“I will, and I’ll think of you while I do it.”
His face flares red.Brightred, two near perfect lines along his cheekbones.
He doesn’t give me any time to revel in embarrassing him before he juts his chin at Nick’s fedora, still obediently next to me. “There are spells to undo that.”
I roll my eyes and head back to my desk. Nick plods along beside me, rubbing against my calf and purring gently, which I’m almost certain is his way of asking if I want him to bite Elethior again. I’m undecided, so I sit in my chair and scratch under Nick’s chin.
“He likes it,” I say.
Elethior grunts. “I… might have overreacted. I can undo the spell. As an”—Gods, I canhearhis shudder—“apology.”
“No.” That’s all I give him.
Elethior pauses before he returns to his own desk. “Wow.”
I snottily mouthwowto his back and bend over my notes.
But my concentration is shot to hell.
I’m painfully aware of him moving around, opening drawers, sorting his shit. Then of him exploring the room, looking in the fridge and storage areas, cataloguing the spell components.
Nick curls up in my lap, purring like a vibrating space heater.
I flip to a new page of notes that swims in front of my eyes, but when Elethior stops next to my desk, I amdeeply focused on reading.
“So,” Elethior says. “How do you want to do this?”
“Are you asking for my opinion?” I swing around in my chair so I can face him, feeling like an action movie villain with Nick in my lap and my fingers scratching his neck. The effect would probably land more if he weren’t invisible. “Me, theobsolete man?”
It knocks the wind out of me when his chin lowers in—deference?
What the fuck?
“I said I overreacted.” He rubs a hand down his face and tugs on one of his lip piercings. “Had a rough morning. Had a rough whole—no, fuck that. We have to do this. I’m not going to waste time dancing around each other. Our first check-in with Davyeras and our advisors is in a month. We need to get to work, so step up. I’m giving you a chance to prove yourself.”
I rocket out of my chair so fast Nick tumbles from my lap with an annoyed shriek. In a burst of magic that sizzles on the air, he vanishes back to the Familiar Plane, his fedora dropping limp to the floor.
“Provemyself?” I thrust right up into Elethior’s face, so livid I can feel heat wavering out of me.
He rolls his eyes. “This is what I mean. You can’t—”
“I have toprovemyself? Toyou?”
“You spent the better part of the past few months fucking with not just my shit, but the whole Conjuration Department. You can’thonestly tell me you don’t understand where my distrust of you is coming from.”
“And what about my distrust ofyou? I’ll have you note, notoneof the things I did ever damaged anything.Youcan’t say the same. Your prank screwed with projects in the Evocation Department, so if either of us is deserving ofdistrust,it’s you.Iknow when to—”
“Wait.” Elethior sways back. “You thinkIhad a hand in the pranks against you?”
I snort, unamused. “Don’t try to tell me it wasn’t you.”
“It wasn’t me.”
“Iheard youcomplaining about the missing-door prank. Heard youshoutingabout the inconvenience of it. Then the next day, the Evocation Department’s dew water gets screwed with? You’re the chosen one of the Conjuration Department. Your name is on the fucking lab.”
He’s back again, leaning so close we’re steaming each other’s air. “I wasshoutingabout theinconvenienceof the lab being inaccessible because it made me late for a meeting with my cousin, and she doesn’t—”
“Oh, gods forbid I upset the Touraels. My deepest condolences.”
