Mage Pavinca Chasma arrived and sighed at the body on the floor. “By the Father's Grace, I did warn him not to antagonize you, my lord.”

“Technically, he didn't do anything.” One of the other men said.

Pavinca waved his comment away. “Staying silent and not doing his job is just as bad as him insulting Lord Drake to his face.” She walked over to the desk and looked down at the dorm assignments. “He even managed to fill up the dorm rooms with occupants.”

I stood there without speaking and saw Gella nod slightly at me.

“My lord, if you will return here tomorrow afternoon, I'm sure I'll be able to get through this mess and see which assignments are real and which are fabrications.” Pavinca said and looked down at the body. “I know some have to be fake, because he would have told you that there were no free rooms.”

“I understand. Thank you, Director Chasma.” I said.

“At least you took my advice.” Pavinca said. “A cheek slash was a good choice as a warning.”

I nodded to her and we left with my things. The carriage rolled up to stop near us and we entered it. The driver took us back out through the gate and I tossed a gold coin to the eager guard. Gella held in her laugh about it until we were far enough away.

We didn't say anything for the ride back to the Sanctuary and I dismissed the driver for the rest of the day. We brought my things into my room and dropped them off, then we went searching for those plans for making safes. I wasn't in a rush to start working on the skin creme, thanks to Greta leaving me to do it by myself, and wanted to distract myself with something.

It took us three hours before we found the right office and we stopped for supper. After that, it took another two hours to dig out the plans. Of course, it wasn't that simple. It used their magic to do some of the steps and it would take me a while to work out how to restructure it for my own magic. It was late, so we returned to my room for a bath and to go to bed.

Gella, Farra, and Hanna had all taken their full doses of rehab potions and didn't bother trying to take shifts this time as the three of them cuddled up to me. Farra and Gella tucked themselves under my arms and Hanna laid down mostly on my chest. When my magic flowed out, slightly tempered by my memory of Pavinca's calming magic. The three of them relaxed and our magic swirled together and let them drift off to sleep in comfort.

I wasn't sure why I wasn't protesting their presence more. Was it because they weren't demanding? They just did what they wanted, like I do, and I can't fault them for it? Or maybe I wanted them to do it? Was I also too ingrained in the noble ideals to accept that a woman would just want me for who I was and not for what I could provide for them? Were any of them actually doing that?

I drifted off to sleep with those questions floating around in my head and the night seemed to pass instantly and the morning arrived. Not surprisingly, I was still wrapped in their arms and I had a bit of drool on my chest from the three different mouths that rested there. What was funny was that I hadn't felt it, even with my vigilance technique going.

I then realized that I didn't class their affection as an attack and had ignored it. They weren't a threat to me and my mind let them do it without informing me. It was an odd thing for my brain to do.

Jill arrived and woke us all up to give me a bath, did the ritual proudly, and dressed me in my academy uniform. Gella was dressed in a more appropriate outfit for attending school with me and we both wore our swords. I actually wore two of them. One on my right hip for actual fighting and the other was the royal family's short sword.

It's political power had waned since I had been gone, though. Most people might not recognize that it was real or care if it was. Things had degraded a lot around here.

Gella and I climbed into the carriage and rode to the mage academy. The guard caught the coin as we passed through the opened gate and closed the gate behind us. Gella just smiled at the training going so well.

The carriage dropped us off near the main classroom building, because a lot of the students hadn't gone in yet. A few of them gave me murderous glares as I stepped out and told the driver to come back after lunch. Some students glared because it was me and they recognized me and some because I looked like a slave with white skin and hair.

Most looked afraid, which was amusing, because I had given up a long time ago on trying to make people afraid of the Marsh Man and now they were. Who knew that all you needed to do was kill a bunch of high profile magic users to gain a reputation as dangerous?

The doors to the building opened and we all shuffled in. Not a single person talked, not even Vanessa, who was only a few people away from me and surrounded by her friends. They weren't her old friends, though. That made me think about her using the potions around her real friends and discovering that they were genuine, and now she had surrounded herself with others that weren't.

What a waste. I thought and walked down the hallways towards the enchanting classroom. I sat in a different seat and Gella sat beside me. That had been a smart move on my part, because Vanessa sat beside another girl from the class. She also had a set of the small enchanting tools.

