Love, Alchemy & Other Magic

By Jess Thick

Olivia wanted an adventure. Bored of modern mundane life, she jumped at the chance to go to Wessex Academy. It’s the most elite wizarding college in all the world. All the most powerful families attend, but there’s never been a witch!

Dismissed by wizards as just a pretty face, Olivia fights against their prejudice, but her pride gets wrecked again and again as one ridiculously handsome wizard, Baldric, takes the number one spot. Worse still, he won’t leave her alone.

When Olivia’s stubbornness results in a literal explosion, the aftermath forces the two together.

Can she keep her cool?

______________________________

LOVE, ALCHEMY, & OTHER MAGIC is a standalone steamy fantasy romance full of fun with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger. If you love doting and dedicated heroes who would do anything for their kickass heroines, this romance is for you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.B. Black
• Release date: Apr 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005332396

Jess Thick

Jess adores the steamy side of romance, exploring the quick scenes that leave your heart fluttering as strong, fertile heroines find their Happily Ever Afters!

Book preview

Love, Alchemy, & Other Magic

Fated Mates Paranormal Romance

Jess Thick

Love Alchemy & Other Magic by Jess Thick

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.

LOVE ALCHEMY & OTHER MAGIC

Copyright © 2020 Jess Thick

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter One

From a young age, Olivia dreamed of another world. Her family lived in a sleepy town in New England, surrounded by mortals on all sides. Both her parents — a witch and warlock in their own right — spent more of their time working their mortal jobs than having anything to do with magic. Olivia’s father worked in web design. The only spells he did came when he stumbled around in the early hours of the morning, willing the coffee to brew faster or the pancakes to flip themselves. While Olivia’s mother did a bit more magic, her wood carved furniture came out the same as if she had done them by hand, and often, she would do one in every three that way just to prove she could. Her siblings — two younger sisters — wanted to study writing and biology respectively. Like more and more witches, they were content to keep their magic to their off hours — though Marie often joked she would learn to spell the animals to speak with her when no one was looking.

Olivia hated it. All these stories of the world-that-was spoke of continents overflowing with magic. Even mortal dreamt up schools for magic. They thought if it existed, it had to hide itself in between the mundane rather than sliding alongside and in and around like an errant thread. Of course, she loved her laptop, and she spent more time on her cell phone than both of her sisters combined, but having finished her apprenticeship early, Olivia had the choice to go off to college and experience the easy life of a journeywoman rather than rush through that to present her mastery. That — however — was the last thing Olivia wanted.

Which led to her announcement in the last month of high school. I’m going to attend Wessex Academy.

Her mother blanched, and her father nearly dropped his coffee. They looked at each other with confused stares, but whatever silent discussion they had failed to illuminate how this announcement came about.

Wessex Academy? That’s the wizard university, right? Olivia’s father asked.

Nodding, Olivia presented the pamphlets she had taken from the last regional magical meeting. Most wizards lived in secluded communities. They found adapting to modern life the hardest. Druids fit upon the outskirts of society well enough — some popping up with gardens that were the envy of their mortal neighbors while sorcerers often pretended to be stage magicians or other sorts of entertainers, hiding their magic in plain sight. Wizards, however, required long study and methodological practice to their powers. The university promised coursework on arcane arts the likes of which a witch would never ordinarily study.

I’m going to study alchemy, she announced, pointing at the course details.

Her father’s nose wrinkled. Don’t they have a website?

They’re wizards, dear. I doubt they’ll let any sort of electronics on their campus, her mother said, leaning over her husband’s shoulder as she read the details. You have such a talent for healing. If you’re going to go there, why not take the necromancy courses?

Judith! her father gasped. You can’t seriously be humoring her on this?

Olivia’s mother shrugged. She’s as stubborn as you, and if this is what she wants to do, I’m not fighting. Odds are she’ll be kicked out before Yule.

I appreciate your vote of confidence, Olivia drawled, glaring at her mother. Anyway, I want to focus on alchemy as that’s the most easily modernized wizarding field. Transformations — I honestly think witchcraft does that better, and I’m not entirely up for self-experimentation, so that’s out. Necromancy is interesting, and I’ll definitely see if I can balance both courses, but a witch coming in for necromancy is guaranteed to get rejected.

Both her parents nodded. Wizards suspected the worst of other magic users, finding them less reliable than the slow and steady methods of wizard-kind. Any magic where wizards focused would prove difficult for the more innate and instinctive paths which warlocks and witches used to practice their craft.

You won’t have any friends there, her mother warned, pointing the spatula at her before going back to the eggs on the stovetop.

I don’t have many friends here. I’m not exactly popular, Olivia grumbled, rolling her eyes.

Her father hummed, returning to his newspaper. If you didn’t rush through your apprenticeship, you would have had a better chance of making mortal friends.

