consume me completely. Emotionally, physically. I mean those three orgasms…”
That earned her a slight poke in the ribs and she giggled, endearing herself to Sam even more, if that was possible.
“There were four. If you think I didn’t count, you’re deluding yourself, Madam Headmistress! Which one of us is the Math Chair after all?”
“Ah, maybe I’ve forgotten one of those orgasms, maybe it is well past time you reminded me, darling…” The last word was more of a breathy exhalation as Sam’s fingers found her and took her, sliding with ease into the still wet, already quivering heat.
26
Of Home
The breeze from the ocean ruffled the few flyaways that had escaped Sam’s braid. The day had taken its toll on her, and she didn’t even have the energy to push her hair away. Wearily, she sat down, the place on the rock as familiar as the chair she sat on in her classroom while teaching.
Though perhaps that was no longer true since the chair was brand new and so was the classroom. Dragons was almost finished. After the devastating fire and months and months of ruin and soot, the majestic gothic building was rising from the ashes. At times, walking from her new quarters to the Main Hall, Sam would simply stop outside the massive construction site—so old and familiar, yet so new and still shining with the finishing touches that were being put on it—and simply stare.
As she turned to the ocean, she thought how over a year ago she’d stood in this exact spot and wished for change. Through fire, dirt, cement, pain, sweat, tears, blood—some of it even her own—thingshadchanged. She rubbed absently at the scar on her temple where the skin had evened, but a long white line remained as a reminder of what had been, of what could have been.
Sometimes, usually at night, when she thought Sam was asleep, Magdalene would trace the scar gently with her fingertips or would apply tender kisses to it. Sam would never betray the fact that she was awake. She felt like she’d be intruding on a private moment, a moment of dealing with fear and potential loss. Still, she’d always make up for it either a bit later or in the morning after, making long gentle love to Magdalene, affirming her own existence, her continuous presence in this world, this school, this relationship, this bed.
And that was another change. She had a brand new bed now. And a brand new place to call her quarters. A place she officially shared with Magdalene. A place where Willoughby had a cushion on each windowsill, even though he still followed Magdalene around the school throughout the day. The Board had agreed that having the dormitories be in the wings of the Main Hall was no longer a feasible and—as had been proven during the fire—safe choice. And so the old wings were taken down and four new dormitories, one for each of the Dragons and one for the faculty, had been erected. And off the beaten path, close to Amber Cliff, a little cottage for the Headmistress had been built, which Sam now called hers as well.
When Alden had shown her the plans for it, Sam had balked. The silent acceptance from this man rankled. He had thrown a young Magdalene out of the school for simply being who she was, had left Sam to fend for herself when she was a child, had only acknowledged her when he had nobody else. Sam still struggled with his place in her life, or whether he even deserved a place at all. But of all people, Magdalene had taken Alden’s role in the reconstruction of the school with an ease that surprised Sam and a level of acceptance and forgiveness she could not understand at all.
Later that night, sated and spent, snuggled together under the covers, Sam had asked her about it and she’d smiled enigmatically, stretched her arms above her head, pulling what remained of the pins holding up her auburn hair, mesmerizing Sam for a couple of long moments.
“You’d prefer me to refuse him? To turn him away? To rile and to revolt after all these years? Sam, not only is it counterproductive, but it’s also not sustainable. Say I throw this back in his face, say I throw away the other literally millions of things he’s done for the school and for us… Where would that leave me? I cannot speak for you, darling, nor can I tell you how to feel about him. His sins where you are concerned are enormous. As for me… Have I forgiven him? No. And he hasn’t asked.”
“And if he asks?” Sam reached and traced a fingertip from the long line of the alabaster throat to the collarbone to the sternum, stopping in the center of Magdalene’s chest, where she laid her palm flat, feeling the beloved heart beat steadily under her touch.
“Then I will cross that bridge when I get to it, Sam. I’m not the one with the forgiveness he craves, anyway. You are, and it is only you who can decide to give it to him. In the meantime, I’m simply being practical. I accept what he gives willingly. If not for him assuaging his guilt, Dragons would still lie in ruins. Sure, insurance would have helped somewhat and I would have fundraised enough over the years to bring the school back, but it would’ve taken time, favors, and a lot of effort. Would you have wanted me to refuse him? To go hat-in-hand into the world?”
“No, the school needed his money.”
“Ah, it’s about the cottage then. Because when I accepted the plans, darling, I in no way accepted them for both of us. Though I assume, Alden had decided that I’d done the honorable thing and had already asked you the important question. Which I have not, and turns out he gave me way more credit than I deserve. And you assume I accrued on your behalf in accepting the house when that wasn’t actually my intention at all.”
She rose gracefully from where she was lounging against the headboard and slowly took off the remnants of her clothes, which they’d both neglected in their earlier hurry, before walking naked, unselfconscious around the bed and slipping into Sam’s lap, making Sam dizzy just watching her. Idly, a thought crossed her mind—that it had been over a year since they’d met in New York and their chemistry was still electric. This woman still stopped her heart and took her breath away. Sam hoped that would never, ever change.
