Rogue Academic Read online

  Rogue Academic

  Godslayer Academy, Book 1

  Isadora Brown

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Newsletter Information

  Did You Like Rogue Academic?

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  This was the last place I wanted to be.

  I leaned against the brick lecture hall. The whole thing looked sleek and white, completely modern. I wouldn’t be surprised if Robert Lannister upgraded it again, seeing as how it was his lecture hall and he had the means to do so. In fact, this whole academy was funded by the guy. I was surprised he hadn’t just taken over as dean and named the academy after himself. It was something I was almost positive he would do even though I didn’t know him, had never met him before.

  I must be bored if I was thinking about him.

  Why the hell did Charley need me? She knew how I felt about this place. She did this on purpose.

  When no one emerged from the room after a moment, I opened the door and stepped inside. I nearly brushed shoulders with a gorgeous blond haired, blue eyed guy with a chiseled jaw and high cheekbones, and that jawline could cut diamonds. He didn’t even see me, fiddling with his heather-grey hoodie, catching the door before it closed and stepping outside.

  I considered following him, just so I didn’t have to be in a classroom here.

  But Charley was my best friend, and she had been there for me when I needed her. The least I could do was return the favor.

  “Surprised you’re here.” Charley bumped shoulders with me, coming up behind me.

  “Why am I here again?” I asked, arching a brow.

  “I don’t even know why I’m here,” she admitted, adjusting her shoulder bag. “But Robert wanted to see me and you don’t turn down a meeting with Robert Lannister.”

  I glanced down at his podium where two students - both female - with shining white teeth and even shinier hair were blinding Lannister with their smiles and their prominently displayed breasts.

  “Oh my god, he’s not going to, like, hit on you or something, right?” I asked.

  Charley made a face, wrinkled her nose, eyes closed tight before giving me one of her patented faces of disbelief. She adjusted her homemade floral crown in her blonde hair.

  “What? No. He would never date a student.”

  I gestured with my hands - which must have caught Robert Lannister’s attention because the two girls suddenly disappeared up the opposite staircase and he beckoned us with fingers.

  “Uh, hello? Charley, you wanted to bring your friend to class today or something?”

  Charley smirked and began to head down the stairs. I had no choice but to follow, my face heating up.

  “Hey, Professor Lannister,” Charley said.

  “Come on, it’s Robert.” He glanced over at me. “And who’s…?”

  I curled hair behind my ear, looking at the sleek grey walls, the huge projector that must have been new, anywhere but at him. He was kind of a celebrity in this country, in the world, really. It wasn’t just because he was ridiculously rich or that he created this academy specifically for people who wanted to potentially unite with like-minded individuals to take a stand against the gods currently causing chaos in pockets of our world, but because he and a group of Godslayer killed one of the gods who had attacked South Haven three years ago.

  He was a hero, a legend.

  And probably one of the smartest men on the planet.

  I had seen pictures, of course. The guy was a charmer, quick-thinking and even quicker with talking. Short, black hair slightly messy, darker eyes, a chiseled jaw, salt-and-pepper whiskers covering the lower half of his face - the only sign of him being unkempt in any way. Other than that, he was always in an expensive suit molded to his stocky frame like they were made for him - and they probably were.

  Now that I was in front of him in person, I couldn’t help but think he was much shorter in person than he was in the pictures. I glanced to his loafers, wondering if he wore lifts.

  “Hey, Freckles, you got a name?”

  Before I could respond, the door creaked open slowly. I looked back, only to see a tall man with a rigid, cool look of indifference on his delicate, angled face. He had perfect posture, baby blue eyes that contrasted with his short, dark hair. His shoulders were broad, navy blue scrubs fitting his taut, lean form as he walked down the staircase, gaze only focused on Robert Lannister, a brow arched.

  “Fuck me,” Charley muttered under her breath. He wasn’t exactly my type, but I could see why - “And not in the good way.”

  “Who’s that?” I whispered, tilting my head in her direction.

  “Stephen Palmer,” she replied in that same loud-whisper. “Biggest douchebag on campus, quite possibly in all of Michigan. And that’s saying something.”

  “You know we can hear you,” this Stephen Palmer said drolly. “And it’s Doctor.”

  The doctor.

  I heard of him. He had magic hands, capable of bringing anyone back from the dead.

  Well, almost anyone.

  He was still a man, after all.

  “What, exactly, did you want me here for, Lannister?” Stephen asked, not even bothering to look our way. We were spots on the floor he couldn’t even acknowledge or else his disgust would overtake his cool indifference. “I have things to do. Lives to save.”

  Robert snorted, leaning back in his cushy desk chair, hands behind his head. “Cut the shit, Palmer,” he said. “We haven’t had a god-attack in one-hundred and thirty-seven days. No one’s been on your table in a while. I didn’t realize the staff over there needed you to supervise bandaging up some drunks after beer pong goes wrong or the dispersing of condoms.”

  Nothing on Stephen’s face flickered with amusement. In fact, he remained silent.