And I would’ve been a journeywoman still instead of a master, which means I couldn’t have voted in the last two annual meetings, and I would have had to go on that stupid retreat with the rest of the apprentices in freshman year instead of getting a job and buying the latest playstation. Olivia gestured between her two parents with the pamphlet in his hand. A gaming console you both poo-pooed and now use every week mind you!

Gods, why is Olivia ranting so early on a Saturday? her youngest sister, Lena, asked as she came into the kitchen still in her pajamas.

Flipping the page of his paper as he took a sip of his coffee, their father told her, Your sister wants to go to Wessex Academy.

What? Like that institute named after Uther the anti-magic genocidal maniac? I still think it’s freaky they named it that. You can’t reclaim a name. Wessex Academy led to a mass genocide of magic users, and bringing it back up is just stupid, Lena proclaimed as she grabbed a glass and poured some orange juice into it. It isn’t like wizards were the only ones affected by that. Just because the only survivor was a wizard doesn’t mean they get to make decisions about what is and isn’t insensitive!

Olivia groaned, throwing her hands in the air. Nobody cares, Lena!

I care, and I’m somebody, she retorted.

Dragging her hands over her face, Olivia huffed, You lot are insane. I don’t know how someone as sensible as me grew up here. I’m obviously the result of an affair. Mom, just admit you shacked up with a wizard on your journeymanship, and we’ll call this nonsense done.

Their mother laughed. Timelines aside, if you had come from my journeywoman experimentation, you would’ve been half druid, sweetie.

As her father and sister laughed, Olivia left them to their merriment in the kitchen. The society had given her the title of master, and she would be eighteen by the time he headed out to Wessex Academy, so neither of her parents could stop her. Whatever it took, she would work over the summer, earning the cost of the flight and train to the school. Their regional head witch already wrote her a recommendation, and the wizards had agreed for the head witch to proctor the written examination which would determine whether she would be allowed entry. They would see. Olivia belonged in a world of magic — and if she couldn’t find her way into Faerie, she would push into the wizard community.

Chapter Two

Unlike Olivia, Baldric had little choice in where he would go to university. The eldest of a household of seven children, his parents — fated mates and wizards themselves — hadn’t been able to provide their children with much exposure outside of the magical community where they lived. Every single person in their village was a wizard, and with as small as the community was in rural England, everyone knew everyone else.

For this same reason, everyone knew Baldric had six siblings with a seventh on the way that would make him the eldest of eight. They saw his marks — best in his class — and pitied that he had to spend so much time helping his parents with his younger siblings rather than expanding his education. Not that Baldric minded. He loved caring for others, and the happiness he found when they enjoyed the meals he cooked or liked the new braid he had taken hours learning with ropes while he studied meant more to him than any spell could.

All the same, all wizards went to Wessex Academy or another wizarding university when they reached the age, and despite putting it off far longer than he should have — being that Wessex Academy accepted students from high school onward and had twice tried to recruit him from his small loyal learning group — Baldric had refused. Part of his refusal came from knowing his family needed him, but the other side came from a desire to continue learning the bits of schooling that would allow him to survive in the mortal world. More wizards found such unnecessary, but as his family was poor and overtaxed by the fertility which came from fated mates and a lacking in education in modern preventatives which would not be as easily overcome as more natural means, he had more than once worked small jobs for a few of the mortal farmers who also owned land nearby.

You can’t refuse them again, his mother informed him, cradling her swollen belly as she bounced his littlest sister on her hip.

Scrubbing at the pots as his magic stirred the stew on the woodstove, Baldric frowned down at the murky water. Dad’s got another month of duty before he gets back, and you know how the council is. They’ll want him back out at the dig site before you’re fully healed. You need me here.

You are a child. My child, she replied. You don’t get to use me as an excuse. You are going to Wessex Academy. You are getting your education and mastering your craft, so you can take part in the community.

Her tone told him there would be no argument, and her blood pressure didn’t need the aggravation, so he bowed his head and gave in to her demand. Yes, Mother.

With a single curt nod at his agreement, she asked, Have you thought about which course you’ll do? You have a talent for potions, so you could look into elixirs and brewery.

Alchemy.

Her brows furrowed — as pale blond as his own. Alchemy? That’s a terribly dangerous practice.

Baldric could not argue with that fact. While battle magic and necromancy had their fair share of death and evil surrounding them, alchemy often led to disaster if not approached properly; however, the most prosperous of wizarding families seemed to have a talent for the subject, and Baldric suspected their ability came from early exposure rather than anything natural at all. If he could learn to transmute common metals into gold or even truly master it and learn the almost impossible skill of spinning straw into gold, his family would never have to worry about money ever again. His parents could live their lives in peace, and his father would no longer spend months away, working for the council using his telekinetic skills to sort through the earth and help them uncover magical relics before mortals stumbled across them.

