He stood slowly, stretching a little, his arms raised above his head, then dropped them with a grin. “Only for you.”
I rolled my eyes, but the smile wouldn’t leave my face.
He offered his arm, not in a grand gesture, but in a quiet one.
And I took it.
“You know,” Keegan said as we turned the corner near the solarium, “if you suddenly decided to bail on this whole mystical path thing and just spend the day in the tea shop pretending we were normal people, I wouldn’t judge.”
I shot him a look. “You’d be disappointed.”
He shrugged. “Nothing you could do could disappoint me.”
I laughed, and it loosened something in my chest. “You’re good at lifting me up.”
“I’m not pretending,” he said, glancing sideways at me. “Are you scared?”
That silenced me for a beat.
“I don’t think so.” Then I caught his gaze.
“Good.”
“You’re scared for me, though.”
“I’m careful about the things I care about,” he said simply.
My heart did a little stutter. “That’s dangerously close to romantic.”
His grin was slow, a little smug. “I’m aware.”
We passed two students carrying stacks of potion flasks between them. One tripped over the other’s shoes and almost dropped a bottle, but caught it mid-air with a muttered charm. They didn’t even notice us.
“Do you think they know how lucky they are?” I asked, watching them disappear around the corner.
“To be here?”
“To be in this place. At this moment.Learning.Alive.”
Keegan was quiet for a moment. “I think they’re just trying to make it to lunch without exploding anything.”
I smiled. “True. There’ll come a time when they’re needed.”
“Agreed.”
“Someday, the Academy will call for their help, and the curse will weaken with each student’s talents.”
Keegan smiled as his gaze met mine. “There’s no one better to be headmistress.”
We reached the hallway that led to the garden doors, and I slowed again. The light from outside poured across the stone like a warm invitation.
“What if it shows me something I’m not ready to see?”
Keegan turned to face me fully.
“Then I’ll be right there beside you. Until the path says otherwise.”
“And when it does?”