  “Right,” Robert said, leaning forward. “So, I heard that internship you have in your department is still open.”

  “Internship?”

  “You didn’t get the memo? Yeah, the big guy wants someone to shadow you, learn from you, just in case…Well, just in case.” Robert tilted his head to the side. “The prick didn’t tell you?”

  “By prick, surely you’re not referring to the dean,” Stephen said. “You’re the one who gave him the job.”

  “Not by choice.” Placing both of his hands on the surface of the desk, he pushed himself into a standing position. “Look, you need someone to shadow you. And not one of those lovely women in the hot pink scrubs who are more than happy to fill out paperwork and smack bubblegum behind their lip glossed lips. Someone serious.”

  “I’m not taking on an intern,” Stephen said firmly, leaning forward. He was half a head taller than Lannister, and I rubbed my lips together to keep myself from smiling. “If you don’t like my staff, give me the authority to hire whom I want and be done with it.”

  “No can do, doc,” he said. “I gave you the opportunity to find an intern. You failed. Now, I have to do your job for you.”

  “What?”

  “Meet your intern.” He nodded at Charley.

  “Wait, what?” Charley’s sea-green eyes widened and she looked over at Lannister for some sort of explanation. “That’s what this was about?”

  “Great,” Stephen said flatly. “She’s incompetent too.”

  “Hey,” Charley snapped.

  “What did you think this was about?” Robert asked before licking eyes with me. “What’s she doing here anyway?”

  “I thought…” She let her voice trail of
f, darting a look at me before snapping her gaze on the tips of her shoes. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”

  “I’m not taking on an intern, Lannister,” Stephen said.

  “Uh, yeah, you are.” He lifted a hand, furrowing his brow. “This isn’t up for discussion. You know what happened to Vic.”

  “Of course I know what happened to Vic,” he snapped, leaning forward, clenching his teeth together. His nose wrinkled. “He was on the table when he coded. My table.”

  “Right,” Robert said, nodding once. “The one mark on your otherwise flawless record.”

  I flinched, jerking my head back. That was…cold. And I wasn’t expecting there to be animosity from the staff of Godslayer Academy. Wasn’t everyone supposed to be just peachy? Best of friends? A united front? Apparently, that was wrong. Apparently, everyone was just a dick.

  Which, actually, wasn’t that surprising.

  “There’s no one to replace him,” Robert said slowly. I wasn’t sure if I should know these things. Technically, I wasn’t a student, but it wasn’t like Robert was censoring himself. “He was the best and now…Now he’s not. You…you need a shadow. Just in case.”

  Stephen looked like he wanted to argue. But he couldn’t. He flickered his gaze over to Charley and then back at Robert.

  “She has flowers in her hair,” he said.

  “She’s also top in my class and every other class, save for physical training,” Robert replied quickly. “She’s the best. And we need the best in whatever way we can have here.”

  “What are you?” Stephen turned to Charley. “Freshman? Eighteen?”

  “Actually, I’m twenty,” she said with a sneer. “Glad to see you asked me myself rather than make an assumption.”

  His eyebrows raised in surprise and he turned back to Robert, who was smirking as he leaned against his desk, arms crossed over his broad chest.

  “No,” Stephen said.

  “I think it’s a match made in the Court of Light,” he said with a grin. “She won’t take your shit and she knows the difference between a scalpel and a stethoscope.”

  Stephen’s eyes widened almost comically. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response,” he said. “But it would be akin to me saying your reactor trident and your gamma titanium suit are the same thing.”

  I snorted before I could stop myself. Suddenly, everyone’s eyes turned on me. I cleared my throat, fumbling with the zipper on my maroon jacket, trying to ignore the discomfort tightening the inside of my stomach.

  “You got something to say, Freckles?” Robert asked, cocking his head to the side, sliding his hands loosely in the pockets of his slacks.

  “No, it’s just…”

  “No,” Robert said, gesturing with one hand. “You made a snort. Very unladylike, might I add. But, that’s an opinion. And I’d just like you to, you know, explain it.”

  “No, it’s fine. I’m sorry.” I looked over at him. I probably shouldn’t have done it because the intensity of his dark gaze was suddenly on me and I was paralyzed. I couldn’t look away if I tried. “I shouldn’t have -“

  “Just say it.”

  I looked over at Charley for help but she shrugged and nodded, almost as if she was just as helpless as I was.

  “Look,” I said, realizing I should just say something and be done with it. “Um, it’s just, in my own research, the light coming from your reactor is too high. I mean, it’s practically blinding, which I know is kind of the point. But the energy sourcing the trident diminishes the power reactivity within the metal, since it’s…Alterium, right? That’s the element it’s made from?”

  Stephen snickered, lips curved up. Charley was fiddling with the ends of her hair. It was deadly silent.

  “So,” Robert said, a flash of lightning in the eye of the storm. “You’re telling me that you think the reactor attached to the trident is too…high? I’m sorry, did you study at MIT? Were you at the Tech Con where I unveiled this thing? You’re, what, twenty, and you think you know better than me?”

