Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance) by Jillian Keep

father!
    Firia was giddy as she began to leave,
needing to get away before anything else went wrong. Before they
tried to steal this moment of happiness from her.

Chapter 11
    Firia was jubilant as she made her way
back home. She even found herself hopping and skipping as she made
the journey.
    Not only had she done it, accomplished
her life’s dream of being accepted to an academy, but she’d
been fortunate enough to get into one of the most prestigious magical
academies in the land. And not even that far from her father! It was
beyond what she could’ve thought realistic for a human without
any training!
    When she arrived back to her father’s
small cottage, she almost didn’t see the notice tacked to her
front door. Though at the sign of the constabulary, her heart froze.
    She knew what it said before she even
tore it off and read it. Her father had been arrested for theft of
the ring, and they’d taken him in to the constables office for
questioning and jail.
    Her heart could barely take the
constant ups and downs of her rollercoaster life the past week.
    “Noo,” she cried out, to no
one and nothing. She swore her heart was breaking and her eyes filled
with tears. There was no way that they’d believe someone like
him was innocent…
    Yet the human, the one in charge…
he’d been kind, hadn’t he? The way he looked at her had
been sympathetic. She had to speak with him, alone. Convince him.

Chapter 12
    Firia arrived at the constable’s
office nearly breathless. It wasn’t a large building, for they
operated outside the town and serviced the rural areas around where
her father and she lived. Though the moment she abruptly set foot in,
all eyes turned to her.
    The familiar constable rose up from his
desk in the back and he came forward towards her. “Miss Tunst,”
he said, “your father is fine. He’s safe, don’t
worry.” He was so quick to reassure her.
    Her body trembled despite her best
efforts at keeping calm as she looked up at him. Her blue eyes were
rimmed with red and she knew she couldn’t hide the fact that
she’d been crying from him.
    “Can I speak with him?”
    He hesitated but smiled to her. “Sure.
Follow me,” he said, leading her in around the barrier and into
the back.
    The rows of cells were all empty, but
for one, and her father looked so sad and unhappy. She’d not
seen him in such a state since his bout of depression following her
mother’s death. His shoulders slumped. His face seeming to sag
with sorrow.
    “I’ll give you some
privacy,” the constable said, shutting the door and leaving her
there.
    “Daddy, please tell me this isn’t
true,” she said as she went towards him, reaching out for him.
“I know it’s not, but you have to tell me.”
    He stood up from his hard-wood bench
and went to the bars. “Oh sweetie,” he said, his own eyes
looking so reddened. Not with tears, but the stress and strain that
she knew so intimately he felt. She’d seen it in him in those
long, hard days. “I bought the ring,” he said, reaching
out through the bars limply, “but… but I suppose I
should’ve known the chances were high it was stolen. I just…
I just didn’t want to think of that. Not when you could use
it.”
    She felt a rush of anger at whoever had
sold her father the ring, and she brought his hand to her lips and
kissed it. “Daddy, who did you buy it from? Where were they?
What did they look like?”
    He shook his head and let it hang low.
“They know who it is already,” he said sadly. “They
knew before I even said it. He’s a known crook and con man,”
he said, and she knew he felt so stupid. “They said I’ll
probably be free to go soon. I just… I just wish it had been
enough… enough to get you through the contest,” his face
hung downwards, but she could tell, for the first time in so many
years, her father was on the verge of tears.
    “Daddy… Dad. I got in.
They accepted me into Gaul’di-mere. It worked.” She was
trying so hard to