Black and Heather Montgomery had been talking in whispers about what enchantments to remind everyone about and what runes to bring to their attention. When the bell rang, they stopped talking and turned to look at the class. Black's face paled and Heather let out a little shriek of fright when they saw me.

“I already apologized for the interrogation.” I said, not bothering to pretend it didn't happen. “I could have let Gella do it; but, I thought you would prefer it if it was me.”

They both looked at Gella, who wore a wicked grin on her face.

“Good point.” Black said. “This is a review day for the exams next week. Were going to go over the more important enchantments and the associated runes that you'll be tested on.”

“Would it be possible to get a syllabus of what you did while I was captured and made a slave?” I asked and Heather let out another little shriek.

“You would have to discuss that with one of the other students...”

“So, no.” I said and didn't have to look around to see all of the girls nodding. My vigilance technique told me all I needed to know. I would get no help from my classmates in any of the subjects. I had an ace in the hole, as Gary would say. I just had to decide when to use it.

“Yes, well... as I was saying...” Black said and started to give us a rundown of the enchantments and things we needed to know. He only said the names and didn't draw them out, which was bad for me. I didn't have the originals to mess around with. Some of the enchantments I hadn't used before, so I would need to use my ace at the end of morning classes.

Enchanting class ended and after the short break, Heather started the runes class. Once again, she only talked about the runes and their uses without drawing them out for me. It was frustrating, because writing it down made no sense without the proper reference materials. I flipped through the book and found about half of them, which meant she was only basing the course on the book and not relying solely on it.

A few minutes before class ended, I slowly stood up. “Thank you for that informative and completely useless review.” I said to the teachers. “You've successfully scrambled all of that into everyone's heads all morning and now they will have trouble associating what you said to the proper runes and enchantments.”

“Not you, you arrogant...” Heather started to say and Black put a hand over her mouth.

“I stopped listening and writing as soon as you didn't show the enchantments you were discussing. How you can think anyone would be able to go back and apply your words later to the right enchantment is beyond me. Even the Hag only showed me one enchantment at a time and told me what it did. She didn't blab for hours and not show me what she was talking about.”

“Then you are going to fail this course.” Black said.

“No, I won't.” I said and turned to Vanessa. “Miss Sellwafer.”

“That's LADY Sellwafer-Henrietta!” The girl beside her exclaimed.

I let a smile show on my face. “The Henrietta family is dead and the contracts giving her that title were broken by her family. She knows this.” I said and looked at Vanessa's sad face. “As my serf...”

The entire classroom gasped, even the two teachers.

“...all of your things are mine.” I said and ignored their reaction. “I will escort you to your room to get copies of everything I've missed for the last six months.”

Vanessa shook her head in denial.

“Your parents are already working at the Sanctuary. They're cleaning up all the blood from the mages I killed.” I said and she started crying. “On the plus side, their debt to me was greatly reduced with the acquisition of their lucrative business and their ancestral home, as well as the monies granted to you in the contracts.”

“No!” Vanessa shouted and it came out as a normal voice.

I walked over to her and she leaned away. “I'm not going to threaten you. I don't hurt what's mine.” I said and she kept crying. I touched her forehead tenderly and she closed her eyes and leaned into it. “Debt.” I said and cast the spell. Her forehead glowed and she jerked back as if slapped.

“It's true!” The girl beside her said and stood up to move away. “You're his serf! That spell wouldn't work, otherwise!”

Everyone looked to see the numbers tattooed on her forehead and watched in fascination as the number slowly trickled down. Just then the bell rang and everyone jumped in fright, except for myself and Gella.

I stood there and waited for Vanessa to pack up before I took her arm and stopped her from running away. “No, everyone will see what you cost me.” I said and walked down the stairs to the main floor of the class.

“Drake.” Black said and I stopped walking.

Gella put her sword against Black's face instantly. “That's Lord Drake.”

Black glared at her and then at me. “Grandfather died because of you, as did half of our blacksmiths.”

“Why?” I asked.

“He fought against the mages that came for your secrets.” Heather said. “He also ordered anyone that could wield a blade to help him.”

I thought about that. “Then he was an honorable man and his offer of his granddaughter was an honest one and not a joke like I thought.”

“You are NOT taking my daughter!” Black spat.

