After that, I was heading back to the academy, and to the library.
28
Bree
I basked in the warmth of the day.
Riggs had been quiet all through lunch, and afterward the entire team wandered down to the beach to sit on the sand in the sun.
Well, we sat. Leah and Nar transformed and went swimming.
Spread out on a blanket near us, Constance, the headmaster’s assistant, wore a bathing suit. She gleamed as if she’d oiled every inch of her full-figured form.
I envied her. My hoodie was too warm, and I stripped it off, leaving me in just my sports bra.
“Whoa!” Beside me, Riggs raised a brow. “You’ll get tan lines.”
“Bring ‘em on,” I stated. His gaze drifted over my bare skin, sending a flush of heat straight through me. By now, after multiple generous powder servings, the reaction shouldn’t be due to cycle hormones.
I blamed Fate.
More likely, it was just pure Riggs. He was too delicious to resist. But I put in a reasonable effort as we watched the sunlight gleam off Nar’s icy scales. He and Leah rolled and writhed in the water.
“Look away,” Adilyn reminded me. I couldn’t actually see much of her as she sat on the far side of Sid in human form. Apparently, Faeries liked to get a tan—her sparkly clothes were considerably reduced.
It was good advice, but I had another idea in mind. “I’m going in with them,” I said.
“You’re what?” Riggs viewed me with astonishment.
“You can’t be serious,” Adilyn piped up.
“Didn’t think you were into that,” Sid commented from where he loomed beside me.
“I’m not. But I need to learn to swim. I don’t want to be on another mission where it is an issue.”
Sid’s mouth twisted. “Are you sure you can? Centaurs sink at least as well as I do.”
“I won’t know until I try,” I pointed out. “I’m not a Centaur, anymore.”
“Well, this should be interesting.” Adilyn squinted up at me as I rose.
“If she’s going in, I am too.” Riggs stood with me.
There was one major problem with that—Riggs stripping was not a good idea.
Sid rolled fluidly to his feet, too. “Maybe this should be a team effort,” he said.
“No, it shouldn’t,” Adilyn snarked somewhat desperately. “It most definitely shouldn’t.”
“Do you know how to swim?” Sid asked.
“I have wings,” she pointed out.
“What if there’s a reason you can’t fly?” he persisted.
“I can always fly.” But the Faerie sounded a little less sure now.
He held his hand down to her. “Come on, Dusty. You won’t melt if you get wet.”
