Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

I did as I was told; thankfully, I had enough time to shower. It would have been super awkward otherwise. “Turn your head and cough,” she ordered as she examined my balls for a hernia. “Other side.”

I had my pants up a moment later, and we were all done. “When am I going to get the results of the investigation?” my question clearly made her uncomfortable.

“You’ll need to ask the Dean about that. What I can say is that you are completely healthy, probably in the best shape of your life, with no observable side-effects from the lightning strike,” she sounded very clinical as she spoke. “You can request more thorough testing; x-ray, MRI, ultrasounds and the like, but you’ll have to pay for those, and I doubt insurance will cover them.”

That put a damper on my third revenue stream. Those tests would be several grand, and I doubted the insurance, or my parents, would cough up the cash when I seemed perfectly healthy.

“Thanks,” I replied a little deflated.

“You’ll get a copy of the physical in your email,” she informed as I left, but I didn’t need something to tell me I felt fine.

I was halfway back to the dorm when I got a text from Jerome. Aveena would see me now. Thankfully, I’d planned ahead and had my offerings with me. It was a risk bringing them to the infirmary, but I didn’t think the nurse would go through my shit. It paid off, and I was waiting outside Aveena’s dorm for Jerome to arrive with time to spare. The last thing I wanted was to be late to this meeting.

As the neutral party, it was Jerome’s job to make sure Aveena and I got along. Ideally, the third party was strong enough to make the participants play nice, but the only person I knew strong enough to stand up to the Fae noble was Lilith. Having the succubus present would only make things worse.

“You ready?” Jerome asked, looking a little paler than usual. This was more responsibility than my friend was used to dealing with.

“Yeah,” I took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

Just because I was willing to treat with the Fae didn’t mean I was stupid. I texted just about everyone I knew I was going to see her. Jerome had signed me out of my dorm, and I made a point to have a quick conversation with the faculty on duty in Aveena’s dorm as I signed in. Everyone and their mother knew where I was. I was probably trending on Twitter. If Aveena tried anything, she wasn’t going to be able to hide it, and she’d have to answer for it. The price might end up being cheap for her, but I’d make her pay something if she killed me.

I don’t know what it was, but I felt emboldened as I emerged on her floor. “It’s probably the fact you survived last time,” I told myself, but that just made me realize Lilith wasn’t going to come to the rescue. “Maybe this is a bad idea.”

Too late. Aveena’s door was obvious. Two changelings stood guard on either side of it. Both were strapping young men, but both looked tired. If I had my guess, they’d been there all night.

“Cam,” I knew the changeling on the left, and he moved to pat me down. He pulled out the baggies I’d brought with me.

“Offerings,” I informed.

He pulled a scanner out of his pocket and ran them over the bags. Several beeps followed as the magical properties of each were identified and deemed unthreatening. They might just be teenagers, but Aveena was running a legit security operation with all the tools of the trade.

“You’re good to go,” he pointed through the open door, and into a room that looked completely empty.

Jerome and I stepped forward. As we crossed the threshold it felt like we were doing the ice-bucket challenge. I shivered, but from one blink to the next, the entire room changed. Every room at the academy was the same; about two hundred square feet, with either a single, or pair, of beds and desks. That was what Lilith’s room was like, Jerome’s room, and my room. Apparently, Aveena didn’t give a shit about how it should be.

First off, it was slightly hotter and more humid in this room. Instead of hardwood floor, there was a thick layer of moss acting as a carpet. Paved stones were set around the entryway, which as I turned around, looked more like an arched cave entrance than a door. The moss sloped upward away from the entrance. Several small boulders with bright-green lichen littered the area. On those boulders sat changelings, and I was positive not all of them went to St. Vincent’s.

Jerome and I walked forward under the eyes of Aveena’s vassals. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this room was much larger than it should be. I could walk the distance from one end of my room to the other in a dozen strides. A dozen strides in here, and I was still following a stone path circling up a small hill. After a good twenty yards, we came to a small jut-out with what looked like a natural hot spring. Steam rose from the crystal blue water, so you could see the naked body of the woman lounging in it.

Jerome perked up at the sight, but I’d already seen everything this particular woman had to offer.

“Hello, Cam,” Chloe smiled as she stepped out of the water. She arranged her hair to cover her nipples, but it didn’t do anything else to hide the rest of her nudity.

“Chloe,” I replied gruffly. “Surprised to see you here.” Apparently, Aveena was foregoing subtlety.

Since she was completely nude, I could see a couple of pink splotches and lines on her body similar to