I push out of the armchair and look down at her. “You meanifthey reach out?”
Lysandra’s smile is small and knowing. “No. I meanwhen.” She puts her empty teacup into my free hand, pats me on the arm, and moves to my door. “And I’ll meet with Miss Wilder soon. If you’re leaving, I may need to set up her community service with another faculty member.” She waves a hand, her rings sparkling in the thin morning light,and then she’s gone, opening the door and drifting off into the autumn air.
I stand there in my hut, frozen in place.
Set her up with another faculty member? That’d mean we’d have no reason to see each other—at least, no reason that the academy would find appropriate. Then anytime she came to my hut, there’d be the potential of her—us—getting caught.
My jaw tightens.
After all these years, how is it that one fire witch has made it feel like my whole life is getting uprooted? And why is it that I can’t bring myself to make it stop?
With another grunt, I clomp into the kitchen to rinse out the teacups, and I wonder what the hell I’m going to do about Lyra Wilder.
Chapter 30
Lyra
I USED TO DREAD MY Saturdays with Cairn. Now I spend the whole week being excited for them, looking forward to the early-morning walk down to his hut, hoping I might have the chance to steal a touch or a kiss when we’re alone.
Today’s no different. We spend the morning raking more leaves and mulching more garden beds. I never noticed how much landscaping there is around the academy until Cairn started assigning me wheelbarrows of mulch and telling me where to put it. Now I realize just how extensive the work is that Cairn has done around here. Plants and flowers are tucked into almost every nook and cranny around the castle, and he cares for them all. These days, whenever I see ivy crawling up the stone or broad-petaled flowers reaching for the sun, I think of him.
Well, honestly, I think of him most of the time. Especially since Samhain.
My pussy isn’t sore from being stretched anymore; it took a couple days for the slight ache to fade, and now I’m hungry for it again. Even now, as I watch Cairn rake leaves, his tunic stretched tight across his broad chest, his horns curling over his head in the thin gray light, I think about how his fingers and thumbs felt inside me, how heavy his cock was in my hands.
He looks over at me, his dark eyes meeting mine with a jolt, and a little tingle of anticipation dances through my low belly.
“What is it?” he asks, voice deep and rumbly.
I give him a small smile. “Just admiring you.”
Despite the beautiful brown tint of his cheeks, I can still see his skin flush red. He flicks his thin tail and glances around—I already know no one’s out here in the cold—then meets my eyes again. “You’re supposed to be raking,” he grumbles, but I can hear a hint of bashfulness in his tone.
I heft my rake and quickly attack a few colorful leaves, stepping closer to Cairn with every scratch of the metal tines along the moist ground. By the time I get the leaves added to his pile, I’m only an arm’s length from him—close enough I can smell woodsmoke clinging to his clothes and hair. He must’ve been sitting beside the fire this morning, perhaps with another steaming dandelion latte.
I wish I could’ve been with him.
As I look up into his dark eyes, a bit of sadness settles over me. Alina’s voice echoes in my mind:You have to be careful. If you get caught, who knows what’ll happen...
I don’t want to get expelled, and I really don’t want Cairn to lose his job. But I want him so badly. And the simmering look in his eyes tells me he feels the same way.
How do we make this work? I’ve got two and a half more years at the academy. Will we have to sneak around for that long, hiding our nights together and being nervous someone could find us out? That might be fun for a little while, but in the long term... Would it even be sustainable?
I bite my lip. Cairn’s gaze follows the movement, and his nostrils flutter as he lets out a deep sigh.
“Do you have anything to eat?” I ask. I’m not actually hungry—well, not for food, anyway—but if by some chance someone is listening in, it’ll sound innocent enough. “I’m not sure I can rake another leaf without having some brunch first.”
Cairn glances around again, acting more cautious than usual. I wonder what has him so on edge. He doesn’t find anyone watching; I’ve already looked. Then he nods. “Let’s get this pile picked up, then we’ll take a break to eat.”
One more leaf pile, I tell myself.Then I can get him alone.
WELL, AS IT TURNS OUT, Cairn made us clean upthreemore leaf piles, and now I actually am hungry. My stomach grumbles pathetically as we walk back to his hut. The air has grown colder, and thick dark clouds have moved in, ushered along by a bone-chilling wind. There’s a scent of moisture to the air, and if Maeve were here, she’d probably tell me a storm’s about to hit. But that’s just finewith me. I wouldn’t mind an excuse to get trapped in Cairn’s hut for a while.
Please, weather gods, send a deluge to strand me here forever!
Cairn wipes his hooves on the doormat, then opens the door for me and steps to the side, gesturing for me to go first. I do the same, wiping the mud and leaf matter off my boots, then slip into his hut.
The air is warm and smells of fresh-baked bread. Immediately, I yank off my boots, then pad across the wooden floors in my thick socks in search of the fluffy goodness Cairn must’ve baked this morning.
