Page 95 of Evergreen Conservatory
“Circumstances being all the influences hanging over our heads?” I tried to make light of it, putting a little laugh into my voice, but it came out shaky at the end.
“Alex is an unknown threat, my brother is a known one, and between my parents and the board all vying to get their hands on you… this afternoon was a stark reminder that us being together… it’s just another target on your back.” His voice was low.
I pulled back slightly, forcing him to meet my eyes.
His long, dark lashes swept side to side as he studied my face.
I knew he was right, but I hated the thought of going back to just friends, in publicorin private. “What if being with you makes the target smaller?” I reached for his hands and was relieved when he took mine. “What if we’re stronger together?”
Callan looked pained, and I wanted to pull him into a hug. “I wish it worked like that, but that’s not how my family operates. They have enough of a reason to scrutinize you with your powers already. Seeing my brother there… it reminded me how connected they are toeverythingin this world. Lira and her comment about us looking ‘cozy’ is further evidence that the other affinity groups think the trees might be trying to get to you first. If they found out we were…” He paused and ran a hand through his hair. “Please, just trust me on this, okay?”
I nodded but couldn’t speak.
He sighed and glanced toward the waterfall. Its mist was settling in his hair like flecks of diamonds. “It’s not because I don’t want to… be with you. Staying away has been harder than you can imagine. But I’m trying to protect you from being a part of all of this until you’re ready to make your own choices. Until you have full access to your power.”
“Okay,” I said tentatively then stopped to chew on my lip. “You make good points, but here’s my counter.”
Callan raised an eyebrow.
“Life is too short for us to make decisions rooted in fear.”
Callan nodded, and I waited to see whether he would agree. “There’s a difference between being brave and being reckless, local. Not taking precautions now, as more trouble is brewing, is bordering on reckless. And after seeing Lira tonight, I won’t besurprised if word of our presence here reaches my parents. It was stupid of me not to consider that she would be here. The Board of Regents had their own meeting, but of course she left early to attend the moss strategic meeting.”
I sighed, but I wasn’t ready to give up. There was more than one way to be brave. “Okay, let’s say we do it your way. How do you see this all playing out?”
Callan smiled softly. “You’re powerful, Briar. More than any of them know. One day, youwilloutmaneuver them. But right now, if it’s between me having you and you being free of them”—he swallowed, and I watched his Adam’s apple rise and fall—“I choose your freedom.”
My stomach swooped at the intensity of his words. I understood where Callan was coming from. A large part of me admired it even if I believed in a different approach. He had a desire to protect me. Was it because he had never been protected by the people who should have been there for him the most? That thought nearly broke my heart.
I slipped my arms around his waist, and he returned the hug, pulling me close until my head rested on his chest. I wanted to pour so much love and admiration into him that he would never feel powerless again.
But words weren’t enough for Callan. He needed to see it in action, so that’s what I would do.
I was gaining power.
I couldn’t tell him about what I was working on with Petra in my field studies. Not yet anyway. But my skills were growing, and I was doing everything within my control to wrest back full access to my powers. It was the thing Callan was fighting for, too, in a different way, and I was flooded with affection for him every time I was reminded of it.
I pulled back to lean on the see-through wall and looked up at Callan’s clear brown eyes, which were drinking me in like I was the first bloom of spring. My heart was racing,the memory of our kiss almost palpable on my lips. I whispered, “There aren’t any scouting vines out here, are there?”
Callan shook his head, his forehead brushing mine. And before I could second-guess it, I went on my tiptoes and gently pressed my lips to his.
As if on instinct, his hands nestled into the hair behind my neck and he drew the kiss deeper, as if he knew it was the last one we would share until this battle with the elites was over and someone emerged victorious.
When we broke apart, I took a deep, fortifying breath then slipped the blanket from my shoulders.
“We’ll do it your way, for now.” I said the words slowly, deliberately, then offered the blanket to him, dangling it on the tip of my finger. When he took it, I gave a little twirl in my slightly-too-short dress. “But I won’t always be a damsel in distress. And you won’t always need to save me.”
His eyes tracked me as I moved backward along the narrow bridge. “Maybe I like saving you,” he whispered.
And I walked away from the waterfall and out of the library with a flush of heat in my face and a touch of wind to the back of my neck.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
“You two must have had quite the night.” Hollis nodded toward where Callan was loading the plane with a vigor that was more appropriate for chopping wood than loading luggage. “He went tree walking before sunrise. It’s kind of one of his stress signals.”
“Did he?” I asked evasively.
“Something tells me it’s related to you,” Hollis said, voice dripping with implication.
