"Then I will. I love you, Aspen, and it's wild, and crazy, and maybe a little insane, but I wouldn't trade you for anything. Not for better magic, or any of the other bullshit I don't care about. All that matters to me is that you're perfect!" I quickly stole another quick kiss. "And you are not Torian's shadow, Aspen. Nor mine. You have the right to be whoever you want. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"He thinks I'm your shadow," she corrected. "That's his big problem - I don't want to be the main character."
"No, beautiful," I whispered. "If either of us are shadows, I'm yours."
She tensed, pulling back to look at me. "What?"
"Morrigan," I said. "You know, shadows? That's kinda my magic, and you make it happen?"
"Oh," she said, but when she kissed me again, it was tense.
"I'm sorry," I breathed. "Aspen, I wasn't trying to be on Torian's side. I shouldn't've said that!"
"Just tell me you love me again?" she begged. "That will make it better."
"I do," I promised. "I am definitely falling for you, Aspen, and I don't ever want it to stop. You know, sometimes high school sweethearts work out. Maybe not always - ok, it's kinda rare - but I don't care. My dads worked! But I'd still rather have you break my heart into a million pieces than miss out on this."
"And that," she said as she wrapped her arms around my neck, "makes everything worth it."
Chapter Sixty-Six
RAIN
The next evening, Aspen spent time with Torian. That meant Keir and I got to hang out, and while that was nice, I wasn't really a fan of this time-swap thing. Hawke joined the pair of us on Wednesday, but on Thursday, Aspen made it clear we needed to study. Torian came over to "pick her up" for their training, and she said no.
Yeah, he slammed her door when he left, but when I tried to talk about it, Aspen said it wasn't a big deal. Added to the fact that we really did need to study, I let it go. But on Friday, he didn't show up for lunch. Afterwards, I cornered Hawke in the gym to find out what was going on.
"He's trying to regain his control, Rain." Hawke shrugged. "When he needed it most, his magic failed him, and Torian does not like failure."
"Ah."
But that evening, Aspen was in our suite, waiting. She had a package of Pixie Styx, a bucket of candied flowers, and she told me it was a date! When I followed her into the lounge, I found Keir, Hawke, and Wilder had already claimed a set of chairs in front of a television. The moment they saw us, Wilder picked up the remote and pressed a button. Immediately, Disney'sPeter Panbegan to play.
"Movie night!" Keir announced.
Hawke looked over and said, "Wilder was trying to explain why he calls your shadow Peter Pan. Supposedly, he has a lot of the same similarities as a character in this movie."
"It'shershadow," Keir pointed out. "That means it's not a 'he.'"
"It's an it," I said. "You know, because shadows don't have genders."
"Peter Pan's a guy, though," Wilder countered.
"I think it's a girl," Aspen said. "Mostly because we're outnumbered, enough."
"An it," I insisted.
Which was when my shadow pointed at me and nodded. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who saw it. Keir laughed, Wilder groaned, but it didn't stop us from having our movie night. That I got to snuggle with both Keir and Aspen - even if she was on Keir's other side to prevent any bad rumors - made it a very good night.
And yet something was off.
The Wild Hunt had come, we'd destroyed the item drawing them here, and yet no one was acting like this was a victory. Instead, Torian had become obsessive about his magic, and Aspen had been avoiding him the last two nights. Things between the guys were tense as well, making me think Torian wasn't any better with them. Sadly, each time I brought it up, they said it was one of those things they couldn't talk about.
Yeah, I was getting sick of being cut out, but I understood. I did! They couldn't lie, couldn't break promises, and all of those things were great. Not being trusted with this big secret? It made me feel like I was still on the outside.
But Sunday, it all imploded.
In her attempt to grow bubble plants for everyone, Aspen overcompensated. So, when we met up for lunch, she passed a small plant to each of us, then admitted there were seventeen more on her shelves that needed to be put in the atrium. I immediately volunteered to help.