The twins came running through with pointed sticks in hand, causing his mother to be distracted long enough for the subject to drop. He had a skill for alchemy, and though they could not afford the texts most of the other students at his school had, his teachers often let him borrow books from the library, so he could study late into the night. He had enough of the basics that he would be able to pass the extra tests to enter the alchemy path.

The biggest blockade ahead stood the other students within the course. Most would be wizards from larger communities. Ones who had come from far and wide for the hopes of learning beneath Wizard Otieno — the only alchemist who had successfully taught others how to spin straw to gold. Few students had the opportunity to learn from him, and even those who did often failed to master the craft before they graduated and went on in their lives, but they all had found wealth and prosperity afterward. If the man elected to take someone under his wing in the upcoming year, Baldric had to make sure that person was him.

Chapter Three

Flying across the ocean to the United Kingdom, Olivia watched the world pass by underneath the airplane’s wing. Her hands traced the edge of the coast as it appeared in the window, and her heart raced. Despite no sleep, she went through mortal security without problem. With a spelled backpack carrying her entire room inside it, she looked for all the world like a tourist rather than the student she was, but it didn’t matter. While most students teleported to campus, Olivia wanted the experiment of going back and forth. From Edinburgh, she took a train northward, and when the stop came, she disembarked frowning at the dirt path and dark station. A single lamp lit the dark, hanging over the wooden platform as the train chugged, huffing and puffing as it headed off into the night.

The moon hung heavy over her head, and bright stars lit the pathway curling into the woods. Spells hid the castle from view, but if Olivia tilted her head just so, she could see the spiraling towers where she would be spending the next three years of her life.

Striding off into the dark, Olivia grinned as she studied the layers of spells which guarded the academy. Most of the wizards wouldn’t arrive until the following day, but some had attended the lesser coursework which would be similar to a high school. More than once, the head witch had warned her that the wizards would consider her mortal education — and even her witch apprenticeship — to be poor in comparison to their rigid classwork. Olivia didn’t care. She intended to prove to them that she wasn’t just a witch playing at being a wizard. She had started to practice some alchemy in her mother’s workshop, and the skill worked easily enough on small materials. Equivalent exchanges were exhausting, but if one of the professors could spin straw into gold like Rumplestiltskin, Olivia refused to believe she couldn’t master that skill too.

Halt! a voice called out in the dark.

Grinning, Olivia pulled out her acceptance letter. Hi! I’m Olivia Bryce.

From the dark, a man in a sparkling robe stepped out. Bryce? Ah — you’re the witch.

Yeah, I’ll be starting the alchemy course next week. They said I should come and move in early, so I can get settled, Olivia said as she folded the letter and put it back in her backpack.

The wizard frowned. His brow wrinkled as his golden eyes scanned over Olivia’s face as if expecting to see something in particular in her. Perhaps madness. Olivia would be the first witch to attend the academy, and while she treated it like a university, they considered the academy like a way of life. Wizards kept to their own. A stranger amongst them would be distrusted until proved otherwise, and it would be difficult for her to show she could be trusted. Still, the witch kept her smile in place and allowed the wizard’s magic to scan over her.

I never thought I’d see the day that there would be a witch at Wessex Academy, the wizard drawled, crossing his arms over his broad chest. He was much more muscular than the few wizards Olivia had seen before, and his dark skin seemed to meld right into the night sky. Allow me to be the first to welcome you, Witch Bryce.

Olivia, please, the witch replied, holding out her hand to shake.

Witch Olivia, the wizard corrected, but Olivia shook her head.

Just Olivia.

The wizard frowned, narrowing his eyes before he took the offered hand and gave it a single strong up and down shake before withdrawing his hand. You are a master of your craft. It would be a disservice to not acknowledge your accomplishment.

Yeah, but it’s going to be weird enough being the only non-wizard around. I’d like to not remind everybody, Olivia explained, and the wizard nodded in understanding.

I will inform the rest of the faculty. It would behoove you to remember to call us by our titles. Though we are your professors, we are all wizardry masters, which places that title first, the man explained, gesturing for Olivia to follow him through the shields and over a bridge into the keep. I am Wizard Otieno, and I’ll be one of your main lecturers; however, you will not be assigned an advisor until your third year unless someone takes a particular interest in you.

Olivia struggled to keep up. The wizard stood more than a foot taller, and his long strides had the witch jogging to keep up. Everything inside the witch suggested this was the prime opportunity to push for a stronger relationship in hopes that the alchemist would take her under his wing, but the sight of the castle stole her breath away. Dark stone rose into the dark sky. Stained glass stood in the large windows at the front, and banners glimmered, shining like beacons in the dark as they radiated magic. Though she couldn’t