“Discerning?” I finished for her. “Choosy? Popular with the ladies? Is that what you were going to say?” I couldn’t help but grin.
A grudging smile curled her lips. “More or less.”
“Well, now that that’s out of the way, how about you tell me what this is all about?”
I wanted to see the paper she edged closer to her jacket and gave it a mental tug. With a gasp, she watched it fall over the edge of the desk toward me. I reached to grab it and watched in amazement when the paper reversed direction and glided back across the desk to land in her hands.
Our stares met across the desk: mine questioning, hers accusing.
“It’s you.” She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I should have known.”
My thoughts raced. I looked from the paper to Tessa’s suspicious gaze. “You moved that. With your mind.” I waited for her to deny it, to call me foolish for even suggesting an impossible thing.
She snapped, “The only reason I can do that is because you can.”
“What?”
“Tell me you didn’t just take it from me. Come on, Marcus. I dare you to try that again.”
Astonished to be having this conversation when I still hadn’t learned why she’d broken into my locked office at midnight on a weekend, I stole the paper back from her with a telekinetic pull.
She glared at me, as if I were at fault. “Of course it had to be you.”
I frowned as I read the scrap of paper. “What is this?”
“Why not tell you? If I don’t, you might read my mind.” Her sarcasm couldn’t be missed. How strange she didn’t seem wary of my telekinesis. Most humans on this plane had no sense of magic. And the magir didn’t seem to care for mages, though many had no problem with witches, which frankly baffled me.
“Tessa?”
She huffed. “That’s a list of all the people who might want to see me fired from Temita.”
“What?” I looked over the names again and scowled at her. “Hey. I’m on this list!”
“Well, we did argue yesterday before locking lips.”
I couldn’t help feeling affronted. “I’d never try to do you harm.” I couldn’t believe she thought so badly of me. Well, that’s what came of succumbing to base instincts. “Yesterday?—”
“Forget about it.” She blushed. “I’m sorry I mentioned it. I wouldn’t have added you to my list except…”
“Except?”
“Never mind. Can’t we just forget about this?”
I could only stare at her. “No. We can’t.”
Chapter 8
Marcus
“Forget about this? First, you break into my office. Then you use your mind to move my pen, which I know for a fact is far beyond normal for your ki?—”
“What?”
I had been about to say your kind. “For anyone.”
She frowned.
I hurried to add, “You have a list of people who want to ruin you, and I’m on it!” I couldn’t feign offense. I felt it. “By the Light, we’ll talk about this.”