  “I didn’t say that,” I said, putting my hands up. “And I’m not saying…I’m saying the power source is more focused on blinding light than taking advantage of the Alterium. It’s powerful but it could be more powerful with less power focused on the brightness and more on the trident itself.”

  Robert looked at Charley. “Are you fucking kidding me, Spider?”

  “Spider?” I asked.

  Charley rolled her eyes. “Like Charlotte’s Web,” she muttered. “He’s terrible with nicknames.”

  “You’re not answering my question,” he said. “What makes you think -“

  “Look,” I said. “Take it or leave it. I mean, you’re right. I’m only twenty. I go to a public community college. You’re Robert Lannister. I’m…I'm no one. So, I mean, no reason to get your panties in a twist.”

  This time, Stephen started laughing. “You know, I wasn’t sure what the hell to expect getting a summons from Robert Lannister, but this…this was worth it,” he said. He glanced over at Charley. “You’re still not my shadow though.”

  “I think I should go,” I said.

  “No,” Robert said, sticking up a finger. “You’re not -“

  I stepped back, ignoring him. I had already drawn enough attention to myself as it was, and quite possibly made an enemy of one of the most powerful men in the world. I was done for the day. Without waiting for anyone to stop me, I hightailed it out of the lecture hall, Stephen Palmer’s deep laugh following me the whole way out.

  Chapter Two

  I had three texts and two missed calls from Charley the next day. I ignored them. I already knew what she was doing. I didn’t want any part of that place, that school. I should have just kept my head down and my mouth shut.

  But there was something undeniably provocative about Robert Lannister. It was difficult to do exactly that. Instead, I threw myself into my community college courses and took care of my older mother. She was sixty-one, and was close to retiring. I lived with her my whole life, even after my father died three years ago. To this day, I had no idea how to fill the void his absence left, but I was trying. It didn’t help that he had asked me to go to South Haven with him that day, the day of the attack, and I refused. Maybe if I had just said yes…

  I couldn’t think like that. I knew it. It had been three years. But that decision haunted me even today. I didn’t even remember why I said no.

  Not that it mattered.

  I said no, and he was dead.

  I tried to live life the way I thought he would have wanted. Part of that was to get an education, even if it was just an AA degree from a city college since that was all me and Mom could afford.

  On the third day, Wednesday, I was ready to collapse. I just had a midterm in Bio and I had a paper due in Brit Lit tomorrow that I still needed to proofread. But the second I stepped into our small apartment and smelled the camomile tea, I knew my mom had a visitor.

  “So she is alive.”

  I nearly dropped my book bag.

  What the hell was Robert Lannister doing in my house?

  Despite the fact that he wasn’t tall, his presence overwhelmed the space. It was like being smothered even though he was tucked in the dining room Mom and I created by shoving a small dining table in the corner of the kitchen. He was sitting by my mother, Target tea cup in his hand like he wasn’t used to fine china, dark eyes on me, like I was the only girl in the world.

  Which was the worst feeling in the world.

  My mother chuckled - her laughter could never be referred to as giggling but it was something girlish and amused without being dramatic. I loved my mother’s laughter - especially since there wasn’t much to smile about.

  But now?

  It grated on my nerves.

  “You’ve been ignoring Spider’s texts?”

  I refused to acknowledge him. I turned to look at my mom. “What is he doing here?” I asked.

  My mom tilted her head to the side and wrin
kled her brows. “Lara-Jayne,” she said in that non-nonsense tone. “I know you aren’t being rude to our guest. I know I raised you better than that.”

  I pressed my lips together. If I could erase the blush currently splattered across my face like blood residue, I would have. As it was, I had to jerk my head so more of my hair fell into my face, hoping that was enough to mask its presence.

  “This is Robert Lannister,” my mother said as though it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world. She gestured with her natural grace at him, widening her eyes as if to say, This is a big deal so don’t fuck it up.

  Except my mother would never say such a bad word.

  “Yes, we’ve met,” Robert said. I hated that he still looked at me. That gaze was paralyzing. “Actually, Hilda, I didn’t know your lovely daughter here knows about quantum physics and the like?”

  “Oh, she’s always loved things like that,” my mother said, leaning back on her chair. There was pride in her voice, and warmth fluttered in my chest. “It goes over my head, you know. I was never a fan. But she really jumped into the sciences. She likes understanding how the world works.”

  “I get that.” Still looking at me. What a weirdo. “Totally get it.” Finally, finally, he turned to look at my mother. “Hilda, tell me, dear, why isn’t she at Godslayer?”

  I nearly choked on my own spit, something I managed to control when he referred to my mother as dear.

  My mother’s eyes widened at the question, hand covering her chest. “Oh, what a question,” she said. “I always thought she had a mind for it, you know. Always the smartest girl in her class. Valedictorian at her high school. You know she had to give a speech and everything?”

  “Did she now?” Robert’s eyes widened as he looked at me again. “A speech, you say?”

  He wasn’t being rude to my mom. More like he was directing whatever this attitude he had at me. Like it was my fault we couldn’t go to his fancy school.