Heart of the Mage
At the academy, it’s time to drop the mop.
I never thought I’d miss being a janitor, but at least I knew what I was doing in that job. Now I’m a great and mighty war mage trying to help a team of college wizards win a magic competition, and I’m desperately afraid of screwing up.
To make matters worse, my four gorgeous, powerful teammates totally believe in me, none more so than dangerously sexy, unnervingly intense Marcus Winter. Marcus knows he can make me stronger…but only if I’m willing to let him unlock my deepest desires.
Um… k.
Marcus has his own reasons for wanting to win the Mage Trials. Three years ago, he lost his cousins to the game. Now there’s the faintest hint they might be alive—but to find them, we’ll have to pull out all the stops. Marcus is willing to do whatever it takes to level me up…
And I might just let him.
Gulp.
Note: This is a slow burn, New Adult paranormal academy romance, and book 3 of 4 in the Twyst Academy series.
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Prologue: Marcus
I can give you what you need.
I tightened my grip on the lat pull-down bars in the corner of the gym, watching and waiting, knowing my chance would come. It always did.
What I didn’t know any more was what I’d do when I got that chance. When I was finally close enough to Maddigan Pierce to touch her. Explore her. To slip past her defenses and dive deep into her truth. She’d been circling, circling, ever closer. Wanting that danger. Needing it. Needing me in a way she didn’t fully understand yet.
I understood it, though. And I could help her. If we were both willing to pay the price.
She wasn’t the first who’d come to my door, wanting something they couldn’t fully express. Needing something they instinctively knew I could give them.
But she might be the last.
I was okay with that. Lucky enough to have been born both rich and attractive, I’d had my way paved smooth since I was in the cradle. I was catered to, accommodated, indulged. It hadn’t been enough for me. I’d needed more. When I’d started making my own demands, taking control, it’d seemed like the natural order of things for everyone involved. I learned to be ruthless in that control—training my mind and body to do what I wanted it to do. Pushing myself to the limits of my tolerance of both pleasure and pain. I failed to fill the hole that loomed inside me, but I never stopped trying.
I’d studied every subject, memorized every spell. I’d walked the path of a mind mage, learning how to dive deep into the minds of those around me, to understand what they most needed and give it to them. I’d even convinced my parents to send me to Twyst Academy, despite the deaths of my cousins. I had no choice, really. Twyst was the best school of magecraft in the world. Only here could I master my own mind, learn how to harness my abilities. Harness and transcend them. The deaths of Chris and Steve in the Mage Trials was a tragedy, but it didn’t stop my truth.
So I’d come. I’d learned. And I’d made discoveries I hadn’t intended. Met friends I hadn’t expected in Connor, Luke, and Rafe. As different as we all were, we’d bonded. Grown stronger. And along the way, I’d begun to hear the whispers about the Trials, the ultimate challenge of our college years. The test that’d killed my cousins…
Or had it? The need to know the truth became my obsession. The need to enter and win the Trials had consumed us all.
Then we’d met our war mage.
Maddigan practically vibrated with power, a power that called to me with sweet, dark promise, whispering to me that here, finally, I could be made whole. Here, finally, I could find peace. A peace that would come only with healing her, in a way that I alone could.
She was so filled with doubt, with fear. Fear her strength will destroy us all.
I know better, though. I know she was born to command, to rule. And I can help her step into that power. Not just to accept it, but to revel in it. Own it. And wear the crown she so totally deserves. I’ll give her everything she needs to break free of her self-imposed chains.
Unless she breaks me, first, of course.
But damn… what a way to go.
Other Books in the Series
Twyst Academy Series