“Is she seven yet?” I asked and he made a growling sound. “I don't plan on accepting the old man's offer, even though he fought for me, unlike almost everyone else.” I said and their faces changed to impassive. “You see, it wouldn't have taken much to defy the mages. They almost never move in large groups. They are too arrogant for that. Like you.”

Black let out a sigh and shook his head. “I couldn't hurt my standing with the guild, even if that ended up being the result anyway.”

“So, you let your grandfather die unaided by you and want to blame me. That's fine.” I said. “I've killed more people than live in this city. What's one more body to add to the total?”

Black's face paled and his eyes went to Gella's sword.

“You are very lucky that you haven't insulted my lord yet.” Gella said and put the sword away. She hadn't even left a mark on his face.

I didn't bid them a good day as I turned and walked out of the classroom with Vanessa's arm still held firmly. Her tears started again when her friends scoffed at her forehead and walked away. We passed by her old friends on the way out of the building and two of them were sad and two of them had smiles and nodded to me. I nodded back and smiled in return and that made their smiles wider.

I came to a stop when I had a neat idea. “I'm getting copies of Vanessa's work over the last six months and I don't have a lot of time to copy it myself.” I said and they looked intrigued. “I'll give you ten gold crowns each for an hour's work writing out her notes for me.”

“What about lunch?” One of them asked.

“Would you like to dine this evening inside the old mage's guild building with hundreds of slaves and pirates that wrecked the Eastern Empire's merchant shipping and sank eighteen of their navy ships?” I asked and all four of them perked right up.

“We can skip lunch once.” One of them said and the four of them came with us to Vanessa's dorm room.

The dorm monitor looked at Vanessa's forehead and sighed as she waved at the stairs.

“Thank you.” I said and tossed her a gold coin. She looked surprised for a moment, then looked back at Vanessa's forehead. She nodded and pocketed the coin and knew it was to keep watching over Vanessa.

It only took the four enthusiastic girls three quarters of an hour to copy out all of Vanessa's notes for the subjects I would be writing the exams for. I didn't bother with spell composition or spell math. I was relying on the practicals for those, since the math one was tied into the spell casting practical.

I handed each of the girls ten gold coins and they had expectant looks on their faces. Gella laughed softly and mimed taking their hands for me. I nodded to her in thanks and then took each young woman's hand and lightly kissed it as I pushed my magic through it. Each of them made an appreciative sound and blushed, even though I looked like a slave.

“Thank you very much for your help today and I look forward to having you over this evening.” I said and waved at the door. “I'll send the carriage for you when school is out.”

“Thank you.” “Thank you.” “Thanks.” “Thank you.” They said at the same time and left.

“You... you ruined things again.” Vanessa's soft voice whispered.

“I know.” I said and touched her shoulder. “When exams finish and you go home for the summer holiday, you are to report to the Sanctuary and you'll be shown what your duties will be.”

“What... what if... I fail the exams?” Vanessa asked.

“It doesn't matter. As my serf, you are mine no matter what you do, until after your family pays off the debt.” I said and Gella followed me to the door. “Do you still want to be a mage? A potions brewer? An enchanter? With the tricks I taught you, you can be anything you want. That was why I helped you.”

Vanessa didn't say anything and just sat there with tears in her eyes.

“It's up to you if you want to flunk out for no reason.”

“I'm a pariah!” Vanessa exclaimed.

“You always were. Only the circumstances have changed.” I said and smiled at her surprised face. “See you in class tomorrow.”

Gella barked a laugh as we went down the stairs. “She's finally realizing the massive mistakes she's made.”

“Giving herself to someone else was the worst thing for her, I believe.” I said and nodded to the dorm monitor as we passed her. “She knew after she did that, there was no going back to how things were, even if I never returned.”

“Why?” Gella asked as we entered the carriage waiting for us.

“Helena was still alive when she did it.” I said and Gella sucked in a sharp breath. “It's the only explanation as to why she gave up so quickly when Helena was taken by her family. She didn't fight against it or her family's manipulations because she had already chosen to move on.”

Gella shook her head. “Stupid nobles.”

I nodded and sat back to enjoy the ride back to the Sanctuary. I had a grand supper to prepare for and would give those young women a show that they would never forget. I had forgotten something myself and wouldn't remember until later that I was supposed to go to the administration building for a dorm assignment.