Ihad my phone on my desk beside me, my books spread out around me, and a blank piece of paper in front of me. The report on Faerie metal density's effect on edge sharpness should've been easy. Instead, my mind was on Rain.
The smell of her still hung in my sheets. I'd found a few of her long brown hairs mixed up in my pillows. My mind kept jumping back to the way she slept, and how her face looked no different than it did when she was awake. Most people looked innocent or softer when their masks fell.
Rain was just Rain.
Damn, that girl had gotten under my skin in the best way. I tapped the end of my pen on the desk, glad our professor still allowed handwritten homework. A phone I could manage, but a laptop made my hands itch. I could only assume it was the ratio of metal to the covering over it, and with a protective case, my phone had a thicker layer by comparison.
I was also procrastinating. Mostly because I really didn't want to think about how much more effective iron was in this world. I certainly didn't want to have any more reasons to wrap Rain up in something that burned like fire when I got too close. Supposedly, we built up a tolerance to the stuff with exposure, but being able to ignore the pain wasn't the same as pure metals not affecting us.
Pulling my book closer, I was trying to force myself to get this donewhen someone knocked at my door. "Come in, Wilder!" I yelled, taking a wild guess at who would be willing to visit at this hour.
Instead, my door cracked open. "Keir?"
I pushed my chair back and turned. "Liam?" Ok, now I was confused. "What are you doing here?"
"May I come in?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure." I turned my chair a bit, spinning it on one of the back legs so I was facing him. "Everything ok?"
The man stepped in, closed the door behind him, then shoved a hand over his mouth. "Bracken offered to come talk to you, but I wanted to make sure you know this is a request, not an expectation."
And now I was braced for the worst. "What?"
Liam glanced back, his eyes aimed for the bathroom that separated my half from the empty suite on the other side. "How many years did you watch over Fin?"
"Three." Where was he going with this?
Liam pressed his lips together and nodded. "And you have a little over a year left here, right?"
"Give or take," I agreed. "Why?"
"Because it's not fair for the teachers and staff to ask a student to manage another student. There is no expectation for you to do such a thing."
"Yeah, but Fin was a menace," I reminded him. "If I hadn't, someone would've gotten raped."
"And it wouldn't have beenyourfault," he pointed out.
"Still would've felt like I should've done more." I shook my head. "Nope, I'm happy with this."
So Liam pulled in a deep breath. "What if someone else needed the kind of help your magic seems especially suited for?"
My eyes narrowed. "Liam, if you want to make a deal, then make one. I am not Rain. What do you need, what will I get for it, and who do you think I should babysit?"
"We need someone able to block unimaginable amounts of magic, Ivy Rhodes is willing to offer aneltamsword upon graduation for the effort, and..." He smiled. "It's Torian Hunt."
"Fuck..." I breathed. "That's a sweet deal, but he doesn't need or want my help."
"You're right," Liam agreed. "Torian doesn't want anyone's help - noteven ours. But there's one person in the world he will listen to, and after the events of today - "
That made me interrupt him. "What happened today?"
"Rain's biology class thought the Huntsman walked into it." Leaning back against the wall, Liam crossed his arms. "Everyone in the class except the teacher. That includes the person who created the glamour."
"Torian," I realized. "So he's still manifesting?"
"We don't know." The man watched while I checked to be sure I tasted nothing but the truth in his words. Then he continued, "We do know something is changing. According to private conversations I've had with my daughter, which I should not use to influence students, it seems you can always block his magic. Ivy said your reactions are as fast as his, maybe faster. And Keir? We want Silver Oaks to stay standing."
"Gonna tell me what makes him so strong?" I asked.
