38
Evelyn
Carter was right—I should have known. What an embarrassing first move as a future Compass Point, not realizing what he’d been telling me.
My veil cat licked her paw and swiped it across her face as if to sayWe shouldn’t be bothered, we had a lot going on.
Which … fair.
I had so much to do, so much to consider. So many things I needed to figure out, given how drastically my life was about to change. It was during times like these that making lists became a calming activity. And here Ambrose was, whipping out that stupid pencil and notebook, starting my work for me.
“We can start with easy items, like what to do with your current experiments,” he said.
I snapped my head up to look at him. I’d been doing the same thing in my mind, starting with the easy stuff and working my way toward the items that would thoroughly tear me apart.I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to throw him against the wall of books and climb him like a tree.
His gaze met mine, and a sheen of gold slid over his eyes, like he knew exactly what I wanted and would happily oblige. But my and Ambrose’s relationship was a whole separate list of things to consider. He hadn’t accepted my offer to be Vesten historian. Did he not want the job? Or did he not want to be with me?
Before I could completely spiral, he tapped the edge of his notebook. “List first.”
I halted my next pace across the length of the restricted section and tried to think.
“Job at the tavern,” he said. “You have to tell Seraphina, and Luna, and hopefully you can give them some time before you have to move to Compass Lake.”
I swallowed. So much for sticking with the easy things.
“Find a place to live at Compass Lake,” he said. Then he scratched that off. “I’m sure you get rooms in Vesten House, right? What do you think the allowance is for adding plants to the Burning Garden? I’ll make a note about transplanting your flowers.”
I stuttered, unintelligibly. He had never seen the garden outside my and Mom’s apartment. “How do you?—”
His smile was warm like the sun, and I was a plant gravitating toward its life source. “There is no way you would even think to conduct most of the experiments that you do without having your own garden.” He laughed to himself. “Not many people know that morning glories tend to strangle roses.”
He had a point. My cheeks heated anyway at how much he noticed.
His lips flattened into a thin line as he started writing another item down. “Your parents? Finding them a place at Compass Lake?”
It was plural. What I’d realized yesterday was already a foregone conclusion in his mind. Mom and Stephen were together. They wouldn’t be separated again.
“Ambrose,” I sighed.
He looked up.
“I’d really like to talk about the item you seem to be avoiding.”
His ears pinkened. “Which one is that?”
I took slow steps toward him, and with each movement, my veil cat purred, hearing his heart beat a little faster.
“Well, this is a turn of events,” I said, trying to sound playful. In truth, it probably came out more strangled and unsure than anything.
“What is that?” he asked, still writing furiously in his book.
“Usually it’smyheart that’s a scattered mess whenyouapproach.” I tilted my head to listen again. “Today, it appears we switched roles.”
He chuckled as he finished the note. His gaze locked on mine as I took the few remaining steps across the room toward him. “Do you want to be the kettle or the pot in this particular instance?”
I tilted my head in question.
He pointed to my chest with the end of his pencil. “Your heartbeat is also currently a mess, Evelyn.”
